Kensington Storefront

The Kensington Storefront, located at 3208 Kensington Avenue, is a hub of artistic healing in Kensington. Through programming run at other venues and projects led by community curators out of the home base, this Porch Light storefront provides services and opportunities for creative expression to people across the community.

In 2021, the Kensington Storefront launched a community curator program, distributing grants to neighborhood residents chosen by the Storefront’s community advisory panel. These curators do work directly out of the storefront space with members of the Kensington community. To be added to the Kensington Storefront newsletter list to be updated on activities in the community, email jeffrey.evans@muralarts.org.

The Kensington Storefront is working with several partners to offer site-specific programming, including McPherson Library, the Community Center at Visitation, and Impact Veterans. Any organizations or individuals interested in partnering with the Kensington Storefront on community programming are welcome to reach out to Jeffrey Evans at jeffrey.evans@muralarts.org.

The Kensington Storefront builds on the work done in other parts of Porch Light, an ongoing partnership between Mural Arts, and the City’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIdS). Over the past five years, Mural Arts has expanded its impact in neighborhoods with the development and maintenance of storefront hubs, such as Southeast by Southeast in South Philadelphia, and Northeast Passage in Northeast Philadelphia. These physical spaces have paved the way for better connections with local communities and organizations, thanks to a dedicated footprint and extended time for interactions with staff and artists.

There are many organizations engaged in Kensington, all working toward uplifting the resilience of a community fractured by substance use, crime, and housing insecurity. The storefront serves as a workshop for visiting artists, a safe space for neighbors, and a learning hub for anyone interested in art-making, personal and public safety, or self-care—but it also serves as a hub for area organizations, with the intention of working more effectively together. Public programming at the storefront and in various locations throughout Kensington creates opportunities for community members to speak for themselves in a profoundly public way, and connects individuals to organizations that provide services and referrals that they might not otherwise encounter.