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
A phone in Philly’s Rail Park lets you speak to the dead
An old-fashioned rotary telephone, wired to nothing, encourages people to speak to their loved ones as a form of grief therapy.
3 years ago
Listen 1:24
A mythology for North Philly appears on construction fencing
The Village of Arts and Humanities developed a tarot deck that will inform the construction of a new art gallery.
3 years ago
Listen 1:33
‘Sublime’ folk sculptures by William Edmondson at the Barnes Foundation
Eight decades after his landmark exhibition at MOMA, William Edmondson’s “Monumental Vision” gets refreshed at the Barnes.
3 years ago
Listen 1:17
Philly artist wins $100K craft prize for her work remembering Black ancestors
Adebunmi Gbadebo makes work from materials sourced directly from her enslaved ancestors.
3 years ago
Listen 1:54
Going up the country: Crossing Choir sings the economics of food
The world premiere of Ted Hearne’s “FARMING” mashes up William Penn and Jeff Bezos to trace the history of American food production.
3 years ago
Listen 2:45
Contemporary art ‘reanimates’ historic sculpture garden on the Schuylkill River
Maren Hassinger’s “Steel Bodies” reanimates a vision of American history at the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial along the Schuylkill River.
3 years ago
Listen 1:27
New Philly children’s literacy event puts Juneteenth on the books
“Juneteenth - Celebrating Literary and Artistic Freedom” looks to the legacy of Black literacy.
3 years ago
Listen 1:26
Philadelphia Museum of Art may have original Vermeer in its vault
Scholars argue the Art Museum’s damaged “Lady with a Guitar” is not a copy of a 17th century Old Master, but the real deal.
3 years ago
Listen 1:23
The motherlode: Whistler’s iconic portrait is back in Philly after 142 years
The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s exhibition of the iconic portrait of American motherhood explains how it has European roots.
3 years ago
Listen 1:22
This Philly play about a struggling bookstore is helping real bookstores
The play about a 1,000-year-old novelist visiting a struggling bookstore was going to be staged in a bookstore. But the store closed.
3 years ago
Listen 1:51
Cherry Street Pier invites visitors to step inside the youth criminal justice system
The #NoKidsInPrison exhibition advocates for alternatives to youth incarceration through virtual reality and immersive environments.
3 years ago
Listen 1:31
Opal Lee, ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth,’ raises the holiday flag in Philly
Opal Lee, 96, of Fort Worth, Texas, came to Philadelphia to mark the federal holiday she is credited with creating.
3 years ago