Celebration of Life

June 4-8, 2025

1:00pm to 7:00pm daily

A Look Back at the Program

• Daily, June 4-8:

  • Alumni Performances + Community Open Mic 

  • Alumni Council Remarks

• Wednesday, June 4: Opening & Memory

  • Opening Procession + Musical Welcome

  • Grounding Ritual with Naila Francis from This Hallowed Wilderness

  • Altar Activation + Memory Wall

• Thursday, June 5: Grief

  • Grounding Ritual with Naila Francis from This Hallowed Wilderness

  • Space for Dialogue, Story Sharing + Remembrance

• Friday, June 6: Joy as Resistance

  • Grounding Ritual + Reflection with Song Aziza 

  • Memory Wall + Altar Offerings 

  • Celebrating Joyful Moments + Resistance

• Saturday, June 7: Transformation

  • Grounding Ritual + Reflection with Song Aziza 

  • BIGKID Dance: If I Die Before the Revolution

  • Just Sole Street Dance Theater Company Performance

  • DiasporaDNA: Releasing Grief, Reclaiming Power Story Altar

  • Affirmations, Shared Visioning + Legacy-Building

• Sunday, June 8: Legacy & Closure

  • Opening Ritual

  • Altar Deconstruction (all day)*

  • BIGKID Dance: If I Die Before the Revolution

  • Legacy Writing Table + Altar Offerings 

  • Closing Reflections, Offerings + Closing Procession

Photographer

Shoshana Isaacs

Video by Arsenal Mediaworks

Scout invited alumni, students, faculty, staff, neighbors, and all who were touched by UArts to help create a living memorial—a space to reflect, gather, and celebrate a place that shaped Philly’s cultural life for over a century. From June 4–8, 2025, this historic site became a sanctuary for music, poetry, movement, stillness, and story. An altar was built from salvaged UArts remnants will honor its legacy. On the final day of the event, these offerings were taken home by alumni + faculty as mementos of our collective history.

We acknowledge that this offering—however carefully considered—is incomplete. As the development and design team that acquired this building, we recognize the limits of our perspective and the shortcomings of this process. It is not our place to define this loss. We are merely the new custodians of a silence too large to sweep away.

We seek to honor the layered histories embedded in this place and acknowledge the lives of those who came before—while making space for new forms and uses to emerge. Our role is to look ahead. We imagine a future here that is resourceful, alive, and generous—a creative village that honors the past by remaining in motion and continuing to support working artists in new ways. We hope to use what is already here; the infrastructure, the equipment, the spirit of experimentation continues.

Thank you to all who contributed a memory, a performance, or a gesture—or simply came to witness. We are deeply grateful to the collaborators who helped shape this program with care and intention: 

BIGKID Dance**

Monica Montgomery, DiasporaDNA**

JustSole Street Dance Theater Company**

Naila Francis, This Hallowed Wilderness

Song Aziza**

UArts Alumni Council**

To the event production team at Scout: Brogan Austin, Carl Durkow, Cybele Kummer, Everett Abitbol, Hannah Baker**, Kelley Garrard, Lily Goodspeed, Lindsey Scannapieco, Prince De León**, Uwazi Zamani**, Whitney Joslin, Zach Sayles** + so many others—thank you for your time and your thoughtfulness in bringing this project to life.

**denotes UArts Alumni