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
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
Penn Museum shows what ancient worlds tasted like
“Ancient Food and Flavor” features rare artifacts of food to show what people ate millenia ago, and how it tasted.
3 years ago
After a fire, the hole in Rittenhouse Square’s corridor is filled with a beer garden
Three retail buildings were destroyed during social unrest after George Floyd was killed. A new beer garden now fills that commercial hole.
3 years ago
Listen 1:17
Of basketball with gratitude: Ross Gay’s paean to Dr. J becomes a multimedia performance
Ross Gay’s ode to Julius Erving and the legacy of Black genius is the basis of a new music composition and performance at Girard College.
3 years ago
Listen 2:13
Philadelphia Orchestra serenades therapy horses at Pegasus Riding Academy
A trio of brass players performed at a riding academy that offers equestrian therapy.
3 years ago
Listen 2:15