Announcing the Paul Robeson House & Museum x Sachs Program Artist-in-Residence and 2025 West Philadelphia Creative Grant Awards
May 22, 2025
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Paul Robeson House & Museum, West Philadelphia Arts Council, and The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania are happy to announce the inaugural Paul Robeson House & Museum x Sachs Program Artist-in-Residence and the 2025 West Philadelphia Creative Grant Awards, providing $45,000 to support eighteen West Philadelphia artists and creative organizations.
Paul Robeson House & Museum x Sachs Program Artist-in-Residence
shanina dionna has been selected as the inaugural Paul Robeson House & Museum x Sachs Program for Arts Innovation Artist-in-Residence. shanina (she/they) is a West Philadelphia-based visual and movement artist, certified Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy facilitator, and founder of the non-profit youth arts program ARTbuds Philly.
Her residency, titled “Free Transform,” will include a series of workshops in the newly renovated Frances P. Aulston Annex of the Paul Robeson House & Museum at 50th and Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Residency programs will be free and open to the public with RSVP and led in collaboration with local visual artists, musicians, horticulturalists, entrepreneurs, clay makers, tea alchemists, yoga guides, and more.
We are so excited to be working with shanina as our inaugural artist-in-residence. Her activation of our renovated suite is sure to be a site for collaboration, healing, and joy.
— Riley Jones IV, Interim Executive Director, Paul Robeson House & Museum
During the residency, shanina will offer open studio hours for visitors, which the artist will announce on Instagram (@shaninadionna). Be sure to join the artist also for the culminating event of the residency, to take place on June 28, 2025, from 5–8 PM at the Paul Robeson House & Museum.
2025 West Philadelphia Creative Grant Awards
West Philadelphia Creative Grants provide up to $2,500 for artistic projects and cultural activities and direct operating support for individual artists and organizations in West Philadelphia. For the 2025 West Philadelphia Creative Grants, the West Philadelphia Arts Council has awarded eighteen grant recipients a total of $45,000 in support. The complete list of recipients and project descriptions is available on the Paul Robeson House & Museum website.
Awarded projects include a community-based initiative to foster a sense of belonging and well-being through sound and music, community play sessions with Theatre in the X, a book on Afrofuturist design, and the West Philadelphia Quilt Show. The wide range of these projects underscores the depths of the creativity that runs through West Philadelphia.
Local creative grants like these are more than impactful, they are intentional. Now more than ever, it’s important to fund grassroots projects from these deserving recipients that foster a better sense of community and love for the arts.
— Ernest Owens, President of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists
This announcement marks the second round of West Philadelphia Creative Grants awarded. In September 2024, The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and the Paul Robeson House & Museum announced the first round of West Philadelphia Creative Grant awards, providing $40,000 in support of sixteen West Philadelphia artists and creative organizations.
West Philadelphia Arts Initiative
West Philadelphia Creative Grants and the Paul Robeson House & Museum x Sachs Program Artist Residency are managed by the West Philadelphia Arts Council and administered by the Paul Robeson House & Museum with support from The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation. These activities are key components of the West Philadelphia Arts Initiative, with lead support provided by the William Penn Foundation.
William Penn Foundation
The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is committed to expanding access to resources and opportunities that promote a more vital and just city and region for all. The foundation does this through funding programs in the Philadelphia region in arts and culture, children and families, democracy and civic initiatives, environment and public space, and workforce training and services.
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation is a key advocate and critical support system for the arts at the University of Pennsylvania. The Sachs Program promotes creative practices and practitioners across all university schools and programs, arts and cultural centers, and through the many partnerships and collaborations that connect Penn to the world at large.