This year’s Inclusive Leadership Conference’s theme is Finding Your Voice: Advocating for Inclusion & Respect. We all come from different experiences, backgrounds, and are born with different skills and passions. No voice should be the same. Maybe you know your voice or maybe you want to discover it. In either case, we want you to leave the conference with the motivation to (re)disover your voice, the knowledge on how you should use your voice, and ways in which to flex your voice!
Just like no voice is the same, no city is the same. Welcome to Philadelphia the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection! We’re home to passionate sports fans, the Rocky steps, cheesesteaks, world-class museums, the Liberty Bell and so much more.
Below you’ll find what’s on our radar for the weekend of #ILCPhilly:
1. Open Arts College Night: Opening Night at the Opera
Address: Academy of Music 240 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
When: Friday, February 10 at 8 p.m.
Opera Philadelphia will be providing $10 Advanced Rush tickets to students for opening night of Tancredi, a medieval story of chivalry and tragic love in post-World War I Europe. Grab your friends and dress-up for a night out with the Opera at the Academy of Music!
Register here for $10 Advanced Rush tickets. Make sure to select the February 10th, 2017 date.
2. Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest
Address: 101 S Christopher Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Hours of Operation: Friday: 1pm – 12:30pm / Saturday: 11am - 12:30pm / Sunday: 11am - 10:30pm.
Blue Cross RiverRink is now in its 23rd year as an outdoor ice skating rink and fourth season as Winterfest. The regulation-sized rink offers daily public skating sessions, skate rentals, sharpening, and free season-long events and entertainment.
Surrounding the rink you’ll find a beautifully lit landscape featuring a majestic holiday tree, outdoor seating area with fire pits, cozy warming cabins, the Franklin Fountain Confectionary Cabin, the Kids Lodge with arcade games, and a chalet-inspired Lodge with food and beverages from Garces and Chickie’s and Pete’s. With the Delaware River to the east and the Ben Franklin Bridge to the north, it makes for a spectacular winter scene!
3. The Barnes Foundation / Museum
Address: 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Hours of Operation:
Open Wed–Mon: 10 am–5 pm. Also open 6–9 pm every First Friday and select Friday evenings.
Immerse yourself in the greatest private collection of impressionist, post-impressionist and early-modern paintings. Explore more than 3,000 masterpieces, including 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 16 Modiglianis, and 7 Van Goghs, plus textiles, metalwork, decorative objects, African sculpture, Native American ceramics and jewelry, and Pennsylvania German furniture.
4. Run the Rocky Steps!
Address: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Price: Totally free
If you visit the Barnes or take a walk down Benjamin Franklin Parkway, you’ll be close to the steps that Rocky Balboa famously conquered. Running up the steps and pumping your fist is a Philly-must. We’ve all done it! At the top, you’ll find a beautiful view of the city—perfect photo opportunity.
5. Jurassic World: The Exhibition at the Franklin Institute
Address: 222 N 20th St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Hours of Operation: Daytime (9:30am – 5:00pm) / Evening (5:00pm – 8:00pm)*
As the whole, the Institute is awesome. Their current exhibit, which runs until April, is all about the Jurassic World dinosaurs. We know someone who recently went and it’s the real deal, even with props from the movies! Get closer to dinosaurs than ever before in Jurassic World: The Exhibition! Based on one of the biggest blockbusters in cinema history, the Exhibition immerses audiences of all ages in scenes inspired by the beloved film. Now, the park that was only a promise comes to life…right before your eyes.
6. Get historic in Old City!
Looking to turn back time and stroll the streets our Founding Fathers walked down? Grab hot drinks from one of the many coffee shops in the area and be charmed by the oldest buildings in our city. Speaking of old, you can head down to Elfreth’s Alley, our nation’s oldest residential street. Of course, you can rip a page out of Philadelphia’s history textbook and check out the National Constitution Center, Independence Mall and the Liberty Bell!
