Areas We Serve · Philadelphia
A dense historic core with its own museums, courts, and convention floor — accessibility services built around Philadelphia's own institutions.
Why Philadelphia is its own market
Philadelphia is the sixth-largest city in the country, and it runs on its own institutions, not New York's. The Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the courts around City Hall each carry their own accessibility obligations and their own booking calendars — a Philadelphia request is not a New York booking with a different address stapled on.
Independence National Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it draws a genuinely different audience than a Midtown boardroom or a Broadway house: school groups, international visitors, and civic ceremonies that need interpreting, description, and translated materials in roughly equal measure.
Philadelphia is also compact in the way that matters to a booking. Independence Mall, City Hall, Reading Terminal Market, and the Parkway museums sit within a short walk of one another, so a provider traveling in for a morning tour can take an afternoon hearing without a second trip. Send us everything you need covered on a given date and the day gets built around one arrival, rather than quoted piece by piece as separate visits.
Where we work in Philadelphia
Every neighbourhood below is covered on the same terms. Once a provider has travelled in, moving between addresses within the city adds nothing further — the journey is priced once, at the start of the day.
Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Museum of the American Revolution — the historic core that draws school groups and international visitors in roughly equal number.
Neighborhoods we cover
What we provide in Philadelphia
A Philadelphia booking often needs more than one accommodation at once — an interpreter and captions, or a described tour and a translated program. Sent together they are scheduled together, against a single arrival in the city.
American Sign Language, DeafBlind tactile, and International Sign, staffed on-site anywhere in the city or delivered remotely.
Learn more about ASL & Sign Language InterpretingSettings we know here
Several of these stand within a few blocks of one another, which is what makes a two-venue day possible here at all. Two of them on one date is a single arrival, not two bookings that happen to share a morning.
Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Museum of the American Revolution — sites drawing school groups and international visitors who both need interpreting and translated materials on the same tour.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Franklin Institute, where gallery talks, guided tours, and hands-on exhibits are interpreted, described, and captioned.
Multi-track programming at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the hotel ballrooms around it, staffed end to end for a multi-day agenda.
Philadelphia City Hall's courtrooms and administrative offices, where interpreting is the accommodation that keeps a proceeding legally sound.
The teaching hospitals around University City and health systems across the city, covering appointments, intake, and the conversations families have around them.
Penn, Drexel and the city's other campuses: lecture halls, orientation week, and the ceremonies that close the year.
Xfinity Mobile Arena and the South Philadelphia sports complex, where access has to hold up against a sellout crowd.
Reading Terminal Market and Center City's retail corridor, where a visitor needs an interpreter, not a formal booking.
Where Philadelphia bookings land
Philadelphia's requests cluster in three places: the sports and concert arena in South Philly, the museums and markets along the Parkway and Market Street, and the hotel ballrooms that run the city's conference season.
Home of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the 76ers of the National Basketball Association and the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. Interpreters work the anthem, announcements and in-arena entertainment; captions go to the board so they reach the whole bowl.
Interpreted gallery tours, described exhibits and translated wall material. A booking here is usually a tour route rather than a room, so the provider walks the galleries with the group.
Food tours, demonstrations and community events in a hall that is never quiet. Interpreting here means planning for noise and movement; captioning goes to a handheld rather than a screen on a stand.
School visits, planetarium shows and public lectures. Technical vocabulary is sent to the interpreter in advance — a science floor is the fastest way to lose an unprepared provider.
The city's largest conference floor, and multi-track agendas to match. Live captioning runs alongside interpreting so an attendee who changes session does not lose access halfway through the day.
The Bellevue Philadelphia, The Westin Philadelphia, The Logan Philadelphia, Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, The Union League of Philadelphia, The Inn at Penn, Crowne Plaza Philadelphia-Cherry Hill and Valley Forge Casino Resort all run the same shape of booking, and all are covered on the same terms.
Working in Philadelphia
Our services are available across the city's own venues — Independence National Historical Park and the historic district, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Franklin Institute, City Hall, Reading Terminal Market, the University City teaching hospitals, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center and hotel ballrooms that carry the conference calendar. Because so many of them stand within a short walk, a request here is scoped as a day rather than as a slot: what else falls on the date, in what order, and how much of it one provider can reasonably carry before a second has to be added.
Client Stories
4.8 · Based on 240 Reviews
Carrie Heitman
"I can not recommend ICS highly enough. Hook & Eye Theater had a wonderful experience working with Shelby and the team at ICS from beginning to end. What an incredible organization serving the theatrical community and beyond."
Frank Starling
"Accessibility is an essential part of inclusion, and Inclusive Communication Services delivered it with excellence at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Their ASL interpreting, CART captioning, and service coordination teams supported our conference stages, networking spaces, and last-minute changes with calm professionalism and deep care."
Christina Dixon
"I had the pleasure of seeing the ICS American Sign Language interpreting team at a conference in San Francisco. Their professionalism and expertise puts them in a league of their own. Shelby and her team set the standard for professionalism, coordination, and accessibility."
Laura Mosteller
"Our company has been using ICS for years at our annual conference. Their kind and clear communication leading up to the event and their prompt arrival each day makes the choice a no-brainer."
Patrick McMullen
"Inclusive Communication Services did an amazing job at Cannes Lions Festival. They treated us with kindness and made sure we had full access to interpreters the whole time. It honestly felt like everything was normal."
Emily Johnson — AADMD
"We have loved working with ICS and appreciate their flexible approach to working with our budget. The services have been game changing for what we are able to provide."
What to expect
Nobody is dispatched from a Philadelphia office, because there isn't one. These are the windows a two-hour drive from Harlem actually produces.
How booking works
When it starts, where in Philadelphia it sits, what will be talked about, and the accommodations you need — plus anything else you need covered that same day, since one trip in can serve more than one assignment.
One coordinator holds the whole day rather than one slot of it, and stays contactable from the moment it is booked until the last venue clears.
The match is made on subject matter first and on the room second: someone who already knows the vocabulary needs less briefing than someone learning it. Prep material goes out ahead of the date, not on it.
Providers are at the door well before the start, access already cleared, and a number that reaches the coordinator all day sits with you.
Frequently asked questions
Get started
List everything that needs covering on a single date and whereabouts in the city each piece of it sits. Because these venues are a walk apart, the reply prices the day around one arrival rather than as three separate visits.
