The University City District (UCD) is inviting the public to a celebration of dirt tomorrow. Actually, a celebration of really high quality dirt.

The Dirt Factory, UCD’s new public compost facility, located in a vacant lot near 43rd and Market, officially opens tomorrow and there will be free food and drinks, music and a lot of dirt talk.

The Dirt Factory features two huge, “Earth Tub” composters, each with a capacity of 3,200 pounds. The Pedal Co-op will pick up compostable material from local businesses and residents and deliver it to the site, which is located at 4308 Market St. Residents can also drop off material. All of that will be combined with leaves from sidewalks and streets around the neighborhood to produce compost, which will then be available to residents for gardening projects.

Besides the big commercial composters, the site will feature smaller, residential composters that will be used to demonstrate how home composting works. A few raised beds are also on the lot to demonstrate best practices in urban gardening.

The name for the facility was chosen from 86 suggestions. Stephen Metzger and Carina Giamerese will get 6 months of free compost pick-up from The Pedal Co-op for the winning name.

Wednesday’s opening ceremony runs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will feature food and drink from Dock Street Brewing Co., Four Worlds Bakery and Little Baby’s Ice Cream.

Stay tuned for more info and hours of operation.

If you love movies and hate overpriced theater tickets, Schuylkill Banks has the solution. Taking advantage of the summer warmth, they are offering free movie nights under the Walnut Street Bridge (S. 25^th and Walnut Streets on the East side of the river) every other Thursday this summer, beginning this week with the 2011 hit The Muppets starring Jason Segal and Amy Adams. The screenings are completely free for anyone, and if you get there early, free snacks will be available. There is also a free raffle with prizes from Philadelphia Runner before the film starts. The movies will begin at dusk (some time between 7:45 and 8:30 depending on the day), so make sure to get there before the sun goes down, especially if you’re interested in the snacks or the raffle.

The films being offered this summer include this Thursday’s The Muppets, the original 1933 King Kong (6/28), and last year’s Oscar nominee Moneyball (8/23), among others shown later this summer. Check out the official site for a full list of films, and the approximate start time for each. In the event of rain make sure to check the calendar on the Schuylkill Banks homepage to see if there’s a cancellation. Rain dates are July 19 and August 30. Take advantage of this opportunity and grab your picnic blanket on Thursday and head down to the river to catch a great flick for free!

– Kelly Lawler

St. Francis de Sales is holding its Annual Fundraising Flea Market this Saturday, June 16, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and you can donate your items to be sold at the de Sales table. Donations will be accepted all day Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.) in the de Sales School Auditorium (47th & Windsor Ave). You can bring anything except clothing and large furniture.

If you want to be a vendor at this flea market you may rent tables for $25 each. To rent a table, volunteer or get more information, call 215-222-2255.

Update: The race has been sold out, but non-runners are welcome to the music fest.

Do you love running? Do you love beer even more? Does your passion for live music trump both your love for running and for good beer? Well prepare yourself for the Dock Street Brewing Co.’s annual Beer Run and Free Music Fest on Sunday, June 10. The 5K race runs through University City and culminates at the Free Music Fest where racers are rewarded with tasty Dock Street pizza slices and refreshing beer. The run will get your blood flowing for the local music line up featuring Hoots & Hellmouth, O’Death, The Extraordinaires, Street Walkers, and Tsunami Rising. All runners receive a token limited-edition pint glass, refreshments from Vita Coco, fruit, snacks and pizza/beer coupons.

Run pre-registration is $35 and on-site registration $40. The first 50 registered runners will receive a free Dock Street Philly Beer Run t-shirt. You can register at https://www.runtheday.com/app/find/register/841. Philadelphia Runner is the equipment headquarters and host for the packet pickup. On-site registration begins at 12 p.m. and the race starts at 2 p.m. just as the music fest begins. A portion of the proceeds benefits Cedar Park Neighbors Scholarship Fundraiser. The race is a great opportunity to feel a sense of community and spread fun energy throughout West Philly. Work up an appetite for Dock Street Philly Beer Run & Music Fest!

– Erica Kimmel

Philly-focused weekly online mag Flying Kite’s “On the Ground” initiative establishes temporary media hubs in vacant or under-utilized storefront and seeks to help transform the selected neighborhood through news coverage, events and social media for 90 days. Their current neighborhood camp is in the People’s Emergency Center building at 4017 Lancaster Ave, and as part of the “On the Ground” initiative, Flying Kite is presenting an inaugural art exhibition, Transformation 19104. It includes some of West Philadelphia’s most important artists working across multiple mediums. The show opens this Friday, June 8 in conjunction with Second Friday on Lancaster Ave. The reception and exhibition will take place from 6-9 p.m.

“From fiber and textiles to found sculptures, the Transformation of the space will showcase the neighbors who have been working and creating community and new art movements in their homes and studios,” says curator Bonnie MacAllister, who also curated “Women of Lancaster Ave.” at 4017 Lancaster in the fall as part of the corridor-wide LOOK! exhibition. From Flying Kite: “Ellen Tiberino and Wendy Graves-Papadopoulos, two exhibitors in Women of Lancaster Ave., return for Transformation. Tiberino’s brother Gabe, part of the celebrated local family of Tiberino artists, is also part of the lineup. In addition, Jeff Dentz of Traction Company, the collaborative workspace and art center at 41st and Haverford, will exhibit.”All art in the show was created by artists who live or hold a studio in the 19104 zip code and all works are said to “represent transformation in their own way.”

Here are the artists’ bios (from Flying Kite):

Ndokaa Bundu
This native of 19149 was raised Lutheran, attended public schools and a private liberal arts college. He studied in Avignon (spring 1978), taught science in Gbarma, Liberia (1980-1981) and lived in the 11215 with a friend’s sister, winter & fall, 1983 before moving to 19104 in 1983, working in 19140 since 2001. Now an anarcho-marxist, Bundu is married with three cats, two Honda civics and one 3-speed bicycle.

Alexa de los Reyes
Alexa de los Reyes has studied color theory, portraiture, abstract and representational painting at Massachusetts College of Art, the Liga de Arte in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the School of Visual Arts. She has painted portraits and interior murals on commission for clients in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and San Juan. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in History & Literature, Alexa worked as a writer and editor for several years in different mediums, contexts, and countries. She began painting seriously while living in South America in the late 1990s and has since made the passion into a discipline. Alexa currently resides in West Philadelphia with her husband and two young boys.

Catherine Gontarek
Gontarek’s mixed media paintings on board evoke a sense of impermanence through images that depict objects and places that seem to float in and out of hand painted patterns. Working on smaller panels that are then mounted together to form a larger whole, seems to add to the ephemeral feel of her paintings. In one piece an image of an empty chair is coupled with a casual rendering of her son. Gontarek’s work leads one to assume that the artist looks to her immediate surroundings for inspiration, resulting in paintings that seem to somehow blend intimacy with design. Catherine Gontarek lives in West Philadelphia with her family.

Wendy Graves-Papadopoulos
Graves-Papadopoulos has lived in West Powelton for 15 years. She volunteered at the University Arts League for 5 years. She is the co-founder of the Satellite cafe at 50th & Baltimore. Her current work involves hand-dyed natural fabrics which are assembled into blankets. She believes that there is something inherently valuable in art that you can use, i.e. ornamental utilitarianism. She also works in ceramics and silversmithing.

Et Green
Green is a graphic designer and illustrator from Philadelphia.

Bonnie MacAllister
MacAllister (WCA member) is a multimedia performance artist who works in oil, watercolor, film, theatre, and mixed media. She has recently shown her visual artwork at the Delaware Art Museum, Galeria 6 (Mexico), the Center for Green Urbanism (DC), University of Pennsylvania, Montclair State University (NJ), and Florissant Valley Art Gallery in St. Louis, MO. She studied under Jacques Derrida, Helene Cixous, and Agnes Varda. She is a Fulbright-Hays recipient to Ethiopia and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has lived in Sanders Park since 2004.

Jeff Dentz
Dentz graduated from the College of General Studies at University of Pennsylvania and received a Certificate in Printmaking from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He currently teaches at Fleisher Art Memorial and exhibits his work locally. His work is part of the Print and Picture Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Printmaking Department Archives Collection at PaFA.

Maggie Machledt
Though born and raised in Indianapolis, Maggie has called West Philadelphia her home for nearly 4 years. Maggie is a papercutting artist who has expanded her craft to include creating botanically-shaped jewelry from flat bike tubes. She earned her Masters in Art Therapy from Drexel in 2011, and currently works with adults coping with chronic mental illnesses in North Philadelphia.

Sofya Mirvis
Unexpected interactions of material and image is the consistent motive behind my creative process. I am interested in all that lies beneath the surface of a landscape, person, or object, representing what can be felt but seldom seen or touched.Michael Persico
Persico is a professional photographer living and working in Philadelphia. He specializes in clean, thoughtful imagery that evokes feeling for, and from, his subjects. When not behind the lens, he’s happy spending time maintaining his ’66 Honda Motorcycle or making a break to beach for a few good waves on his classic longboard. When pressed to name his artistic inspirations, he cryptically says, “I am inspired by photographers of the past, and motivated by photographers of the present.” Michael has shot for New York Magazine, Anthem magazine, Plan B Magazine, Ace Fu Records, Anti Records, Philly Style and the Philadelphia Weekly.

Sara Suleman
Suleman was born in Karachi, Pakistan.  She works in various media ranging from photography to installation. Her works are tied to observations from daily life which are then abstracted and re-imagined. She has shown her work in exhibitions including Gender Games, International House Philadelphia 2012, Erasing Borders, Queens Museum of Art, and Aicon Gallery, New York, 2011, PECO Art in the Air program 2011, Newark Open Doors project 2011, and in various Film Festivals, such as the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Fancisco Women’s International Film Festival, and Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. She is an active member of Women’s Caucus for the Art, Philadelphia Chapter and received a grant from PIFVA, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association in 2012.

Ellen Tiberino
Tiberino can claim a connection to the Lancaster corridor since birth. She is the daughter of distinguished artists Ellen Powell Tiberino and Joe Tiberino. She studied visual arts at Fleisher Art Memorial and Moore College as a child and during high school at Creative and Performing arts she studied the performing arts of drama dance and singing. Over the past five years, as well as teaching she directed her main energies to sculptural relief glass work (mural and easel size). She worked at times with artists Joseph Brenman and Gail Gruniger Scuderi on different mosaic mural projects and the community peace pole project (a joint project between the Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial Museum and the West Park Cultural and Opportunity Center where students clay masks were affixed to a pole in mosaic.) Ellen curates shows at The Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial, named for her mother and where she has executed two major murals “And Still I Rise” (2007) and “Tomorrows a New Day” (2008). She is currently working on several small mosaic pieces for upcoming shows.

Gabe Tiberino
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Tiberino is a mural artist who was truly born into art. Encouraged by his family as a child he was exposed to a variety of art forms. Tiberino graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2005. Throughout his schooling, he assisted many of Philadelphia’s mural artist. He has assisted over twenty murals and has been the lead in several of his own. His paintings have been in numerous one man and group shows throughout the region. Tiberino gives us visual images, in acrylic and oil paint journalizing street experiences, thoughts, emotions and projected dreams. His work retains the freshness of direct observation. Reflecting his interest in rendering art in a more public way, all his paintings are concerned with people, locals and dealing with art as part of the real world. Clarity is his virtue.

– Emma Eisenberg

Today is World Environment Day and you can celebrate it by participating in a cleanup of Schuylkill River at Bartram’s Garden (5400 Lindbergh Blvd). The cleanup will be held tonight from 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. and is hosted by United By Blue. Snacks, supplies, and gloves will be provided. In addition to that, free Bartram’s Garden passes will be available for volunteers. If you attend three Bartram’s Garden cleanups organized by United By Blue you can qualify for a free Bartram’s Garden membership.

After the cleanup everyone is welcome to hang around for a post cleanup cookout. If you have questions, please call 215-642-0693. In case you drive, parking is available. For maps and more information, go here.