Trade School: PHL/LAX

Trade School is a festival and exchange platform celebrating the work of Philadelphia performing artists as well as creating connections with artist peers across the country. The first iteration, Trade School: PHL-LAX, produced in collaboration with Los Angeles Performance Practice, connects artists and audiences in each city, exploring differences and similarities in systems of support for contemporary performance, and discussing issues in self-producing and dissemination of work that resonate with both. By inviting out of town artists to engage with the Philadelphia community, we introduce alternate modes of making, and opportunities for lateral exchange. We can find commonalities in content and theme in what artists are thinking about, and how artists across the country might be addressing critical issues or concerns. We are able to find patterns, created shared experiences, and compare aesthetics. Trade School will feature fully-produced works, works-in-progress, and artist-driven community conversations, and is hosted by Building Bok.