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Connecting Black culture, music, and community with the built environment
Cacie Rosario Jackson

Weitzman MFA student Cacie Rosario Jackson.

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Connecting Black culture, music, and community with the built environment

One of eight artists in the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Weitzman School and Arthur Ross Gallery, Cacie Rosario Jackson uses circuitry to study Black performance in the U.S. from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Louisa Shepard

2 min. read

The performing arts at Penn: Process, practice, and purpose
A student holding a composition sheet of music notes during while practicing their group performance.

A student holding a composition sheet filled with music notes while practicing their group performance.

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  • Photo Essay

    • The performing arts at Penn: Process, practice, and purpose

    In the vivid tapestry of performing arts groups at Penn, students prepare for their performances while simultaneously enriching their college experience.

    2 min. read

    Music, friendship, and a podcast on the side
    Emily Wilson, Kevin Platt, and Paul St. Amour seated with microphones at Kelly Writers House.

    Emily Wilson, Kevin Platt, and Paul St. Amour recording an episode of SideGig at Kelly Writers House.

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    Music, friendship, and a podcast on the side

    Through their new project, SideGig, School of Arts & Sciences faculty Paul Saint-Amour and Kevin Platt explore songs and sound. Plus, it gives the pals a chance to hang out.

    From Omnia

    2 min. read

    Historian, scholar, and best-selling author Michael Beschloss to speak at Penn’s 270th Commencement
    Michael Beschloss

    Award-winning presidential historian and scholar Michael Beschloss will be receiving an honorary doctor of letters degree at Penn’s 270th Commencement.

    (Image: Stephen Voss)

    Historian, scholar, and best-selling author Michael Beschloss to speak at Penn’s 270th Commencement

    At the Commencement ceremony on Monday, May 18, Beschloss will receive an honorary degree, along with the other 2026 Penn honorary degree recipients.

    5 min. read

    The professor who moonlights as a songwriter
    Album cover for My Mother In Love's “The Summer Sessions”

    Professor Girlfriend’s debut album marks a shift from Anna Weesner’s prior work, situating her as part of a collaborative trio rather than as a composer.

    (Image: Courtesy of Anna Weesner)

    The professor who moonlights as a songwriter

    The musical trio Professor Girlfriend, which includes Anna Weesner, Dr. Robert Weiss Professor of Music in Penn's School of Arts & Sciences, bends genre and challenges boundaries with a new album, “My Mother In Love: The Summer Sessions.”

    From Omnia

    2 min. read

    Performing Bach and considering his world
    Hands playing a piano.

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  • Video

    • Performing Bach and considering his world

    Students in the Performance, Analysis, History class explore and perform on piano the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, regarded among history’s greatest composers. Taught by Jamuna Samuel and Yu Xi Wang, the class contextualizes and demystifies Bach through a historical and geographical lens.

    Two 2025 project grants and a fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
    A sculpture of a crocodile eatings its tail made in filament and resin.

    “White Ouroboros II” by Allison Janae Hamilton. The Institute for Contemporary Art will feature the first museum survey of the artist in the spring of 2027.

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    Two 2025 project grants and a fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

    WXPN and the Institute for Contemporary Art each received creative project grants and filmmaker Sosena Solomon, who teaches in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, was named a 2025 Pew Fellow.

    3 min. read

    The greatest cover songs, from Whitney Houston to Metallica
    Three people standing in a WXPN radio studio holding framed certificates, with a large WXPN sign and station branding visible in the background.

    WXPN's Mike Vasilikos, Midday host; Robert Drake, producer and Land of the Lost host; and Kristen Kurtis, Morning Show host, holding their results of the 885 Cover Songs Quiz, available at XPN.org as part of the 885 Greatest Cover Songs countdown.

    Image: Page Walter

    The greatest cover songs, from Whitney Houston to Metallica

    Through Dec. 11, WXPN counts down the 885 greatest covers, as voted by listeners.

    2 min. read

    Teaching creative Philadelphia youth career and entrepreneurship skills
    Meryl Krieger sits in a room of high school students.

    Meryl Krieger mentors high school students as part of her volunteering with the Philadelphia nonprofit Project 440.

    (Image: Courtesy of Meryl Krieger)

    Teaching creative Philadelphia youth career and entrepreneurship skills

    As a volunteer with the nonprofit after-school program Project 440, Meryl Krieger, a senior learning designer for the College of Liberal & Professional Studies, helps artistically minded high school students with life skills.

    2 min. read

    Yiddish lecturer Alexander Botwinik releases CD of Yiddish children’s songs

    Yiddish lecturer Alexander Botwinik releases CD of Yiddish children’s songs

    The tracks are sung by 22 children and adult singers, mostly native Yiddish speakers. The songs were originally published as part of the book “From Holocaust to Life,” a collection of Botwinik’s original solo and choral compositions.