What might you discover in Temple University’s only public gallery?
Temple Contemporary is Tyler’s physical link to the outside world and our North Philadelphia East neighborhood.
Located on the first floor of Tyler, Temple Contemporary art gallery serves as a 3,400-square-foot gallery and front porch welcoming the community to a university-based public space that’s free and open to all. Temple Contemporary’s mission is to “serve as a beacon for art, architecture and community imagination.”
Named for Tyler alum and prominent Native American contemporary artist Edgar Heap of Birds (MFA ’79), the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery is a dedicated 750-square-foot exhibition space inside Temple Contemporary focused on Native American art programming. Heap of Birds’ gift endowed both the space and an artist residency focused on Native American work.
Run by Temple Contemporary, Tyler’s Creative Scholars Program is a year-long, full scholarship art program for talented high school students attending public and charter high schools in the School District of Philadelphia. Students complete a one year art intensive at Tyler, which includes studio art courses, artist studio visits and workshops with prominent cultural institutions.
The program provides experiences that help students broaden and enhance their skills and prepare portfolios for admission to top schools of art, architecture and design. It culminates in a show at Temple Contemporary.
Mark your calendars to attend the lectures, presentations, student and faculty exhibitions and public projects at Temple Contemporary that connect Tyler to the greater Philadelphia community.
Temple Contemporary’s Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs
Temple Contemporary’s Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta brings a multidisciplinary background at the intersection of place, taste and urban change to the ongoing conversation happening between Temple Contemporary and the public: whether that is geography, film, architecture, preservation or urban planning.
“My approach is really going to center on finding those unexpected connections between disciplines, but also between communities,” Kenyatta says. “I’m really seeking to understand what Temple Contemporary can do to be a space where multiple forms of expertise are valued, and where art and community knowledge intersect in really meaningful ways.”
Kenyatta holds a B.A. in Urban Studies and minor in African and African American Studies from Stanford University, Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Development from University of Southern California with training in Visual Anthropology from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Temple Contemporary is a working gallery space and experiential laboratory where Tyler students gain knowledge and experience about the contemporary art sphere by attending talks, installing and de-installing exhibits, curating programs and exhibiting their MFA thesis work.
Find Temple Contemporary inside the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. The gallery is open to the public from Wednesday-Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
As a Tyler/North Philly community member, Temple Contemporary offers student and the public access to professional-grade printing and publication finishing equipment.
Temple Contemporary projects and exhibitions have received funding from organizations such as the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Past projects have included Black Like That: Our Lives As Living Praxis, Seed Packet Project, Symphony for a Broken and Funeral for a Home.
