This body of work by artists Nile Livingston and De’von Downes was created through a deep community engagement and research process centered on the history, cultural impact, and neighborhood relationships surrounding the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Conrad Benner from the Streets Dept serves as Project Manager and this artwork series was made possible through Philadelphia Mural Arts. What began as a five-work commission for each artist ultimately expanded into six artworks per artist because the stakeholders were excited about the concept sketches and could not agree on which from the series to eliminate, resulting in a final collection of twelve large-scale pieces after the Mann Center and Mural Arts responded enthusiastically to the direction and vision of the project. The completed works have been reproduced as murals over ten feet tall and installed along the gates of the Highmark Mann Center so visitors waiting in line can engage with the artwork as part of the overall experience of arriving at the venue.
Throughout the process, Livingston and Downes worked closely with the Highmark Mann Center staff and community members while also studying the newly released publication A Century of Music Under the Stars, which documents the institution’s rich history and evolution. For Livingston, who grew up in West Philadelphia not far from the Mann Center, the project became deeply personal. Revisiting the grounds, speaking with longtime residents, and reflecting on her own experiences attending events at the Mann created a strong sense of familiarity and emotional connection throughout the creative process.
One of the strongest themes that emerged through both the book and conversations with neighbors was the Mann Center’s intentional relationship with the surrounding community. Residents closest to the venue described sitting on their stoops during the summer, barbecuing with family while listening to music drifting through Fairmount Park from concerts they could hear for free. Many spoke about how the Mann historically communicated with neighbors when concerts might run late, demonstrating care and respect for the surrounding area. Rather than viewing the music as disruptive, many residents described it as part of the rhythm of neighborhood life. Those stories became central to the conceptual direction of the series.
The artworks explore the emotional atmosphere created when music extends beyond the stage and becomes woven into daily life. One piece references one of Aretha Franklin’s final performances at the Mann after Livingston learned about its significance through the research process. Others depict historic West Philadelphia rowhomes, neighbors gathered outdoors, people listening to concerts from inside their homes, and glowing summer lawns inspired by childhood memories of lightning bugs surrounding the Mann Center grounds. The fireflies became visual metaphors for concert audiences holding up lighters in past generations and cell phone lights today: small glowing gestures of collective connection.
The series also reflects on imagination and the future of the Highmark Mann Center. Surreal imagery, including a floating musical-note spaceship, references possibility, transformation, and the evolving future of public cultural spaces. At the same time, the work honors the people behind the scenes who sustain these experiences every day. One artwork features a custodial worker performing with a broom like a guitar outside the past-iconic Mann Center gates, recognizing the labor and care of service workers, maintenance staff, and employees whose contributions are often unseen but essential to keeping the institution alive.
A major component of the installation was the intentional visual continuity created between the works by Nile Livingston and De’von Downes. The twelve artworks were coordinated so they could be installed in alternating sequence while forming a gradual color transition across the gates. The tonal palette moves from purples into greens, oranges, and yellows so that each artwork visually flows into the next, almost like movements within a larger musical composition. Across all twelve works, five flowing lines inspired by sheet music staffs move continuously between the pieces, symbolizing music traveling through people, neighborhoods, memory, and time.
All twelve artworks were drawn digitally in Procreate using brushes that mimic charcoal, pastel, and pencil textures to preserve a tactile, hand-drawn quality.
Real photographs of the Highmark Mann Center were incorporated into the compositions to keep the venue visually recognizable and grounded as the central anchor throughout the series.
Ultimately, the project presents the Highmark Mann Center not simply as a performance venue, but as a living cultural neighbor: a place where music, memory, labor, architecture, and community continuously shape one another across generations.
