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Experience Center City

From the Avenue of the Arts and its storied theaters to beloved gathering spots like Rittenhouse Square and Dilworth Park, Center City offers something for everyone: events, seasonal attractions, and sweeping views of historic City Hall. Pair that with world-class museums and a vibrant nightlife scene, and it's a destination unlike any other.

The latest arts, culture, and entertainment events

Barnes Foundation: PECO Free First Sunday Family Day

First Sunday of every month | 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. | Free admission to the collection galleries and family-friendly activities like arts and crafts, musical performances, and interactive workshops. Registration is required.
2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 215.278.7000

BlackStar Film Festival
August 6-9 | BlackStar Film Festival is an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the global majority—showcasing films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world.Join us as we celebrate our 15th anniversary. Events will take place in person in Philadelphia and online around the world.
Various locations

Beat The Bomb
Ongoing | Choose from one-hour Bomb Missions, where teams of four to six suit up in protective gear, dodge lasers and crack codes.
1218 Chestnut Street

Center City District Foundation: Revisit 1876 Exhibition
Through December | Revisit 1876 is a free exhibition that recreates Philadelphia’s historic hosting of the 1876 World’s Fair. In time for the Semiquincentennial celebrations, the exhibition opens on the ground floor of the Lits Building.
8th & Market Streets

The Fabric Workshop and Museum: You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry

Ongoing | “You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry” presents works by twenty-five artists who have magnified and challenged the material and narrative conventions of the age-old medium of tapestry.
1214 Arch St., 215.561.8888

Helium Comedy Club

Margaret Cho: Choligarchy | August 6-9 | Various times 

Arnez J | August 14-19 | various times
2031 Sansom Street, 215.496.9001 

James Oliver Gallery: Unfurling250
Through August 22 | 6 p.m.
This exhibition features 20 different artists. From neon light art to glass sculpture, painting, video installation to couture textile, documentary photography to printmaking rooted in jazz, the artists in Unfurling 250 bring vastly different hands to a shared subject. What emerges is not a celebration or a critique, but something more honest: a record.
723 Chestnut St. 2nd Fl., 267.918.7432

Lucky Strike: Endless Summer Nights Unlimited Bowling
Sunday – Thursday | Unlimited bowling for $21.99, Sunday from 6 p.m. and Monday through Thursday from 7 p.m. Includes shoe rental.
1336 Chestnut Street, 215.545.2471

 

Mural outside of Sampan restaurant

Photo by M. Edlow for GPTMC

Mural Arts Philadelphia

  • More than Murals with Dominique Smack | August 7 6-7 p.m. | Our dynamic monthly speaking series returns for happy hour, candid conversation, and a panel discussion at W Philadelphia. Mural Arts’ Dominique Smack will host a panel of local emerging artists who have grown their practice through community collaboration and fellowship opportunities, including the Philadelphia Fellowship for Black Artists.
  • Center City Tours | Take in the imagery that makes Philadelphia the mural capital of the world and learn about its colorful history from expert tour guides.
    Various locations, 215.685.0750

Philadelphia Museum of Art: Friday Night Lounge
Every Friday | 5-8:30 p.m. | Philadelphia’s art world shows up and shows out every Friday night. Join in!
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 215.763.8100

People walking by the sounds of Philadelphia sound installation on broad street at historic building with pillars.

Photo by Ed Newton

Scout: Sounds of Philadelphia
Through September 22 | Scout, the Philadelphia-based design and development practice behind the Village of Industry & Art (VIA), announces Sounds of Philadelphia, a summer-long out door sound installation on the facade of the project at 320 South Broad Street
320 South Broad Street

Siempre Salsa Philly: Salsa & Bachata in Love Park
Fridays through September 25 | Enjoy free dance lessons in the heart of the city with Siempre Salsa.
Love Park, 1501 John F Kennedy Blvd.

 

More to Explore

Street scene with diners at outdoor tables enjoying a sunny day. A jazz band plays nearby. The atmosphere is lively and cheerful.

Open Streets: West Walnut

A bustling city sidewalk scene with two young women drinking beverages in the foreground. Tables with seated people line the street, creating a lively atmosphere.

Shop Center City

A server in a white shirt delivers a salad to a table where three people are seated, smiling, and chatting. A woman holds a glass of red wine. The setting is a modern, well-lit restaurant with a view of city buildings and trees outside. The atmosphere is casual and friendly.

Dine Center City