Events
CURRENT Programs (WINTER 2010)
Free and at PFP unless otherwise noted
Download the printed calendar here.
January 13, February 24
6-8 PM ($20 per session)
STORYTELLING WORKSHOP: CULTIVATING WISDOM IN HARD TIMES
Learn to shape and share your stories in master classes with noted storytellers Linda Goss and Irma Gardner-Hammond.
January 7, February 4, March 4, April 1, May 6
6-8 PM
PALESTINIAN NEEDLEWORK WORKSHOP
Ongoing gatherings. Stitch Palestinian tatreez patterns with Maisaloon Dias and Alia Sheikh-Yousef, and learn about the people and struggles behind the stitches.
February 13
10 AM - noon
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: FOLK ARTS GRANT-WRITING 101
Intro to folk arts-friendly funding opportunities in the Philadelphia area. Where can you go for funds to support your heritage arts efforts? Review upcoming deadlines and see what works for you. Leave with a plan! FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
February 26
6 PM - 8 PM (Exhibition opening party).
UNDER AUTUMN MOON: RECLAIMING TIME AND SPACE IN CHINATOWN
Joan May Cordova and Kathy Shimizu share photographs and block prints documenting the meanings of Chinatown's Mid-Autumn Festival, a vital celebration of culture and community. Initiated and produced by Asian Americans United (AAU) for 15 years, Mid-Autumn Festival has been a resource for sustaining this last remaining community of color in Philadelphia's center city, and for pushing back against predatory development schemes. Organized as part of a series of events celebrating AAU's 25th Anniversary. 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. More information: 215.726.1106
March 13
10 AM - noon
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: FOLK ARTS GRANTS: ARTIST STATEMENTS
Focus on basic elements of applications, with hands-on practice. How do you explain what you do (to people who have no idea where you come from!) FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
March 24
6-8 PM
ARTIST SALON: SATTRIYA IN PHILADELPHIA / Madhusmita Bora
Six hundred years ago, Sankardev, an Indian reformer, introduced Sattriya, a dance that evolved and flourished mostly in monasteries along an island in the river Brahmaputra. Born and raised in Assam, Madhusmita Bora grew up to the rhythms of this incredible art form practiced routinely at her village prayer house. This artist salon welcomes Madhu to Philadelphia and introduces Sattriya and her work. She will share some dance excerpts and talk about this ancient art form, its tales of survival and the challenges it faces. Read more.
April 9
3-5 PM (Free)
The Performance Garage
1515 Brandywine St. (1 block NW of Broad and Spring Garden)
PARALLEL DESTINIES
Work-in-progress and public discussion: Sample the next stage of work by dancer/choreographer Germaine Ingram, composer/musician Bobby Zankel, and visual artist John Dowell as they collaborate in developing a multimedia performance piece commemorating the nine African Americans enslaved by President George Washington in the President's House at 6th and Market Street here in Philadelphia in the 1790s. The project gives significant artists and their audiences chances to consider how history is preserved and retold, how legacies of African traditions and practices may be sustained and transformed in arts, and how resonances of painful pasts shape ways that we imagine our own place and responsibilities. Produced with the assistance of Warriors of the Wonderful Sound.
April 10
10 AM - noon
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: OPEN SESSION
Individual appointments for workshop attendees to move youir projects forward: please call for a time slot. Spaces limited and by appointment only. FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
May 8
10 AM - noon
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: SUMMER GRANT DEADLINES
Focus on upcoming grant opportunities in folk and traditional arts. FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
May 14
7 PM ($5)
Scribe Video Center
4212 Chestnut St., 3rd floor
PLENTY OF GOOD WOMEN DANCERS (and other films)
Screening as part of Scribe's Storyville series.
June 4
6 - 8 PM
June 5
10 AM - 1 PM
HOME PLACE (Exhibition opening)
The first public sharing of the work of participants in PFP's new Community Folklife Documentation Workshop. Meet participants and see excerpts of their work exploring the role of local folk arts in countering displacement, and in making sustainable local places. 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. More information: 215.726.1106
RECENT Programs (FALL 2009)
Free and at PFP unless otherwise noted
October 9
6 PM - 8 PM
FALL GATHERING / EXHIBITION CELEBRATION
TATREEZ: PALESTINIAN WOMEN'S EMBROIDERY IN PHILADELPHIA. Making and sharing traditional needlework, stitching patterns belonging to villages that no longer exist, local Palestinian women artfully sustain heritage and community through the beauty of tatreez. Nehad Khader curated our current exhibition about the meanings of this art - the first in a new series of Community Folklife Documentation exhibitions at PFP curated by community members. ALSO on display: Exhibitions Storied Objects and Bill and MIriam Crawford's Dining Room.
October 10
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: FOLK ARTS GRANT-WRITING 101
Intro to folk arts-friendly funding opportunities in the Philadelphia area. Where can you go for funds to support your heritage arts efforts? Review upcoming deadlines and see what works for you. Leave with a plan! 10 AM - Noon. FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
October 14, November 11, December 9, January 13, February 24
6-8 PM
STORYTELLING WORKSHOP: CULTIVATING WISDOM IN HARD TIMES ($100 for a 5-session series - limited enrollment)
Learn to shape and share your stories in a 5-session master class with noted storytellers Linda Goss and Irma Gardner-Hammond. Some scholarships available. Call for more details: 215.726.1106 Or download flyer (PDF 60K) and application form (PDF 52K).
November 14
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: FOLK ARTS GRANTS / ARTIST STATEMENTS
Focus on basic elements of applications, with hands-on practice. How do you explain what you do (to people who have no idea where you come from!) 10 AM - Noon. FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
November 30 - December 5
Noon - 6 PM
LOSANG SAMTEN / SAND MANDALA: GRAINS OF COMPASSION
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition of mandala-making creates sacred space, intended to uplift and benefit those who see it. A mandala is a circular representation of spiritual truths. Visit PFP's back gallery this week as Losang Samten shares this ancient and sacred practice, making, and then dismantling a mandala of colored sand blessing the environment, inaugurating our Home Place program exploring how local people use folk arts to address displacement.
Friday, December 11, 2009
3-5 PM
African American Museum of Philadelphia (AAMP). 701 Arch St.
Free
RIFFING ON THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE
Work-in-progress and public discussion: Sample the work of dancer/choreographer Germaine Ingram, composer/musician Bobby Zankel, and visual artist John Dowell as they develop a performance piece commemorating the nine African Americans enslaved by President George Washington in the President's house, a building that stood on a site just steps away from the Liberty Bell Pavilion. Hear about their creative process for reflecting on the contradictions, ironies, and present-day impact of slavery's practice in America's first seat of national government. Join the discussion about how history is preserved and retold, and how resonances of the past affect the way race works in the 21st Century. (This event is presented in collaboration with the African American Museum in Philadelphia).
December 12
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP: FOLK ARTS PROJECT NARRATIVES AND BUDGETS
Hands-on coaching at basic elements of grant-writing. How do you plan and undertake a folk arts / heritage project and describe it in a narrative? How do you build a budget that enables you to do what you need to do? 10 AM - Noon. FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.110
OTHER ON-GOING PFP PROGRAMS
Technical Assistance Workshops
Hands-on workshops on grant-writing for grassroots artists and cultural heritage workers, aiming to get resources into our communities. Generaly on second Saturdays 10 AM - Noon. FREE but limited space. RSVPS required: 215.726.1106
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), or attend a workshop.
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 involvedin 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.
