The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation
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Kelly Writers House

Kelly Writers House Arts Cafe.

Kelly Writers House’s Arts Café, where they’ve been hosting programs for twenty three years, recently underwent a renovation, increasing seating capacity and making it easier to live stream many of the more than one hundred and fifty events hosted each semester.

Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Kelly Writers House is an actual 13-room house at 3805 Locust Walk on Penn’s campus that serves as a center for writers of all kinds from Penn and the Philadelphia region at large. Each semester the Writers House hosts approximately 150 public programs and projects –poetry readings, film screenings, seminars, web magazines, lectures, dinners, radio broadcasts, workshops, art exhibits, and musical performances—and about 500 people visit the House each week. They work, write, and collaborate in seminar rooms, a publications room, the “hub” office, a cozy living room, a dining room, a kitchen with plenty of space for conversation, and “the Arts Cafe,” the wonderfully open south-facing room that was originally the parlor.

Kelly Writers House’s Arts Café, where they’ve been hosting programs for 23 years, recently underwent a renovation. By enclosing the front porch and investing in audio-visual technology, they’ve been able increase seating capacity and make it easier to live stream events. Given the popularity of KWH’s programming, these improvements were necessary! Yet, with all these changes, they’ve still maintained the integrity and aura of this historic building.

3805 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Phone: 215-746-POEM (7636)

Email: wh@writing.upenn.edu

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More Spaces & Places

  • Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
  • Architectural Archives / Harvey & Irwin Kroiz Gallery
  • Arthur Ross Gallery
  • Common Press
  • Fisher Fine Arts Library
  • Institute of Contemporary Art
  • Kelly Writers House
  • Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts
  • Morris Arboretum
  • Penn Museum
  • Platt Student Performing Arts House
  • The Rotunda
  • Wolf Humanities Center
  • WXPN and World Café Live

The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation

John McInerney (he/him)
Executive Director
215-573-0874
mcinernj@upenn.edu

Chloe Reison (she/her)
Associate Director
215-573-2159
reison@upenn.edu

Elizabeth Shaw (she/her)
Administrative Assistant
215-898-5930
elizshaw@upenn.edu

The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation offices are located at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

3680 Walnut Street
Philadelphia PA

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