On the first and second levels of the Penn Museum Library, visitors can view a collection of photographs by Penn students that reflect key themes from their fieldwork experiences in the past year. Contributing student photographers are from Penn's departments of Anthropology, Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, Classics/Ancient History, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and History of Art. Free with Penn ID.
Extended for summer viewing, “Revolution at Penn?” examines the formation of Penn, the debates that divided the school during the American Revolution, and the compromises that reorganized it as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. Several artifacts evoke the contentious era and provoke new questions about the place of universities in America, then and now. Open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A new exhibition curated by students in Penn's School of Arts & Sciences will explore the deep human history associated with the color blue. Into the Blue will span 4,000 years—displaying 20 objects from across the Penn Museum’s collections, including select artifacts from the Middle East, China, Africa, ancient Egypt, and Central America. The exhibition will examine three themes: Obtaining Blue, Making Blue, and Synthesizing Blue. On view through spring 2026. Included with Museum admission.
Supported by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, Shanina Dionna—a West Philadelphia-based visual and movement artist—is the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Paul Robeson House & Museum. Their residency will include a series of free workshops in collaboration with local visual artists, musicians, horticulturalists, entrepreneurs, clay makers, tea alchemists, yoga guides, and more. Register to attend individual sessions.
This symposium, organized by Penn’s Institute for Immunology and Immune Health (I3H), will include the presentation of several awards, as well as a trainee and poster session. The program will also include a keynote lecture from Ruslan Medzhitov, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, titled “Specificity, Reactivity, and Allergic Immunity.” Free and open to the Penn community.
In honor of Juneteenth, Squire Booker, a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, will share his presentation “From Southeast Texas to Penn: A Radical Approach to a Career in Science.” Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.
This webinar will explore how AI is transforming every corner of healthcare—from dental exams to home care, medical imaging to gerontology, and beyond. A panel of leading experts will examine the real-world impact of AI in their fields, the challenges of implementing AI responsibly in clinical settings, and the bold opportunities ahead. Free and open to the public.
Now in its fifth year, Black Music City continues to celebrate Philadelphia’s legacy of Black music and culture by investing in the future of its creatives. Attendees can enjoy performances from several visionary Black artists, including a special “bop dance” presentation.
A highly beloved train can always be found chugging along in his own section of the Morris Arboretum Garden Railway, but a few weekends a year he and his friends run free on all the tracks. This kid-friendly program is a great weekend activity for the whole family. Free with general admission.
The Philadelphia Juneteenth Parade and Festival, started by the Pennsylvania Juneteenth Initiative, is the largest annual celebration in the nation attended by thousands of people with a focus on continuing the tradition of Kujichagulia (self-determination). The annual celebration continues with a festival at the historic Malcolm X Park with over 250 vendors, a musical concert, and more.
This workshop explores the fundamentals of hand bookbinding, including basic sewing and paper-folding skills, vocabulary, and the use of bookbinding tools. Participants can apply learnings from this workshop to practice many other forms of bookbinding, including more advanced structures. Registration is required.
Participants in this self-directed scavenger hunt will try to find the heads of The Beatles band members in plants that are pollinated by beetles. Free with general admission.
Participants will discover how to leverage powerful Microsoft tools designed to streamline work and boost productivity. The session will be especially helpful for those whose jobs involve managing surveys, automating workflows, editing videos, or exploring AI. Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.
Participants will learn how two Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition semifinalists—Brian Carlson from Storytime AI and Adam Newman from Literacy Tree—have launched powerful new AI-powered platforms and tools to engage readers, better support teachers, build literacy skills, and inspire a love of reading.
During this year’s Wawa Welcome America Free Museum Day, the Penn Museum invites visitors to explore our shared humanity through 10,000 years of history—from the royalty of ancient Egypt and early cities in the Middle East to the vibrant cultures of Mexico and Central America and the lives of Native American communities today. Advanced registration is required to receive free tickets.
Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in two lush new meadows planted for this exhibition. Giant pollinator-inspired art will offer a creative touch with artists presenting works that capture the essence and importance of pollinators in the local ecosystem.
Participants can enjoy a screen-free study break featuring origami and other paper crafts. Free and open to the Penn community.
This hybrid talk, part of the Penn Bioethics Seminar Series, will foster a discussion on strategies for developing ethics curricula tailored to bioengineering students. The session will highlight the Department of Bioengineering’s Engineering Ethics Initiative, which aims to embed ethics into core technical courses. Registration is required.
On the first Tuesday of each month, World Cafe Live partners with REC Philly for an evening of musical collaboration, inspiration, and networking opportunities. This free, all-ages program will be hosted by Philadelphia-based musician Rae.Dianz. RSVP in advance to guarantee seating.
Known for stellar musicianship and dynamic live shows, West Philadelphia Orchestra is a brass band inspired by the Romani brass “orkestras” and “fanfares” of Eastern Europe. They will perform as part of Garden Jams, Penn Museum’s outdoor summer concert series.
Penn Flutes will perform as part of the Music in the Stacks series for their second performance in the Chemistry Library. Organized by the Department of Music and the Albrecht Music Library, “Music in the Stacks” brings Penn musicians into library spaces for drop-in, public performances. RSVP is encouraged for non-Penn card holders.
This exhibition continues the collaboration between ICA and New York-based textile studio Maharam, which invites artists to reimagine the windows of ICA’s façade. For the 2025-26 edition, Philadelphia-based artist Xenobia Bailey created a design that reflects her “Funktional” aesthetic and rooted in her decades-long fiber arts practice.
This exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art marks the first major museum survey dedicated to the work and life of Jamaican-born artist Mavis Pusey (1928-2019), an important figure in geometric abstraction, featuring over 60 artworks from her prolific 50-year career.
This tour highlights the sculptures that connect human art with the beauty of nature. Visitors will view garden art featured at the Morris Arboretum, which includes sculptures that have become featured in prominent places or tucked in the shade of a special tree. Free with Penn ID.
Hosted by Penn HR and Biddle Law Library, this festival will feature a day of lightning talks, Philadelphia food favorites, library crafts, contests, and prizes. Register to attend.
Known for their exceptional musicianship and genre-blending sound, Vertical Current fuses jazz, funk, soul, and gospel into an electrifying musical experience. A driving force in the Philadelphia music scene, the group will perform as part of Garden Jams, Penn Museum’s outdoor summer concert series.
Returning floral display “Exuberant Blooms” will burst with a riot of colors and fragrances in celebration of the variety and splendor of flowering plants. Hosted at the Hummingbird Hut all weekend long, visitors can partake in crafting, singing, and dancing to mark the fourth year of this Morris Arboretum summer program.
As part of Penn Carey Law’s Ad Hoc Workshop summer series, Seaman Family University Professor Karen Tani and Ph.D. student Christen Hammock Jones will present “Unwanted Histories: Personal Narratives and Constitutional Decisionmaking in Disability and Reproductive Rights.”
Renowned for their vibrant rhythms and infectious energy, Los Bomberos De La Calle is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich Afro-Caribbean traditions of Puerto Rico. A staple in Philadelphia’s local music scene, the band will perform as part of Garden Jams, Penn Museum’s outdoor summer concert series.
Participants will pot new plants for their homes and workplaces, can propagate any plants from home, and build community with fellow plant-lovers. Penn HR will provide miniature terracotta pots, soil, water, and other materials as needed. Lunch will be provided. Register to attend.
Participants will celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Post Office by making mail. Visitors can use the letterpress to print a quote from the first postmaster general Benjamin Franklin and pull from the Common Press’s rubber stamp collections to create mail art. Registration is required.
Recognized for their mesmerizing rhythms and dynamic live performances, Malidelphia fuses the traditional sounds of Mali—home to one of the richest musical legacies in West Africa—with the diverse and vibrant musical landscape of Philadelphia. Their performance will mark the Penn Museum’s final Garden Jams event of the 2025 summer season.
This walking tour will highlight natural and man-made water features throughout the Morris Arboretum, including natural streams, cascading waterfalls, and the striking Swan Pond, among others. Free with Penn ID.
The Kelly Writers House Activities Fair offers an opportunity to learn about student-led Writers House activities and initiatives, including magazines, writing groups, film production, and more. Attendees will have a chance to meet student leaders and representatives from numerous campus groups.
This student-run open mic night welcomes all kinds of readings and performances. A sign-up sheet will be available upon arrival, and participants will have three minutes at the podium to perform. Bring your poetry, your guitar, your dance troupe, your award-winning essay, or your flash fiction to share—or just visit to celebrate the work of classmates, colleagues, and fellow writers.
This day-long symposium will commemorate Elizabeth (Peggy) A. R. Brown’s extraordinary legacy in the field of Medieval Studies. The program will also mark the official launch of the Elizabeth A. R. Brown Medieval Historians’ archive, a new initiative at Penn Libraries to collect the professional papers of scholars of the Middle Ages.
Participants will learn about numerous tree species from around the world that can be found at the Morris Arboretum. The tour showcases trees from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Free with Penn ID.
This discussion will explore the intersections of English and history with a focus on common ground and disagreement. Al Filreis, Kelly Professor of English and faculty director of the Kelly Writers House at Penn, and William Sturkey, associate professor of history at Penn, will explore the question of how English and history can better equip each other as distinct forms of the writing arts.
A panel of Penn alumni journalists, writers, and editors will discuss media-related career paths, internships, graduate school opportunities, and more. The conversation, organized and hosted by the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize Advisory Committee, will provide insight around preparing for first jobs and careers in print, broadcast and online media, publishing, and similar fields.
The U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps were founded in Philadelphia in 1775 and will mark their 250th anniversary in October 2025. To coincide with the anniversary, this conference will unite scholars of various periods of U.S. history to discuss the Navy and Marine Corps in their respective contexts.
Penn GSE’s Learning, Teaching, and Literacies division will host Jane Lo, an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, who will share her research focus, “The Need for Grace and Forgiveness in Deliberation.” Lo’s scholarship involves studying the varied experiences of students in civic education. This talk is part of the 2024-25 Visiting Scholars Speaker Series.
The Division of Human Resources invites members of the Penn community who have served for 25 years or more to this annual celebration. Registration is required.