Diversity : Innovation + Job News

Philadelphia Printworks puts the message out front

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Top style and ideas for fledgling clothing brand Philadelphia Printworks come from the lovely and talented minds of April Pugh and Ruth Paloma Rivera-Perez. Headquartered at North Philly's Emerald Arts Studios at 9th and Dauphin, Pugh and Rivera-Perez are using T-shirt fronts to spread the word about issues and people they care about. "If people don't listen to NPR, or do their own research, there's a void, and that's what we're trying to fill," says Rivera-Perez, who cites a design based on concerns over fracking for Marcellus Shale natural gas.

And the message is more than just political. Some of the designs celebrate the contributions of lesser known cultural figures, like Nina Simone and Jean-Michel Basquiat. On top of the duo's designs, says April, PPW will take custom orders.

Rivera-Perez, who grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J., is also Political Science/Urban Studies student at Rutgers-Camden, graduating in the spring. Pugh also writes the April's Flowers tumblr. Both have been working about 36 hours a week at PPW as well, and report that starting up the new business feels like a full time job. On a recent Saturday night, the ladies were up past midnight building inventory.

When asked about sales targets for the coming year, Pugh and Rivera-Perez respond that it's less about sales and more about accomplishing the mission of providing a place for the community to speak through wearable art. PPW plans on opening up the studio for community workshops, where people can come print their own designs. They're also planning an artist residency program, with a resulting collection that will be on sale this summer.

Check the PPW blog and Facebook page for updates, or look for Pugh and Rivera-Perez selling shirts on First Friday at the corner of 2nd and Market.

Source: Ruth Paloma Rivera-Perez, April Pugh, PPW
Writer: Sue Spolan

G Philly: Region's new LGBT magazine more than just glossy

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, April 12, 2011

It's the lush lifestyle magazine you don't have to be gay to love. The premiere glossy issue of G Philly has just hit the streets and it's a beauty. The eye-catching publication in an eight-inch square package and a spinoff of Philadelphia magazine, sharing staff and offices. Natalie Hope McDonald has a brand new job as editor of both the print publication and the online blog that aims to cover everything lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered throughout the Delaware Valley. "Our aim is to showcase the best of gay life -- what's fabulous -- while also having conversations about same-sex marriage, parenting, politics, health and other hot-button issues that really impact lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people we know," says McDonald, a longtime freelance writer and photographer who initially helmed the online component and took over the top post on the print side as well. "The G Philly blog kicked off in October of last year in advance of the launch of the first print issue, says McDonald. "It's where you'll find breaking news and interviews with famous folks, local movers and shakers, events, and issues that matter to LGBT readers."

The resemblance of the magazine to GQ is unmistakable, and McDonald concurs. "Philly deserves a gay magazine that looks as great as GQ but covers exactly what regional readers want to know about." In the past, Philadelphia's LGBT community relied on less aesthetically pleasing publications like the Philadelphia Gay News and Au Courant for its news. "We live in a time when the future of gay rights is unfolding every day," says McDonald. And, she adds, while G Philly is aimed at the LGBT community, you certainly don't have to be gay to pick up an issue. "Who doesn't want to know where to eat the best brunch or belt out your favorite show tunes, like, seven nights a week? Okay, so maybe that is kinda gay."

G Philly's relationship with Phillymag.com allows crossover: readers who come for the LGBT content can also click on the Health blog or the Philly Post of the parent publication. McDonald says that inclusive nature is what makes her job such fun. Look for the print publication at local shops and gay bars, sign up for an issue online, and find G Philly on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

Source: Natalie Hope McDonald, G Philly
Writer: Sue Spolan

Old Fishtown schoolhouse to host a variety of artists and their many visions

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, April 12, 2011

You've got your art. You've got your school. Put them together for a new kind of art happening called Experiential, Environmental, Educational. Opening this Thursday, April 14 at 6 p.m., a floor of classrooms plus the coatroom of a 19th century schoolhouse will offer a wide range of immersive environments, each discrete space representing a different artist's vision. Participants are curator Jerry Kaba, along with C. Pazia Mannella, Daniel Ostrov, Jacque Liu, Jessie Hemmons, Joanie Turbek, Katya Gorker, Mike Ellyson, Ryan W. Kelly, and Tim Eads.

Kaba, who holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art, admits the title is a mouthful, but he wanted to come up with a large enough umbrella for the concept that's been in his head for several months. The Old School Studios, an ornate Victorian red brick building constructed in 1891, has been purchased by David Gleeson, Richard Hricko and Nicholas Kripal, owners of the nearby Crane Arts Building. It's an extension of the artists' community at the former warehouse.

Kaba envisions a carnival-esque feeling at Experiential, Environmental, Educational, with what he calls active installations. Each room will provide an entirely new experience. In some rooms, there will be performance, and in others, video. Outside, yarnbomber Jessie Hemmons will be adorning the wrought iron front gates with hundreds of hot pink pom-poms.

"I like to bring people in with a playful theme, then give them something more serious to consider," says Kaba. "The people in this show are working like that. There's a degree of humor with more serious undertones." Ryan W. Kelly, whom Kaba terms a master of papier mache, is constructing a giant Teddy Roosevelt head and teddy bear. This levity is contrasted with Pazia Mannella's installation and performance "Indulgences," based on a harrowing experience in which she was locked in a Catholic school coatroom as child. And if you are looking for strange things to pick from trees, check out Joanie Turbek's 8-foot tall porcelain tree. For a small fee, you will be able to take home an object hanging from its cold white branches.

If you miss Thursday's opening, Kaba is happy to arrange viewings by appointment. He expects the show to run for about a month, depending on how soon permanent tenants start moving into the Old School Studios.

Source: Jerry Kaba, Experiential, Environmental, Educational
Writer: Sue Spolan

Make room for the Aerotropolis: Drexel's Mobilities in Motion conference explores 'logistics' cities

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Mobility. The word conjures up a multitude of meanings. The ability to move. Mobile devices. Passing through physical and virtual space. Remaining motionless. Social networks and location based apps. Handicapped access. Planes, trains, automobiles, and skateboards.
Drexel's Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, or mCenter, headed up by sociology professor Mimi Sheller, offers a new way to group ideas not previously considered connected under one umbrella. The mCenter is the first in the United States to study mobilities, drawing on the many disciplines of arts, design, social sciences, engineering, computer science, business, law, media, environmental studies and public health.

Tasked with studying movement as a social science, the one year old mCenter drew an international crowd to its conference, Mobilities in Motion: New Approaches to Emergent and Future Mobilities. Held March 21-23, presenters considered scales of mobility, migration, borders, mobile phones, and all kinds of ways to get around, from the skateboard as urban transportation, to air travel, to creating an avatar and traversing virtual environments. Participants from a dozen countries, including France, Japan, the UK, and Brazil, as well as from more local addresses in the United States, spoke on emerging concerns like surveillance and privacy, the continually accelerating cycle of mobile device obsolescence, ethics and social rights, borders, sustainability and more.

Sheller, who is also co-editor of the international journal Mobilities, said, "The event has been incredibly successful, even beyond my expectations. We had excellent keynote presentations and very high quality papers in all of the sessions. People felt a real sense of dynamic interaction and stimulating dialogue across different disciplines and research approaches."

One highlight was keynote speaker Rina Cutler, Philadelphia's Deputy Mayor for Transportation and Utilities, "who gave an incredibly lively and entertaining talk about major infrastructure projects in the city, including her plans for developing an 'aerotropolis' at Philadelphia Airport." The idea that an airport can become a major urban hub, sometimes extending to a radius of up to 60 miles, was coined by professor John Kasarda (not in attendance), whose new book, Aerotropolis, The Way We'll Live Next, describes the next phase of globalization. With the rapid rise of logistics, global business networks, overnight shipping and increased travel, the new metropolis will have a massive airport at its center, with the city designed around it. Kasarda writes that logistics cities are now growing in Seoul, Amsterdam, Dallas and Washington, DC.

Sheller said participants, who included many PhD students as well as professors, were treated to presentations by artists and went on walking tours and as well as a mural tour. Aharon Kellerman, professor emeritus at Haifa University, remarked, "The most striking dimension of the conference was the young age of most of the participants. This is an encouraging trend by itself, notably in North America."

Source: Mimi Sheller, mCenter
Writer: Sue Spolan

ServePhiladelphia connects volunteers with opportunities

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, January 25, 2011

You've got to serve somebody. That's the message of newly launched ServePhiladelphia. It's an easy to use database that connects free people with places in need. Pick an area of interest from a pull down menu: Community Building, Education, Health, Leadership, Sustainability and more, and choose from dozens of projects that need your help. Selections run the gamut from gardening in the Wissahickon, to food distribution, to helping the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia translate English language guides into Vietnamese.

A city-led initiative, ServePhiladelphia launched this past Saturday, kicking off at the Free Library of Philadelphia with a project to get books to children learning to read. The initiative has a three part mission: to "create or elevate volunteer opportunities that impact educational outcomes and contribute to community vitality, to make it easier for citizens of every age to volunteer, and to support both public and private sector efforts to engage more volunteers in ways that have the greatest impact," according to Mayor Michael Nutter's kickoff message.

Nutter also announced the 2011 Volunteer Impact Challenge, with a three-time-a-year recognition ceremony for participants. Registration for ServePhiladelphia is simple, and allows citizens to bookmark interesting assignments as well as track hours. The initiative also has a Facebook page.

ServePhiladelphia is made possible by a Cities of Service Leadership Grant, allowing the hire of Catie C. Wolfgang, the City's first Chief Service Officer, and the establishment of the Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service. Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition founded in New York City by 17 mayors working together to increase volunteerism. From its inception in 2009, Cities of Service now counts over 100 mayors in its ranks.

Source: Mayor Michael Nutter, ServePhiladelphia
Writer: Sue Spolan

Enterprise Center's Retail Resource Network hosts Visual Merchandise Workshop for Black Friday

Flying Kite Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The day after Thanksgiving has become as sacred to retailers as any nationally-recognized holiday. The revenue they reap can make up for an entire year of lackluster sales. With another Black Friday approaching, the Enterprise Center's Retail Resource Network (RRN) wants to ensure that Philadelphia's commercial corridors get the most they can out of this holiest of shopping days. This Wednesday (Nov. 17), RRN hosts the Visual Merchandising Workshop, an annual event to help retailers with everything from holiday window displays to store layouts, all in the name of a successful holiday season.

"This workshop touches on the psychology of the shopper," says Retail Resource Network Director Andy Toy. "How you light your storefront, the types of colors you use, the way the aisles are laid out. If done right, it will definitely increase the amount of sales a business can make per shopper and just get people in the store."

The Retail Resource Network is a division of the Enterprise Center that helps retail businesses around the city connect with the resources they need--whether it be funding, consulting or supply chain--to be successful. Toy says that simple things--not having too many stickers on your windows, creating wider aisles--can have a great impact on business. Not only do these workshops seek to help retailers but if the Enterprise Center can target the Black Friday mobs to one store, their hope is that traffic to the rest of the commercial corridor would increase, making it a Happy Holiday for the whole neighborhood.

"If we improve one storefront on a commercial corridor, we will bring more people to that area," says Toy. "That helps improve business for all the stores, makes it safer because there are more people on the street and encourages others to do likewise."

Source: Andy Toy, Retail Resource Network
Writer: John Steele

Real Time Tomography's breast cancer screening product goes to commercialization with new funding

Flying Kite Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Susan Ng and her team at Villanova's Real Time Tomography have made a living at perfecting the science of mammogram imaging. Their software products have made traditional film-screen images obsolete, allowing faster mammogram results and more accurate imaging. With a new $275,000 match grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners, RTT begins the commercialization process this month, bringing their software to the giants at Seimens and GE and, hopefully, saving lives.

"With digital imaging, the image that is produced is not what the radiologist sees, it is processed and enhanced so that lesions are more visible," says Ng. "As the industry moves from film screen to digital, we can process images six times faster, reducing patient wait-time and making images clearer for doctors."

After introducing their 2-D imaging software, Adara, in 2009, Ng and her team have created a 3-D platform to give radiologists an even better view of critically affected breasts. Ng hopes commercialization goes smoothly as RTT has gone to great lengths making compatible software, not just for large companies but for small and mid-sized manufacturers as well. Because everyone deserves a great picture.

"There are a lot of mid-sized companies in Europe and a very big market opening up in Asia," says Ng. "These mid-sized companies have smaller R&D groups and often purchase their software from third parties like us."

Source: Susan Ng, Real Time Tomography
Writer: John Steele

Wayne's Molecular Detection goes down under with Australian distribution

Flying Kite Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Something is wrong down under. Infection rates at Australian hospitals have increased over the last few years, causing patients and medical professionals to call for hospitals to come clean with infection statistics. Wayne's Molecular Detection Inc. hopes to lend a hand as they announced that the product rollout for its Detect-Ready MRSA diagnosis platform would head to Australia this week, marking the start of a global sales strategy targeting the Asia-Pacific Corridor, parts of Europe and the United States. This strategy targets countries in need of infection prevention abroad before returning to the U.S. to set up a local base.

"(Australians) have the same problems in hospitals that we have here in the states," says MDI CEO Todd Wallach. "Patients are contracting MRSA and other bacterial infections in hospitals after a successful surgery or procedure. Many hospitals have to start implementing infection control procedures that identify patients at risk and force these hospitals to really look at how they take care of a patient from entry level to exit."

Aiding in MDI's transition into the Australian market is Sydney's Integrated Sciences, a medical products and research company that, through a newly minted partnership with MDI, will aid Detect-Ready sales reps in chasing down leads and understanding the needs of the Aussie medical community.

"Our strategy has been very consistent around the world by identifying what we perceive as being the best-in-class, best-in-breed molecular diagnostic distributors," says Wallach. "They become our right-hand-man in the field. We work with them closely to ensure we get the right information conveyed but they bring the right skill set to be able to market a technically advanced product."

Source: Todd Wallach, MDI
Writer: John Steele

City's most involved young professionals imagine Philly's future with city-wide summit

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Studies in recent years have revealed that while Philadelphia welcomes up to 50,000 freshman to its colleges and universities every year, less than half remained in the region after graduation. That statistic, in part, is what motivates Young Involved Philadelphia, a comprehensive network of young professionals and student groups producing advocacy campaigns and social events to make Philly a better place to live.

This week, the group opens the State of Young Philly: Imagining Philly's Future summit, a massive, two-week event hosting over 30 partnering organizations for speeches, roundtable discussions and brainstorming sessions to make Philadelphia a more attractive place for young people. The summit will focus on four key areas--Community Engagement and Volunteerism, Government and Leadership, Business and Entrepreneurship, and Arts and Culture--in an effort to "engage, educate and empower" young Philadelphia.

"For the first time since the '50s, the city is gaining population, and although we don't have the newest census data yet, we would venture a guess that this growth is due partly to an increasingly vibrant youth culture," says YIP board chair Claire Robertson-Kraft.

With speakers as varied as former Mayor John Street and the Mural Arts Program's Jane Golden, the summit hopes to gain a wide-reaching perspective that can be gleaned into an agenda ranking priorities and creating concrete deliverables. This agenda will inform an ongoing blog and will serve as YIP's action plan for the coming year. YIP hopes to make the summit an annual event, creating a constant barometer on youth culture in Philadelphia.

"The most important thing we hope people take away from the event is a sense of empowerment," says Robertson-Kraft. "As young Philadelphians, we should be organizing, demonstrating our ability to contribute to the debate, and doing more to ensure our voices are heard."

Source: Claire Robertson-Kraft, Young Involved Philadelphia
Writer: John Steele