PHL World Heritage Week 2025: Celebration grows for 10th anniversary
Global Philadelphia Association (GPA), in collaboration with several community partners, celebrated the city's 10th annual World Heritage Week this past May — featuring the most events in the celebration’s history.
From Sunday, May 18 to Saturday, May 24, WHW 2025 featured 21 events celebrating Philadelphia’s culture, “international ties” and unique status as the United States' first World Heritage City. The programming included multicultural performances and art demonstrations, community conversations and city tours, among other festivities.
GPA President Zabeth Teelucksingh said that since joining the association in 2011, she has worked to continue “building and growing” Philadelphia’s international identity through WHW initiatives. This year, she said she was proud her team expanded the week with new partnerships ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the Organization of World Heritage Cities’ decision to add Philadelphia as a member — a milestone GPA will officially commemorate on Sept. 3.
“World Heritage Week is really an exemplar of Philadelphia as a place of community, a place of great internationalism — which is lived very naturally,” Zabeth said. “It's not anything that we sort of do artificially or extraneously. It really is a part of the way the city functions.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, GPA celebrated Philadelphia's global heritage with a single flagship event — World Heritage Day, held on the fourth Thursday of May. During the pandemic, the organization expanded the occasion into a week of virtual programming. Once restrictions were lifted, the association decided to keep the extended format. Now, GPA hopes to grow it even further — planning to host a World Heritage Month in May 2026.
WHW 2025 also welcomed a range of local guests, including city officials, leaders of cultural organizations, multicultural professionals from diverse sectors, Zabeth said. Many events were also accessible to the public, aligning with GPA’s mission of “showcasing” the different communities throughout Philadelphia.
For those who weren't able to make it to WHW 2025, GPA has broken down some of the highlights from the week's celebrations, as well as what’s next for us.
The week officially began on a sunny morning outside Girard College — an almost 200-year-old, completely full-scholarship college preparatory boarding school in North Philadelphia. Community members gathered to participate in the inaugural Charles Warren Stanley Memorial 5K Walk/Run in honor of a 1967 alumnus of the same name.
Gary Wooten, GPA’s events and community manager, said he found it meaningful to see multigenerational Girard alumni come together to honor Charles “Stan” Stanley, whom the school described as a “devoted member of the Hum’s cross-country and track teams” with “unwavering loyalty” to his classmates and the North Philadelphia community.
“A lot of the events were more community-based,” Gary said. “This year, we had a lot of local and grassroots organizations as partners, so it felt more like Philadelphia as a community came together to celebrate.”
As the week progressed, WHW 2025 programming also included a variety of conferences, speaker events and book talks — ranging from topics such as Philadelphia's role in the international life sciences industry and Malcolm X’s legacy to global cuisine and Asian American Pacific Islander heritage.
For GPA Office Manager Emily Newcomer, the “Always Enough: A Global Food Memoir | Booktalk & Tasting Event” on Tuesday, May 20 in Parkway Central Library especially resonated, as she said she and author Annette Anthony seemed to share similar passions for traveling and learning about other cultures.
Anthony’s book highlights her experience moving throughout the U.S., Africa and Europe and how this multinational upbringing influenced her cooking. During the event, Anthony — a Philadelphia native — welcomed attendees to taste international dishes, such as a variety of Moroccan salads and tagines, and learn the history behind them.
“There was a moment when I was sitting there and listening to her talk, and I thought back and was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is what this is all about — hearing these really interesting stories, learning more about these really globally-aware people that share the same values that GPA tries to embody,’” Emily said.
The hallmark of every WHW is the annual World Heritage City Day Flag Raising Ceremony, during which GPA and the city of Philadelphia typically hoist the Organization of World Heritage Cities flag outside City Hall to celebrate the designation. During the raising, community speakers and performers also urge attendees to reflect on the city’s rich history and vast cultural heritage.
Due to rain, this year's ceremony was held inside Philadelphia's iconic Masonic Temple — the 150-year-old, elaborate Broad Street structure that once served as a meeting place for the city's Freemasons. Guest speakers included Jazelle Jones, a Philadelphia city representative; Marilou Ehrler, the chief of resource stewardship and UNESCO coordinator for Philadelphia's National Park Service; Valerie Gay, Creative Philadelphia's chief cultural officer and former Mayor Michael A. Nutter, among others.
Yann Awede, a senior volunteer for GPA, said she attended this flag raising for the first time during WHW 2025. As an African international student, she said the ceremony and other GPA programming have shaped her understanding of Philadelphia as a truly global city.
“Before joining Global Philadelphia, I didn’t know a lot about Philly as a city,” Yann said. “I’ve learned so much more about its culture, along with the many organizations and heritage sites that I didn’t even know existed before.”
Yann also said she enjoyed getting to connect with community members during WHW, especially through the World Trade Center’s Global Trade Summit the day before. The annual conference, which dives into “Philadelphia’s future as a global business hub,” partnered with GPA for the first time this year.
The second half of the week was just as impactful as the first, featuring a range of arts-based events at iconic Philadelphia locations such as the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, along with additional city tours and speakers.
After the flag raising, Zabeth accompanied Philadelphia artists at the relatively-new Frances M. Maguire Art Museum at St. Joseph’s University. The building — filled with “stained glass, wonderful sculptures and rooms full of art created by students” — previously served as the home of the Barnes Foundation before its “renewal” in 2023, she said.
WHW 2025 concluded with “a lot of energy,” Gary said. On that Saturday, some of the highlight events included “A Deeply Rooted Trolley Tour” with Harriett's Bookshop showcasing Black women-owned businesses throughout the city and the “Africatown History: Lecture Series” at African Cultural Alliance of North America’s new office.
Reflecting on the success of WHW 2025, several GPA members said they hope to continue shaping Philadelphia’s global identity while celebrating the international cultures within the city. As the city’s 250th anniversary approaches, the association plans to continue to highlight the communities that “might otherwise go unnoticed,” Zabeth said.
Some of GPA’s ongoing initiatives include calling attention to all 67 National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia, including those outside of Center City, and showcasing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals through a citywide mural art program in collaboration with multiple local community organizations.
GPA will host its 10th anniversary World Heritage City Celebration on Sept. 3 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the Crystal Tea Room, one of the city’ National Historic Landmarks. In May 2026, the association will also hold its first-ever World Heritage Month. Prospective WHM partners can express their interest in the celebration at the following link.
GPA has big plans to continue to celebrate this anniversary in September, and WHW 2025 was a preview into Philadelphia's 10th year as a World Heritage City — a sentiment both speakers and participants echoed throughout the week. GPA and our guests alike said they look forward to seeing the city’s global presence grow.
“For a decade, this designation has connected us to a global network of cities that cherish culture, heritage and humanity,” City Representative Jazelle Jones said.
