arts and culture : Innovation + Job News

Soon Flying Kite will be landing in the Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood of Kingsessing for our On the Ground program, and we’re starting things off by connecting with a publication that’s been on the ground there for a long time: since 1946, to be exact.

The Southwest Globe Times was the inaugural publication of Joseph Bartash's Bartash Printing (a company legacy that continues in Southwest Philly today thanks to Bartash’s son-in-law Sidney Simon and Simon’s son Michael).

From the beginning, the Globe Times focused determinedly on disseminating good news throughout the community. It hit a peak circulation of about 30,000 homes in the 1950s. Bartash, who went on to publish several other community papers, retained the Globe Times for the longest. He ceased publishing it in 2002 and died in 2007 at the age of 93.

"There was a two-year hiatus while various people in the community tried to start it up again," says Ted Behr, a Southwest Community Development Corporation volunteer who manages the Globe Times’s new incarnation. In 2004, Bartash agreed to sell the name to the CDC on the merits of "their unique characteristics as a nonprofit working within the community for its general well-being."

The paper re-appeared in 2005; to this day, Bartash is listed on the masthead as publisher emeritus. The Globe comes out in print and online on the first and third Friday of every month.

"We characterize ourselves as the good news newspaper because we try to only publish the positive activities of people," explains Behr. Southwest Philly "has more than its share of negative [news]. We counterbalance that with stories about people and groups doing things to improve the quality of life here."

Behr is a North Jersey native who moved to Wayne in 1971 after an international career in the pharmaceutical business that also included 16 years of teaching business courses at Eastern University and Beijing University.

He’s a member of Wayne Presbyterian Church and its non-profit community service arm CityLights, which partners with groups in Southwest Philadelphia, and that’s how he began working with Southwest CDC.

"I see my work with the paper as a calling," he says. Globe Times stories typically focus on figures like effective block captains, "outstanding teachers," and neighborhood leaders.

Block captains are integral to the paper’s circulation: For the last four years, they’ve volunteered for door-to-door delivery of about half the paper’s print copies. Other copies are picked up by the public at locations like the ShopRite grocery store in Eastwick -- it's the paper’s largest distribution point, with over 700 copies departing the rack there.

Even in 2016, a hyperlocal print paper is important, argues Behr. When the newspaper re-launched a decade ago, fewer than 15 percent of Southwest Philly homes had internet access. Today, he estimates that percentage has doubled, but there’s still a massive digital divide for many residents.

Southwest CDC is currently working with the 12th Police District and the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee to increase circulation and delivery of the paper. The publication is partly supported by ads from local businesses, but still operates at a loss of about 20 percent a year, a gap that donors at Wayne Presbyterian fill.

"We like to feel that our readers take ownership of ideas behind the paper," says Behr. "There are good people working in Southwest Philadelphia to make the community better. Dedicated public servants; dedicated people from block to block. We feel that’s what life is all about… We believe that our young people and our elderly people need a positive vision for the future."

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Ted Behr, the Southwest Globe Times

Follow all our work #OnTheGroundPhilly via twitter (@flyingkitemedia) and Instagram (@flyingkite_ontheground).

On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.

As the Master of Social Work (MSW) supervisor at the University of Pennsylvania's Child Advocacy Clinic, Sara Schwartz quickly realized that the toughest dollars for hard-working social justice nonprofits to raise are general operating funds. She decided to combine her after-hours passion for jewelry-making with a business plan tailored to give back.

Schwartz founded Riot Alliance in early 2014, making custom jewelry and teaching community jewelry-making workshops. The company partners with a different nonprofit every quarter, donating 10 percent of sales towards the organization's operational costs, while also using online platforms and social media to promote the nonprofit and its events.

"After I got my MSW, I started thinking more seriously about starting an independent artist business that was connected to social justice from its inception," says Schwartz. She focuses on nonprofits working in areas such as immigrant rights; criminal justice advocacy and reform for youth and adults; economic justice; and youth leadership.

"I really wanted to focus on working with organizations in Philly who may have a more difficult time obtaining operational funding," versus grants earmarked for a certain program or purpose, she explains. The Riot Alliance money is available for crucial day-to-day expenses, supplies for community events, or stipends for community workers. For many of these smaller nonprofits, a small amount of money can go a long way.

Looking forward, Schwartz hopes to grow her model in several ways. She aims to make Philly arts fairs more accessible to those who can’t afford the cost of their own tables by purchasing a table herself and sharing it with an artisan from her current partner organization. She also wants to expand her community jewelry-making programming, and look into a stipend-based community or student internship to help her scale up production. Pursuing various independent arts grants and other funding will enable her to donate more in the future.

She also plans to expand her partnerships with other social justice and arts-based businesses via pop-up shops, like a recent one at W/N W/N Coffee Bar.

Riot Alliance's current partner is Juntos, a South Philly-based immigrant rights organization; in May, they'll begin working with Youth United for Change.  

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Sara Schwartz, Riot Alliance

In the 1960s, the Chinatown community banded together to oppose a planned expansion of Vine Street that threatened to bulldoze the Holy Redeemer church and school at 10th and Wood Streets. That action led to the birth of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC), which has become an essential neighborhood institution. 

Now PCDC is getting ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary: a major milestone for an organization that has supported a city-wide hub of commerce, culture, community and healthcare. (In 2015, Flying Kite’s On the Ground residence at Asian Arts Initiative wasn’t far from PCDC’s current headquarters at 9th and Vine Streets.)

PCDC got its start via a neighborhood town hall headed by Cecilia Moy Yep, George Moy and Anthony Wong, who all remain on the board of directors today. It was founded in 1966 and officially incorporated in 1969. Since then, its advocacy on behalf of local residents and business owners has spanned fair housing provisions for residents of homes razed in the path of the Convention Center expansion; successful opposition to a new sports stadium in the late 1990s; and a voice in other development projects from the Gallery Mall to Independence Mall. Now, the organization is moving forward on its massive Eastern Tower development.

"This was considered a blighted community at the time," explains PCDC's Sarah Yeung of the group's early days. "The city had cited Chinatown as a place for redevelopment. Chinatown was in and of itself a thriving immigrant community. It was full of families and businesses."

"The core mission was to ensure that this community had a voice in its own future," she continues. About 10 years after its founding -- and successfully scaling back the city’s plans for the Vine Street Expressway -- "they turned toward helping Chinatown to plan for its future as a neighborhood." An initial master plan in the 1970s led to a series of affordable housing developments that are important anchors today.

In 2000, John Chin became PCDC’s executive director, growing and diversifying the organization’s offerings, and leading the 2004 Chinatown and Callowhill Neighborhood Plan process.

Over 8000 people live in Chinatown, says Yeung, and PCDC services directly reach over 1000 clients a year, with a staff of just six people.

"Chinatown has become not just a resident-based community, but also a hub for Asian Americans in the region," she adds. "We serve as this home base for a greater population in the Delaware Valley region. We’re the only Chinatown in the state."

PCDC will celebrate its 50th birthday with an anniversary gala at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch Street) on Friday, May 6 at 6 p.m.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Sarah Yeung, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation

Follow all our work #OnTheGroundPhilly via twitter (@flyingkitemedia) and Instagram (@flyingkite_ontheground).

On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.

After nabbing more project grants than any other U.S. city in the Knight Foundation's inaugural 2015 Knight Cities Challenge, Philly has more reasons to be proud. As announced at an April 12 celebration at Reading Terminal Market (RTM), local winners received the largest share of the national grant program’s $5 million pool for 2016: over $873,000 for four local initiatives.
 
This year’s contest, which invites individuals and organizations nationwide to submit their ideas for improving city life, drew over 4,500 applicants. That was narrowed down to 138 finalists and 37 grantees. Philadelphia's winners include the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA) for its 20 Book Clubs, 20 Cooperative Businesses; Reading Terminal Market Corp. for its Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers; Little Giant Creative for its Institute of Hip-Hop Entrepreneurship, and Benjamin Bryant for his Little Music Studio.
 
Caitlin Quigley of PACA spoke at the celebration. Her organization will use its $146,000 grant to launch 20 book clubs in 20 Philly neighborhoods. Attendees will focus on studying cooperative business models, and then use what they’ve learned to launch a co-op business serving a need in their community.
 
Quigley hopes the initiative will "activate Philadelphia residents to be lifelong agents of change in their neighborhoods."
 
RTM General Manager Anuj Gupta spoke on behalf of Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers, recipient of $84,674. According to Knight, the project will build "cultural bridges to Philadelphia’s immigrant communities with cooking classes celebrating ethnic food," led by RTM chefs.
 
RTM is one of the city’s most diverse public spaces, explained Gupta, and it’s known "as a place where one can expect civility," no matter where you come from, over the common enjoyment of food.
 
Tayyib Smith's Little Giant Creative is receiving $308,640 for its project that boosts "economic opportunity by using hip-hop to provide hands-on business training to members of low-income groups." As Smith noted, one third of our city’s population lives in poverty. With a GED and two semesters of college, he’s now the founder of four businesses, and he wants to see Philadelphia's entrepreneurial community talk as much as they can about local poverty.
 
Bryan's The Little Music Studio, which netted $334,050, will be a "traveling playground for musicians," making musical instruments accessible in public places to anyone who wants to sit together and play. The "project is not about performance," says Bryan, but about diverse people connecting through spontaneous jam sessions. (He’s leading the project through his role as director of planning and design at Group Melvin Design.)
 
As Knight Foundation Philadelphia Program Director Patrick Morgan put it, "Each of these ideas represents the best of Philadelphia."
 
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Patrick Morgan, Knight Foundation Philadelphia, and Knight grant recipients 
 

April 8 through 23, the Kimmel Center is mounting its third Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA). This year’s event includes everything from theatrical performances to lectures to a fiery art installation on the waterfront to concerts played from inside city fountains. The whole thing will culminate in the PIFA Street Fair on Broad Street, beginning at 11 a.m. on April 23, an all-day family-friendly affair packed with fantastic sights, food, vendors, rides and performances.

According to artistic director Jay Wahl, there are fewer projects this year, but they’re "bolder" than in the past.
 
"We’ve spent more energy on fewer projects to make them better and richer," he explains.
 
This year’s festival features over 60 events in 16 days across the city. The theme is "We Are What We Make"; as the website puts it, exploring "how our humanity is shaped, changed, inspired, and challenged by the world we create." 2015 MacArthur Genius Award winner Mimi Lien will put up a "massive" installation in the Kimmel Center's lobby.
 
"I was starting to notice that across the city, there was a real interest in where we make things, how we make them, who makes them," says Wahl of the PIFA theme. For example, our contemporary food culture: Diners aren’t only interested in where the restaurant is, but who the farmer was and how the food got there.
 
And this extends to many facets of modern Philly life, including our burgeoning urban and waterfront parks (an "interest in the way that urban and natural environments come together and the materials of those things"). In the 19th century, Philadelphia was known as "the workshop of the world," and from a historical perspective, "this is where the nation was made," explains Wahl. "We did that politically, we do that socially, now we’re doing that behaviorally and mentally, and I was thinking, what does that mean?"
 
When it comes to the street fair on April 23, Wahl suggests arriving early -- one-of-a-kind performances will pop up in the crowd all day. There’ll be patches of grass in the middle of Broad Street, a 25-foot waterfall, a zip-line, a Ferris wheel, a Zeppelin blimp in the air and carnival swings below City Hall.
 
"I think we can say all we want [about] the arts transform[ing] the city…but until your body is doing something quite literally different, I don’t think you can feel it," he adds. "The moment you sit with your kids in the grass in the middle of the street is the moment you think about Broad Street differently forever."
 
And PIFA is part of a larger narrative about Philly as a destination -- a city touted by The New York Times and Lonely Planet as a top place to visit, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage City.  
 
"None of that happens without the arts and culture here," says Wahl. "That’s the reason you want to go someplace…PIFA is part of that tapestry of what makes the city vibrant."
 
To browse the full line-up of events, visit PIFA’s online calendar.
 
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Jay Wahl, Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts

"All knitters are givers," says Christine Forester, founder of Aalta Yarn. Tapping into the national trend toward social enterprise, her business links knitters not only with high-quality hand-knit yarn but with charities in need of knitted goods. 

Forester, a Bucks County native, worked in the yarn industry for years, witnessing the explosion of the knitting craze. 

"The younger generation wanted to make something of their own that was beautiful and unique," she explains, recalling how celebrities like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Jennifer Aniston led the trend, knitting European novelty yarns into simple scarves. 

Knitting's popularity has only increased since then: Philly millennials are showing up to classes at Nangellini in Fishtown or LoopKnits on South Street, and making names for themselves yarn-bombing all over the city (that includes Jessie Hemmons of Ishknits). 

Today's knitters want quality yarn to work with from companies that prioritize purpose along with profit. Aalta Yarn fits the bill. The high-quality Italian product is ideal for creating long-lasting blankets -- something Forester encourages knitters to create and donate to support their partner charities, the local chapter of Project Linus and Tabor: A Family of Services. 

"I was absolutely amazed at the number of needs [these organizations] had," recalls Forester. "There were so many children in need of blankets." 

Along with coordinating donation points at local shops, the company donates yarn to knitters via website request so that anyone can contribute their skills to make a blanket. 

Aalta Yarn is available in regional yarn shops including The Tangled Web in Chestnut Hill, Finely A Knitting Party in Swarthmore, and Knit in Newtown. The shops also carry Philly-made wool baskets and bags braided with 100 percent wool yarn.

Forester, who grew the business out of her capstone project for an MBA in strategic design at Philadelphia University, sees Aalta Yarn as a way to connect the giving spirit of knitters with quality products for kids who, like Linus in Peanuts, need that extra bit of comfort. 

"I want to make a difference," she says. "I want to make an impact, I want to bring joy and happiness to these children that are in need."

Writer: Martha Cooney
Source: Christine Forester, Aalta Yarn
 

As Flying Kite transitions from its most recent On the Ground residency at Asian Arts Initiative, it’s worth looking back on neighborhood voices from the past few years. After all, this area just north of Center City has many names and many stories.

Last week, we spoke with Mural Arts freelance project manager Dave Kyu. He's been involved with the Asian Arts Social Practice Lab since 2012. His past projects include "Sign of the Times," which collected thoughts and reflections from the neighborhood and broadcast them on signs mounted on a truck driving around the city, and "Write Sky," which solicited ideas from community members that became messages in the sky with the help of sky-writing pilots.

To launch projects like this -- including his current work on a light and sound installation near the Viaduct -- he needed to get to know the neighborhood. Kyu began with a small survey of about fifteen people, hoping to learn what people’s perceptions of the area were. He recently shared the results with Flying Kite. The themes raised in surveys conducted in late 2012 through early 2013 reflect dramatic neighborhood change.

One question he asked his subjects was a deceptively simple one: What do you call this neighborhood?

To some, it’s Chinatown North, but it’s also Callowhill and "North of Vine." Others call it "the Viaduct area" -- certainly a label that’s gaining traction now -- and others call it "Eraserhood" or the "Loft District."

Kyu says all of these names just represent different factions of people trying to preserve what they see as their piece of the neighborhood as development advances.

Back then, respondents noted that the area was becoming a haven for the "creative class" and other entrepreneurs. The addition of galleries, bars and restaurants -- from artists and collectives at the 319 gallery building to nightlife startups like Brick and Mortar and W/N W/N Coffee Bar, and services like GoBeer -- have borne this out.

Kyu also asked subjects, "What is the best thing that could happen in this neighborhood in the next year?" Answers included a launch to the first stage of the new Viaduct Park (on its way), and "some type of festival that is accessible for all." Last fall’s Pearl Street Passage project offered a taste of this possibility.

The survey also noted that the area was "ripe for development" and changing extremely fast. Projects from the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation’s Eastern Tower to new high-end residential units on Spring Garden, speak to expanding live/work opportunities in the neighborhood.

Keep an eye out for our continued coverage of happenings in Callowhill as it searches for its 21st century identity. And come say hello in Strawberry Mansion, where we will begin our next On the Ground residency soon.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Dave Kyu, Mural Arts Project and Asian Arts Initiative

Follow all our work #OnTheGroundPhilly via twitter (@flyingkitemedia) and Instagram (@flyingkite_ontheground).

On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.
 

What are a crystallized alligator skull, crocheted bird skeletons and a "couture taxidermy" peacock doing at the University City Science Center? They are among the works of 12 artists on display at Methods of Collection, a new exhibition opening this week at the Esther Klein Gallery.
 
For almost its entire 40-plus-year history, the Center has employed a curator to draw the connection between science and art. The gallery itself -- which opened in 1976 and bears the name of a well-known Philadelphia philanthropist -- has a mission to use "the creative arts as a platform to explore relationships between art, science and technology."
 
According to Angela McQuillan, the current curator, the concept for the new show emerged from her personal experience. As a cancer researcher earlier in her career, she saw animal studies as "a necessary evil. It’s better to test on animals than on humans," she says. "But I also don’t think it’s right. So this is a difficult subject. This show is based on my feelings from all those years working in a lab."
 
And as the Center notes, "Preserved animal specimens have been collected for centuries for the study of natural history and the advancement of science."
 
McQuillan acknowledges the show’s ick factor for some viewers.

"Some pieces could be considered creepy or morbid," she muses. "I want to look at these things as objects of science and I want people to see the beauty in that… If [visitors] are grossed out at least they’ll think about it."
 
Among the pieces are:

• Embellished taxidermy birds by Philadelphia artist Beth Beverly

• "Alternative taxidermy" dogs made of breed-specific fur by Lauren Davies of Cleveland

• A stuffed bear with intricate embroidery depicting anatomically correct blood vessels by Deborah Simon of Brooklyn

• Lacelike crocheted bird skeletons by Philadelphia fiber artist Caitlin T. McCormack

• Pieces by Philadelphia artist Pierre Trombert, who will do a special performance piece at the opening reception: 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 11 at the Esther Klein Gallery (3600 Market Street)

Methods of Collection will continue through March 25.

WRITER IN RESIDENCE is a partnership between the University City Science Center and Flying Kite Media that embeds a reporter on-site at 3711 Market Street. The resulting coverage will provide an inside look at the most intriguing companies, discoveries and technological innovations coming out of this essential Philadelphia institution.
 

Back in August 2015, we looked in on the official launch of Germantown photographer Tieshka Smith’s "Racism Is a Sickness" project. The initiative began as a photo and interview project, and has grown into a full-scale interdisciplinary and interactive installation, now open at the Art Church of West Philadelphia through February 27.
 
Thanks to early interest from 8th District Councilwoman Cindy Bass’s office, Smith hoped to mount "Racism is a Sickness" at a City Hall gallery, but when autumn 2015 passed by without an opening reception date, “I had to make a decision,” she explains.
 
That difficult choice -- to withdraw from a City Hall exhibition -- turned out to be "a blessing in disguise," says Smith. Cara Blouin, a colleague from an earlier project at the Painted Bride Art Center, invited "Racism Is a Sickness" to her space, the Art Church of West Philadelphia, where the project has had the freedom to evolve and expand, 
 
"I’m a huge Tieskha fan," says Blouin. "When I found out what she was doing I wanted to help however I could. This is a total labor of love."
 
The seeds of "Racism Is a Sickness" are the 14 subjects Smith photographed and interviewed in 2015. They each stand in front of an upside-down American flag, which for Smith is a symbol of national distress and institutional racism. The portrait subjects -- a mix of races and ages -- each wear a surgical mask with one word written on it, symbolizing an aspect of racism they want to protect themselves: These include “anger,” “apathy,” “fear,” “selfishness” and “suspicion.”
 
A placard alongside each collage offers the subjects' answers to three prompts. The first -- “Racism makes me…” -- inspires answers ranging from “squirm” to “mad” to “scared.” The second -- “Racism makes America…” -- draws responses such as “poorer,” “a failure,” “ugly,” and “profitable.”
 
The final prompt asks about one aspect of racism subjects wish they could eliminate or heal. Their answers include “stereotyping,” “blindness,” and “dehumanization.” The Art Church installation includes an area for viewers to add their own responses to the prompts on Post-it notes.
 
Other interactive pieces of the project grew out of Smith’s "#HastagsOfHeartbreak" action for victims of police brutality, which she began online last summer to "to document and amplify all of the victims that I was aware of via social media." One wall of the Art Church display is devoted to "Death By a Thousand Cuts," a commentary on the practice of settling cases of state or police brutality out of court with payments to the victims or their families.
 
"We like to throw money at our social ills," explains Smith in the display. "We believe money solves problems and shuts people up, especially if the people are poor or otherwise marginalized…The cumulative effects of these acts on poor, black and brown bodies seeps into our collective consciousness and settles there."
 
Visitors are invited to participate in the piece by writing the name of someone they know who has been "personally affected by police brutality, police misconduct, or state-sanctioned violence" on a piece of faux money, using a Band-Aid to affix the name to an upside-down American flag.
 
Visitors to the exhibit are also invited to bring in prescription pill bottles with their labels removed, then to write down a positive anecdote that combats instances of racism, and put them in the bottles.
 
The installation's run, which Blouin and Smith hope will be the first of many for the project, features a wide range of events including discussions, performances and film screenings.

"Racism is a Sickness" runs through Februaru 27 at the Art Church of West Philadelphia (5219 Webster Street).
 
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Tieshka Smith and Cara Blouin, Racism Is a Sickness 
 

What do Philly's women business executives have to say about their career journeys? To answer that question, the nationally operating CPA firm Citrin Cooperman hosted an inaugural "Women at the Wheel" forum at the Union League of Philadelphia. The January 21 event featured four of the city's most notable business leaders telling their stories and taking questions from the crowd.

Julie Coker Graham, a former Hyatt Regency Philadelphia general manager, is the new president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Suzanne S. Mayes, a 2012 Alice Paul Equality Award winner and leader at several women’s initiative organizations, is the chair of the public and project finance group at Cozen O’Connor. They were joined by Cheltenham native JoAnne Epps -- currently dean of Temple’s Beasley School of Law, she was appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter to chair the new Police Department Oversight Board and earned the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award. Catherine M. Cahill completed the panel. Originally a musician, she has had a distinguished career in arts administration and been the president and CEO of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts since 2008.

Citrin Cooperman partners Mary Brislin and Colleen S. Vallen moderated the panel.

In her opening remarks, Vallen noted that only about thirteen percent of U.S. business board and executive positions are held by women (though in local healthcare and higher education sectors, that number has topped twenty percent).

Graham touted her lifelong "passion for hospitality." Just a few decades ago it was virtually unheard of for a woman -- especially an African-American woman -- to pursue a four-year degree in hospitality management.

"The culinary scene here is just exploding," she said of moving Philadelphia in 2007.

Mayes spoke about her formative years at an all-girls high school where a you-can-do-anything attitude wasn’t aspirational or visionary, "it was a fact," with women leaders on sports teams and in school clubs. She took this attitude with her to college, where she remembers a "five-minute meeting" with her male undergraduate advisor -- she wanted to discuss her grad school options. He told her to focus on finishing college, not going to business or law school.

"Happily, I didn’t listen to him," she recalled, earning her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

"It didn’t occur to me that African-American women could run anything," said Epps of her school days; she thought becoming a legal secretary would be the apex of her career. She remembers her own mother, whose school counselor "laughed until he cried" when she said she was interested in medical school and put her on a secretarial track instead. Epps herself went on to attend Trinity College just after it became co-ed and was greeted on her first day with signs that read, "Co-eds go home, we hate you!"

But her years there were successful, leading to a prominent legal career.

"Be vigilant as to what is happening to us, and be vigilant as to what is happening to others," she advised attendees on improving gender parity in the workforce.

Cahill, a Temple undergraduate and Drexel graduate alum, has managed major music institutions such as Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, the Dallas Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony before landing in Philly. She touted a recent "sea change" in the world of leadership for women.

The panel took several audience questions, including one about coping with "imposter syndrome" in high-powered jobs.

"It’s about recognizing the moment of self-doubt," said Mayes. "What do you do about it?" There’s no such thing as a work-life or mom-career balance, she continued. Instead, it’s about "integration" with the right personal and professional support.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Citrin Cooperman Women at the Wheel speakers
 

Historic Fair Hill (HFH), a landmark burial ground on Germantown Avenue, houses the remains of some of America’s most prominent abolitionists and women’s rights advocates. After decades of neglect, the rejuvenated site is planning another year of programming growth under new executive director Jean Warrington.

A Philly native and current Chestnut Hill resident, Warrington got involved with the project over a decade ago. In 2004, the HFH board hired her as its part-time program director and as of January 1, 2016, she took on the role of the organization’s executive director.

The HFH site dates all the way back to the early 18th century. It was started by George Fox himself, founder of the Religious Society of Friends and the land’s original owner. According to HFH, his will asked that the space be used "for a meeting house, a burying ground, and a garden and grounds" for kids to play and learn.

The site’s adjoining Quaker meeting house at Germantown Avenue and Cambria Street was sporadically active from 1703 all the way until 1967, when shrinking attendance led the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to sell the property. Maintenance of the grounds -- the site of the graves of American luminaries such as Lucretia Mott and Robert Purvis -- deteriorated.

In the late 1980s, "it was the biggest open-air crack cocaine market in the city," says Warrington of the five-acre site. In the 1990s, a dedicated cross-cultural neighborhood coalition slowly reclaimed the site as a safe green space. Outreach to local Quaker leader Margaret Hope Bacon (a Mott biographer) resulted in renewed attention and eventually a nonprofit that raised funds to buy back the grounds in 1993.

"What we’re doing is using a historic site…to carry forward the values of the people buried there. We’re using the past to serve the present," explains Warrington of HFH’s current work, which hearkens back to Fox’s will by focusing on urban gardening -- both on and off-site -- and a reading program at the neighboring Julia de Burgos School.

There are currently 20 HFH "reading buddies" who volunteer in the classroom there and work to restore the school library that was closed down (along with many others across the city) in 2010. A large local Hispanic immigrant community means this kind of support is crucial: Many local kids have parents who don’t speak English, so bridging the English-speaking literary gap is important.

"The kids are so lovely," says Warrington. "They are respectful, eager, curious, bright. They’ve got to have a library. They’ve got to have books. They’ve got to have people who can read with them."

In her new role as executive director, she wants to increase the number of reading buddies to 50 and expand the site’s existing gardening programs. Working outside "increases the peace," she argues. It correlates with better performance at school and is "just a good thing in this society that is so wired and pushy and loud and unjust."

Also on the horizon is increasing the site’s visibility with an improved website, better social media presence and monthly events. That includes an upcoming Women’s History Month tour on March 12 honoring the graves of leaders of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s right’s convention.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Jean Warrington, Historic Fair Hill
 

Port Richmond ceramics company Felt + Fat was founded in 2013 by Nate Mell and Wynn Bauer. In May, over 200 Kickstarter donors raised $26,256 for the young Philly business, which provides custom-made tableware to restaurants such as Fork, High Street on Market, South Philly’s Laurel and other fine dining spots in Brooklyn and beyond. They also offer direct sales to individual consumers through their website and wholesale distribution through shops across the country.

According to Mell, Felt + Fat would have continued without the Kickstarter infusion, but it helped them grow much faster than they could have on their own, adding a new kiln to their studio, acquiring other smaller pieces of equipment and bringing on board a paid employee.

"It’s been full-time since day one," says Mell of the hours he and his partner have put into the business; that said, they also worked part-time elsewhere while the company grew. Mell spent about seven years in local restaurants, which helped him connect with chefs who were looking to showcase their locally sourced ingredients on custom Philly-made tableware.

This past summer the founders were able to quit their part-time jobs and focus exclusively on Felt + Fat.

The name is a homage to mid-20th century German sculptor Joseph Beuys -- they liked his artistry and use of materials, most notably soap and animal fat.

"We were just trying to make a name that could exist in a few different realms of craft and art and design," explains Mell.

The founders have perfected a slip casting method for their unique wares, which feature different textures, finishes and colors, including a distinctive swirl. They also make their own porcelain.

"To a degree, it’s kind of like cooking or baking something. It’s a recipe," says Mell of the specially "tweaked" clay and mineral combo they use. Initially, they were mixing the ingredients themselves, but now a distributor does this for them; they then add water and the necessary materials to cast their plates and cups.

In slip casting, the liquid clay -- or "slip" -- is poured into a plaster mold. Wherever the slip meets the moisture-wicking plaster, a hard edge forms. When that layer is thick enough, the excess slip is poured out of the mold. What’s left forms the body of the cup or plate. When dry, it's removed from the mold and fired in the kiln.

All that takes time and space, which Philadelphia has in spades.

"Philadelphia is a particularly good place right now to be an artist and a creative person, because of the rapid growth of the moment," argues Mell. He appreciates the large client base a Philly location offers, without the living and studio costs of New York City.

Next up, the duo are hoping to expand into lighting fixtures and furniture accessories; they eventually aim to open a local showroom for their wares. They’ll certainly have more space to experiment: In January, Felt + Fat (currently at 3237 Amber Street) will expand to a second location in a Kensington studio building at the corner of I and Venango Streets.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Nate Mell, Felt + Fat 

On December 2, wake up with more than just coffee at the latest installment of the Exchange PHL Breakfast Series. At Wednesday's event, regional leaders in innovative social good will tackle "the Path from Startup To High Impact." 

"I think there is something that’s profoundly shifting among nonprofits and their openness to look at these possible changes in how they do business," explains Nadya K. Shmavonian, director of the newly formed Nonprofit Repositioning Fund, who will be speaking at the breakfast.

Hosted by nonprofit-centric co-working space The Exchange, located in Center City’s Friends Center, the event will shift the conversation from entrepreneurship to operations, and discuss how great programs become part of the fabric of the city, touching on sustainable revenue models, evaluation and adaptation.

"We just launched on October 7, so it’s a very new effort," Shmavonian says of the Fund. "We have been pleasantly surprised at how much interest there’s been."

The seven founding members include North Penn Community Health Foundation, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Scattergood Foundation, the Barra Foundation, the Philadelphia Foundation, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, William Penn Foundation and Arizona’s Lodestar Foundation.

The Fund targets nonprofits in transition in the greater Philadelphia area, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia and Montgomery counties. Hosted and administered by the Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia, seed awards and grants will support nonprofits as they explore and formalize new collaborations, joint ventures and consolidations.

In rare instances, the Fund will also help with dissolution planning for individual organizations outside of a merger or acquisition. That, along with the work of "repositioning" nonprofits, can lead to questions about the Fund’s goals.

"How do foundations work with nonprofits in a way that is not threatening?" asks Shmavonian. "Because obviously there’s a power imbalance there. This isn’t about thinning the herd. It really is about finding ways to allow a nonprofit to…deliver on their mission in a sustainable high-performance way."

That can include tweaks like merging back office realms or making an informal partnership an integral piece of an organizations’ structure, allowing the pooling of resources and best practices.

"There’s a whole array of arrangements that people are looking at that stop far short of a formal merger or acquisition," she adds.

Shmavonian is looking forward to the December 2 conversation, which will also feature Lauren Fine of the Youth Sentencing and Re-entry Project. She thinks the next several years will bring very interesting deals for regional nonprofits, and that the Fund will grow a portfolio of creative models for participating organizations.

"It’s a fast-changing environment out there," she argues. "I’m as much about shifting the culture and dynamics around this as I am the actual individual deals that we’re going to engage in." 

The latest Exchange PHL Breakfast Series is happening Wednesday, December 2 from 8:30 - 10 a.m. at 1501 Cherry Street. Attendance is free; click here to register.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Nadya K. Shmavonian, the Nonprofit Repositioning Fund 
 

Artist, maker and entrepreneur co-working hub Indy Hall is launching its first-ever onsite retail venture, and just in time for holiday shopping.

Indy Hall staffer Sean Martorana, who focuses on the arts community and curatorial side of things, says KINSHOP -- which officially opened on November 6 and will probably run until February 2016 -- places no restrictions on the kinds of goods for sale from the Indy Hall community.

“It was really cool to see and celebrate the things that people have made here,” he enthuses.

Dubbed "a collective boutique and small-retail experience in the Indy Hall Gallery," KINSHOP features wares from over a dozen members. The name came out of the group’s recent successful KIN collaborative exhibition, which kicked off this fall’s arts season.

Items on sale range in price from about $100 to $125 for sculptures and $10 to $12 for small arts and crafts items such as prints, wrapping paper, holiday greeting cards, music, pillows, jam, wineglasses, terrariums, tote bags, scarves and more. Thirty percent of each purchase goes directly to arts programming at Indy Hall, funding things like classes and workshops, and gallery and store upkeep. The rest goes to the makers.

The goods will rotate throughout the season -- as soon as one item sells out, something else made at Indy Hall goes on the market. That means the shop will be worth multiple visits for the assiduous locally minded holiday shopper.

“As we sell we’re just going to keep putting stuff in," explains Martorana. "We have so much stuff in our community that we’re not going to go empty."

Indy Hall’s usual weekday hours (9 a.m. - 6 p.m.) are a good time to check out KINSHOP; if you need to make it an evening outing, Martorana recommends Night Owl hours (Tuesdays, 6 - 10 p.m.).

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Sean Martorana, Indy Hall 

While the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance was fighting to maintain the city's Cultural Fund budget -- which faced steep cuts for the next fiscal year -- Philly was on track to become the United States’ first World Heritage City. The designation, announced last week after a vote from the World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) in Arequipa, Peru, went up like a firework in local news feeds.

Philly is the 267th World Heritage City, having logged one major qualification back in 1979, when Independence Hall became a World Heritage Site.

"Philadelphia is the largest and most complete fulfillment of the kind of model city envisioned by Enlightenment architects," OWHC notes on our city’s new page.

It’s an exciting first for a city already spreading its wings on the national and global stage, hosting Pope Francis in September and the Democratic National Convention in summer 2016.

Cultural Alliance president Maud Lyon is excited about the possibilities of Philly’s new distinction, but notes that our identity as a city with strong ties to the rest of the world is not a new one.

"It’s really important for us to focus on being a global city," she argues. "We have been from the very beginning, and I think it’s important for us to have that perspective. 

"I think culture is always the first ambassador that goes out for a city,” she continues, noting the success of a world tour for the Philadelphia Orchestra in the past year. "Those concert halls were packed everywhere the Orchestra went."

It’s a good time to be getting our world-class cultural offerings out there because according to a Global Philadelphia study cited in the Inquirer, the city could be looking at a significant tourism boost: a one to two percent increase in domestic visitors (generating an economic impact of up to $200 million), and a rise in foreign visitors that could reach 15 percent, or the addition of up to 100,000 tourists annually.

Lyon is excited by the possibilities of more visitors from overseas, particularly a growing population of middle class travelers from throughout Asia, especially China and India.

"I think that we will in the next ten years be seeing more people coming from that part of the world who want to tour Philadelphia, and we absolutely want to be a destination for them," she adds.

The next ten years will be important ones for America, too, as the 250th anniversary of the country's independence approaches.

Culture is "the most approachable and welcoming and inclusive way of being an ambassador [for a] city," says Lyon, and the influx of international visitors -- and hopefully more collaborations between foreign artists and Philly institutions -- will be "the kind of cross-fertilization that you need between cultures.”

From Philly’s history as the United States’ birthplace to our musical tradition to our scientific and educational institutions, our city has plenty to offer. In considering the World Heritage designation, Lyon says we need to take pride not only in the international visitors we attract, but in the longtime diversity of our home. It’s not just about honoring the framers of the Constitution.

"Certainly the diversity of ethnic heritage that’s part of this city and this region is very rich and very important to who we are," she explains. "It’s important for us to remember that and to really own being a global city."

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Maud Lyon, the Cultural Alliance of Greater Philadelphia