We Are Here

As you await season two of We Are Here, check out a new podcast series from our partners at PA Humanities: "Re-vision: Conversations about our Constitution"

What a ride it's been! In this installment, we chat with PA Humanities' Laurie Zierer about her growing passion for podcasts, some favorite moments from season one, and what's coming next.

A "main street think tank" is bringing people together in Northwestern Pennsylvania, providing a space for deep conversations, community engagement, and growth. The Jefferson Educational Society is also listening, expanding their reach into new towns and neighborhoods.

They certainly can, whether it's through an innovative, low-tech museum or via oral histories of recent generations. In our latest episode, we talk about how Pennsylvania institutions in Gettysburg and Philadelphia are bringing young people into the process of preserving the past.

You could call York, Pennsylvania a hidden gem. This historic city in the south central region of the state, set amid the rolling hills and small towns of the county of the same name, has a thriving arts community. From downtown galleries to a lively music scene to myriad performance opportunities, this is a place where creative people thrive. In this episode, we speak Gregory DeCandia, artistic director of DreamWrights Center for Community Arts in York, where he is collecting the stories of 100 locals and transforming those interviews into a play. It’s just one example of how artistic energy can help a place tell its own story, and boost the local community.

For thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers, the Lenape thrived in the Delaware Valley. Centuries of displacement followed, and now a repatriation project aims to heal old wounds. In this installment, we speak with Jeremy Johnson, Cultural Education Director of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and Doug Miller, site administrator of Pennsbury Manor historic site in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, about giving the tribe’s ancestral remains and artifacts a final resting place.

There are many ways to build community. In the Adams County, Pennsylvania, they used live performance and storytelling in a program called "The People Project". This year’s theme, explored during an event this past October, was “My Place at the Table.” Essays, music, and visual art pieces explored the connections between food, cultural traditions and family dynamics, while also tackling bigger ideas: Who gets a place at the table? How do you find your voice? To tell us more about it, we’re joined by Lisa Cadigan, executive director of the Adams County Arts Council, and Dr. Rukhsana Rahman, a local physician and enthusiastic participant in the program.

Philadelphia has long been a city of immigrants — over the last four centuries, families have arrived here from England, Ireland, Italy, Central America, Mexico, Vietnam, Cambodia, West Africa. From all over the world. They have left their mark on this place through enduring cultural institutions, murals, architectural styles, regional slang, and of course water ice and weekend barbacoa. Lucky for us, people are still coming here — and there are organizations ready to welcome them. In this episode, we spoke with two such groups, both committed to the idea that staying connected to one’s culture is an important way to feel at home in a new country.

What do you think of when you think of the library? Is it being a child? Filling your arms with stacks of books that reached past your chin? Is it visiting a grand place, like the main branch of the Philadelphia Public Library, to do your first real research? Or is it eagerly attending weekly storytime with a young child, happy to be out of the house and among fellow soldiers in the parenting trenches?But as the world changes, so do libraries. Whether it’s organizing board game nights, loaning out wi-fi hot spots, or encouraging conversation — no need to whisper — Pennsylvania’s libraries, and the people who work there, are ready for what’s coming next. To discuss the continuous evolution of these essential community spaces, we spoke with John Pappas, a reference librarian at Ludington Library in Lower Merion, and Linda Capozello, Director of Advancement and Communications at Reading Public Library.

In this episode, we’re headed back to nature. The Farm Arts Collective is based in Damascus, Pennsylvania, a town on the banks of the Delaware River in the northeastern corner of the state. Part organic farm, part immersive theater venue and education hub, this bucolic property operates at the intersection of so many essential challenges. How do we grow food in a way that preserves the environment? How do we take action on climate change? Can art and engagement transform a society? And can a perfect heirloom tomato win hearts and change minds? To tackle these big questions, host Lee Stabert is joined by Farm Arts Collective Artistic Director Tannis Kowalchuk and Company Manager Jess Beveridge.

In the first episode, we’re heading to Millvale, Pennsylvania, a town of about 4,000 people right over the 40th Street Bridge from Pittsburgh. The riverside hamlet is home to an incredible series of church murals by Maxo Vanka. The Croatian-American artist explored themes of inequality, war, and justice in his intense, colorful work. Now a dedicated group of art-lovers, activists, educators, scientists, lighting designers, and parishioners have committed themselves to the preservation, promotion, and exploration of these remarkable works. It’s all part of an exciting new energy bubbling up in this historic town.

Created in partnership with PA Humanities, this podcast is all about Pennsylvanians making their mark. To get you excited about the conversations to come, we’re chatting with Dawn Frisby Byers, the organization’s senior director of content and engagement. In this short intro episode, she helps us define “humanities” and illuminates just how their work helps communities thrive.