Arts & Culture | University of Pennsylvania
Source: https://upenn.edu/life-at-penn/arts
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:13
Arts & Culture | University of Pennsylvania
Skip to main content
Go to site search
Go to primary navigation
Go to resources navigation
Arts at Penn
The arts at Penn represent both personal inquiry and collective responsibility: they cultivate individual voice while acting as a powerful vehicle for collaboration, civic engagement, and world-making.
Visit Arts art Penn
Penn Museum
The Penn Museum advances understanding of the world’s cultural heritage through its extensive research, collections, exhibitions, and educational programming.
Arthur Ross Gallery
Serving as a rich cultural resource for students, scholars, and the community, the Arthur Ross Gallery presents global art and artifacts through gallery exhibitions, scholarship, and educational outreach.
Institute of Contemporary Art
The Institute of Contemporary Art believes in the power of art and artists to inform and inspire. The ICA is free for all to engage and connect with the art of our time.
Penn Live Arts
Penn Live Arts is a major cultural destination and crossroads in the performing arts, connecting regional audiences and the University through exposure to innovative human expression in theater, music, and dance.
Penn Glee Club
The Inspiration
Arts House Dance Company
Onda Latina and The Inspiration Collaboration
Penn Six
Platt Performing Arts House
Platt Student Performing Arts House
offers a supportive programmatic home for creative exploration and expression, advising and training students pursuing their extra-curricular passions for the performing arts and those preparing for a career in the arts.
Explore
Events Calendar
Performing Arts Groups
Performing Arts Council
Academic Programs
Anthropology
is the involved social science. It is both scientifically rooted and actively engaged and moves with the times. It makes a difference, and produces global awareness.
Housed at Meyerson Hall, the
Architecture department
includes design studios, exhibition spaces, classrooms, state of the art laboratories for computing and fabrication, and two advanced research labs.
The
Penn Cinema Studies
major and minor are traditional humanities programs involving the critical study of film history, theory, and aesthetics, rather than film or video production.
The
Program in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory
at Penn is a dynamic and congenial intellectual community that brings members together through common interests.
The goal of
Computer Graphics and Game Technology
is to expose recent graduates, as well as students returning from industry, to state-of-the-art graphics and animation technologies, as well as interactive media design principles, product development methodologies, and engineering entrepreneurship.
Creative Writing
offers writing workshops every semester in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as screenwriting, playwriting, journalism, and writing for children.
The
Digital Media Design program
is an interdisciplinary major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) that combines courses offered in the SEAS Department of Computer and Information Science, the Annenberg School, and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
Fine Arts
is a comprehensive program, housed in the Weitzman School that offers both the undergraduate Fine Arts Major and the graduate Master of Fine Arts degree.
The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation
provides an integrated approach for architects, landscape architects, planners, historians, archaeologists, conservators, managers, and other professionals to understand, sustain, and transform the existing environment.
The Department of the History of Art
is home to an undergraduate program with extensive academic offerings and opportunities, as well as a renowned graduate program which draws faculty from across the University, deeply enriching its scholarly breadth.
The department of Landscape Architecture
advances its legacy through its commitment to innovative design as informed by ecology, the history of ideas, techniques of construction, new media, and contemporary urbanism.
The Department of Music
offers outstanding courses and performing ensembles that are open to all Penn undergraduates, as well as graduate programs in composition, musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory.
The Theatre Arts Program
at Penn offers students the opportunity to study theater in the classroom and in production work under the guidance of faculty members who are experienced and trained actors, directors, scholars, and teachers.
The Visual Studies major
was created in 2003 to give students direct engagement with new technologies and philosophies of vision through a multidisciplinary course of study that connects the theory, practice, and culture of seeing.
Cultural Institutions
The
Annenberg Center
is a major cultural destination and crossroads in the performing arts, connecting regional audiences and the University through exposure to innovative human expression in theater, music, and dance.
Serving as a rich cultural resource for students, scholars, and the community, the
Arthur Ross Gallery
presents global art and artifacts through gallery exhibitions, scholarship, and educational outreach.
The
Institute of Contemporary Art
believes in the power of art and artists to inform and inspire. The ICA is free for all to engage and connect with the art of our time.
Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, the
Kelly Writers House
is a large Gothic cottage on Locust Walk that serves as a center for writers of all kinds from Penn and the Philadelphia region.
The Morris Arboretum
is a historic public garden and educational institution. A short drive or train ride from campus, the Arboretum hosts a full slate of programs that integrate science, art and the humanities.
The University Library
that Benjamin Franklin founded — one of the first in the country — is the only Penn institution to have been in continuous operation since 1750.
The Penn Museum
advances understanding of the world's cultural heritage through its extensive research, collections, exhibitions, and educational programming.
Established in 1890,
the Penn Press
publishes groundbreaking and enduring scholarly work in a focused editorial program across the humanities and social sciences.
A supportive home for creative exploration and expression,
Platt Performing Arts House
advises and trains students preparing for a career in the performing arts as well as those pursuing an extracurricular passion in the field.
Providing grants and other forms of strategic support to artists, faculty, students, cultural centers, and other arts advocates at Penn,
The Sachs Program
’s vision is to value and embrace the arts as a creative catalyst, driving innovation, inspiration, and action.
The
Wolf Humanities Center
promotes cultural conversation among artists, academics, and the general public that considers how the humanities are linked with many areas of inquiry in medicine, law, business, and the social sciences.
Listener-supported public radio from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jan
1
Exhibits
Entryways: Xenobia Bailey (Through Aug. 9)
All Day
Through 8/9/2026
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St.
Jan
14
Exhibits
Re/Make History: Crafting the Past with 21st-Century Tech
All Day
Through 6/19/2026
Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
Jan
31
Exhibits
Exhibit: A World in the Making–The Shakers
All Day
Through 8/9/2026
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St.
Feb
28
Exhibits
Ancient Egypt in Watercolors
All Day
Through 11/1/2026
Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
Mar
19
Exhibits
Exhibit: ‘in case of fire, speak’ (Through July 6)
All Day
Through 7/6/2026
Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St.
Mar
28
Exhibits
Allison Zuckerman: Remixed and Reclaimed
All Day
Through 3/18/2027
Fisher Fine Arts Library, 220 S. 34th St.
See All Events
Arts & Culture News
Weitzman Hall, renewed and expanded, celebrated at opening ceremony
The Penn community gathered to celebrate the opening of Weitzman Hall, the Weitzman School of Design’s first new building in nearly 60 years.
2/9/2026
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.
12/8/2025
Native North America Gallery opens at the Penn Museum
In partnership with eight Indigenous consulting curators, the newly renovated 2,000 sq. ft. gallery features more than 250 archaeological, historic, and contemporary items from the Museum’s North American collections.
11/21/2025
Monumental sculpture celebrated on Penn’s campus
A generous gift from alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman brings the work of internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa to the University of Pennsylvania. The latest addition to the Penn Art Collection expands Philadelphia's public art.
11/11/2025
Stay up to date with Penn Today
Find more arts and culture news, and so much more, on Penn Today’s website. You can also get Penn Today delivered straight to your inbox.
Visit Penn Today
Explore Life at Penn
Arts & Culture
Community Involvement
Groups & Organizations
Health & Wellness
Housing & Dining
Penn & Philadelphia
Safety & Security
Spirituality & Religion
Skip to main content
Go to site search
Go to primary navigation
Go to resources navigation
Arts at Penn
The arts at Penn represent both personal inquiry and collective responsibility: they cultivate individual voice while acting as a powerful vehicle for collaboration, civic engagement, and world-making.
Visit Arts art Penn
Penn Museum
The Penn Museum advances understanding of the world’s cultural heritage through its extensive research, collections, exhibitions, and educational programming.
Arthur Ross Gallery
Serving as a rich cultural resource for students, scholars, and the community, the Arthur Ross Gallery presents global art and artifacts through gallery exhibitions, scholarship, and educational outreach.
Institute of Contemporary Art
The Institute of Contemporary Art believes in the power of art and artists to inform and inspire. The ICA is free for all to engage and connect with the art of our time.
Penn Live Arts
Penn Live Arts is a major cultural destination and crossroads in the performing arts, connecting regional audiences and the University through exposure to innovative human expression in theater, music, and dance.
Penn Glee Club
The Inspiration
Arts House Dance Company
Onda Latina and The Inspiration Collaboration
Penn Six
Platt Performing Arts House
Platt Student Performing Arts House
offers a supportive programmatic home for creative exploration and expression, advising and training students pursuing their extra-curricular passions for the performing arts and those preparing for a career in the arts.
Explore
Events Calendar
Performing Arts Groups
Performing Arts Council
Academic Programs
Anthropology
is the involved social science. It is both scientifically rooted and actively engaged and moves with the times. It makes a difference, and produces global awareness.
Housed at Meyerson Hall, the
Architecture department
includes design studios, exhibition spaces, classrooms, state of the art laboratories for computing and fabrication, and two advanced research labs.
The
Penn Cinema Studies
major and minor are traditional humanities programs involving the critical study of film history, theory, and aesthetics, rather than film or video production.
The
Program in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory
at Penn is a dynamic and congenial intellectual community that brings members together through common interests.
The goal of
Computer Graphics and Game Technology
is to expose recent graduates, as well as students returning from industry, to state-of-the-art graphics and animation technologies, as well as interactive media design principles, product development methodologies, and engineering entrepreneurship.
Creative Writing
offers writing workshops every semester in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as screenwriting, playwriting, journalism, and writing for children.
The
Digital Media Design program
is an interdisciplinary major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) that combines courses offered in the SEAS Department of Computer and Information Science, the Annenberg School, and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
Fine Arts
is a comprehensive program, housed in the Weitzman School that offers both the undergraduate Fine Arts Major and the graduate Master of Fine Arts degree.
The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation
provides an integrated approach for architects, landscape architects, planners, historians, archaeologists, conservators, managers, and other professionals to understand, sustain, and transform the existing environment.
The Department of the History of Art
is home to an undergraduate program with extensive academic offerings and opportunities, as well as a renowned graduate program which draws faculty from across the University, deeply enriching its scholarly breadth.
The department of Landscape Architecture
advances its legacy through its commitment to innovative design as informed by ecology, the history of ideas, techniques of construction, new media, and contemporary urbanism.
The Department of Music
offers outstanding courses and performing ensembles that are open to all Penn undergraduates, as well as graduate programs in composition, musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory.
The Theatre Arts Program
at Penn offers students the opportunity to study theater in the classroom and in production work under the guidance of faculty members who are experienced and trained actors, directors, scholars, and teachers.
The Visual Studies major
was created in 2003 to give students direct engagement with new technologies and philosophies of vision through a multidisciplinary course of study that connects the theory, practice, and culture of seeing.
Cultural Institutions
The
Annenberg Center
is a major cultural destination and crossroads in the performing arts, connecting regional audiences and the University through exposure to innovative human expression in theater, music, and dance.
Serving as a rich cultural resource for students, scholars, and the community, the
Arthur Ross Gallery
presents global art and artifacts through gallery exhibitions, scholarship, and educational outreach.
The
Institute of Contemporary Art
believes in the power of art and artists to inform and inspire. The ICA is free for all to engage and connect with the art of our time.
Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, the
Kelly Writers House
is a large Gothic cottage on Locust Walk that serves as a center for writers of all kinds from Penn and the Philadelphia region.
The Morris Arboretum
is a historic public garden and educational institution. A short drive or train ride from campus, the Arboretum hosts a full slate of programs that integrate science, art and the humanities.
The University Library
that Benjamin Franklin founded — one of the first in the country — is the only Penn institution to have been in continuous operation since 1750.
The Penn Museum
advances understanding of the world's cultural heritage through its extensive research, collections, exhibitions, and educational programming.
Established in 1890,
the Penn Press
publishes groundbreaking and enduring scholarly work in a focused editorial program across the humanities and social sciences.
A supportive home for creative exploration and expression,
Platt Performing Arts House
advises and trains students preparing for a career in the performing arts as well as those pursuing an extracurricular passion in the field.
Providing grants and other forms of strategic support to artists, faculty, students, cultural centers, and other arts advocates at Penn,
The Sachs Program
’s vision is to value and embrace the arts as a creative catalyst, driving innovation, inspiration, and action.
The
Wolf Humanities Center
promotes cultural conversation among artists, academics, and the general public that considers how the humanities are linked with many areas of inquiry in medicine, law, business, and the social sciences.
Listener-supported public radio from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jan
1
Exhibits
Entryways: Xenobia Bailey (Through Aug. 9)
All Day
Through 8/9/2026
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St.
Jan
14
Exhibits
Re/Make History: Crafting the Past with 21st-Century Tech
All Day
Through 6/19/2026
Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
Jan
31
Exhibits
Exhibit: A World in the Making–The Shakers
All Day
Through 8/9/2026
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St.
Feb
28
Exhibits
Ancient Egypt in Watercolors
All Day
Through 11/1/2026
Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
Mar
19
Exhibits
Exhibit: ‘in case of fire, speak’ (Through July 6)
All Day
Through 7/6/2026
Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St.
Mar
28
Exhibits
Allison Zuckerman: Remixed and Reclaimed
All Day
Through 3/18/2027
Fisher Fine Arts Library, 220 S. 34th St.
See All Events
Arts & Culture News
Weitzman Hall, renewed and expanded, celebrated at opening ceremony
The Penn community gathered to celebrate the opening of Weitzman Hall, the Weitzman School of Design’s first new building in nearly 60 years.
2/9/2026
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.
12/8/2025
Native North America Gallery opens at the Penn Museum
In partnership with eight Indigenous consulting curators, the newly renovated 2,000 sq. ft. gallery features more than 250 archaeological, historic, and contemporary items from the Museum’s North American collections.
11/21/2025
Monumental sculpture celebrated on Penn’s campus
A generous gift from alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman brings the work of internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa to the University of Pennsylvania. The latest addition to the Penn Art Collection expands Philadelphia's public art.
11/11/2025
Stay up to date with Penn Today
Find more arts and culture news, and so much more, on Penn Today’s website. You can also get Penn Today delivered straight to your inbox.
Visit Penn Today
Explore Life at Penn
Arts & Culture
Community Involvement
Groups & Organizations
Health & Wellness
Housing & Dining
Penn & Philadelphia
Safety & Security
Spirituality & Religion