Kate Nyx is an everything woman: she splits her time as a musician, a touring burlesque performer and instructor, and as a seamstress and costumer who runs her own business, Closet Champion, in South Philly. The latter earned a considerable following this year for her creative, bespoke wrestling gear. Clients include wrestlers from local indie circuits as well as those in the WWE, and even brands like Haribo.

What happened when an artist (English) and an engineer (Gregorio) came together to explore music and technology? Drumhenge, a new musical instrument composed of 16 drums that are played by electromagnetic vibrations. The exhibit, on display at Drexel’s ExCITe Center, is part rock show, part art installation, park interactive tech demonstration.

Creative director Garson is the brainchild behind East Passyunk’s Escape the 80s attraction, where timewarped guests solve puzzles to escape through a series of tricky rooms. But this year she brought her storytelling and UX prowess to The Franklin Institute, where she developed two themed escape rooms—the largest and most technologically advanced in the city.

This band has boldly gone where no other Philly band has gone before. They’ve Vulcan mind-melded Star Trek influences with pure Rock ‘n’ Roll. You might’ve caught them rocking out at the Franklin Institute or other geeky venues in the past but this year they accepted an invite to play at Quark’s Bar for the Star Trek 50th Anniversary Convention in Las Vegas, taking a bit of Philadelphia Geekdom with them out west.

Originally billed as a film and graphic novel production studio, South Fellini nabbed a win for “Outstanding Achievement in Local Comic Art” in the 2011 inaugural Philly Geek Awards and a nomination for “Feature Length Indie Film of the Year” the following year in 2012 for Alpha Girls. Proving their mastery of many mediums, they’ve recently expanded their skills into the production of artwork in the form of t-shirts, embroidered patches and enamel pins. Right now, they’re working on opening the doors to a brick and mortar store on East Passyunk to sell their locally-crafted works.

Spiral Q works with reclaimed and recycled materials and tackle large-scale puppet projects to show what’s possible when a group of creative and dedicated people set out to make something wonderful. Their work is rooted in principles of accessibility, inclusion, self-determination, collaboration, sustainability and life-long learning and explores the stories behind the community experience and believe in the power of art to express what’s most important.