NEWS

The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage spreads $10 million in 53 grants to individuals and organizations. We’re especially happy for these strong women in the mix – Sharon Hayes and Tiona McClodden, who are new Pew fellows; Erin Bernard and The History Truck and Kelsey Halliday Johnson for her exhibition about women’s art and technology from 1970-85 – yay! Congratulations, all! From the PCAH release:

Following is a partial list of artists, projects, and organizations receiving awards. A full list of grantees is available at pcah.us/2016grants.

Pew Fellowships—provide awards of $75,000 each. This year’s Fellows include artists working in the Philadelphia region in music, dance, theater, poetry, sound design, film, and interdisciplinary practices. Among them:

· Andrea Clearfield, who has composed more than 125 works for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, dance, and multimedia collaborations, exploring themes such as ancient cultures, freedom, religion, and technology;

· Ryan Eckes, whose narrative-driven, closely observed poetry is uniquely attuned to the voices and histories of urban life;

· Jennifer Kidwell, a theater artist whose highly researched work addresses the complexities of race and notions of American history with sharp intelligence and wry humor;

· Heidi Saman, a filmmaker influenced by Italian neo-realism’s emphasis on working-class protagonists, whose own work examines cultural identity, family, class, and daily life among Arab Americans.

Project Grants for Events, Exhibitions, and Performances—awarded in amounts up to $300,000, plus an additional percentage for general operating costs. Project grants are designed to support exceptional cultural programs and experiences presented by Philadelphia-area artists and organizations, for a wide range of audiences. This year’s list includes:

· Projects that engage the city as subject, including The Barnes Foundation’s Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie, capturing city life through a contemporary exhibition and installations in unexpected locations; curator Brian Phillips’ Rowhouse Workshop, surveying the physical and social histories embedded in Philadelphia row homes; Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s Monument Lab: A Citywide Public Art and History Exhibition with public artworks created by artists such as Ai Weiwei and Zoe Strauss; and Philadelphia Assembled, a museum installation and off-site interactive art experiences reimagining the city, presented by thePhiladelphia Museum of Art and artist Jeanne van Heeswijk;

· World-premiere commissions and performances, such as Temple Contemporary’s Symphony for a Broken Orchestra—a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang for 1,500 broken instruments gathered from Philadelphia public schools; The Wilma Theater’s Adapt!, the first play written by artistic director Blanka Zizka exploring the immigrant experience; and Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture’s (Dis)placed: Explorations in Poetry, Art, and Music Composition with commissions from four artists of Arab heritage;

· Projects into which the community’s voices and personal narratives are integrally woven, including a public radio broadcast series at the intersection of journalism and personal storytelling from WHYY, Inc. and First Person Arts; The History Truck W.I.C. Work/Shop, a mobile exhibition sharing the lived experience of welfare from curator Erin Bernard; and a “place-keeping” project to put Fleisher Art Memorial’s spaces and resources into the hands of Southeast Philadelphia community members;

· A spectrum of lively projects from 11 first-time Center grant recipients: hip-hop choreographer and dancerKyle “JustSole” Clark; EgoPo Classic Theater; visual art curator Kelsey Halliday Johnson; Jazz Bridge;South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA); and theater artist Alex Torra, among others.

Advancement Grants—multiyear investments designed to support bold initiatives led by exemplary arts and culture organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region. Among them:

· Opera Philadelphia, to implement a new business and program model that will feature an annual season-opening, multi-venue festival, launching in fall 2017, supported by new marketing strategies and a broad range of performance offerings to draw audiences from both inside and outside the regional metropolitan area;

· People’s Light, to conduct an in-depth market analysis and develop the company’s approach to diversifying its programs and revenue streams, attracting new audiences, and deepening relationships with existing audiences;

· Please Touch Museum, to research and develop a new set of blended digital and hands-on exhibitions, education programs, and marketing and distribution strategies designed to expand the museum’s range of audiences, increase the frequency of visits, and enhance its programs for children ages 2 to 11 and their families.

For more information about PCAH, visit pcah.us.

Summer series of Happy Hours with the Arts at Brandywine Workshop and Archives From the release:

The Brandywine Workshop and Archives hosts its new summer series Happy Hour with the Arts on Wednesday June 15, 2016 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM at 728 South Broad Street. Enjoy live jazz, complimentary sips and refreshments while viewing the launch of our newest exhibition Jute and Other Spirits by Michael B. Platt which will be on exhibit until July 30th.

The Glass Lobby Gallery has been transformed into an installation of powerful works on fabric expressing historical roots. The title refers to the Jute plant, which, in various stages of
processing, presents arresting visually provocative images.

Historically, the Jute fibers reference certain utilitarian associations—weaving the scratchy, cheaply manufactured fabric known as burlap, useful for wrapping bales of cotton, and fabricating the ropes sometimes used for lynching.

“Thinking about burlap led me to thinking about what once was called “Negro Cloth,” a crude, basic kind of rough linen, items which frequented cargoes of the Atlantic Slave Trade—imports of significance in 18th to 19th c. colonial America. The “Negro cloth” was given to the enslaved Africans for them to make their garments. Eventually much of this would be replaced by the production of textiles as the plantation model of the U.S. south sought complete self- sufficiency. Weaving, with African descended women learning the craft, or, in some instances, having opportunities to apply knowledge already familiar to them, became a significant part of plantation life, much as quilting would be.

In colonial times in the New World laws prohibited Africans from wearing fine fabrics such as silk and cotton. Social differences were declared by material and style in attempts to equate a person’s exterior with his/her inner substance.

Despite the historical connotations of exploitation, debasement and violence, in jute I also find other spirits— associations with strength, resistance, skill and the prospect of beauty…” Michael B. Platt

In addition to the Lobby Gallery installation of fabrics, the artist will present a portfolio of some of his prints on paper available for sale. Brandywine prints will also be available in the bins at 20% discount for this evening only.

The general public is invited to this free event.

Via Plan Philly…Counting Trees: The Search for Fairmount Park.
JUNE 15, 2016 6:00PM – 7:00PM
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA – 1300 LOCUST ST
This free talk about the origins of Philadelphia parks and especially the great Fairmount Park, so important to Philadelphia’s identity, is a must for history buffs, park lovers and that covers about everyone. More here.

IN/OUT: Ethics, Attention and Intention in Socially-Engaged Art
FRIDAY, JULY 22 – SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2016
Location: Moore College of Art and Design
1916 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

The second annual In/Out symposium explores socially-engaged art projects through interactive site visits, deep-dive case studies, and dialogues with artists, curators, students, and community members.

Presented by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and Moore College of Art & Design’s Graduate Social & Studio Practices department. Co-Organized by Paul M. Farber (Haverford College/Mural Arts) and Daniel Tucker (Moore)
TICKETS
Only $25 for All Three Days, which includes receptions, lunch on Friday/Saturday, and breakfast on Saturday/Sunday. Tickets here.

OPPORTUNITIES

Open Video Call at Delaware Contemporary —

The Delaware Contemporary is holding an open video call for an exhibition based on the exploration and worship of outer space.
Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2016. Visit www.thedcca.org/artistopportunities to apply.

Two from Mural Arts

Mural Arts Program Current Opportunities
Spanish Bilingual Project Coordinator

The Mural Arts Program is seeking one part time bilingual (Spanish/English) Project Coordinator to work on an upcoming participatory public art project with the artist, Jon Rubin and curator/project manager, Theresa Rose. The project, entitled, 9th Street Stock Exchange, is quite literally a stock exchange. Ten businesses along the historic South 9th Street Market Curb Market, also known as the Italian Market, will sell each other’s goods for one week at a time, rotating items over the course of nine weeks. Each store will have the opportunity to display and sell items from each of the participating businesses. The 9th Street Stock Exchange creates a small alternative economic and social eco-system that loosens the singular identity of the individual markets and produces new and unexpected relationships between cultures and goods. The 9th Street Stock Exchange will run from October 5th through December 14th, 2016. Complete application information here.

Mural Arts Program Current Opportunities
FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellow

Mural Arts seeks an FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellow to assist the Restored Spaces Initiative. Mural Arts’ Restored Spaces Initiative uses socially-engaged public art as a platform for neighborhood change. The award-winning model operates at the intersection of public art, design, the built environment, and green space, focusing on environmental education and sustainable revitalization of community spaces.
The Fellow will enter into a cohort of recent college graduates in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, all of whom share a demonstrated interest in youth education and development, that is supported and mentored for the duration of the two-year fellowship through the FAO Schwarz Family Foundation.
The Fellow’s time will be split evenly between direct service—collaborating with project artists and teaching artists to develop and implement civic and environmentally-themed art curricula, coordinating public art activations, and guiding trips—and project work—working with Mural Arts’ staff to develop and implement large-scale public art projects through organizing meetings, supporting community outreach, designing public programs, and creating and editing project materials for publications. Complete application information here.

Al Bustan seeks experienced Marketing person

Responsibilities
Marketing and Outreach: promote awareness of Al-Bustan and its programs, ensuring consistency in messaging and branding. Use of multiple creative approaches to drive attendance to and participation in Al-Bustan classes, programs, and concerts.

Maintain database of local/regional/national media contacts, including Arab and Arab American media outlets. Coordinate Media outreach including interviews, information requests, and media attendance at events. Marketing small supply of retail items.

Communications and Data Management: coordinate and create communications with various constituents, including Board of Directors, patrons, donors, participants, media, etc. Utilize constituent relationship management software (Salesforce) in managing ongoing tasks and data.

Create and schedule email newsletters (Constant Contact); update website content (WordPress); maintain profiles on member websites.

Social Media Management: thoughtfully create content and social media calendar across Al-Bustan’s social media platforms, which currently include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Event Planning: coordinate plans for public events, recruit and train volunteers for front-of-house needs, manage box office, retail sales, and occasional Board receptions.

Sponsorship: cultivate relationships with corporate/business sponsors.

Complete information here.