FAMILY DAY OF ACTIVITIES
“Let Freedom Ring” Event Honoring the March on Washington
Saturday, August 29 • 10 AM – 5 PM
Location: National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA
Enjoy a Saturday of free family activities at the National Constitution Center honoring the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 March on Washington.
Presented as part of the Association for Public Art’s Let Freedom Ring installation by Paul Ramírez Jonas at nearby Cherry Street Pier, the program features art-making workshops, craft projects, gallery activities, musical performances by Play On Philly students and Marian Anderson Historical Society Scholar Singers, and a special talk exploring the history of patriotic songs like “My Country ’Tis of Thee.”
HARVEST AND DEMONSTRATION
MATERIAL MATTERS: From Flax to Flaxcrete
Saturday, September 5 • 2 PM – 4 PM
Location: Maja Park, Philadelphia, PA
Join us in Maja Park on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for a community flax harvest and demonstration at Franklin Thread, the Association for Public Art’s 2026 Art on the Parkway installation by architect and Temple University professor Jeff Richards. We’ll harvest living flax and see Richards demonstrate how it’s transformed into “flaxcrete” blocks.
WALKING TOUR
Perspectives: Hidden Voices of the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial
Saturday, September 12 • 11 AM
Location: Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Join the Association of Public Art and guest Dejay B. Duckett—Arts Administrator, Curator, and Collections and Exhibitions Specialist—for a walking tour and conversation exploring the history and significance of the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial on Kelly Drive. Guests will examine how this remarkable monument came to be, whose stories it tells, whose voices remain hidden, and how our understanding of it continues to evolve.
This tour is presented as part of the Association for Public Art’s “Public Art Decoded” series. These tours are free and open to the public and are funded in part through the Powering the Arts initiative, with support from PECO, Team Pennsylvania, and PA Creative Industries.
WALKING TOUR
Public Art at America’s First Zoo
Saturday, September 19 • 11 AM
Location: Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA
Discover the collection of historic and contemporary animal sculptures that embellish and welcome visitors to the nation’s first zoo.
This walking tour explores the intertwined legacies of Philadelphia Zoo and the Association for Public Art (aPA)—both founded in the 1870s—and the ways in which aPA has helped place at least seven sculptures at the zoo by notable artists over many years. The tour will be led by aPA and zoo staff guides, as well as artist Darla Jackson, a contemporary sculptor of animal forms.
This tour is presented as part of the Association for Public Art’s “Public Art Decoded” series. These tours are free and open to the public and are funded in part through the Powering the Arts initiative, with support from PECO, Team Pennsylvania, and PA Creative Industries.
ON-SITE TALK
Louise Nevelson’s “Bicentennial Dawn” Up Close: A Birthday Tribute
Wednesday, September 23 • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Location: James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse, Philadelphia, PA
Join Maria Nevelson for a closer look at Bicentennial Dawn (1976), the monumental sculpture in Philadelphia by her grandmother, the iconic artist Louise Nevelson, created through the Art in Architecture Program of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). In honor of Louise Nevelson’s birthday on September 23, Maria Nevelson will share the history and significance of this “sculptural environment” that was unveiled at the dawn of the bicentennial, along with personal insights and memories of her grandmother and her work.
ARTIST TALK
Paul Ramírez Jonas
Wednesday, September 23 • 6 PM – 8 PM
Location: Village of Industry & Art, Philadelphia, PA
Hear artist Paul Ramírez Jonas discuss his monumental interactive sculpture Let Freedom Ring — on view in Philadelphia at Cherry Street Pier from June 4 – September 27, 2026 — with the Association for Public Art’s Charlotte Cohen and Monument Lab’s Paul Farber.
Presented by the Association for Public Art and Monument Lab.
WALKING TOUR
Public Art on the Parkway: American Perspectives (October)
Saturday, October 17 • 11 AM – 1 PM
Location: Begin at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Join us for a public art tour of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, co-led by the Association for Public Art and Lea Stephenson, curator at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA).
This tour is presented as part of A Nation of Artists, the joint exhibition of PAFA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and is also part of the Association for Public Art’s Public Art Decoded tour series. The 1.3-mile route highlights works by American artists along the stretch between the two institutions, exploring the range of styles and historical influences that shaped this iconic corridor of sculpture and public art.
“Public Art Decoded” tours are free and open to the public and are funded in part through the Powering the Arts initiative, with support from PECO, Team Pennsylvania, and PA Creative Industries.