Public Internet Fellowship

A program of Philly Community Wireless

About the Fellowship

Philly Community Wireless (PCW) operates a community-controlled, free public Wi-Fi network across Norris Square, Fairhill, and Kensington neighborhoods of North Philadelphia. The Public Internet Fellowship invites local artists, technologists, and residents to use our network as a platform for community media.

Through funding from the People’s Media Fund, a small cohort of fellows will each be hosted by a neighborhood organization that stewards a public space, and will create and install interactive art, environmental resources, and new forms of community digital storytelling that bring people together in a shared space and give voice to their diverse perspectives through access to the internet.

Practical projects are civic-information projects designed for everyday neighborhood use, like bus arrival displays or air-quality alerts. Creative projects are larger media installations, like outdoor light sculptures or augmented-reality neighborhood storytelling.

Advisory Board

The Fellowship is guided by an Advisory Board of community organizations that steward public spaces in Norris Square, Fairhill, and Kensington. The board shapes the open call and the review criteria, reads the applications and chooses the fellows, and hosts the fellows’ installations and events, so that the people who steward these spaces decide what gets built in them.

  • Kensington Corridor Trust
  • Norris Square Neighborhood Project
  • New Kensington CDC
  • HACE
  • César Andreu Iglesias Community Garden
  • Historic Fair Hill
  • Taller Puertorriqueño

Additional organizations are joining the board this fall.

Get involved

Interested applicants with inquiries about eligibility can reach us at info@phillycommunitywireless.org.

We welcome sponsors to reach out with interest. Additional support goes directly to more fellows, larger stipends, and deeper technical support for the projects.

Funders

Funded support for the Public Internet Fellowship pilot is provided by People’s Media Fund through its Future Fund. Additional funding from the William Penn Foundation and the Claneil Foundation has made this initiative possible.