The annual outdoor independent film festival, Under the Stars at Clark Park, is returning this spring with four screenings scheduled for May, June and July. The festival, hosted by West Philly-based cinema cinéSPEAK, features city premieres of independent films from around the world, plus local DJs, food trucks and other activities. All events are free to attend.

Screenings take place on Fridays or Saturdays at 9 p.m. through July 9 (weather-permitting). The pre-show starts at 7:30 p.m.

The festival was scheduled to kick off on May 20, but the opening night was postponed due to rain. Here is the schedule for this Friday (May 27): Continue Reading

Last year’s “Everyday Places” program participant Karen Smith-Sistah’s Laying On Hands (photo courtesy of Barnes West).

The Barnes Foundation and People’s Emergency Center (PEC) have announced seven West Philadelphia-based social-impact artists who have been selected to participate in the second annual Everyday Places Artist Partnerships initiative: Nikki Brake-Sillá, Shanina Dionna, Gigi McGraw, Anssumane Silla, Jaime Wiesner (Instagram page) & Joanna Booth, and Yidan Zeng.

This year’s cohort of artists will partner with “everyday” locations in the neighborhood—public parks, civic centers, businesses and community organizations—to build interactive, participatory projects that engage with the business or site and residents. The 2022 Places are:

• University Square Complex
• Malcolm X Park
• Urban Art Gallery
• ​​New Africa Freedom Center/Square
• Clark Park
• Mantua Civic Association
• Drexel University Dornsife Center Continue Reading

Them That Do!, a visual arts and activism project that centers conversations and artmaking on community building and mutual aid, is inviting all interested folks, age 18 and older, to be a part of a new, free workshop series. Two library branches, the Kingsessing Library and the Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek Library, will each host four 90-minute workshops led by a visual artist and a mutual aid activist.

Participants will receive an introduction to digital photography or lessons in drawing and illustration. Mutual aid activists will join the artmaking while sharing information about their projects in Philadelphia and information about how to get involved, and the value of building grassroots support networks.

The project will culminate with a pop-up exhibition of the work created in the courses that will be shown at each participating library branch. Continue Reading

Photo courtesy of West Philly Porchfest

Two popular outdoor music festivals are set to return next month – West Philly Porchfest and Make Music Philly – and the organizers are currently looking for participants.

West Philly Porchfest will be held on Saturday, June 4, from 12-6 p.m. The DYI festival features musicians who perform in all music genres, presenting free shows on porches all around the neighborhood. The festival has grown over the years – last year over 125 porches hosted Porchfest performances. Porch sign-up for this year’s fest is currently open. If you live in West Philly and would like to host a show on your porch, please go to this page and fill out a registration form. Continue Reading

West Craft Fest’s Spring edition will be held this Saturday, April 30, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the beautiful Woodlands. This popular outdoor event is now bigger than ever: more than 130 local artists and crafts people will showcase their handmade, unique art pieces and wares. More than 70 percent of these talented makers are based in West Philly! The event will also include live music, food trucks, and the crowd favorites, Tangle Movement Arts, will present their aerial performances.

Like last September, the Fest layout will be extended, stretching along Woodland Avenue on both sides of the main entrance. Food trucks will be on the East end of the action, and the stage area on the West, with all of the makers’ booths in between (see the map below). Continue Reading

Carlo Campbell as Richard III (photo by Stephen Hudgins).

Curio Theatre’s space at 48th and Baltimore will be home to a new production by Theatre in the X, the local Black theatre company known for their summer shows in West Philly’s Malcolm X Park. Beginning Thursday, April 28, Theatre in the X will present their take on William Shakespeare’s famous play Richard III.

Theatre in the X’s interpretation of Richard III is an homage to The African Grove Theatre – the first Black Theatre company in the recorded history of North America.

“This company, founded 44 years before the abolition of slavery, at a time when few blacks were literate (because it was illegal) took on this Shakespearean language, and the powers that be, and triumphed, in their own way,” reads a statement on the Theatre in the X website. “They laid the track for us and through their work and now with this production of Richard III, we honor them.​” Continue Reading