The Artist In Residency Program at the Park Avenue Community Center
Vision: The program's vision is to enhance the cultural vibrancy of our community and foster health and well-being through the contributions of resident artists. It aims to nurture artistic expression and increase access to the arts. The program seeks to cultivate artists who are deeply connected to the community, providing them with opportunities to develop their skills as teaching artists. Furthermore, it empowers artists by enabling them to earn a sustainable living through their artistic endeavors, allowing them to thrive both creatively and financially. The residency isn’t about an artist finding solitude, it is about an artist finding their power in the community, building community / connections and having an impact.
Activities:
Free Workshops - The AIR will create free workshops for the community geared towards the Community Art Project at the end of their residency that build skills and knowledge of their chosen art form
Classes and Workshops - The AIR will teach and/or direct the art program at the PAC
A Community Art Project - this is the culmination of the AIR program and should be a large scale event incorporating the community at large
Description:
A year-long residency exploring the power of collaborative arts. As a community center we are focused on the community in a holistic way; how the many parts (different ages, and affinity groups) can come together to effect positive change in the world. As an artist you are exploring your own personal process and how that process co-exists with and is inspired/influenced by the community.
The AIR will be a professional or semi-professional artist local to Delaware County, or an emerging artist who calls DELCO their home. The artist will receive a stipend and a place to work with the goal of creating a large-scale community project at the end of their residency. They will collaborate with the staff, other program directors and the ED to create meaningful project designs, help to create the evaluation process and engage in the reporting and documentation process of their projects. They will leave this residency with community connections, a body of work and knowledge and skills that can help them pursue meaningful work in the community as an artist.
The PAC Center Artist in Residency Program is made possible in part by a generous donation from an anonymous donor.
2025/2026 Artist in Residence is Martha Perkins.
Martha Perkins has been a practicing artist for over 40 years. Graduating with an MA from Mount St. Mary’s University in 1992, she has made it her focus to create beauty and explore art wherever she goes.
Martha moved to Swarthmore in 1999 to raise her two children and in doing so found many volunteer opportunities that scratched her artistic itch. She has also worked as an installation assistant for multiple local artists and as an art handler in New Orleans for US Biennial Inc. and the New Orleans Museum of Art and worked as a set designer for Escape The Room for many years. In her free time she started Pet Portraits by Martha where her clients would send her a photo and then she would create a colorful and stylized painting from that photo.
Martha was an assistant to art teachers throughout her children’s middle school years and helped with art installations at their high school. She found her way to become the artist recruiter for the Swarthmore Farmers Market and President of Swarthmore Friends of The Arts which is a non-profit volunteer organization that handles the rotating exhibits of local artists work in Swarthmore Borough Hall.
She currently is the owner of Gallery on Park, which was established in 2018 that features fine art and handmade work by local artist, and in communicating with artists she establishes new relationships to keep a fresh and exciting environment for the public to enjoy.
Finding ways to connect community with local artists is what Martha enjoys most and is proud to be the co organizer for The Swarthmore Makers Market alongside Shannon Elliott of Harvey Oak Mercantile. These markets feature the handmade work of local artists and makers and take place in the Spring and Fall and brings in thousands to enjoy the over 90 Art and Maker vendors, music and food.
She has received multiple awards that celebrate these connections, including the Swarthmore Rotary Club Vocational Service Award in 2024 and most recently the Shine A Light Award presented to her by the Swarthmore Centennial Foundation. The Swarthmore Centennial Foundation’s Award for Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion ecognizes a person or organization who has made Swarthmore a more diverse, inclusive and equitable place to work, learn, do business, or live. The award honors a member of the Swarthmore community who has demonstrated compassion, perseverance, courage, and leadership by engaging in the important work of fostering human dignity and our common humanity.