Philly’s Chill Moody is Mann Center’s first community artist-in-residence

Rapper Chill Moody grew up in West Philadelphia. He honed his skills as an artist and put on shows with the hopes of elevating the city’s hip-hop scene. Years later, he became Philadelphia’s music ambassador, , a distinction he earned for his work as a community organizer and advocate for Philly talent.

For years, he hoped to perform at the Mann Center,but when the center’s president and CEO, Catherine Cahill, approached him in February, she had something bigger in mind. She asked him to be the center’s first-ever community artist-in-residence.

“When it was presented to me, it wasn’t [just] like they wanted me to perform at a bunch of shows,” Moody said. “They had a grasp on the wealth of things I do, like civic engagement, programming shows, and all the things I’m able to do. I’m happy to be able to exercise all of that.”

As artist-in-residence, Moody will organize and host programs that are centered on community-building and youth engagement.

In February, he performed alongside R&B artist Carla Gamble at the Please Touch Museum for Mann Music Room: Learn Live!, a program that invites artists to perform at K-12 schools. He will be curating performances for the HBCU Festival and taking part in the Music Industry Training Program, a workforce development effort serving young adults in the Wynnefield neighborhood. With the Philadelphia Orchestra and Emmy award-winning conductor and composer Darin Atwater, Moody will present Black Metropolis on July 19, among other events.

Cahill, who has led the Mann since 2008, said plans for an artist-in-residency program first spawned in 2020. “[The pandemic] allowed me as CEO and president to reflect and work with our planning committee to see what’s next once we came out of [quarantine],” she said.

She thought about ways to draw younger audiences to the theater. “For years, I considered having an artist-in-residency; we just didn’t have the bandwidth or the capacity at the time,” she said.

With Moody’s involvement, Cahill said the program will help rebuild the city’s music industry and reassure artists that they can ascend to superstardom without having to leave Philadelphia.

“The city has an amazing array of talent,” she said. “This is about our community, not about bringing some hotshot in from Los Angeles or New York … We got the best and the brightest here.”

Moody sees this as a chance to shine a light on the pioneers who helped shape Philly hip-hop and to create opportunities for independent artists looking to carry the torch.

“I’ve always moved with the understanding that we should lift as we rise,” he said. “Whenever I’m given an opportunity, I find a way to spread that opportunity out to other people trying to build in this city.”

For more information on the Mann’s artist-in-residency and its events, visit manncenter.org.