neighborhood innovation : 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

Viridity teams with Jefferson on smart grid, big battery

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Thomas Jefferson University takes up a pretty big footprint in Center City, with a 13 acre campus just west of Washington Square. This week, Viridity Energy announced that it's partnering with Jefferson to provide an innovative energy storage program to optimize the University power grid.

On the heels of a smart grid project for SEPTA, Conshohocken-based Viridity approached Jefferson to gauge interest in a two-part program aimed at achieving optimal value from the school's wind power purchase. Audrey Zibelman, President and CEO of Viridity, notes that Jefferson is very forward looking in terms of how to manage energy, citing the university's recent acquisition of one-third of the electricity supply from Iberdrola Renewables' 102 megawatt Locust Ridge II wind power project located in Schuylkill County.

"Hospital demand is pretty flat. It doesn't peak. It's round the clock," explains Zibelman. But wind power is intermittent, and tends to be strongest at night. Sometimes the transmission system between the wind farm and the hospital is unavailable due to congestion. The environmentally-friendly solution is a giant battery to be installed on-site, which will store wind power when it's cheapest and most abundant, coupled with Viridity's dynamic load control optimization system. Viridity's proprietary VPower smart grid platform combines software with hardware to balance system loads, so that Jefferson can get the most cost efficient combination of wind power and traditional electric. When there is a surplus, VPower is set up to sell the energy back to the grid for a profit.

Zibelman says right now the project is in the planning stages. The company is in the market for a 1 to 1.5 megawatt battery, ranging in price from $750,000 to $3 million depending on vendor, chemistry, capacity and peripherals.

"The battery will not always be providing physical reliability," says Zibelman, "but it will always provide economic reliability. It's a revenue source that pays for itself." Jefferson's combination of Viridity's VPower technology coupled with the giant battery will create a micro energy community in the heart of Center City.

Source: Audrey Zibelman, Viridity Energy
Writer: Sue Spolan

CHOP Idol: Seacrest creates multimedia center at Children's Hospital

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Ryan Seacrest! Is awesome! The media mogul has chosen Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to build The Voice, a state of the art multimedia studio. The Voice, a freestanding broadcast center funded by The Ryan Seacrest Foundation, is being built in the main lobby of CHOP, in the Colket Atrium. It will be accessible from the hospital's 34th street entrance and will serve CHOP patients and their visitors and families as a much-needed distraction.

Elana Brewer, CHOP's Director of Child Life, Education and Creative Arts Therapy, explains the setup: "Within the actual physical studio, there is a space designed for a DJ, as well as tabletop space for up to five patients, family members, siblings, celebrity visitors or guests to interact with the DJ."

Off mic, there will be additional seating for children who want to come to the studio but may be less inclined to jump on the mic. Two video cameras will capture the action in the studio, and the entire audio and video feed will be available throughout the internal TV system in the hospital buildings. Due to legal and privacy issues, Brewer says The Voice broadcasts will be strictly in-house, aimed exclusively at patients, families, friends and staff.

The Voice is designed so that passers by in the lobby can peer in through the curved glass partition, and its location in the atrium means that rooms and balconies overlooking the vast open space will have a direct line of sight into the broadcast center.

Brewer explains that tween, teen and young adult patients are the target audience for participation. It's a bit of a forgotten age, because younger children use playrooms, but there's not a lot to keep the older set happily occupied. "It's a great distraction," says Brewer. "The chance to use a state of the art studio will have a normalizing effect, and will give patients a sense of control often lost in the hospital environment." Brewer looks to The Voice as a creative outlet and a great opportunity for socialization, which is especially important for the adolescent population. Kids who are unable to leave their rooms will still be able to participate through on-air trivia quizzes and giveaways.
Seacrest selected CHOP as the second children's hospital in the country to be outfitted with The Voice. The flagship is at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Hospital. The Philadelphia location is scheduled to go live this summer.

Source: Elana Brewer, CHOP
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

The Social Knitwork: Philly's yarn bomber in talks with Mural Arts

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Jessie Hemmons embraces the city, literally. You've probably walked past this new form of public art and wondered who's behind the colorful knit webs that wrap trees, bike racks, and recently, subway seats on the Market-Frankford Line.

Hemmons is a yarn bomber, a growing network that subverts the old fashioned craft of knitting to put a feminist stamp on underground street art. When she's not riding her bike, Hemmons goes by the handle "ishknits" and spends hours working big needles and skeins of acrylic yarn on public transit. Hemmons, who's also a therapist for families facing drug and alcohol addiction, is not the first person to engage in yarn bombing nationally. The practice originated in Austin, when a failing yarn shop's overstock became fodder for public art. Hemmons says she is the only yarn bomber in Philadelphia, with 30 installations to date, including one commissioned by Urban Outfitters for the company's Navy Yard headquarters. She's also selling knits on etsy.

Consider the masculine spray of graffiti, as opposed to the warm womanly embrace of knitwork. "I am feminizing street art," says Hemmons, who is now entering talks with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. "My whole goal is to empower communities. The ideal yarn bomb would be to wrap an abandoned house." Public knitting is passive intervention, and a way for Hemmons to communicate that someone is paying attention to blighted neighborhoods.

Source: Jessie Hemmons, ishknits
Writer: Sue Spolan

FLYING BYTES: Philly Helps Japan, East Fairmoun Park

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 22, 2011

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

Philly Tech Week promises a printer-smashing good time

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 22, 2011

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

FLYING BYTES: Microsoft in Malvern, Art in the Open and the Canal

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 15, 2011

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

Main Line's Milkboy expanding to Center City, hiring 20

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 08, 2011

A suburban boy is moving to town. Milkboy, one of the area's most beloved coffeehouses, is expanding from the Main Line to the Midtown Village section of Philadelphia, hiring a projected 20 new employees. Milkboy began in 1994 as a four-track cassette recorder and one microphone, growing into a recording, communications and promotional powerhouse, with two cafe/live music venues in Ardmore and Bryn Mawr.

Now Milkboy takes the party downtown, opening a multilevel bar and restaurant at 11th and Chestnut in Center City this spring. The venue will have two floors, with a fully stocked bar downstairs, and a stage upstairs. Milkboy co-founder Jamie Lokoff estimates capacity at 150 to 200 people, and of the food, he says, "Just because you're going to see a show in rock club, you won't have to sacrifice what you're eating." Milkboy is in talks with some of the city's best known chefs. "It's a lot more than what we can do in Ardmore," says Lokoff, "and it will be more geared toward a rock club environment."

Construction has been beset by the unexpected. "The owner of the building terms the area 'the hole in the donut,' " says Lokoff, who explains that the leased property, which couldn't possibly be more central, was lacking both a gas line and a telecommunications cable. Passersby to the Ardmore coffeehouse may have seen union picketers lately. Lokoff explains that the building owner, not Milkboy, hired the contractor. While several unions are represented, the contractor chose not to employ workers from the Carpenters' Union. Because of that hiring choice, says Lokoff, representatives are picketing Ardmore with signs reading, "Shame on Milkboy Coffee." Milkboy maintains a sense of humor about the controversy, selling Shame on Milkboy Coffee T-shirts. Lokoff says the Philadelphia location should be open late spring 2011.

Source: Jamie Lokoff, Milkboy
Writer: Sue Spolan

Voila, it's Veolia: Philly's steam loop provider changes name, maintains efficient heat processes

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Philadelphia is a steamy city, and the proof is issuing out of all those vents. This week, Veolia Energy North America announced the completion of the transition that renames Philly's steam loop provider from Trigen to Veolia. The Center City steam loop is a green idea from way back in the late 1800s, when the Edison Electric Light Company (now PECO) realized it could repurpose exhaust steam from its plant at 9th and Sansom Streets to heat the nearby Irving House on Walnut Street. The system grew to a total of 26 miles of underground pipes.

The synergy was such a success that cities around the country adopted the steam loop concept. Currently, 300 Philly buildings utilize Veolia's steam heat. The highest profile building, literally, is the Comcast Center. According to Mike Smedley, Vice President of the Mid-Atlantic Region for Veolia Energy North America, the tower's "utilization of district energy was one factor that contributed to its status as the tallest LEED-certified building in the US."

Why the name change? Smedley says that the Trigen brand name is only known for district energy, while the Veolia name is synonymous with creative environmental solutions. Not only does Veolia supply steam heat, but it's also pretty chill: the company also "built, owns and operates a 7,000-ton chilled water facility for Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital."

Traditionally, says Smedley, the production of heat and power are separate processes that are energy inefficient because a large portion of fuel burned is lost as waste heat. In contrast, Veolia's combined heat and power (CHP) plant recycles waste heat, and converts it into useful thermal energy. By combining the processes using CHP, says Smedley, Veolia can produce thermal and electrical energy using up to 40 percent less fuel than if the two forms of energy were produced separately.

Source: Mike Smedley, Veolia Energy North America
Writer: Sue Spolan

Flying Bytes: Taco Art, Bakin' & Snackin', Canned 'Nam, Flavor Saver

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Flying Bytes is innovation nuggets from throughout Greater Philadelphia, with a focus on food and beverage this week.

WHAT A LOVELY TACO YOU HAVE
It's art. It's tacos. It's coming to a neighborhood near you. Celebrity chef Jose Garces announced this week the launch of the Guapos Tacos truck, which will be hard to miss. It's covered in a mosaic of 45,000 beer bottle caps, designed by Jun Aizaki, who created the interiors of all seven of Garces' restaurants. Follow the truck on twitter @GuaposTacos.

BAKIN' & SNACKIN': A GOOD THING
Soup sales may be down, but Campbell's reports its Baking and Snacking sectors are on the rise. The company just released Second Quarter Results for 2011. While the company's core product, canned soup, decreased four percent, CEO Douglas R. Conant says "Baking and Snacking, our second largest segment, delivered top and bottom line growth in the quarter." A top seller is Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies.

IN OTHER CANNED NEWS
Philadelphia's Crown Holdings is expanding its production of aluminum beverage cans at all three of its manufacturing facilities in Vietnam. The Hanoi plant expansion will allow Crown to crank out 1.5 billion cans; in Ho Chi Minh City, expected output for 2012 is 3.2 billion cans. Crown's global clients include Coca-Cola, Heneken and Kronenbourg.

TAKE IT TO GO
Food flavoring company David Michael announced the upcoming Innovation Roadshow that will take place in Philadelphia on March 30. This year's conference is all about going global with food and beverage products and features Mary Wagner from Starbucks' global R&D division. David Michael & Co. produces over 40,000 flavors, stabilizers and natural colors.

Source: Garces Restaurant Group, Campell's Soup, Crown Holdings, David Michael & Co.
Writer: Sue Spolan

Moving wheels: Mt. Airy electric bike shop expands to larger quarters

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 15, 2011

It all started over a disagreement about who was going to use the car. Mt. Airy resident Meenal Raval and her husband Afshin Kaighobady had proudly downshifted from two cars to one, and that's when the couple purchased their first electric bike to navigate the hilly terrain of the neighborhood. But a two mile ride to work took an hour, reports Meenal, because people kept stopping her along the way to ask about her unique form of conveyance.

"We realized no one was selling electric bikes in Philly," says Meenal, who purchased that first bike out of state. Meenal and Afshin put their life savings into Philly Electric Wheels, or PHEW!, and opened their first store at the corner of Carpenter Lane and Greene Street, right across from Weavers' Way Co-op. The response was even greater than anticipated. Not only was PHEW! selling new bikes, but all those people who had bought bikes elsewhere dusted them off and brought them in for repairs within the first month.

With continued support for the only bike shop, electric or manual, in West Mount Airy, Meenal and Afshin soon grew out of their original space. Today is the grand opening of their expanded shop at 7102 Germantown Avenue, which boasts a larger retail area with both electric and non-electric bikes for sale, more storage, more space for repairs, and increased foot traffic. Meenal says that because the new shop is on two transit lines, bikers can hook their wheels onto a SEPTA bus, drop in for repair, and then ride on home. The new shop also serves an expanded clientele, as Germantown Avenue is the dividing line between East and West Mount Airy.

Source: Meenal Raval, Philly Electric Wheels
Writer: Sue Spolan

Photographer JJ Tiziou explains How Philly Moves

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 08, 2011

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

Drexel and NCC collaborate on mobile app

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 08, 2011

It's a museum at your fingertips. Drexel University's Goodwin College has teamed up with the National Constitution Center for a mobile app that brings a new layer of richness to the center's collections, and virtually brings those collections right out the door. Available at this time for iPhone and iPod users, the basic NCC app is free to download from the iTunes Store and includes news, links to the museum's store and blog, and admission information including hours, tickets and directions.

For a small fee, add interactive multimedia tours of both permanent and traveling exhibitions. That's a revenue stream with long term potential, because shows that stop at the NCC go on the road, and the app remains attached for the life of the exhibit.

Cory Schmitt is director of learning technologies at Goodwin, and he explains that when he started working at Drexel, the mobile tour collaboration with the NCC was somewhat of a back-burner idea. He and Kerry Sautner, who is both an adjunct instructor at Drexel and director of public programs at the NCC, saw iPods as a way to open up a lot of possibilities for engagement and fun.

Since then, Schmitt and team have developed a total of nine iPod tours for the museum. "Three or four are for permanent exhibits, and the rest are for traveling," says Schmitt. In June, the team will launch a tour to go along with a George Washington exhibit coming from Mount Vernon. That show is slated to travel for ten years, and the 99-cent app goes along with it.

Schmitt points out that the app is accessible globally, not just to people visiting the Constitution Center, citing value for "anyone who is interested in US history and democracy," and emphasizing that the NCC offering is living, with news and version updates.

The Constitution Center app, says Schmitt, is the first step in collaborations with local and national museums. "Now that we've completed research and development and have a template, we can go to other institutions and produce their mobile apps as well." Schmitt says his team hopes to develop the NCC app for Android and other mobile platforms.

Source: Cory Schmitt, Goodwin College, Drexel University

Writer: Sue Spolan