Today's news has lots of newsy bits, about Mayor Cherelle Parker, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Print Center, the John Coltrane House, (re)Focus at Tyler, and a great read - Logan Cryer's interview with Arthur Ross Gallery, chronicling Cryer's journey as a curator (Logan is an Artblog contributor, too!). Enjoy the News! Then run outside and soak up some Vitamin D!
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GOOD READS
Logan Cryer, photo courtesy of Arthur Ross Gallery
Interview with Logan Cryer at Arthur Ross Gallery blog
Logan Cryer talks about their curatorial journey. Logan is the Program Manager for the exhibit, Barbara Earl Thomas: The Illuminated Body, currently at Arthur Ross Gallery. Read the interview here. Logan is an Artblog contributor.
NEWS
30 Philly-area Black Creatives Awarded Grants by Black Music City Project
Congratulations, All! We noted several artist Friends of Artblog are among the winners: Duwenavue Johnson (Duwenavue) and Kimberly Camp!
From the Black Music City Project
The grants– from $1,500-$5,000 – fund the creation of new music and art that honors Philadelphia’s Black music heritage. Each of the 2024 Black Music City grant recipients is also receiving a free, one-year membership to REC Philly (a $1,000 value). The 30 new creations – selected from 717 applications – will be showcased in June during African American Music Appreciation Month. See all the grantees here.
Black Music City has awarded a total of $397,500 in artistic grants to 129 recipients since it was founded in 2020. Its three founding partners – Philadelphia public radio music stations WXPN-FM and WRTI-FM, and REC Philly, a place for creators – administer the project and promote the grant recipients and their new work to the broader Philadelphia arts community. Lead support for Black Music City 2024 is being provided by the William Penn Foundation.
More information about Black Music City is available at www.blackmusiccity.com. Follow and share using #blackmusiccity.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker to Speak at Moore College of Art & Design 2024 Commencement
The first female Mayor of Philadelphia will receive an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree at the landmark 175th commencement for the nation’s first and only historically all-women’s undergraduate college for art and design.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker will also be the keynote speaker for its historic 175th Commencement. The ceremony honoring Moore’s Class of 2024 is set for Saturday, May 11, 2024, at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center. More information here.
The Print Center 98th annual finalists and semi-finalists
The list includes friends of Artblog, Agathe Bouton (finalist) and Ava Blitz (semi-finalist) Congrats to all! See the full list of finalists and semi-finalists here.
John Coltrane House gets crucial funding to help save it
“Could there finally be salvation for Philadelphia’s John Coltrane House in Strawberry Mansion?
For years, community activists and jazz lovers have been talking about restoring the house that the legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane bought in 1952, and turning it into a museum. The property is now vacant, with crumbling front steps, holes in the exterior walls, and an interior in need of extensive repairs.
There has been little money to renovate Coltrane’s house, at 1511 N. 33rd St., across from Fairmount Park, and fires and demolitions of nearby houses have threatened the entire block.
This week, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced that they have teamed up to pledge $5.2 million to a new initiative aimed at preserving homes important to Black history.
They also announced that Coltrane’s Philadelphia house, a National Historic Landmark, will be the first recipient of the new Descendants and Family Stewardship Initiative. However, there was no immediate word on how much of that $5.2 million is going to the Coltrane House.”
NOTABLE EVENTS
Poster image for the panel discussion, “(im)positions – Women Portraying Women’s Bodies” organized by Tyler School of Art and Architecture for the (re)FOCUS festival in Philadelphia. Image courtesy of Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Tyler (re)FOCUS Panel: (im)positions – Women Portraying Women’s Bodies
Friday, March 15
Reception: 6—6:30 p.m. at Temple Contemporary
Panel Discussion: 6:30—8 p.m. in First Floor Auditorium,
Science Education and Research Center (SERC)
1925 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Tyler School of Art and Architecture hosts an alumni panel discussion, (im)positions – Women Portraying Women’s Bodies, as part of the citywide festival (re)FOCUS 2024. The panel features a conversation among visual artists Erin M. Riley (MFA ’09), Autumn Wallace (BFA ’18), and Chelsey Luster (BFA ’19), moderated by art historian and Tyler Professor Emerita Terry Dolan, PhD. More information https://tyler.temple.edu/events/refocus-panel-impositions-women-portraying-women%E2%80%99s-bodies
Public Art, How to Start: Turning Passion into Profession, A Professional Development Workshop Series
Wednesday, March 27 5:30 – 7:00pm
Zoom Webinar – Register here
The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) will host the next workshop in our virtual Public Art professional development series on March 27, 2024 called “Public Art, How to Start: Turning Passion into Profession.” This workshop will feature a conversation with OACCE’s Public Art Director Marguerite Anglin and Alvin Pettit, the winning artist selected to design Philadelphia’s permanent Harriet Tubman statue. Through images and examples of specific public art commissions, Alvin Pettit will share how he turned his passion for public art into a thriving career, including the defining moments in his journey as a public artist, the experiences, skills, and connections that propelled his career forward, and the next frontiers of his practice as a public artist. This workshop will include a Q & A session with participants and tips for artists looking to turn their interest in public art into a viable profession. This workshop will be conducted via Zoom webinar and is intended to benefit artists new to public art as well as emerging and established public artists.
OPPORTUNITY
Open Call for Vox Populi 2024 Juried Exhibition – Deadline April 14, 2024
Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke formulated three adages that are known as Clarke’s three laws, of which the third is best known and most widely cited: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Vox Populi calls for artwork that uses or misuses technology, explores arcane realms, or conjures the fantastic. Show us work that taps into the murky depths of the esoteric, pushes the aesthetic boundaries of tech, or evokes an uncanny blend of both. Application Deadline: Friday, April 14th APPLY HERE
