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.
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Peacocks and giraffes and snails, Oh my! Philly zoo installs plant-based sculptures of giant animals
The five “ZOOtopiaries” drive home the connections between plants and animals.
2 months ago
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‘BOOM’: Philly Art Museum explodes with 1940s art and design
“BOOM” examines a lesser-acknowledged decade for creative innovation.
2 months ago
Philly leaders want to know: What do you want the city’s arts to look like?
A series of a dozen town hall-style planning sessions by Creative Philadelphia will inform the city’s first comprehensive cultural report.
2 months ago
‘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.
2 months ago
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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.
2 months 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.
2 months 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.
2 months ago
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“Philadelphia in Color: 1950 - 1990,” coming in 2026, will feature candid snapshots submitted by the public.
2 months ago
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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 months ago
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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.
3 months ago
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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 months ago
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“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 months ago
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