Peter Crimmins | WHYY
WHYY’s arts and culture reporter Peter Crimmins first became interested in radio in the fourth grade, when he smuggled a contraband crystal-diode radio into the Boy Scout summer camp. Subsequent radio projects were more successful.
Crimmins has been reporting on arts and culture for WHYY News since 2010, as well as filing award-winning radio and print stories locally and nationally. He started his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, cutting his teeth at community station KALX and producing syndicated radio programming for Ben Manilla Productions. He lives in Fishtown with his wife and two dogs.
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For the first time in three years, the Chinese Lantern Festival has returned to Franklin Square in Philadelphia. WHYY’s Peter Crimmins reports the annual illuminated festival was interrupted because of the pandemic and is back with new mechanical lanterns. -
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say there are measurable health benefits associated with visiting art museums. WHYY's Peter Crimmins reports on a body of scientific research on psychological health associated with cultural engagement.
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Two years ago, during the 2020 election count, two men packed guns into a Hummer and drove from Virginia to Philadelphia, allegedly to disrupt the vote count happening inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center. They were arrested on weapons charges.
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The Philadelphia Water Department wants you to take the pledge this summer and abstain from using single-use plastic water bottles. WHYY’s Peter Crimmins reports on a campaign of downtown art installations that encourage people to drink tap water out of reusable bottles.
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Archeologists have dug a three-quarter acre pit in Philadelphia along the Delaware River. They have uncovered the remains of an 18th century shipping wharf. WHYY’s Peter Crimmins reports they are preparing the ground for a major new residential development.
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For the first time since Eastern State Penitentiary opened as a historic prison museum in 1998, visitors can go into death row. WHYY's Peter Crimmins reports the old Cell Block 15 is outfitted with speakers that play back a piece of music composed on a different death row.
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A beloved Philadelphia area children's book author and illustrator who died last year will be honored with his own day on May 6: Floyd Cooper Day. WHYY's Peter Crimmins reports the national Children's Book Council is organizing events across the country to remember him.
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The Philadelphia Police Department is moving to its new headquarters on North Broad Street, in the former Inquirer Newspaper Building. It comes with a new public sculpture: A police badge that's nine feet tall, hanging in a window.
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A handful of Ukrainian hardcore punk bands have contributed music to a Philadelphia compilation album raising money for Ukraine. WHYY's Peter Crimmins listens to music from that war-torn country.
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A new exhibition about the history of segregation in American public pools has re-opened at the Fairmount Waterworks in Philadelphia, five months after it was completely submerged by Hurricane Ida floodwaters.
