The Bridge PHL Theatre Festival Fundraiser 2018!

THE BRIDGE PHL THEATRE FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER!

Please join us for an evening of music, comedy, spoken-word, refreshments, prizes, conversation, and community!

Tickets: $15 cash at the door. 

Build the Bridge PHL tee shirts are $10 and 25% of tee shirt sales always is donated to Black Lives Matter. 

All other funds raised will go towards producing The Bridge PHL Theatre Festival this November 1st - 4th. 

The Bridge PHL:

Fostering healing connections between our diverse communities, encouraging openness and dialogue on racial prejudice, privilege, inclusion, intersectionality, and bias, through powerful acts of theatre. 

www.thebridgephl.org 

facebook.com/thebridgephl instagram.com/thebridgephl 

twitter @BridgePhl youtube: The Bridge PHL thebridgephl@gmail.com

Event Horizon Series presents

May 5th - Kip Rosser, Chuck van Zyl, Obliquity of the Ecliptic

Kip Rosser - Since 1996, Kip Rosser’s solo performances, staged productions, award-winning compositions and industry recognition have earned him a reputation as one of the most accomplished thereminists playing in the world today. Rosser typically moves beyond a standard recital format,making for a unique event that combines music (ranging from classical to jazz to popular) with humor, stories, performance art, animation and video, continually pushing the boundaries of what the theremin can play and do. His many accomplishments span a wide a variety of disciplines. Milestones include presentations on stage, in museums, libraries and arts centers, award-winning original compositions, and the critically acclaimed “Unholy Secrets of the Theremin,” presented at the NY International Fringe Festival. After creating full courseware for using the theremin in a therapeutic environment, Rosser was chosen to represent Moog Music, Inc. at the annual convention for the American Music Therapy Association. As a member of MUNY (Music under New York) he regularly plays music in the Manhattan subways. As a teaching artist for Musicopia, he brings his music programs to students of all ages in the Philadelphia school system; also through Musicopia, he started the NJ branch of the Gift ofMusic, collecting and delivering donated musical instruments, free of charge, to students in need. His original music was used for Sabina Ptasnik’s short film, Gravity. In 2014 he provided the theremin tracks by composer Dane Walker for the new Toddy Burton film, Scientists in theWoods. In 2016, he composed the theremin soundtrack for Jason Allen’s feature film, An Idle Mind is the Devil’s Playground. Rosser’s latest CD of original ambient compositions for theremin, Lessons from Vinegar Mother, was released in 2016. He is currently working on another album of original compositions.

Chuck van Zyl - Best known as host of Stars End (WXPN's renowned radio program of spacemusic dreamscapes) and as coordinator of The Gatherings (Philadelphia's premiere concert series of innovative music), Chuck van Zyl has also been making his own unique style of electronic music since 1983. Over the course of his musical existence Chuck van Zyl has developed a signature exploratory style. By blending the primitive machine beauty of classics like "Ricochet" with the highly formed values of more recent groups such as Redshift and Arc, his solo studio works are the result of a persistent creativity. With a solid melodic invention, atmospheric modulations and heroic shifts in tonality, van Zyl masterfully realizes the fascinating patterns, riffs and pulses that dominate his live concerts. As the music forms, climbs and sustains, listeners are pulled into a highly distinctive mindscape. Tone patterns weave and collide as go-for-broke keyboard lead lines dance high above - while synthetic strings draw long lines across a cool digital plane. Chuck van Zyl is at home in this endlessly inventive genre, offering ample muscle for the adventurous, archaic modulations for the experimentalist and dreamy floating space for the cloudwalker.

Memorial Celebration of the Life and Art of Lili Bita

Please join us in celebrating the life and art of writer, poet, actress, director, pianist, lover of life, and kind soul Lili Bita, who passed away on February 12, 2018. 

Lili made an indelible mark on countless people, through her performances, lectures, music, and spirit. She treated everyone with such attention and love, which now inspires us to take some time to celebrate her. 

There will be invited speakers and performers but we also welcome anyone and everyone to share love and memories on stage. All are welcome to speak, share a song, poem etc. 

And since Lili was such a bright soul, we can't just talk! We will also have Greek music and food, just as she would have wanted it! 

All are welcome. Let's fill the seats for Lili! Please arrive promptly at 2pm. 

*woodcut design on the purple background is by artist Dee Clark

Pamelia Stickney (theremin + electronics) & Grant C Weston (gigantic drumset)The 1st meeting of this theremin & drumset dream team!http://pamelia.weebly.com/https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/calvinweston

(Calvin Weston photo: L. David Hinton)

presented in collaboration with:EMEAPP (Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project) <https://www.facebook.com/EMEAPP>and Musica Practica / Elettronica Viva <http://web.sas.upenn.edu/electronicmusic>

Admission is FREE

The Secret Cinema presentsFASHION UNDRESSED: FILMS OF STYLE AND BEAUTY

Earlier this year, the Secret Cinema was asked by Towson University in Maryland to create a special film program...to compliment a gallery exhibition on the history of women's undergarments! We were encouraged to include any films touching on the themes of fashion and beauty, so we searched through the archive and came up with an assemblage of shorts (short films, that is!) from the 1930s through the 1970s. Included were educational and advertising films, entertainment shorts and newsreels.

Some were old Secret Cinema favorites, and others had never been projected before.

We were so pleased with the results that we decided that we had to share this program with our regular audience -- and where better than in our new free screening series at University City's Rotunda? So, on Thursday, May 10 we'll present FASHION UNDRESSED: FILMS OF STYLE AND BEAUTY.

There will be one complete screening at 8:00 pm. Admission is free.

As usual, all Secret Cinema programs are projected in 16mm film on a giant screen (not video).

Just a few highlights of FASHION UNDRESSED... are:

THE COSTUME DESIGNER (1950) - In 1950 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences oversaw the production of a series of one-reel shorts covering different aspects of the film industry, each film being produced by a different studio. R.K.O. made this reel on the importance of the wardrobe department, with a special focus on sunglass-wearing designer Edith Head (who, oddly, is not named).

FIGURE FORUM (1954) - Warner Brothers -- not the famous film studio, but the Warner Brothers Foundations and Bras Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut -- made this film about choosing the proper bra and girdle. TRIVIA NOTE: THIS REEL WAS AMONG THE FIRST 3 OR 4 16MM FILMS THE SECRET CINEMA EVER OWNED -- IT WAS THROWN IN WITH THE FIRST PROJECTOR WE PURCHASED, BACK IN 1975!

GIRLS IN SHORT SHORT DRESSES (1966) - Paramount made this topical film in the final days of the theatrical short subject era, to capitalize on the worldwide interest in then very-Swinging London. It stars actual mod band The Thoughts, best known to record collectors for their recording of Ray Davies' (of the Kinks) otherwise unreleased song "All Night Stand." In this rare Technicolor pictorial, they perform two songs in the famous Blaise's nightclub, and in a reverse on the usual rock band scenario, THEY chase GIRLS around tube stations and Carnaby Street boutiques. The film also makes a visit to the studio of fashion designer Mary Quant, inventor of the miniskirt.

THE LOOK OF SHANGRI-LA (1973) - A "production reel," or promotional short showing behind-the-scenes looks at a then-forthcoming major motion picture. This one was made to plug the disastrous 1970s musical remake of Frank Capra's classic 1937 fantasy LOST HORIZON, with an emphasis on the new version's now very dated costume design.

HOW TO UNDRESS IN FRONT OF YOUR HUSBAND (1937) - Curious comedy short made by indie exploitation producer and distributor Dwain Esper (MANIAC, REEFER MADNESS). While not QUITE as salacious as its title implies, it nonetheless achieved notoriety by virtue (?) of its leading lady, Elaine Barrie, who was then in the middle of a rocky marriage to legendary actor John Barrymore.

Plus HEAVENLY BODY (1975), WINNING STYLES (1968), HOW DO THEY TIE-DYE CLOTH? (1970) and more!

SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: http://www.thesecretcinema.com

Admission is FREE

Mama's Day Party (A Community Event)

So what are you doing on Mother's Day Brunch? Nothing? No worries, the fun doesn't have to stop after your eat. Keep the party goin' at our Mama's Day Party!

We've curated an amazing space to celebrate our mamas, mother-figures, auntie-mamas, sisters, grandmas, god mamas, house mamas, Non-binary parents & even the powerfully present mentors who've influenced and supported us along the way.

Music, Poetry, Dancing, Photo Booth, Party Games, Raffles, Paint & Sip Tea session, Prizes, Arts & Crafts, Dessert Bar & so much more...

Donated Admission/tickets can be purchased individually or as a family/tribe. Other amentities and acitivities at the party are pay-as-you-go, so bring some cash.

Stage Time

Special Tickets must be purchased if you want to get on stage and shower your special guest with love and affection. You'll get about 10 minutes to sing a song, recite a poem, do a dance, share a memory or just freestyle. Please rehearse your material to end at or before your 10 minutes is up. You will be contacted beforehand if you purchase this ticket, so we can coordinate and schedule your stage time.

We'll have a childcare worker at the event if you need some personal time away, but there are also a few Parent & Child activities planned for folks who are interested.

This space is wheelchair accessible with a large-sized bathroom on the same floor.

This is also a LGBTQ-affirmative space and all family types and tribes are encouraged to attend this event.

Have questions? Email us WomanistWorkingCollective@gmail.com or 267-606-0992

Schedule of Events (Tentative)

11 AM - Party Starts! Games, Dancing, Raffles & Prizes happening all day

12 PM - 2 PM: Our guests take center stage for their accolades (If you purchase a ticket with stage time, then this is your moment to shine!)

2 PM - 4 PM Paint & Sip Tea begans (limited seats available, sign-up at event); Simultaneously, we'll have workshops led by our Doula Etecia Brown of Let Them Flourish (Workshop #1 Child Birthing for future parents; Workshop #2 Queer Family Planning)

4 PM - Party is over!Special Thanks to our community partners, facilitators and vendors: Franny Lou's Porch, Painting with Giovanni Marie, Photography by Aryel Morton, MC by Deanna "Dee" Brown & so many more!

organized by the Womanist Working Collective

“Without community, there is no liberation.”  ― Audre LordeThe Womanist Working Collective is a social action and support collective for Black womyn (both cis & trans), femmes & gender variant folks. Our work unapologetically centers our Quality of Life and livelihoods through Community Organizing, Philanthropy and Self-care.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mamas-day-party-a-community-event-tickets-45114111522?aff=efbeventtix#tickets

Vision Driven Consulting has teamed up with The Rotunda to bring resources and capacity-building workshops to self-producing artists/musicians, arts organization staff, and event curators in all disciplines.

Rotunda Workshops: 6-8pm at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St, Philadelphia); all workshops in the series are FREE and OPEN to the public. Refreshments provided. No sign-up necessary.

Event Planning (May 14th at The Rotunda)

• Learn new techniques for building an audience and your ideal project participant

• Troubleshoot issues with audience development that you may have had in the past

• Identify marketing techniques to keep people showing up to your future events

Marketing (June 11th at The Rotunda)

• Learn about writing and sending Press Releases

• Identify your target audience and how to reach them

• Discuss the pros and cons of various social media and online marketing tools

Facilitator: LaNeshe White, Interactive Mechanics & Theatre in the X

Crowdfunding 101 (September 10th at The Rotunda)

• Learn how to tell if crowdfunding is right for your project

• Discover the pros and cons of crowdfunding platforms

• Hear from a panel of artists who have run successful crowdfunding campaigns

Creating an Artists Statement (September 24th at The Rotunda)

• Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats of a new project 

• Think through the components of your project and its goals 

• Hone in on the details of your program or project and begin a draft project plan

Setting & Measuring Goals (October 8th at The Rotunda)

• Identify what you want to achieve in your projects

• Incorporate critical feedback and self-reflection into your arts practice

• Brainstorm and receive tools for measuring success

http://www.visiondrivenartists.org/

Admission is FREE; light refreshments provided 

FREE TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

The National Black Authors Tour, Alternative Learning Institute’s Family Development Center, House of Reconciliation, Imani Star Development, Inc., and the National Black Arts Spoken Word Tour PresentsThe Black Man Arts Festival

Featuring Short Films by Black male Filmmakers and Videographers, Authors 

Book signing and Live Performance.

6PM “Baby Mama Drama” – A Film Documentary about Fatherhood created by Keith Mungin and other short filmworks by Nazir Alston, Ronald Cook, Jon Mckay, etc.

“Everyman Black” a live staged adaptation about that explores public health issues concerning Black Guys, created by Maurice Henderson and featuring Tyrone Highsmith

For more information contact 267-230-0317 or email: NationalBlackAuthorsTour@yahoo.com

This an Arts and Culture Public Health event!!!!!!

LONG/GONEErik Ruin, shadow puppets and projectionsOminous Cloud Ensemble, live soundtrack

Bowerbird is pleased to present an encore performance of Erik Ruin's epic "Long/Gone". The evening will a include a short program of animated shorts. 

Over 100 feet in length, LONG/GONE is a single intricately-cut piece of paper which flows freely from image to image. Narratives and scenarios (often drawn from classic works of literature from Homer to Dante) emerge and collapse and spill over into each other. In performance, Erik scrolls the paper-cut continually across the surface of an over-head projector, creating an epic and immersive shadow-show. His musical group, the Ominous Cloud Ensemble, will provide a live soundtrack. 

Erik Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his "spell-binding cut-paper animations." His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns. He is a founding member of the international Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, and co-author of the book Paths Toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism (w/ Cindy Milstein, PM Press, 2012). 

Erik Ruin's Ominous Cloud Ensemble is an ever-evolving, collectively-improvising large ensemble for projections and music, led by visual artist Erik Ruin. Erik manipulates intricate paper-cuts and painted films on overhead projectors to create abstract landscapes and fragmentary scenes that are nonetheless charged with meaning, merging with music that ranges from dark atmospherics to ecstatic peaks of dissonance. Members of the ensemble include a rotating cast of Philly's finest musicians, who have collaborated with everyone from Anthony Braxton to the Sun Ra Arkestra, Chris Forsyth to Bardo Pond. 

Tara Middleton, voiceDM Hotep, guitarReid Hoffman, guitarNick Millevoi, guitarMyles Donovan, viola, harpJesse Sparhawk, harp, banjoJulius Masri, electronics, kamanchehQuinn Collins, bassScott Verrastro, drums, percussion

Admission is FREE

DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED FROM THE 40TH STREET FIELD TO THE ROTUNDA. 

We are kicking off our 40th Street Summer Series with a special double headliner featuring West Philadelphia Orchestra and Dan Blacksberg's Hot Klezmers! Don't miss a great night of family-friendly free music and fun! 

The West Philadelphia Orchestra (WPO) will play their mashup blend of Balkan brass traditions, American jazz, and global beats to the stage. With cutting brass, searing woodwinds and some of the tightest beats around, West Philadelphia Orchestra invites audiences to lose themselves in earthy sounds that shake, break and roll. Then we’re kicking it to Philadelphia-native and internationally renowned trombonist Dan Blacksberg as he brings an all-star klezmer band to the Summer Series for an evening of joyous music and dancing. Dan and his Hot Klezmers will bring a party with music drawn from klezmer's long history in Eastern Europe and in early 20th century America to the modern klezmer of today. Audiences of any age, and size can move their bodies and get their groove on. 

Hosted by Hosted by Ian Zolitor. Ian Zolitor has been an active proponent of Folk and World music in Philadelphia for fifteen years. Having grown up around folk music, he loves helping to connect the music he's passionate about with the audience it deserves. Ian currently hosts "The Folk Show" Sunday nights on WXPN.

This is the 14th year for the 40th Street Summer Series, produced by  the University of Pennsylvania, The Rotunda, and University City District. 

Stop by beginning at 6 pm for interactive activities with the University City Arts League and free scoops of ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. The University City Arts League will pop-up in the park to make elegant paper roses with a special musical theme. Join artist Rob Seitz for a fun for all ages activity.

Admission is always FREE

DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED FROM THE 40TH STREET FIELD TO THE ROTUNDA. 

"Poet~tree En Motion PresentsThe 2018 Spring/Summer Performance Series!A FREE community event (Donations Suggested/Appreciated)

This ongoing seasonal series features a variety of multi-disciplinary performance, arts & culture presentations...

7-10pm (Doors @ 7pm)Moving Meditations Class + Live Sonic Immersion/Sound Journey

· Gabrielle de Burke (Dragon Spirit Arts)

Bring your mats (or kick it old school) for this Yoga, Kung fu & Qigong Fusion Class…

www.DragonSpiritArts.com

· Iron Gump & Co (Johnny Nue, Mookia, Deet)Shamanic Sound Journey w/ Flutes, Bells, Strings, Gongs, Singing Bowls, Drums & More…

DONATIONS AT THE DOOR BENEFIT THE “B1BUS PROJECT”www.IronGumpArt.com

Sloopygoop presents Dorothy "Dot" Matrix, conducting symphonic selections ranging from Mozart to Prokofiev. Who’s in the orchestra? 8 vintage Nintendo Game Boys! After sharing stories of her life as a video game character, Dorothy (with assistant Shari O'Sound) presses the Start buttons and the music begins – in a surreal combination of performance art, electronic music, and synchronized light.

Preceded by special guest Schuyler Thum! Schuyler is a multi-instrumental songwriter, composer, and musical inventor. Largely self-taught in musical craft, Schuyler works with equal passion for exploring sound and storytelling. The steady synthesis of tuneful implements from collected trash and dream designs is just part of a process to reveal the internal orchestra.

Admission is FREE.

Break Free Fest IITwo days!May 26 and 27, 4-11pm both days!

Punk and Hardcore music fest back for another year! POC bands/artists at the front to benefit marginalized communities !

SATURDAY-Soul Glo (PHL)Dress Code (TX)Maduros (NY) Medusssa (TX)Kind Crew (MA)Colonia (TX)Awaaz Do (MA)Killer Of Sheep (PA)Melanin (IL)Material Support (NY)Great Wight (NY)Namatay Sa Ingay (NY)Sour Spirit (PHL)

SUNDAY-Rare Form (PHL)Subspace (NY)Minority Threat (OH)Dissent (NJ)MAAFA (NY)Joe Biden (MD)Salir De La Pobreza Induce al Caos (S.P.I.C.)- (NY)None Above All (NY)Black Urn (PHL)Rebuschaos (NY)Black on Black Crimes (D.C.) Complex (PHL)

Tickets: https://break-free-fest.ticketleap.com/break-free-fest-ii/

Break Free Fest IITwo days!May 26 and 27, 4-11pm both days!

Punk and Hardcore music fest back for another year! POC bands/artists at the front to benefit marginalized communities !

SATURDAY-Soul Glo (PHL)Dress Code (TX)Maduros (NY) Medusssa (TX)Kind Crew (MA)Colonia (TX)Awaaz Do (MA)Killer Of Sheep (PA)Melanin (IL)Material Support (NY)Great Wight (NY)Namatay Sa Ingay (NY)Sour Spirit (PHL)

SUNDAY-Rare Form (PHL)Subspace (NY)Minority Threat (OH)Dissent (NJ)MAAFA (NY)Joe Biden (MD)Salir De La Pobreza Induce al Caos (S.P.I.C.)- (NY)None Above All (NY)Black Urn (PHL)Rebuschaos (NY)Black on Black Crimes (D.C.) Complex (PHL)

Tickets: https://break-free-fest.ticketleap.com/break-free-fest-ii/