<p>What cultural or research centers are in Philly?</p>
<p>Well, Penn has a great museum and the Hospital of UPenn is a major research center. As far as the city itself, the Constitution Center, the Battleship New Jersey, Art museums and galleries, Valley Forge and tons of historical landmarks in driving distance and train station on campus that can get you in and out of Wash DC and NYC in a little over an hour ride. There’s more but that’s just off the top of my head.</p>
<p>Cultural:</p>
<p>Lots of visual art – The Philadelphia Museum of Art isn’t the Met, MOMA, or the Art Institute of Chicago, but it can match up with any other museum in North America, and with all but a handful worldwide. The Barnes Foundation is the single greatest collection of impressionist art on the planet. And there are interesting smaller museums, including Penn’s ICA. Plus, there is fairly vibrant community of working artists, drawn by the low rents and abundant studio space, decently abundant day jobs, and proximity to NY, as well as the number of art schools (Temple’s Tyler, University of the Arts, Moore College, Temple film program, various Drexel programs).</p>
<p>Very vibrant theater community – decent audiences, low rents, close to NY, etc. Ranges from Broadway tours (ycch!) to hole-in-the-wall experimental, with established innovative regional theater (e.g., the Wilma) in between.</p>
<p>Tremendous community for all kinds of music. The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Curtis Institute, along with significant music programs at Temple and Penn, anchor a broad and deep classical community, with several secondary orchestras, chamber orchestras and organizations, semi-pro choruses, etc. Jazz is alive and vibrant; it’s one of the few cities where jazz musicians can actually survive. Very good, relatively cheap club scene for pop/indie music, lots of all-ages shows (something my kids missed a lot when they left for college). Home (still, at least officially) of The Roots. The mayor was a professional DJ early in his career.</p>
<p>Lots of writers, writing groups, and Penn’s Kelly House is one of the best writing centers anywhere.</p>
<p>Research:</p>
<p>Tons of historical research going on. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is an important archive. All the little, focused museums (Jewish History, African-American History, Swedish-American History, History of the City of Philadelphia, Chemical Industry) promote research, too.</p>
<p>Speaking of the chemical industry, this region is really the heart of US pharma, as well as industrial chemicals. Tons of for- and non-profit research relating to drugs and chemicals.</p>
<p>Also home to many first-rank academic medical centers: HUP (Penn), CHOP (kids), Jefferson, Temple, Einstein, Drexel, Fox Chase Cancer Center. Interesting brand-new medical school at Cooper in Camden. Wistar Institute. For psych stuff, the Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. Lots of health-care related academic research going on.</p>
<p>Philadelphia is also much studied by sociologists (Streetwise and Talley’s Corner are classics) and education researchers.</p>