Serenades at City Hall

This is an extra Philadelphia-heavy edition, because all of a sudden there are a ton of exciting events all clustered together happening here! And still no centralized place to find out about them, as far as I can tell, so please enjoy this cobbled together attempt to spread the word.

A couple of national things first:

Artist and organizer Annie Dorsen has been leading efforts to mobilize around the disastrous changes at the National Endowment for the Arts, and is offering a few simple actions for organizations to take:

Our power is in our communities and in the audiences who appreciate and support what we do. So let's activate those audiences, readers, visitors, and participants.

If you're an organization:
Make a curtain speech or a statement at the end of each performance or event.
Put up a lobby card.
Hand out flyers to visitors to your space.

I have seen a few powerful pre- or post-show statements in the last couple of months, and each time to me it has felt like a potent reminder that performances are shared spaces that have tremendous potential. After a production of Iphigenia in Splott by Inis Nua Theatre Company, Artistic Director KC MacMillan highlighted the connections between the play and the current gutting of social services by ridiculously wealthy individuals in the name of 'efficiency.' It was a relief to hear the bullshit clearly and plainly called out, not on the internet, but in a crowded, real live space with other breathing bodies. I felt similarly invigorated by curtain talks from Matt Decker at Theatre Horizon and Dr. Indira Etwaroo at Harlem Stage. The works we were about to see weren't explicitly political, but we need political power in order to keep making bold new work and to keep freedom of expression vibrantly alive in this country. I'm grateful for the leaders I've seen taking a real stance and hope that others will do the same.

Good Night, and Good Luck coming to living rooms everywhere

CNN announced that they'll be hosting a live presentation of Good Night, and Good Luck on June 7, right before the Broadway production closes. Great news for anyone who wants to see the show but doesn't have hundreds of dollars to shell out for a single ticket and especially timely for a celebration of a journalist standing up to state power and repression. (It will also stream on cnn.com for those who don't have live tv.)

A new festival for death, plus multiple memorials

In a few days, the first-ever Philadelphia Death and Arts Festival will be kicking off at the Laurel Hill Cemeteries. The festival will be exploring aging, dying, and grieving through an amazing assortment of workshops, performances, and reflection spaces. Fantastic to see this kind of energy and initiative around something new! The festival will be taking place May 29 - June 1. I'm especially looking forward to Shavon Norris' performance of her work The CRONING.

I received news about two ceremonies for the death of important arts institutions the same day last week, and I'm glad to see that there will be a chance for communities to come together to acknowledge these transitions. In Philadelphia, there will be a multi-day memorial / "Celebration of Life" for University of the Arts, from June 4 - 8. (It's wild that it's been a year and this event, organized by private developer Scout, is the first one of its kind.) And Links Hall in Chicago is organizing "Dusk," a marathon of performances, a community ritual, and a dance party to commemorate the sunsetting of the organization.

Civic-minded arts programming

Tons of imaginative offerings coming from artists combining their practice with imagining a better city future or highlighting city government.

The People's Budget Office, conceived by artist Phoebe Bachman, is in its fifth year and has hosted a slew of neighborhood workshops to help city residents better understand the city budgeting process and how we can influence it. Next weekend they'll be hosting a cyanotype workshop led by artist Qiaira Riley in Love Park to "to build depictions of ideal interiors for the present and future" and explore affordable housing. Sign up for their newsletter for more events and check out their work at peoplesbudgetoffice.org.

Artist Emilio Martínez Poppe has a new exhibit up at the City Hall Courtyard through June 11. Civic Views celebrates Philadelphia city workers and "their perspectives on the city." The public programming to go along with the exhibit includes multiple free serenades from the Municipal Employees Choral Ensemble (every Monday at noon) and juicy discussions about labor, infrastructure, and design. 😍

With all that civic energy revved up, you could bring it to the Arts & Culture Planning Sessions being hosted by Creative Philadelphia. These planning sessions will culminate in Philly's first ever cultural plan. How have we never had one before? I don't know! These planning sessions are happening all over the city, as well as some online options. A little bird in my inbox mentioned that so far these planning sessions have had plenty of representation from visual artists, but lower participation from performing artists. If you're deep in the freelancing performing artist life, I think it's easy to assume that everyone knows how hard it is and what the struggle is like, but I've been reminded a few different ways recently that that is not actually the case. Come to a planning session and throw your perspective in the mix. Many more details here.

Sisterly Affection (a bit of Philadelphia appreciation)

It's a teensy stretch to call it affection, but this week, I present for your appreciation, the humble SEPTA bus. This fine beast is currently endangered by politicians in Harrisburg who are trying to starve Philadelphia's public transit system. You can learn more and take action at fundsepta.com.

If you are new here, welcome! You can find a bit more context on the 'about' page and feel free to forward along to anyone who might be interested. There is usually a loose focus on Philadelphia and dance/performance-related news bits. Each email ends with a moment of Sisterly Affection, as seen and appreciated while out and about in Philly.