The Tacony Community Development is excited to present the Storydale Avenue Community Arts Project, funded through the Feet First Philly Public Space Enhancement Mini-Grant program and in collaboration with artist Mat Tomezsko.
Founded by residents in 2001, the Tacony Community Development Corporation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing commercial and residential support services throughout the Tacony neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. The Tacony CDC is focused on revitalizing and activating the Torresdale Avenue Commercial Corridor through business services and community-oriented events.
Storydale Avenue Community Arts Project reimagines our commercial corridor, Torresdale Avenue, with stories and art from neighbors. Throughout the Spring and Summer of 2024, the Tacony CDC is hosting a series of Community Paint Sessions at key locations throughout the neighborhood. In these sessions, neighbors are invited to come together and paint objects reflecting their favorite places, people, and things. Throughout the project, those who live in and around Tacony are sharing oral histories about the neighborhood and the objects tying past, current, and future community members to each other. Then, artist Mat Tomezsko will pull it all together in several public art installations placed along Torresdale Avenue and inside businesses. Visitors and residents alike will get the chance to interact with the stories and objects that make Tacony special by participating in an interactive scavenger hunt. In the future, they would like to expand the program to include self-guided tours and a digital archive of the neighborhood’s stories and art.
To learn more about the Storydale Avenue Community Arts Project and participate, visit www.storydaleavenue.com.
Another great project that the Tacony CDC is working on is an environmental action plan with urban planning students from Temple University. The plan looks at short-term projects and long-term goals to get more residents to utilize their wonderful, but under-programmed and under-managed park spaces! The Tacony CDC will present the plan to the community on May 2nd, and implement its recommendations. See the flyer below.
Additionally, they have other projects they’re planning and seeking funding for, including yoga and pilates pop-ups on the corridor and getting artists’ studio spaces in vacant storefronts. All of their projects aim to get people outside in the neighborhood. The larger mission of the Tacony CDC is to revitalize the neighborhood, starting with its commercial corridor.
Feet First Philly 