WHYY’s arts and culture reporter Peter Crimmins first became interested in radio in the fourth grade, when he smuggled a contraband crystal-diode radio into the Boy Scout summer camp. Subsequent radio projects were more successful.
Crimmins has been reporting on arts and culture for WHYY News since 2010, as well as filing award-winning radio and print stories locally and nationally. He started his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, cutting his teeth at community station KALX and producing syndicated radio programming for Ben Manilla Productions. He lives in Fishtown with his wife and two dogs.
More from the Contributor
‘52 weeks of Firsts’: Philadelphia prepares for 2026 by making a list of firsts
City tourism leaders want your help compiling a list of Philly firsts to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
17 hours ago
Listen 1:12
Brother vs. brother: InterAct Theatre’s ‘Rift’ experiments with radical empathy in Philadelphia
The two actors playing brothers trying to bridge irreconcilable racial differences switch roles every night.
5 days ago
Raising the dead: PATCO Franklin Square ghost station reopens after 46 years
The train station beneath Franklin Square park has been closed since 1979. A $29.3 million renovation wakes it up to a new neighborhood.
6 days ago
The seriously whimsical art of writer Kurt Vonnegut is on view at Drexel University
The novelist who died in 2007 wrote novels for more than 50 years, while also making drawings on the side. Drexel opened an exhibition of two dozen.
1 week ago
Listen 1:10
“Philadelphia in Color: 1950 - 1990,” coming in 2026, will feature candid snapshots submitted by the public.
1 week ago
Listen 1:20
Shakespeare goes up the country in ‘Ballad of King Henry’ at Swarthmore’s Players Club
A version of “King Henry IV” adapted into Americana folk songs is getting its world premiere.
2 weeks ago
Listen 3:18
Dozens of miniature ships moored inside Philadelphia’s Seaport Museum for its new exhibition
“Small but Mighty” is an armada of toys and models representing 400 years of maritime history.
2 weeks ago
Listen 1:38
The end of Macy’s closes the chapter on the Wanamaker Building. A look back at a Philly landmark
The building at 13th and Market streets has been a department store for 149 years. The legacy of Philly’s proud retail history is scattered around the city.
3 weeks ago
Listen 1:11
“Beards on Ice,” about climate change, was mocked on Fox News in December. The cabaret group's artistic director hopes the negative attention heightens her message.
3 weeks ago
Listen 1:16
Philly arts organizations are navigating stormy federal funding guidelines
As the National Endowment for the Arts tries to comply with the shifting legal status of Trump’s executive orders, arts organizations are struggling to keep up.
3 weeks ago
Listen 1:31
Detroit, Chicago and Philly street dancing represented in Rennie Harris’ new performance
The Philly-raised choreographer pulled together dancers from three cities to show how street dancing evolves in different places.
4 weeks ago
Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Picaflor: A Future Myth” digs into ancient Peruvian mythology to tell a story about the future.
4 weeks ago
Listen 2:41