News:
Position opening: PFP is hiring a part-time Project Coordinator for our new Community Folklife Documentation Workshop (CFDW), a pilot program beginning in the fall of 2009. Envisioned as a series of workshops supporting community members in conducting ethnographic and folklife documentation exploring folk arts and issues of displacement in Philadelphia communities, the CFDW series will culminate in public exhibitions and audio recordings in PFP gallery, in community sites and online. The Project Coordinator will have a major role in getting this exciting new program of the ground. Download job description.
 Recent programs: We completed our first-ever Cambodian and Liberian Culture Camps. 75 students, ages 8 - 18, studied with exceptional local dancers and musicians at FACTS Charter School and at the Bra Buddha Ransi Cambodian Buddhist Temple, learning traditional dance, music and storytelling over the course of spring break. The Camps culminated with community gatherings and presentations by the students.
Coalition: PFP joined the "No Casino in the Heart of the City Coalition," along with allies Asian Americans United and the Folk Arts - Cultural Treasures Charter School, which PFP helped to found. The Coalition opposes the plan to place a Casino in a site threatening the health and welfare of a city neighborhood (blocks from our school and neighboring Chinatown), decries the fast-tracking of a downtown casino, and rejects the promotion of and investments in a predatory industry. For more information and to get involved, visit www.aaunited.org.
 In memorium. We mourn the passing and celebrate the life of two valued friends of PFP. Dr. Archie Green, pioneering folklorist and organizer, passed on March 22. at 91. His work paved the way for PFP and many others. Read more about him. "Yes, indeedy" was the watchword for Harrison Ridley, Jr., who passed on February 19. Jazz historian and long-running radio host, Ridley helped track down sources for music in PFP's Plenty of Good Women Dancers documentary, when we were working to clear copyright, making the way easier with his encyclopedic knowledge. Both were generous, community-minded scholars, and we are grateful for their presence. (Photo: Archie Green with "Mr. Dixie", an 11-foot-tall tin man - the subject of one of his books - at Dixie Sheet Metal Works, Falls Church, Virginia. Photo by David A. Taylor, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress).
PFP's membership drive is ON! Become a member and support local cultural heritage! Help us sustain community-based folk arts in these hard times, and in our 22nd year! We invite (and need) your help: join here.
Publications:
 Works in Progress. The most recent issue of our magazine features an interview with Cuban charanguero musician Felix 'Pupi" Legarreta and a remembrance of the late LaVaughn Robinson. Lois Fernandez shares a story about her fight to gain the same birth certificates for all children. Suzanne Povse shares another story from the shop floor, recounting what it has been like to be working as a woman in the trades. Two essays include excerpts from interviews with klezmer musician Elaine Watts, her family, and a wide range of local and nationally-known musicians: all reflecting on Elaine and the Hoffman family's klezmer tradition. Join PFP to get your own copy (or get a free PDF download).
 Documentary in progress! We're still at work on a documentary about klezmer musician Elaine Hoffman Watts, using footage from last May's special Mother's Day klezmer concert, and drawing on dozens of interviews about the distinctive Ukrainian-Jewish klezmer repertoire of the Hoffman family.(For a preview, watch our 3-minute video postcard "We play klezmer" featuring Elaine and Susan Watts here, on-line at your convenience. Click the green box to the right.)
Broadcasts: *Our video "Thank you, West Africa" featuring the songs and music of Zaye Tete, and directed by Toni Shapiro-Phim and Barry Dornfeld is being broadcast on WYBE-TV(35) this season.
Recent Resources
Browse our videos (to the right)!
Book & DVD/video sale! Give a gift of PFP publications and media - all about Philadelphia community arts. 25% off and 40% off if you are already a member. Download order form here.
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Current programs :
 June 5
6 PM - 8 PM
ANNUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY and EXHIBITION OPENING:
TATREEZ: PALESTINIAN WOMEN'S EMBROIDERY IN PHILADELPHIA.
Making and sharing traditional needlework, stitching patterns belonging to villages that no longer exist, local Palestinian women artfully sustain heritage and community through the beauty of tatreez. Nehad Khader curates a new exhibition about the meanings of this art - the first in a new series of Community Folklife Documentation exhibitions at PFP curated by community members. And the centerpiece of PFP's 22nd birthday celebration. (PFP's Community Folklife Documentation Project is supported by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, through the Heritage Philadelphia Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and with the assistance of the Leeway Foundation). More. . .
June 6
10 AM - 1 PM
OPEN HOUSE
Drop by to see the new exhibition, Tatreez, and celebrate PFP's 22nd birthday at our final Open House of the season.
June 16
6 PM
PREVIEW SCREENING AND DISCUSSION: KULU MELE IN GUINEA
See a new video about Kulu Mele's development of the Mali Sadjo dance, based on their recent trip to Guinea. With panel discussion by Kulu Mele members and PFP staff. At Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. (Fee)
June 30
6 PM
TATREEZ WORKSHOP
Try your hand (or share your stitches) in a workshop with some of the women whose artistry is featured in our current exhibition of Palestinian needlework. Free. Limited spaces. Please rsvp: 215.726.1106
Read more about our spring 2009 events: exhibition and program information, a list of our technical assistance workshops, artist salons and more. Email us to receive your own copy.
Current exhibitions:
Exhibition: Tatreez (see above). Opening June 5, 2009.
 Exhibition: Storied Objects. Taking a stand against injustice, making a huge sacrifice for future generations, coming together with others in celebration and struggle: everyday, people are engaged in epic sagas, building best hopes into satisfying lives. Folk arts are among the means we use to pursue real and varied freedom dreams. Significant experiences are on view this fall, in a small exhibition of telling objects: paintings, sculpture, and musical instruments made by people with important stories to hear. Current issues - from immigration to gentrification to this fall's election debate over what (and who) the American Dream truly includes, and what change truly means - encourage another look at diverse peoples' everyday experiences preserved in these storied objects. We invite you to add your thoughts about the artists' work and experiences, and to share your own reflections. Open first Saturdays 10 -1, T and Th 10 - 6 (Photo: Will Brown)
 Exhibition: If these walls could talk: the William and Miriam Crawford dining room is an installation of the actual dining room collage assembled over 40 years by these local activists: a work of living (and alternative) history on permanent display at PFP. In their Experience series, WHYY is broadcasting a brief piece about Bill and Miriam Crawford's dining room.
Open first Saturdays 10 -1, T and Th 10 - 6 (Photo: Will Brown)
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