Start Here: The 2025-26 Journey Arts Season Map
Both of my children are mapmakers. From early ages, they have been drawn to create outlines of their worlds. Sometimes it is a neighborhood map, marking out how to get to a friend’s house on scooter, with personally significant landmarks like my daughter’s school, our usual trolley stop, or where to get ice cream. Sometimes it is a room layout, but from a very specific vantage point — like my son lying on his bunk bed and drawing the furniture as mountains along the contours of the walls.
I am always amazed by these little picture worlds because they convey so much in a simple design. They declare — I am here and I see the world around me in my way. They suggest a point in time — the lines themselves are evidence of an age and a point of view. And they hint at a journey — there is always a starting point, a place where the mapmaker is now and a view of the possibilities for where to go, where to explore, where to find a new perspective.
This season at Journey Arts is unfolding a little like a map.
The starting point — that little star that declares You Are Here — is the November debut of MIWA.
Wandering through a visual village of Lunise Cerin’s filmed portraits of Haitian women, you’ll be led towards a jewel-box performance space where you can bask in the sounds of Talie Cerin’s chamber ensemble love letter to Haiti. Find your reflection here, or embrace the glittering reflection of another’s world.
In April, you can choose to step off the threshold and onto the map with the Journey Arts signature Table Sessions.
Bring friends, or make some new friends at the 8th iteration of this “hidden gem” performance/dinner/conversation series. Look for an announcement this fall about where the Table Sessions will take you this season.
And in June you can follow your own path to a place of belonging with To Be Here.
This art installation and story-based production literally traverses the globe, sharing the heart-stories of a group of Philadelphians making home a long way from home. A community-led performance and exhibit, the work is conceived and created by Lynda Grace Black and Magda Martinez.
