The Philadelphia Institute for Cultural Studies
The Institute for Cultural Studies (ICS) is a home for community education, critical social and cultural inquiry, and therapeutic counseling services, open to all.
As a pedagogical and clinical collaborative, the ICS works to combat injustice and inequality, raise social awareness, and meaningfully address the psychological distress and alienation we all experience as a result of living in an unjust world.
The ICS hosts classes in critical theory, community workshops, film & t.v. screenings, discussion groups, panel events, and sponsors cultural events that enrich our community.
In addition to these initiatives, the ICS also strives to make therapeutic and mental health services of the highest quality available to all, through both traditional 1:1 counseling and our unique semester-long Therapeutic Working Groups (seminar-style discussion groups co-led by ICS faculty experts & licensed psychodynamic therapists).
“The dehumanization resulting from an unjust order is not a cause for despair but for hope, leading to the incessant pursuit of the humanity denied by injustice.
Hope is rooted in our human incompletion, from which we move out in a constant search—a search which can be carried out only in communion with others. Hopelessness is a form of silence, of denying the world and fleeing from it.
I am moved by hope.
As the encounter of women and men seeking to be more fully human, dialogue cannot be carried on in a climate of hopelessness.”
— Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Stay in touch to learn about
upcoming events, classes, film and t.v. screenings,
discussion groups, and more
Schedule for Summer Courses and Workshops Coming Soon
All ICS classes and public events are currently broadcasting online via YouTube & Zoom.
In-person psychotherapy services hosted at the ICS are temporarily suspended. Contact your provider directly to inquire about telephone or video sessions.
For more information on 1:1 counseling
with an ICS affiliated provider, contact: clinical@instituteforculturalstudies.com
help us build a more just and flourishing world.
We’d like to keep you updated about events, classes, and workshops at the ICS. You can learn about upcoming panel discussion broadcasts, classes, and other public events by sharing your contact information.
Until COVID-19 related social distancing measures are relaxed, no ICS public film screenings will take place.
Our weekly community film screening & discussion groups will resume once it is safe for us to host them. Let us know if you’d like to get occasional updates about upcoming film, documentary, and television screenings.
The ICS believes that shared critical inquiry and a deeper understanding of the social and cultural world is the only possible foundation for real and lasting human reconciliation. Part of what that “shared inquiry” means to us is that no matter what your cultural interests are, we’re interested in exploring them with you. If you have an idea for an ICS-sponsored panel event, discussion group, class, or something else, we want you to let us know.