Regionalism : Innovation + Job News

Flying Bytes is nuggets of innovation from across Greater Philadelphia:

BROTHERLY LOVE GOES GLOBAL
Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there's been a swell of support from local companies and groups. Comcast is offering free calls to Japan for Xfinity Voice and Business Class Voice customers. Call Japan now until April 10, 2011 and get an automatic refund on your Comcast bill. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Red Cross is accepting both online and text message contributions for Japan relief efforts and reports that it has received generous donations from Westchester's QVC and Philadelphia Insurance. The Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia has instituted a Disaster Relief Fund, and is also taking donations at the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival.

THE GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME
Urban Blazers, a Philadelphia program that organizes outdoor activities for under-resourced youth, is co-sponsoring an East Fairmount Park Spring Clean-Up. The event, to be held Saturday, April 2 from 9 to 1, will start at Mander Playground, 33rd and Diamond, for a seasonal overhaul of nearby recreational spots, as well as the Woodford Mansion Orchard. It's part of the citywide Philly Spring Cleanup. Participating civic groups include the East Park Revitalization Alliance, Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation and the Strawberry Mansion Athletic Association. RSVP on Facebook or email [email protected].

COME ON BABY LIGHT MY FIRE
Speaking of blazing, on April 16, grab a flashlight and head over to the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Washington Square Park for a warm spring evening of fun. Get Out Philly is hosting a game of Flashlight Tag beginning at 8. Put on your post-tax return attitude and casual clothes. Food and drink to follow at a nearby casual spot. Suggested donation is $1. You can RSVP on Facebook.

Source: Comcast, Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Red Cross, Urban Blazers, Get Out Philly
Writer: Sue Spolan

In the spirit of Philly's other well-known celebrations like Beer Week and Restaurant Week, one of the main goals for Philly Tech Week, happening April 25 to 30 in locations across the city, is to have fun. Organized by Technically Philly, the week is meant to connect the many different segments of the Philly technology community, from hackers to Comcast and everyone in between, according to TP co-founder Chris Wink.

At this point, there are about 35 events on the schedule, with more to come. WHYY will serve as headquarters. Wink says the media outlet will host a daily lunchtime speaker series throughout the week, as well as the final big event Friday night. Tech Week coincides with two other major citywide happenings: The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) and The Philadelphia Science Festival. As a result, says Wink, some gatherings will carry all three labels, such as Augmented Reality Check: Seeing The Future Now, looking at the intersection of art, technology and science, to be held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 26.

Another exciting Tech Week gathering is The Future of Music featuring musician and producer RJD2, coordinated by Tayyib Smith, owner of Little Giant Media, which publishes two.one.five magazine. Smith hopes to draw like minded people actively engaged in creating, promoting and distributing music to envision the role technology will play in the future of music. "I am an analog person who is fronting like I am digital," says Smith, who hopes to get as much out of the discussion as any of the other attendees.

Local firm Azavea, which builds geographic analysis software, happens to be rolling out several projects that same week, and plans to show off the brand new goods. "One is Philly Tree Map," says President and CEO Robert Cheetham, whose goal is to create a crowdsourced urban tree inventory. Two other Azavea projects, Open Data Philly and PhillyHistory.org, will be showcased during Tech Week.

For those who have ever fantasized about going ballistic on your devices, be sure to attend the Office Space Printer Smash, co-sponsored by Nonprofit Technology Resources and The Hacktory. As the title indicates, participants will be encouraged to turn unrecyclable printers into a pile of mangled plastic and metal.

Source: Christopher Wink, Technically Philly, Tayyib Smith, Little Giant Media, Robert Cheetham, Azavea
Writer: Sue Spolan

What does an urban planner do while looking for a job? If you're Dan Casey, you create a dense daily digest of news with a focus on what people are not reading. The Front Section, says Casey, "is a byproduct of being direly underemployed and spending too much time online. I got tired of reading about America and American debates, and realized that I was following a lot of international news that my friends weren't." The Front Section is a densely packed and far more graphically pleasing alternative to web pages like The Drudge Report. Casey drew his inspiration from "a venerable site called Arts & Letters Daily that has a pleasantly tweedy high-culture tone and is all about Big Serious Ideas. When you load up the page, you start smelling pipe smoke and leather patches grow on your elbows.

"A faint taste of port creeps into your mouth; it's uncanny," says Casey, who felt he could fill a niche for a younger audience that is "decidedly to the left" of the Arts & Letters readership, but is still interested in good writing about the rest of the world. Casey says he took off from the overall A&L concept, but shifted its center of gravity. And added rap videos.

The site, based in Philadelphia and updated daily, attracts about a hundred visitors on an average day, but can draw thousands when it's linked from another site. Casey says the site is hosted by a generous friend, and is more of a community service than a money making proposition. Casey says his state of being underemployed may be about to change: "If I get one of these 'jobs' that I've heard so much about, maybe I'll have the chance to slow down and focus my reading, and rebuild my attention span, so the blog will probably change too. Stay tuned."

Source: Dan Casey, The Front Section
Writer: Sue Spolan

Flying Bytes is a roundup of innovation nuggets from across the region:

OPEN UP TO ART
The second annual Art in The Open exhibit has been announced for June 9-12, 2011. The citywide exhibit features a juried selection of artists who will create site specific work along the Schuylkill Banks, from Bartram's Garden in Southwest Philly, and as far north as the Fairmount Park Waterworks. The result is a giant outdoor studio, with art stations for the public to get into the creative process. AIO co-founder Mary Salvante reports that all 2011 artist applications have been received, and the 40 winners will be announced shortly.

A CANAL PROPOSAL
The Manayunk Canal Towpath is about to get an art facelift. The Mural Arts Program, in association with the Manayunk Special Services District (MSSD) and the Manayunk Development Corporation, is calling for proposals to transform the disused canal into a temporary public art location with a focus on sustainability, incorporating water. The canal is the last surviving segment of a waterway that once ran as far as Schuylkill County, bringing coal from the mines into Philadelphia. The installation will coincide with this September's Manayunk Eco-Arts Festival. For more information, send email here.

MALVERN GETS 'SOFT
This week Microsoft opened a new 17,500 square foot Technology Center in Malvern. In attendance at the opening ceremony were Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The Philadelphia area tech center is the tenth in the United States, and joins 21 similar technology centers globally. According to Microsoft, "the center is designed to help companies throughout the mid-Atlantic region improve their use of technology to grow their businesses, add jobs, and strengthen their local communities."

PHILLY'S GONE DIGITAL
Digital Philadelphia and Code for America reports that our local team of fellows is working hard to get government data to citizens. Jeff Friedman says the Philly CfA team conducted over a hundred interviews in February, polling government and city workers, civic leaders including heads of non-profits, block captains, civic developers, and citizens. CfA Philly also held three Friday "hack" events to encourage local developers to engage with government data, an Open Data Forum with help from Young Involved Philadelphia, Technically Philly, and the City, and an open data camp where developers built out four functional mini-apps based on city data.

Source: Mary Salvante, AIO; Microsoft Technology Center, Jeff Friedman, CfA Philly
Writer: Sue Spolan

It's 2011. Do you know where your power is? With the expiration of Pennsylvania power rate caps at the start of this year, state utility customers are searching for alternative providers. If you are all about clean renewable energy that's local and sustainable, Community Energy provides 100 percent Pennsylvania generated wind power, and it's expanding to provide solar as well.

The Radnor-based company, founded in 1999, began selling retail wind power to commercial customers ahead of state mandates, enabling Community Energy to build demand for the construction of its own wind projects in Pennsylvania as well as in New Jersey. "In 1999, there were a total of 10 megawatts of wind power east of the Mississippi," says Jay Carlis, Vice President of CEI's Retail Division. Texas boasts two of the world's largest wind farms, and California is not far behind. Carlis reports that in the past year, CEI experienced strong growth and has doubled in size, thanks largely to the addition of solar energy to its offerings. After CEI's initial foray serving commercial clients such as Carnegie Mellon University and Giant Market, CEI added residential clients to the roster, and then partnered with utility companies, enabling its reach to include the entire northeastern United States.

While the Pennsylvania PUC has created PA Power Switch, an easy to navigate website that helps customers shop for energy, Carlis says the site leaves out some vital information. "Most people don't understand the complicated aspects of the market. If you want wind power, and it's coming from Texas, the grids don't even connect," says Carlis. Rather, utilities are dealing in tradable Renewable Energy Certificates. For someone living in Pennsylvania, he says, there's a lot of benefit to having wind in the local grid, including a future price edge benefit. "Twenty years from now, if all of Pennsylvania is buying from Texas, Texas will look good, and it won't make a bit of difference for Pennsylvania. It's important that people understand the implications of their choices."

Source: Jay Carlis, Community Energy
Writer: Sue Spolan

It's happy hour somewhere, and LocalWineEvents.com wants to help you get your prosecco on. The Valley Forge-based service offers free wine event listings in 500 cities around the world, including the greater Philadelphia area. Eric Orange, LocalWineEvents.com CEO, used to sell wine for Paterno Imports. He was living in Denver, Colorado, where he presented the Paterno product line to restaurants, retailers and ski resorts. Setting up tastings and dinners was part of the marketing plan, but getting the word out was the big challenge. After commiserating with fellow wine merchants about a dinner where only six people showed up, Orange realized two things: one, that he was not alone in needing a powerful wine promotional tool, and two, that the world wide web was the perfect way to connect wine enthusiasts with wine sellers.

Today, The Juice, LocalWineEvents.com's twice-a-week newsletter, goes out to 136,000 subscribers worldwide. The service has just launched location-based mobile apps for iPhone and Android, and a mobile friendly site for other smartphone users. LocalWineEvent's Facebook page boasts 30,000 fans.

The LocalWineEvents.com listings provide details on event theme, date, time and location, and include a fairly large radius. For example, Philadelphia oenophiles get event information for New York City and Wilmington in addition to home town happenings.

While listing and searching are free, and the privately held LocalWineEvents.com relies on multiple revenue streams, from fees for featured listings to banner ads. "In my view, I have created the perfect Internet business model," Orange says, citing a cycle of consumer generated input and constant updates generating perpetual return traffic.

Source: Eric Orange, LocalWineEvents.com

Writer: Sue Spolan

JJ Tiziou wants to share. And he wants you to share too. "You have to give people a voice," says Tiziou, a Philadelphia photographer and all around activist for the arts. "Everyone has a voice, but TV and billboards have such louder voices." Tiziou is the force behind the massive public art project How Philly Moves, the 50,000 square foot Mural Arts Program gateway project for the Philadelphia International Airport, scheduled for completion this June. Philadelphia's dancers are the subject, and everyone gets involved.

Tiziou is all about the crowd. As a community photographer, he's taken tens of thousands of pictures of Philadelphia residents. Some will end up in the airport mural, and some will grace the facade of the Kimmel Center as part of a projection project that will run during the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.

Tiziou's passion is crowdsourcing: getting lots of citizens to contribute a little bit of time and and a little bit of money. People still want to express themselves as artists, and for that matter, says Tiziou, as investigative journalists, but these days major funding is scarce on all creative fronts. Who will pay for materials, or for the electric bill at the studio? "It used to be that there were gatekeepers," says Tiziou. Magazine editors did the selection, but also paid contributors. With the web, explains Tiziou, there is no formal exchange. A photographer can self-publish thousands of images, and people have come to expect all kinds of content without the price tag. "I want good stuff to be out there," says Tiziou. "That's the challenge. And an audience can be a powerful thing. The crowdsourcing component is key to the new paradigm. People need to be paid for their time in a sustainable way."

Tiziou cites Kickstarter and spot.us, two thriving examples of crowdsourced funding for creative projects. If each person contributes just a few dollars, the collective can provide money for major endeavors in both the arts and journalism. Tiziou also runs community supported house concerts out of his rowhome in University City. He asks the audience to make a donation to support the musicians as well as the venue.

Right now, you can stop by temporary studios set up in empty retail space on the top floor of The Gallery at Market East to see the How Philly Moves project in progress. And you can join the project's final Community Paint Day at The Gallery on Saturday, March 12.

Source: JJ Tiziou
Writer: Sue Spolan
Photo by Danilo Balladares

Love to love ya, baby, when we're talking about Philadelphia. The official LOVE gift shop is now open seven days a week at the Visitors Center on JFK Boulevard at 16th. On offer are 3 kinds of Valentine's gift baskets, plus miniature replicas of the famous LOVE sculpture, mugs, umbrellas, coasters, T-shirts and more. All items are gift wrapped free. There's also an online gift shop if you want LOVE delivered to your door.

Here's a look at other Valentine's Day finds around town:

VOWS, NOT VOWELS
Urban Outfitters launches a much anticipated wedding line this Valentine's Day, but what's up with the brand name? BHLDN does not trip easily off the tongue, or the page. Jennifer D'Aponte, BHLDN's marketing manager, explains that it's pronounced 'beholden.' Heirloom quality wedding gowns, bridesmaid ensembles, party dresses, jewelry, headpieces, footwear, and lingerie are curated to reflect the whimsy of Anthropologie with the modern styling of the Urban brand. Pop the question or say yes on Feb. 14, then head over to BHLDN and pick your entire outfit. The brand's first physical store opens in August. No word yet on where.

IT'S ONLY A LITTLE KINKY
Rittenhouse Square's Terra Mia bills itself as "the nation's only true organic nail spa," and offers reasonably priced thrills with the Blindfolded Manicure for Two. Or pedicure, or both, if you're nasty. The salon, which was built with recycled and sustainable materials, uses water based polish, so there's no unpleasant odor. Terra Mia is also offering half off taking it all off: from Feb. 11-14, get 50 percent off Brazilian or bikini waxing.

DEFLOWERED
Love the earth and love your lady with organic, sustainably grown blooms. Hana & Posy is Philadelphia's "eco-friendly florist" and won Philadelphia Magazine's Best of Philly 2010. The Old City shop is run by Kayo Higashimura, a former veterinarian who infuses bouquets with the style of her native Japan. Hana & Posy also sells gifts. You can shop for flowers and more online, and be sure to order early for the best selection. For last-minute shopping, call the store to arrange same-day delivery.

Source: LOVE Gift Shop, BHLDN, Terra Mia, Hana & Posy
Writer: Sue Spolan

Take a big bite out of that Hippo. Nibble on the Panda, and save some Ladybugs for later. Andrea Kyan has named her PureSweets product line for all the animals she loves. "I turned vegan in 2007. I'd been vegetarian since I was a kid, but a visit to an organic dairy farm opened my eyes. Organic is not necessarily humane." Kyan says she developed PureSweets to satisfy her own sweet tooth.

She found existing vegan treats lacking in depth, with no butter, cream, or eggs to carry flavor. Kyan solved the problem by using nut flours, which provide "protein content, a nutritional boost, and are gluten free." The second main ingredient is coconut butter, and Kyan also relies on coconut oils as well as nut butters made from cashews and almonds. The sweetening comes not from refined cane sugar but from maple syrup, date sugar, palm sugar, and organic brown rice syrup. "Everything else is flavored with dried fruit and nuts, espresso, and organic dark chocolate."

Kyan was on her way to medical school with a goal of practicing preventative medicine, and she was working as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, studying the way mindfulness meditation affects weight loss, when she decided to go for a career in sustainable baking. Last fall, she got an account with Whole Foods, and they are currently piloting her products at their Center City location. She's in talks with the seven regional stores, and her goal is to place products in all 250 Whole Foods. "The only way this will work is through volume," says Kyan. "Some of the ingredients are so expensive." Items have eco-friendly packaging. PureSweets operates out of an old church in East Falls, and there's no storefront at that location, so Kyan delivers all online orders to Philadelphia area homes and offices for a reasonable fee.

About that Dingo: it's the name of PureSweets' chocolate-dipped almond butter cookie. All PureSweets' products bear animal names, and Kyan donates five percent of sales to animal rescue organizations, including PAWS and the Camden County Animal Shelter.

Source: Andrea Kyan, PureSweets
Writer: Sue Spolan

Philadelphia's Duross & Langel turns a bar of soap into a work of art. This week, D&L opens a second location on King's Highway in Haddonfield, N.J. Owner Steve Duross says expansion has always been the plan for the Washington Square West business, but he's been waiting for the right fit. D&L has been approached by malls, but in order to build on the original Midtown Village concept developed on 13th Street, Duross and partner James Langel were on the lookout for a location that offered "all the charm of Everywhere USA, Main Street."

Duross was impressed with Haddonfield's vibrant downtown community, and active neighborhood and business associations. D&L regularly hosts special events for the community, and Duross sees a perfect match with the Haddonfield community, which sponsors events similar to "things we already do in our store, like first Fridays in the summer, and live performances at the local bandstand."

Duross and Langel's product is minimally packaged, letting the ingredients do the talking. "When crafting the soap, I really wanted to take what was on the market and turn it on its head," says Steve Duross, who explains that some of the best french milled soaps are quite alkaline, while his product is a much lower pH, close to the natural acidity of skin. Duross says it's the way customers feel after using his products that brings them back for more.

D&L's colorful and flavorful line of soaps, moisturizers, deodorants and bath add-ins are made with high quality essential oils and include scents that appeal to both men and women, including Moroccan cedar, sandalwood, lavender, black pepper and green tea, along with scent free options.

Duross says continued expansion is in the works, with shops planned for two nearby towns with a thriving main street culture, and the shop's online retail option remains popular with locals and out-of-towners alike.

Source: Steve Duross, Duross & Langel
Writer: Sue Spolan

Flying Bytes is innovation nuggets from around Greater Philadelphia:

RIDING AROUND IN YOUR OLD BLUE JEANS:: there's been a huge increase in eco-friendly automotive offerings, all on display at the 2011 Philadelphia International Auto Show, but Ford goes one better, offering recycled denim seat cloth on some 2012 models, according to Violet Marley, who represents the car maker at the convention, which runs through Feb. 11. Also, this just in from The Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia: 2011 show attendance jumped 28.4 percent from last year's opening weekend. That translates to 65,984 attendees in just two days, the third largest tally in the show's history.

DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION: This is the last week you can catch Beyond Abstraction at the Center For Emerging Visual Artists at 1521 Locust Street, Philadelphia. Curated by Katrin Elia, the group show gathers the work of eight contemporary artists working in a range of media from canvas to video. While most shows begin with a subject in search of an artist, says Elia, Beyond Abstraction gathered artists first and came up with the umbrella concept later.

CAR POOL EQUITY: LLR Partners, a private equity mezzanine finance company, continues to grow, announcing four new hires this week. Jack Slye is the firm's new Vice President; Irene Lisyansky and Brian Berkin are LLR's newest Senior Associates, and Scott Williams takes the lead as Senior Analyst. LLR manages over $1.4 billion, providing interim and secondary financing to middle market companies in the 'financial, health care and business services, information technology, and education." Recently, LLR invested in Avenues: The World School, a private K-12 to open its flagship in Manhattan, with schools planned for major cities around the world.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE EXPANSION: Pulsar Informatics, a research facility that specializes in the "assessment of cognitive performance and fatigue risk management," has outgrown its original space in the University Science Center Port Business Incubator and is moving to quarters that are triple the size on the Science Center's campus. Pulsar's fatigue assessment tools are now in use by the Department of Defense, The Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA, among others.

Source: Violet Marley, Ford; Katrin Elia, Beyond Abstraction; LLR Partners, Pulsar Informatics
Writer: Sue Spolan

From bars and tone to brick and mortar in a matter of months, PhillyCAM, the city's new public access television station, is moving to permanent headquarters in a former photography studio in Center City. While PhillyCAM, which is short for Philadelphia Community Access Media, took 27 years of activism to establish, it's about to set down roots at 7th and Ranstead, just a block west of Independence Mall.

Back in the 1980s, when the city's cable providers moved in, franchise agreements called for dedicated public access channels. But it took years of grassroots efforts to make the bandwidth a reality. In October 2009, with Gretjen Clausing taking the lead as Executive Director, PhillyCAM began broadcasting on Comcast and Verizon, and in mid 2010 opened up a temporary facility at The Painted Bride in Old City. With a growing roster of 230 member contributors, Clausing says PhillyCAM's programming schedule now runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Premiering this week are two youth produced programs: Girls Talk TV and the 30 minute drama Double Lives.

Membership, open to all area residents, provides programming privileges. Any member can submit a program, says Antoine Haywood, Membership and Outreach Director. In order to use cameras and editing equipment, members become certified through workshops, or by placing out with a qualifying exam.

PhillyCAM facility will boast an express studio for live shots that's visible from the street, a commons, a media lab, editing suites and a 1,000 square foot sound stage for larger productions. The project, designed by Center City's Metcalfe Architecture, is set to begin within the next few weeks, and scheduled for completion in June.

Source: Gretjen Clausing, Antoine Haywood, PhillyCAM
Writer: Sue Spolan

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

You've got to give attorney David Orphanides a lot of credit. He's come up with an alternative to "artisanal," one of the more awkward-sounding terms in the English language. Jettisoning the word, but not the concept, Orphanides uses the more classic "crafted" when describing the four tenets that make up the philosophy of Fairmount's soon-to-open Fare restaurant, which also relies on local, organic and sustainable practices.

Orphanides eats organic and shops sustainably at home, so it makes total sense, he says, that Fare mirrors that lifestyle. "It's second nature for us. We couldn't see doing it any other way." Also on board are Savvas Navrosidis, who owns Fairmount Pizza, and attorney Andy Siegel.

Fare, which opens to the public in "early spring," eschews heavy creams and sauces for "food that's still very satisfying and filling." The projected 85-seat bar and restaurant located at 2028 Fairmount Avenue, across from Eastern State Penitentiary, is fit out with completely green, locally sourced furnishings. The black walnut bar comes from Pennsylvania trees. Wine, beer, and liquor served on that lovely expanse of local wood aims to be "biodynamic and organic, from local vineyards and distilleries," according to Orphanides.

Fare's menu evolved from an original concept of smaller snacks to include dishes for all appetites. Small plates and snacks range in price from $2-$8; salads are $6-$9, and main dishes range from $11-$18. Fare "started out more as a place for people to have a drink and socialize, more of a lounge" for Fairmount locals, but when chef Tim Bellew signed on, the menu expanded. Bellew's previous engagements include Fire in Cherry Hill, Black Eyed Susan in Long Beach Island, and MANNA catering in New York.

Source: David Orphanides, Fare Restaurant
Writer: Sue Spolan

Flying Bytes is a weekly roundup of innovation news nuggets:

TGIVF: Miss Rachel's Lunch Pantry announces The Downtown Lunch Club, a new uber-healthy weekly lunch delivery service for Center City. Choose from three vegan options, pay just $10 via PayPal, order by Thursday, and get delivery to home or office on Friday. Coming soon: The Navy Yard Lunch Club.

Penn Players: The University of Pennsylvania plays a significant role in the growth of Philadelphia and the region, according to an upcoming report. This week's Penn Current newsletter highlights the statewide economic impact of Penn in 2010, Philadelphia's largest private employer, which "translates into $14.1 billion, and that number reflects a 46.5 percent increase since 2005," when the last report was issued.

Back to Basecamp: Basecamp Business has released the Business Calendar Network app for Android. Joining recent mobile app releases for iPhone and iPad, the Android app allows entrepreneurs to search for upcoming networking events by location and type, and lets users know if they can get their grub on.

Nutter for the Arts: Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has long been a proud supporter of the city's art scene, with strong ties to the Mural Arts Program and Philly's music community. This week Nutter received the 2011 Public Leadership in the Arts Award, hosted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Americans for the Arts. Mayor James Brainard of Carmel, Indiana and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also received the award.

Cultural Cash Flow: The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance announced 40 winners of Project Stream seed grants, totaling more than $95,000. Local nonprofit arts groups and performers include Crossroads Music, Delaware County Community College and The Youth Orchestra of Bucks County. Recipients receive up to $3,000 each, and the initiative is funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts' (PCA) Partners in the Arts program, with additional support from PECO.

Writer: Sue Spolan