Welcome to the newest series of Streets Dept tours! Experiential PHL Tours dive deeper into Philadelphia's various arts scenes in partnership with artists and studios to offer one-of-a-kind guided experiences.
ABOUT THIS TOUR, THE SECOND HALF: The second half of this tour will take us into the Bella Vista studios of Meg Saligman to meet and talk with the award-winning artist and muralist and partake in her newly opened art experience, FIGMAGO. An immersive Alice in Wonderland-like maze of murals, FIGMAGO is part escape room adventure, part art installation, and wholly unlike anything else I've ever seen in Philly. (This portion of the tour includes a specialty cocktail!)
ABOUT THIS TOUR, THE FIRST HALF: The first half of this tour will start at one of my favorite galleries in Philadelphia, Paradigm Gallery + Studio, where we'll take a look at their latest exhibition and meet with Ginger Rudolph of the Philly-based arts journal, HAHA Magazine. Ginger will talk about her partnership with Paradigm, called HAHA x Paradigm, that has resulted in the creation of dozens of murals and art installations (both big and small) over the last five years all around the Bella Vista and Queen Village neighborhoods. We'll then walk to check out some of these public artworks on our way to Meg Saligman's studio and FIGMAGO!
ABOUT YOUR GUIDE: My name's Conrad Benner, and I'm a Philly-born photographer, curator, and the founder of StreetsDept.com, an award winning photo-blog that's been discovering art on streets of Philadelphia since 2011. Over the years, I have been named Philly's ‘Best Art Curator’ by Philadelphia Magazine, and my blog named one of the ‘Best Blogs for Travellers’ by The Guardian. I have a passion for art in the public space and the role it plays in our hearts and minds; in fact, you can read my blog's full purpose statement here.
A quick note on the ticket price: If you've attended one of my 2nd Saturday Street Art Tours or one of my Happy Hour Mural Tours in the past, then you'll likely notice that the price for these tickets is higher. That's due to the partnership nature of these tours! In short, we're paying the staff of FIGMAGO to stay open and offer us a private tour, so I needed to work that cost into the tickets.
Can't wait to share this kick-off experiential tour with y'all, hope you'll join us!
(Spoiler Alert: No, that's not an ordinary bookcase to the left. But can you guess what it is?)