West Philly Sanctuary open hang/drop-in: crafts/board games/food. Free. Everyone welcome. 1pm-4pm. Every Tuesday in Spring

MacProud’s 7 Funny Bits 7 Funny Bits are all enhanced readings. We will have a different play each night. Pay what you can or pay cash at the door. There will be free snacks and refreshments too! Help us pick one play for the 2025 Fringe! Get your tix now before they sell out: www.t.ly/Get.Tix

5 nights: April 1, 3, 7, 9, 13. Doors open at 7:15 each night. 

Tue Apr 1st: FUNNY STINK: A writer. A women. A honey trap.PINTER HOMAGE: A Note On Shakespeare and GIRL

Thu Apr 3rd: NOT HER, NOT HERE: Darkness, kink dreams, & a sunny rest-home

Mon Apr 7th: LOUIS, SEE KAY: Stand-up comedy bleeds out.

Wed Apr 9th: LIZ, LOVES DICK (SO DOES GUY): Love, death & drinking with Liz Tayler, Dick & Guy.

Sun Apr 13th: DRACULA!! THE PANTO!!!: Comedy. Aunts. Nieces. A super-wench. Bad jokes. Silliness. Naughtiness. Vampires. For ages 9 to 99! Family friendly.

1:00 PM – 5:00 PMPeople's Music Supply is proud to offer this workshop from living legend Joe Morris, an outstanding educator and world renowned musician. This workshop will last roughly 3-4 hours and will be followed in the evening by a concert featuring Joe and friends.

FROM JOE!In this workshop we will examine the non-harmony based materials that are consistently used and redefined by improvising musicians. Includes the study of four seminal methodologies, (Unit Structures, Harmolodics, Tri-Axiom Theory and European Free Improvisation), with the focus on how they inform individual and group improvisation. Students will perform compositions that reveal improvisational properties and use that material to improvise. Tickets will be available shortly, sliding scale $25 to $50. Ticket sales will be capped at 20, so please act fast. Workshop tickets include complimentary entrance for the concert. This program is presented with support from The Rotunda, Philly Music Factory, and Free Range concert series.

Joe Morris will be joined by former student and philly klezmer/experimental crossover star Dan Blacksberg. The always wily Carlos Santiago rounds out the trio. Their set will be played freely.

Joe Morris- Guitar

Dan Blacksberg- Trombone

Carlos Santiago- Violin

Inverse and Obverse is a quartet rooted in a phenomenological approach to creative music. like the great philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, we are examining the skin of the world, the very nature by which objects and sensations emerge from an interconnected web of being. It is this tenderness to the moment, and each other, which allows us to play poly-idiomatically.

Tickets are $5-20, no one turned away for lack of funds. This concert is sponsored by Philly Music Factory.

MacProud’s 7 Funny Bits7 Funny Bits are all enhanced readings. We will have a different play each night. Pay what you can or pay cash at the door. There will be free snacks and refreshments too! Help us pick one play for the 2025 Fringe! Get your tix now before they sell out: www.t.ly/Get.Tix

5 nights: April 1, 3, 7, 9, 13. Doors open at 7:15 each night. 

Tue Apr 1st: FUNNY STINK: A writer. A women. A honey trap.PINTER HOMAGE: A Note On Shakespeare and GIRL

Thu Apr 3rd: NOT HER, NOT HERE: Darkness, kink dreams, & a sunny rest-home

Mon Apr 7th: LOUIS, SEE KAY: Stand-up comedy bleeds out.

Wed Apr 9th: LIZ, LOVES DICK (SO DOES GUY): Love, death & drinking with Liz Tayler, Dick & Guy.

Sun Apr 13th: DRACULA!! THE PANTO!!!: Comedy. Aunts. Nieces. A super-wench. Bad jokes. Silliness. Naughtiness. Vampires. For ages 9 to 99! Family friendly.

MacProud’s 7 Funny Bits7 Funny Bits are all enhanced readings. We will have a different play each night. Pay what you can or pay cash at the door. There will be free snacks and refreshments too! Help us pick one play for the 2025 Fringe! Get your tix now before they sell out: www.t.ly/Get.Tix

5 nights: April 1, 3, 7, 9, 13. Doors open at 7:15 each night. 

Tue Apr 1st: FUNNY STINK: A writer. A women. A honey trap.PINTER HOMAGE: A Note On Shakespeare and GIRL

Thu Apr 3rd: NOT HER, NOT HERE: Darkness, kink dreams, & a sunny rest-home

Mon Apr 7th: LOUIS, SEE KAY: Stand-up comedy bleeds out.

Wed Apr 9th: LIZ, LOVES DICK (SO DOES GUY): Love, death & drinking with Liz Tayler, Dick & Guy.

Sun Apr 13th: DRACULA!! THE PANTO!!!: Comedy. Aunts. Nieces. A super-wench. Bad jokes. Silliness. Naughtiness. Vampires. For ages 9 to 99! Family friendly.

MacProud’s 7 Funny Bits7 Funny Bits are all enhanced readings. We will have a different play each night. Pay what you can or pay cash at the door. There will be free snacks and refreshments too! Help us pick one play for the 2025 Fringe! Get your tix now before they sell out: www.t.ly/Get.Tix

5 nights: April 1, 3, 7, 9, 13. Doors open at 7:15 each night. 

Tue Apr 1st: FUNNY STINK: A writer. A women. A honey trap.PINTER HOMAGE: A Note On Shakespeare and GIRL

Thu Apr 3rd: NOT HER, NOT HERE: Darkness, kink dreams, & a sunny rest-home

Mon Apr 7th: LOUIS, SEE KAY: Stand-up comedy bleeds out.

Wed Apr 9th: LIZ, LOVES DICK (SO DOES GUY): Love, death & drinking with Liz Tayler, Dick & Guy.

Sun Apr 13th: DRACULA!! THE PANTO!!!: Comedy. Aunts. Nieces. A super-wench. Bad jokes. Silliness. Naughtiness. Vampires. For ages 9 to 99! Family friendly.

The Bigger Picture presents a FREE virtual workshop on Zoom: Securing Community Partnerships Part 1 ft. Tenara Calem

Unlock the power of collaboration in the arts with our two-part interactive workshop, "Securing Community Partnerships" led byCommunity Partner Tenara Calem. These workshops are specifically for artists eager to forge meaningful connections with local businesses and strengthen their community presence.

In the first session, Tenara Calem will guide you through the essentials of identifying potential business partners, crafting a compelling pitch, and establishing mutually beneficial relationships.

Registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Please register HERE

Penn Africana Studies Artist In Residence: Dr. Gladys Ijeoma Akunna, Ph.D.

Introducing the Power of Africanized Dance/Movement Therapy in CommunityMaster Class in DanceWed April 16, 6pm-8pm: Master Class #1Mon April 21, 6pm-8pm: Master Class #2

Dr. Gladys Ijeoma Akunna, Ph.D. is an inspiring teacher, researcher, psychotherapist, author, and artist driven by an innovative pioneering spirit. With her deep understanding of Western-oriented Dance Therapy and Indigenous African and African Diasporic Thoughts and psychotherapy, she bridges the gap between historical traditions and contexts, offering unique transformative approaches to mental and emotional well-being to the Black community across the board.

Dr. Akunna conducted the first clinical trial of DMT as psychiatric treatment in Nigeria. She was a visiting Scholar to Drexel University and was honored with an Award by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) as a 2020 AAUW International Fellow, producing the documentary: The Deep Call Into Itself: Healing Africa Through Creative Arts Therapies. Her Poetic Memoir, Please, Adopt Me America, by Austen Macaulay Publishers, USA was released on December 6, 2024.

An African-centered thinker, her Africanized / Dance Movement Therapy contributes to equity in global health ideas, community engagement & empowerment, education and professional practice.

Registration is required and FREE. Please register for Master Class #1 HERE. Please register for for Master Class #2 HERE. 

Bowerbird and Fire Museum present the duo of Iranian vocalist Kamyar Arsani (Faraway Ghost) and Indian-born percussionist/producer Ravish Momin (Sunken Cages) with an opening set by Savan DePaul aka Ishtar Sr. Their collaboration combines Persian poetry with Mumbai street rhythms, layered over intricate electronic soundscapes. Arsani’s mastery of Persian classical modes (dastgahs) and his evocative vocals merge seamlessly with Momin’s polyrhythmic live-looping and electronic drumming. Together, they create a unique sound described as “Digital Sufi Music.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Ravish Momin (Sunken Cages)Ravish Momin is a drummer and electronic music producer whose work draws on Indian and Black music traditions as well as global underground dance music. He has performed internationally for over two decades, including appearances at the Kennedy Center, Big Ears Festival, and Le Guess Who? Festival. As Sunken Cages, Momin integrates live-looping and electronic drums into his performances. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists and is signed to Akuphone Records (France).

Kamyar Arsani (Faraway Ghost)Kamyar Arsani is an Iranian multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter based in Washington, D.C. A performer and teacher of the daf, Arsani’s music bridges classical Persian traditions with experimental electronic sounds. He has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress and is the lyricist and singer for the punk band Shadow Riot. Arsani’s work explores a diverse range of musical styles while remaining deeply rooted in Persian musical heritage.

Savan DePaul

Savan DePaul (they/them, she/her, dey/dem), who also goes by the future pop moniker Ishtar Sr., is a singer, rapper, producer, engineer, and visual artist living in West Philadelphia. DePaul’s music encompasses many styles, from abstract hip hop polemics to futuristic R&B experiences to dance pop anthems. The Ishtar Sr. project specifically consists of an Afrofuturistic blend of glitch pop and club/rave-centric R&B nestling various odes to Blackness, sexual autonomy, and queer revenge/retaliation. Ishtar released the “HOLYHOUSE b/w/ Fourth Planet Funk” single with Astro Nautico in 2020 and two projects with Grimalkin Records (the 2021 debut album Divine Ecdysis and the 2022 mixtape Ecdysis Incomplete) in addition to some self-released singles and EPs. She is currently working on her second and third studio albums.

Admission is FREE/pay-what-you-wish. Registration is not required but it is appreciated. Please register HERE

Penn Africana Studies Artist In Residence: Dr. Gladys Ijeoma Akunna, Ph.D.

Introducing the Power of Africanized Dance/Movement Therapy in CommunityMaster Class in DanceWed April 16, 6pm-8pm: Master Class #1Mon April 21, 6pm-8pm: Master Class #2

Dr. Gladys Ijeoma Akunna, Ph.D. is an inspiring teacher, researcher, psychotherapist, author, and artist driven by an innovative pioneering spirit. With her deep understanding of Western-oriented Dance Therapy and Indigenous African and African Diasporic Thoughts and psychotherapy, she bridges the gap between historical traditions and contexts, offering unique transformative approaches to mental and emotional well-being to the Black community across the board.

Dr. Akunna conducted the first clinical trial of DMT as psychiatric treatment in Nigeria. She was a visiting Scholar to Drexel University and was honored with an Award by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) as a 2020 AAUW International Fellow, producing the documentary: The Deep Call Into Itself: Healing Africa Through Creative Arts Therapies. Her Poetic Memoir, Please, Adopt Me America, by Austen Macaulay Publishers, USA was released on December 6, 2024.

An African-centered thinker, her Africanized / Dance Movement Therapy contributes to equity in global health ideas, community engagement & empowerment, education and professional practice.

Registration is required and FREE. Please register for Master Class #1 HERE. Please register for for Master Class #2 HERE. 

Why Not Now? Why Not You? Be bold and unapologetic with our creativity. 

We mustn’t wait for life to allow art, we must let our art allow for life. 

Why not us why not now.

5:30pm-10pm 

Celebrate your creativity in an inspiring space! For the whole family! 

Artist Bios

Karon: A New York Native/Philadelphia Transplant, Karen is a percussionist, playwright, director, producer, and poet. She is also the founder and leader of two musical collectives: The Karen Smith Experience, and Sistahs Laying Down Hands (SLDH). 

Jake Doggett is a spoken word artist born and raised in city of brotherly love. Spending his days as a general contractor, Jake draws inspiration for his spoken word pieces from fragments of the ordinary experiences of everyday life. Extrapolating those fragments out into abstract ideas, Jake aims his words to bridge the ordinary to the divine. Through this, Jake hopes to show both himself, and the audience that the beautiful Gospel of Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven can be experienced anywhere, and by anyone.

Alexa Lahr (lucidmelody) is a Philadelphia creative and yogi. Also Cofounder of Inspiration Station. She strives to cultivate creative spaces for people to inspire each other.  She also loves to create jewelry, candles and clothing.  She always works to stay well rounded in her arts. 

Stephen Wise is a multi instrumental /vocalist. A spiritual "new thought/ancient wisdom" recording artist, he plays saxophones, flutes,native drums, didgeridoo, keys and composes and produces his own music. He expresses his soul through his beautiful noise. Stephen Wise aka Ras Katriel is a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist. A spiritual "new thought/ancient wisdom" recording artist, he plays saxophones, flutes, native drums, didgeridoo, keys and composes and produces his own music. "Wise one" expresses his soul through his blending of a variety of genres from pop, soul, jazz, reggae, funk & world then add meditative to that. His lyrics express high conscious, positive messages that reflect his yearning to see Oneness become main stream. "Not only fashionable but true global understanding that divine is within when we bring our consciousness to it." Ras Katri has worked with some of the biggest names in music such as; Stevie Wonder, Patti Labelle, Kenny Gamble, Teena Marie, Ritchie Havens, Boyz II Men and the Roots to name a few. Wise has completed 7 cds and as he puts it: "I'm here to serve humanity through the beautiful noise my music makes and I'm just getting warmed up."

Cinque (Host)

AVG is a Haitian pastor's kid born in Massachusetts, raised in Ohio & now living in Philly. He's been writing poetry since the 4th grade and uses this medium to wrestle with faith, spirituality, romance, and social issues. With 2 books and publication in an anthology called Our Hope Remains, he hopes to continue writing mirrors, hoping people see themselves in his poetry.

 Sai Crosscombe (Sai of relief): I am a Philadelphian folk singer/songwriter and visual artist. I am also co-founder of Inspiration Station. My work is deeply shaped by the world around me and my own personal growth. I strive to pour my life experiences into every note and brushstroke, creating art that is both raw and deeply authentic.With every song and piece of art, I invite others into my  journey and into my world, a testament to the power of perseverance and creative expression.

Plum Dragoness: Native to West Philadelphia, Plum Dragoness (aka Gabrielle de Burke) is a multi-talented thespian, dancer, martial artist, instructor, poetess, and writer who has been involved with performing arts since childhood. She is known for her poetic style, vocal performance, fire dance, flow arts, and choreographic flair throughout Philadelphia and abroad

Sista K  is a lyricist and vocalist extraordinair, philly community music activist.   

Taajuldiin (of Khalifaa): Playwright , vocalist, lyricist, composer, drummer, producer, songwriter, filmmaker, screenwriter, poet, av tech and soundhealer, life coach, Philly lifer, Founder of the Philadelphia Peace Initiative

Danny Hirsch: lived in Philly since I was a child. And music has been such a tool for my life. I started out by playing drums and a piano around the age of ten, then as I got older music became more therapeutic, and my creativity grew. I play by ear… Guitar,piano, and drums. And I make my music on the spot/improvised. The music comes to me in my head then onto paper or just the sound waves. The music I create is like visuals to me. Not only do I hear the music but I feel and see it as well, thus my “stage name” Vision101.

Cicada Killer is an indie rock band based in Philadelphia. Composed of drummer Liam Dun, bassist Moustapha Balde, lead guitarist Frank Delane, and singer/guitarist Jimmy Waltman, they take inspiration from emo, jazz, and folk music.

Presented In conjunction with and sponsored by the Philadelphia Peace Initiative and DiMe Foundation

We at The Philadelphia Peace Initiative invite you to join with us as we realize our mission of partnering  and uniting community  based organizations committed to ending violence on the streets of Philadelphia.  By partnering with PPI you will also support an entire network of organizations dedicated to making peace possible in our city.  The Philadelphia Peace Initiative exists to provide a much needed umbrella under which all in service to the Philadelphia community can organize, network, and provide mutual support. In order to strengthen and expand this network of peace, we need partners like you who are able to provide volunteers, consultation and other vital resources. Specifically, your support will help us in the following areas of our multi-pronged approach: Collectively addressing legislation that adversely affects our community at large. Commemorating the diligent work of all who work to keep the peace in our city. Sharing resources and information on how to remedy the problems facing our community. Organizing awareness rallies and other forms of peaceful public assembly. Together we can make possible a peaceful Philadelphia. Taking responsibility, changing lives…Please contact us at ppi.philly4peace@gmail.com Join us today, we need you!Returning soon: PHILLY DAY 2025

About The Women's Coalition for Empowerment, Inc.: Founded in 2010 by BIPOC women artists and art enthusiasts, our mission is to enhance financial support, creative workforce opportunities, and assistance for emerging artists, musicians, and performers facing financial challenges.

Since its inception, the WCE has cultivated numerous programs that promote self-sufficiency, artistic expression, and opportunities for personal and professional creative growth.

The Bigger Picture presents a FREE virtual workshop on Zoom: Securing Community Partnerships Part 2 ft. Tenara Calem

Unlock the power of collaboration in the arts with our two-part interactive workshop, "Securing Community Partnerships" led byCommunity Partner Tenara Calem. These workshops are specifically for artists eager to forge meaningful connections with local businesses and strengthen their community presence.The second session focuses on turning your newfound connections into lasting partnerships. Discover how to create and present value propositions that resonate with business owners, and explore strategies for maintaining and growing these relationships over time.

Registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Please register HERE

Fire Museum Presents: Akkarai SistersCo-presented with Penn Arts & Sciences South Asia Center & Sruti

Akkarai Sisters:

The Akkarai Sisters, S Subhalakshmi and S Sornalatha, are among India’s most distinguished musicians today. Hailing from a family with a rich musical background and having learnt under illustrious gurus, they hold the unique distinction of being amongst the foremost artistes in the field as both vocal & violin duelists, as well as accompanists for many eminent musicians.

The Akkarai Sisters are amongst the most celebrated names in Carnatic music. Their music have taken them to every corner of India and every part of the world. They have released numerous albums, debuting with Subhalakshmi’s unprecedented ‘Abhishta Varada’, featuring her vocals recorded over with her own violin accompaniment at age 15. The sisters have also carried forward the family’s legacy of imparting Carnatic music to several disciples, many of whom are skillful performing artistes themselves.

The Akkarai Sisters will be accompanied by K. U. Jayachandra Rao on mridangam.

Additional support for this event provided by mediaThe foundation.Pay-what-you-wish. Suggested donation $10-25. Advance registration is not required but is appreciated. Please register HERE