Events
CURRENT Programs (SPRING 2012)
EXHIBITIONS
Our galleries showcase local folk and traditional arts - vernacular and alternative expression. We accept community proposals for Folk Arts and Social Change residencies and work collaboratively to develop exhibitions and public programs at PFP. Call or visit our website for more information. OPEN Third Thursdays from 2 PM - 8 PM and by appointment. FREE: Donations appreciated. To learn more: 215.726.1106, pfp@folkloreproject.org,
Extended to March 2nd
CULTURAL EXCHANGE: Frito Bastien, Isaac Maefield, and African Cultural Art Forum (Rashie Abdul Samad and Sharif Abdur-Rahim) Vanguard cultural workers are featured in our first "Folk Arts and Social Change" residency. Two artists and a long-time community-based business fill PFP's gallery with folk arts from the African Diaspora, made and gathered over 40+ years. Community-based economics and politics have helped these arts and artists to endure. Come to see and share your experiences with alternative cultural production. Rashie Abdul Samad says: "If anything is going to change, it will come from exchange with each other." He's right. Stop by! Checkerboards, incense, sculpture, prints, and paintings reflect legacies of community-minded effort and commerce.
IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: WILLIAM and MIRIAM CRAWFORD'S DINING ROOM
Bill and Miriam Crawford's actual dining room walls are collaged with 40 years of social change memorabilia. Like other folk arts, these lovingly tended walls of memory and struggle trace community and convey folk history. Reinstalled at PFP, the dining room records the Crawfords' involvement in the Communist party, civil rights, Black Power, and anti-war movements, the "Stop Rizzo" campaign, and more. Like an elaborate, oversized scrapbook, the walls seamlessly mix political memorabilia with favorite images of African American literary and musical figures, popular culture, and photos of old friends. Each piece has a story. Now featuring audio recordings from the Crawford's extended family.
May 4: 6 PM - 8 PM
Exhibition opening
WE CANNOT KEEP SILENT
In December 2009, dozens of Asian immigrant students boycotted their high school and launched a campaign around a district's responsibility to provide a safe educational climate. Asian Americans United and partners curate an exhibit featuring voices from a campaign that sought educational justice in a school struggling with violence and racial discord. Featuring photographs by Harvey Finkle.
OPEN HOUSES and SALONS
* = repeated events
January 31: 2 PM - 7 PM
LEEWAY ART AND CHANGE WORKSHOP
Leeway offers grants for women and trans artists using art for social change. Stop by to meet with Leeway staff. Share your ideas and get feedback for their March 1 deadline. More info at www.leeway.org. RSVP to 215.545.4078 x11
February 16: 2 PM - 8 PM
TEA AND TREATS
Stop by to see PFP’s exhibitions, share what you are up to, browse resources and be a part of good conversation. Guests and themes change at our Third Thursday events: check our website for details. Refreshments.
March 1: 6:30 - 8:30 PM
KEEPERS OF THE CULTURE
Monthly meetings of the region’s Afrocentric storytelling organization. For information, call (215) 667-8009.
March 2: 6 PM - 9 PM
THE WILL TO ADORN: PHILADELPHIA STORIES
How do we surround ourselves in beauty? Watch Hair Stories by Yvette Smalls. Hear KOTC storytellers and share your own stories about how styles of dress and adornment have been means of self and community affirmation.
March 15:2 PM - 8 PM
TEA AND TREATS
March 19 - 23: Noon - 7 PM
LOSANG SAMTEN: MANDALA OF COMPASSION
A Tibetan sand mandala is a miniature map of the cosmos, a way of understanding how the world is ordered. Join Losang Samten at PFP as he creates and then dismantles a mandala of compassion.
March 20:8 PM
Dock Street Brewery
701 S. 50th St.
SCREENING OF KUNDUN
Losang acted in this Martin Scorsese film, and served as the religious technical advisor and sand mandala supervisor. Our neighbors at Dock Street are showing the film, in conjunction with our week-long residency of Losang. Watch at Dock Street, then stop by PFP two days later to talk about the film with Losang.
March 22: 6 PM - 7 PM
MAKING KUNDUN: DISCUSSION
At PFP, Losang will discuss the making of Kundun, a Martin Scorsese film about the early life of the Dalai Lama.
April 5: 6:30 - 8:30 PM
KEEPERS OF THE CULTURE*
April 19: 2 PM - 8 PM
TEA AND TREATS*
April TBD
PFP ON WHYY
Watch that dial: Our award-winning documentary, Eatala: A Life in Klezmer will be broadcast this month. We'll post more details when we know them!
May 3 :6:30 - 8:30 PM
KEEPERS OF THE CULTURE*
May 17: 2 PM – 8 PM
DANCE AFRICA PHILADELPHIA HISTORIES: PROJECT LAUNCH
Contribute to an upcoming collaboration with the Community Education Center and local artists: an exhibition documenting Philadelphia's rich histories of African dance, drum and culture. Stop by to share your experiences and knowledge.
June 2
PFP'S 25TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
Save the date. PFP is twenty-five this year and we want to celebrate with you at a birthday bash that will help propel us towards the next 25 years. Stay tuned for details.
June 6, 13, 20 and 27:4 PM - 7 PM
INFO SESSIONS: FOLK ARTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE RESIDENCIES
Learn about PFP's gallery residency program and share your ideas. (Applications available in April).
June 7: 6:30 - 8:30 PM
KEEPERS OF THE CULTURE*
June 30
DEADLINE FOR FOLK ARTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE RESIDENCY PROPOSALS
Previous Programs (FALL 2011)
September 16: 6 PM - 8 PM
EXHIBIT OPENINGCULTURAL EXCHANGE: Frito Bastien, Isaac Maefield, and African Cultural Art Forum (Rashie Abdul Samad and Sharif Abdur-Rahim) Vanguard cultural workers are featured in our first "Folk Arts and Social Change" residency. Two artists and a long-time community-based business fill PFP's gallery with folk arts from the African Diaspora, made and gathered over 40+ years. Community-based economics and politics have helped these arts and artists to endure. Come to see and share your experiences with alternative cultural production. And come to buy work from these artists and merchants. Rashie Abdul Samad says: "If anything is going to change, it will come from exchange with each other." He's right. Stop by! Checkerboards, incense, sculpture, prints, and paintings reflect legacies of community-minded effort and commerce.
IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: WILLIAM and MIRIAM CRAWFORD'S DINING ROOM: Bill and Miriam Crawford's actual dining room walls are collaged with 40 years of social change memorabilia. Like other folk arts, these lovingly tended walls of memory and struggle trace community and convey folk history. Reinstalled at PFP, the dining room records the Crawfords' involvement in the Communist party, civil rights, Black Power, and anti-war movements, the "Stop Rizzo" campaign, and more. Like an elaborate, oversized scrapbook, the walls seamlessly mix political memorabilia with favorite images of African American literary and musical figures, popular culture, and photos of old friends. Each piece has a story. Now featuring audio recordings from the Crawford's extended family.
OPEN HOUSES and SALONS
October 22: 1 PM - 4 PM
RISE AND FLY, WEST PHILADELPHIA: OPEN HOUSE
The first "Rise and Fly" happened in 2006: a celebration of checkers that drew the city's major checker players to Boot's Laundromat. Isaac Maefield hosts a "Rise and Fly" celebration at PFP this afternoon - against the background of artist-made checkerboards and crafts from Isaac and others. Checker players invited! Come one, come all.
November 12: 1 PM - 4 PM
ARTIST SALON: LOCALLY SOURCED ARTS
Talk with the brothers behind ACAF, and with Isaac Maefield about their work over 40+ years in making and trading folk arts and in building vital communities through art. Haitian artist Frito Bastien will offer painting lessons.
December 17: 1 PM - 4 PM
EXHIBIT CLOSING AND HOLIDAY SALE
Meet the artists and community members who have been in residence this fall. Purchase a piece of art to support their work.
September 1, October 6, November 3, December 1 (1st Thursdays), 6:30 - 8:30 PM
KEEPERS OF THE CULTURE
The region's Afro-centric storytelling organization meets monthly at PFP to conduct business, share stories, and build a community of storytellers. For more information: 609.877.6807.
COMMUNITY CONCERT
December 11: 7:30 PM (Doors open at 6:45)
Crossroads Music/Calvary Church
801 S. 48th Street
GOODNIGHT MISHEGAS KLEZMER CONCERT: ELAINE AND SUSAN WATTS
Usher in the holiday season with Philadelphia's beloved klezmer musicians: Elaine Hoffman Watts and Susan Lankin Watts. Say goodnight to the mishegas (Yiddish for "craziness" or "madness") in today's world. Sing along at the concert when Susan, Elaine and other superb klezmorim take the stage. The music produced by Elaine Hoffman Watts' vast talent and indomitable spirit is a critically important, feisty, and enduring link to a particular Philadelphia-style Jewish klezmer sound. Working actively in Philadelphia since the early years of this century, the Hoffman family and other local Jewish musicians shaped a Jewish American music reflecting the influences of their homelands as well as the musical culture of Philadelphia. Elaine, on drums, along with her daughter Susan Lankin Watts on vocals and trumpet, will be joined at this concert by other acclaimed klezmer musicians.
Call PFP for tickets or visit http://crossroadsconcerts.org
$20 general admission / $15 PFP members / $5 children under 12
Holiday Gift Idea: DVDs of the new documentary about Elaine, Eatala: A Life in Klezmer, will be available for purchase at the show.
OTHER ON-GOING PFP PROGRAMS
Technical Assistance Workshops
Hands-on workshops for grassroots artists and cultural heritage workers, aiming to build resources in our communities.
Art Happens Here
These public programs are collaborations with folk and traditional artists and grassroots community groups; they aim to sustain alternative and significant vernacular traditions. Artists introduce work in progress, or developed during residencies. If you are a Philadelphia-area community-based folk or traditional artist, let us know about your project by writing a letter (or e-mail pfp@folkloreproject.org).
Folk Arts House Programs
Intimate salons, workshops and gatherings help people share local knowledge, develop folk arts and build community.
Exhibitions
Our galleries showcase local folk and traditional arts - vernacular and alternative expression. We are open October - June on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM - 6 PM and by appointment. FREE (but donations appreciated). We are happy to arrange tours for groups. More information: 215.726.1106. We also loan traveling photo exhibitions on local folk art. Rental rates are modest (and free to sites serving low-income communities.) Currently available is "All that we do", a photo exhibition by James Wasserman profiling local women working in traditional art. Call us for info or visit our exhibitions page.
Folk Arts Education
Folk Arts and Multicultural Education (FAME) is our arts education program, including on-going residencies in which traditional artists work with young people at the Folk Arts - Cultural Treasures Charter School (which we helped Asian Americans United to found) and in community sites. Residency artists include masters of diverse local cultural traditions - African American, Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Liberian dance and music. At the Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School, we are also involved in developing folk arts education curricula, standards and programs there. For more information about our FAME program, or to inquire about being a FAME site or artist, view our FAME page.
Home Place Project
PFP is supporting local people in documenting folk arts relating to displacement: including arts and stories of gentrification and loss of home right here, as well as war and immigration from a previous homeland. Part of our new workshop / training program, this pilot year will result in a series of exhibitions and programs.
Media and Publications
We develop documentary resources to widen the public record about local folk arts and issues. (Browse some examples here). Our long-running magazine, children's books, books and exhibition catalogs, and documentary videos and DVDs are on our list. Purchase of our publications helps support PFP efforts.
