For the first four days of the Festival, the 1100 block of Pearl Street, located in the Chinatown North/Callowhill neighborhood, will be transformed with 10 installations created by multidisciplinary teams of architects, designers, artists, and fabricators. The temporary “passage” will be interactive and fun for all ages; encouraging visitors to explore this year’s theme of SHIFT.

Traverse through the Pearl Street Tunnel, created by the intersection of the historic Reading Viaduct. An exhibition by Friends of the Rail Park will tell the story of Philadelphia’s next great green space. The Rail Park, a proposed continuous three mile park and recreation path which will connect many neighborhoods and cultural institutions to Fairmount Park, is slated to begin Phase 1 construction in 2016.

Pearl Street Passage is a temporary installation project that is kicking off and highlighting the efforts of the Pearl Street Project, coordinated by Asian Arts Initiative in partnership with an array of neighborhood stakeholders, aims to imagine transform the Pearl Street alleyway into an outdoor gallery and public gathering space. Asian Arts Initiative’s vision is to connect the four blocks from 10th to Broad Street – and bring together a diversity of people from within and beyond our neighborhood of Chinatown North and Callowhill. Asian Arts Initiative is currently working with Groundswell Design Group to implement a permanent schematic design for Pearl Street.