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This Friday and Saturday (Nov 15 & 16), Penn Museum and VIX Emporium are teaming up to present one of the first holiday shopping opportunities for local residents and guests – a special two-day craft fair titled “Gifts in the Galleries.” The craft fair means unique, handmade gifts, like jewelry, clothing, accessories, hand knits, ceramics, home wares, original artworks, prints, stationery, soaps, candles and more from over 50 independent artists and craftspeople who will be there in person to present their work.

Gifts In The Galleries will take place in the Kintner and Dietrich galleries and the Widener Lecture Hall, located on the west end of the Museum, near 33rd and Spruce. Admission to the craft show is free, plus guests will receive a coupon for $5 off general museum admission on Saturday, so this is a great opportunity to view the museum’s vast collection of relics from all over the world. On Saturday, visitors are also encouraged to join the free instructional drum circle with internationally renowned Middle Eastern percussionist Joe Tayoun. For more information, go here.

Gifts in the Galleries
Penn Museum (33rd & Spruce)
Friday, Nov 15 – 4-7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov 16 – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

You can visit the Artifact Lab, learn more about conserving Egyptian mummies and meet a conservator during Penn Museum’s Open House on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Penn Museum)

On Wednesday, Oct 23, Penn Museum is opening its doors to community members of all ages during a free Community Night and Open House. There will be opportunities to get behind the scenes, meet the curators and staff, and enjoy music, dance and storytelling. There will also be gallery tours and a mummy workshop. Want more? How about Egyptian hieroglyph and Mesopotamian cuneiform classes? Also, arts and crafts for the whole family where you can make African masks, Chinese lanterns and Brazilian tambourines.

The event starts at 5 p.m. with the Highlights Tour and goes on until 8 p.m. Check out this page for more information on the scheduled activities and have fun!

Here’s an assortment of events taking place in the area this weekend. We hope that the rainy weather will not dampen your fun. For more upcoming events or if you want to submit an event, visit the Events Calendar.

Friday, Oct 11

• Second Fridays on Lancaster – various locations on Lancaster Avenue between 35th and 39th Sts (see flyer) – 5:30 – 10:00 p.m. – Join your neighbors and celebrate the arts on Lancaster Avenue. The event will feature art openings, African artifacts, vintage jewelry, clothing and accessories, handmade candles and cards, garden-fresh vegetables, live music, cafe, and outdoor grilled jerk chicken! More information is available on the event’s Facebook page.

• Jump ‘N Funk – Penn Museum (3260 South St) – 6:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. – Penn Museum invites young professionals for a night of music, dance, and networking at this late-night event. DJ Rich Medina and partner Mark Hines take center stage for the evening (8:00 pm to 12:00 am) introducing guests to dance, music, and visual display inspired by late African musical icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti. A pre-event Professionals Garden Party in the Museum’s Warden Garden off the Kamin Entrance runs from 6:00 to 8:00 pm (cash bar). Guests are also invited to wander the Museum galleries and take in special exhibitions, including the critically acclaimed Black Bodies in Propaganda: The Art of the War Poster. Admission to  Jump ‘n Funk, including Penn Museum admission, is just $10. Buying tickets in advance is recommended. Click here for more info.

• Romeo and Juliet opens at Curio Theatre – 4740 Baltimore Ave – 8:00 p.m. – This Friday, there’s an opening night of the widely discussed Curio Theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Even The New York Times did a story on it. We hear that the opening night is sold out but there are 10 more nights remaining. The shows are every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Oct 11 – Nov 2. To buy tickets and for more information, visit this page.

Saturday, Oct 12

• Octoberfest, 6th Annual Community Festival – on 60th Street between Chestnut and Locust – 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Residents are invited to the 6^th Annual Community Festival called Octoberfest. The festival, which takes place on 60^th Street between Walnut to Locust, will have something for people of all ages. From bounce houses and face painting for the kids, to blood pressure and dental screens for adults, table games, zumba, line dancing, and musical performances throughout the day. The event is co-sponsored by the 60^th Street West Market Business Association. See the flyer for more information.

• From “Farm to Ford” Garden Court Neighborhood Tour – Lea Elementary School Courtyard (47th & Spruce) – 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Historical tours of West Philly’s Garden Court neighborhood continue. The tour is only $5! For more information and to RSVP, visit the event’s Facebook page.

• Philly Zine Fest 2013 – The Rotunda (40th & Walnut) – Noon – 11:00 p.m. – From The Rotunda website: “The Fest showcases local artists and zinesters, as well as zine distros, bringing DIY, radical, whimsical, and artistic small press publications to the public. Ranging from bike repair to poetry to crafts, the Zine Fest is a great place to go to learn new things, connect with local writers, and get involved with creating new forms of accessible media.” Check this page for more information on the festival events or go to: http://phillyzinefest.com/.

Sunday, Oct 13

• Second Sunday Culture Film: Maestra (2011) – Penn Museum – 2:00 p.m. – The Second Sunday Culture Films series kicks off with Maestra, a 2011 documentary about volunteer female teachers who joined the Cuban Literacy Campaign. This year’s series focuses on individual stories of resistance to cultural change, often in the face of imminent threats of violence. Information about the full series is available online.

Penn Museum is thinking of developing new programs for teens, but first they want to hear from neighborhood teens and parents. The museum is currently conducting a review and asking that teens and parents participate in one, or both, of the following ways:

• Complete a survey (see links below) and return it to the museum (by email to pennmuseumteenprograms@gmail.com or by physically dropping them off at the museum entrance, 3260 South Street) by August 30.
• Participate in a focus group and discuss what you have appreciated about the Penn Museum in the past and how you would like them to focus their energy as they move into teen programming.

The two remaining times for focus groups (both teen and adult) are:

Sunday, Aug 25, 3:00-4:00 p.m. (in Group Dining)
Monday Aug 26, 6:00-7:00 p.m. (in Group Dining)

Teen Survey

Parent Survey

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local contributor and West Philly resident Jen Horner and her son checked on Penn Museum’s 40 Winks with the Sphinx sleepover program a few months ago, but we didn’t get a chance to run the story about their experience because all subsequent sleepovers in the spring/summer were quickly sold out. As tickets for the Fall 2013 – Summer 2014 of 40 Winks with the Sphinx season go on sale today, we are publishing this story now.

Photos by Jen Horner.

It’s funny: Ben Stiller has been very helpful to scientific institutions in their quest to reach young minds and generate new revenue streams. The 2006 movie Night at the Museum is not the only inspiration for overnight kids’ programs – the Franklin Institute has been doing it for years – but I did feel my life imitating art when I took a late night flashlight tour through the mummy chambers of the Penn Museum with my ten-year-old son. “Forty Winks with the Sphinx” is a popular monthly program for kids age 6-12, and while it plays on the premise of the movie, the grandeur of the museum and the enthusiasm of the staff override all residual cheesiness.

We found plenty to like about Forty Winks. From 5:30 until the first scheduled event of at 6:45 we had the run of the museum. Staff and security were on site, and as a bonus, things were set up for the next night’s crazy-lavish wedding. (There were gigantic crystal chandeliers and velvet drapes all over the Egyptian gallery). My son and I had fun following the scavenger hunt booklet. At 6:45, we convened in the auditorium for a short orientation followed by a live “game show” wherein kids examined artifacts from the museum and guessed what they were used for. This moved briskly but lasted long enough for most kids to get a chance on stage.

From 7:45 on, we were free to try four activities, eat dinner (we packed it ourselves), roam the museum, or actually watch the movie Night at the Museum. Of the lessons, we liked the cuneiform best – it’s the ancient Sumerian writing method of pressing patterns into clay. I cannot describe the satisfaction we felt when the instructor looked at my son’s finished clay tablet and read his name out loud! Where else could you meet a person literate in ancient Sumerian? We also learned some Egyptian hieroglyphics, and we had a chance to (respectfully) examine a real Peruvian mummy. Yoga was too crowded so we skipped it.

The best part of the night was the Expedition at 10. Everyone has to bring their own flashlight because they really do turn out the lights. Things were organized so that small groups moved through key exhibits without spoiling the illusion of being alone with the mummies in a vast, dark museum. I must say, the guides – mostly Penn graduate students – were very charming and smart, and good at talking with flashlights in their faces. There is a lot of truly cool stuff in the museum, plus my son met a fellow Angry Birds fan. By 11:30-ish, after negotiating the crowded restrooms, we ended up back in the Sphinx room for lights out.  Continue Reading

Penn Museum is bringing back its family-friendly “Summer Wonder” series, with the first program this Wednesday, July 3, when families with children are invited to celebrate the Native American culture and learn traditional Native American dance with the Native Nations Dance Theater.

The “Summer Wonder” programs will run weekly on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. through August 21, 2013 and will feature a great lineup of performances and demonstrations, including stories about ancient Greek mythology, a marionette theater, an exploration of medieval music and instruments, contemporary and ancient African and African American tales, songs and games, and more.

All “Summer Wonder” programs are free with Penn Museum admission. For more information and the full program schedule, please visit Penn Museum’s website and also check our Events Calendar for upcoming programs.