Through May 22, 2025
WXPN 24-Hour Song Challenge
Songwriters: Do you have a song in your heart, or at least in your notebook ready for the world to hear? WXPN public radio station (88.5 FM in the Philadelphia area) wants to know. Try your chops at the WXPN 24-Hour Song Challenge. Create an original song in one day. Individuals, groups of songwriters, or bands are invited to write, record, and submit a song via YouTube based on a creative prompt announced at noon on Saturday, May 31st. Winners get cash, a music gift card, free studio time, a WXPN membership, and a chance to perform the song live at the XPoNential Music Festival 2025 in September in Camden, NJ. Free to enter. The deadline to register is by midnight on Thursday, May 22nd. https://songchallenge.xpn.org/
Through Monday June 16, 2025
Made and Remade – the Art of the Philadelphia Dumpster Divers
It takes a certain vision to see art in the trash. But 15 – let’s call them art-cyclers — have that gift of grab; they grab it before the sanitation department shows up. And those 15 art finders are being rewarded and recognized for their craftiness in the exhibition Made and Remade – the Art of the Philadelphia Dumpster Divers. It’s called a “celebration of imagination by a unique artist collective from the Philadelphia region,” who turn trash into treasures of art. They are the warriors of the unwanted, the reclaimed, and the repurposed. Sustainable art is their jam. Some of the show’s participants are part of a tight community of found-object artists known as the Philadelphia Dumpster Divers, who even have meetings to revel in their finds. City Hall Art Manager Tu Huynh thought it would be a keen idea to showcase their thrifty passion at City Hall, one of the city’s most famous public buildings. Check out his idea. The free public exhibit, 10 a.m. EST to 4 p.m. EST. Creative Philadelphia Art Gallery (Rm. 116), Broad Street and John F. Kennedy Blvd. 215- 686-8446 or https://www.creativephl.org or https://dumpsterdivers.org/
May 1st-18th, 2025
The Return of Benjamin Lay
The theatrical production of The Return of Benjamin Lay has been described as a “hallucinatory exploration” of one of the first revolutionary abolitionists. Benjamin Lay, a sailor by trade, was a disrupter and one of the British Empire’s first revolutionary freedom fighters. At four feet, he stood tall in the face of oppression. As a man on a mission, he returned from the grave almost 300 years after his death. He tried to re-enter the Quaker community which cancelled him for his abolitionist ideas. Based on a novel, the award-winning London production is created by playwright Naomi Wallace and historian Marcus Rediker and directed by Ron Daniels. Led by Mark Povinelli’s portrayal, the original London-based award-winning play is irrepressible just like its main character. Individual tickets: $50; seniors: $45; $30 for those 18 and under; $30 for active military. Show times vary. The Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave. 215-987-4450 or boxoffice@quintessencetheatre.org, quintessencetheatre.org/thereturnofbenjaminlay
The Pop Up Garden at Manayunk
Escape into a lush urban oasis of plants and flowers, games, tacos, empanadas, and other foods, and frozen beverages called the Manayunk Mule and the Gritty Margarita at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s spring Pop Up Gardens in Manayunk and on South Street. Immerse yourself in the horticultural crafts workshops covering garden embroidery, and pressed and moss-terrarium making. Enjoy the calm of community gardens filled with upcycled plants and greenery that were displayed in exhibits at the Philadelphia Flower Show last year. Take part in free monthly Plant Swap events. At the plant swaps, visitors to the South Street Garden can get free new plants courtesy of Solo Real Estate, of Center City Philadelphia. Entry and most activities are free. The Pop Up Garden at Manayunk, 106 Jamestown Ave. (near Main Street) & The Pop Up Garden at South Street, 1438 South St.,both are Mondays to Wednesdays: 5 p.m. EST to 10 p.m. EST; Thursdays: 5 p.m. EST to 11 p.m. EST; Fridays & Saturdays, noon to midnight, and Sundays, noon to 9 p.m. EST. 215-988-8800 or https://phsonline.org/popup
May 15th, 2025
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass & Other Delights
Herb Alpert’s music has stood the true test of time as a National Medal of Arts-awarded trumpeter, composer, and record label executive. At age 90, he still brings the brass. Alpert and his Tijuana Brass are in Philly for a one-night stand — Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass & Other Delights. From Alpert and his group’s dominance of the 1967 GRAMMY® Awards to now, they have been part of a timeless hit-making machine. You could fill up an entire jukebox with his smash songs: Taste of Honey, “The Lonely Bull,” “Spanish Flea,” “Mexican Shuffle,” “Tijuana Taxi,” “Zorba the Green” — all American pop-jazz music anthems. His concert will hit many high notes on the stage and the screen through a giant video screen nostalgically showing photos, videos, art (Alpert is an accomplished artist), and memorabilia from Alpert’s long music career. Alpert even will take questions from the audience, sharing his memories in music. Alpert has earned five number-one hits, nine GRAMMY® Awards, 15 Gold albums, 14 Platinum albums, and sold more than 72 million records worldwide. He is the only artist who has had number-one hits for both an instrumental (“Rise”) and a vocal record (“This Guy’s In Love With You“) on the American music charts. He co-founded an independent record label in 1962, jumpstarting the careers of Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, The Carpenters, and Burt Bacharach. Individual tickets: $65 to $119; 7:30 p.m., Miller Theater, 250 S. Broad St. 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.com.
Friday May 16, 2025 12pm-1pm EST
5 to 9: Why We Do The Side Hustle
You may be familiar with the rigors of the 9 to 5 grind. But what about the 5 to 9 side hustle? We mean those of you who burn the midnight oil, moonlighting in extra jobs? Take a pause in your busy schedule and spend lunch with FunTimes. Check out our upcoming enlightening virtual event “5 to 9: Why We Do The Side Hustle.” Take a deep dive into what drives us to lead a life and career of multiple jobs? Is it for profit, for passion? Local expert side hustlers Tiffany Spraggins, Theresa Spencer and event host Lavonne Nichols will weigh in with their hard-earned expertise and experience about the side-hustle playbook. Panelists Spraggins is the Director of Power Up Your Business Program at Community College of Philadelphia; Spencer is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and host Nichols is a certified life coach, a multi-media professional, singer, author, and founder of Say Something Good LLC, which supports women’s healing journeys. So, if you’re gigging it, we’re digging it. Free, noon to 1 p.m. EST. Join FunTimes on Instagram Live. Email: info@funtimesmagazine.com, funtimesmagazine.com.
May 24, 2025
Freedom Center’s International Freedom Conductor Awards
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s International Freedom Conductor Awards, presented by Procter & Gamble.
Enjoy an evening of live entertainment, stirring speeches, and a powerful call to action as the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center honors four modern-day freedom heroes with its highest honor – the International Freedom Conductor Award.
This year, the Freedom Center will honor:
- Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth
- Toni Morrison, Pulitzer Prize- and Nobel Prize-winning author of The Bluest Eye and Beloved
- Lonnie G. Bunch III, first African American Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
- Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling-author of The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
In the spirit of legendary figures Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and hundreds more unnamed heroes of the 19th century, the International Freedom Conductor Awards recognizes those individuals lighting a path through the wilderness toward a brighter, more equitable future.
Location: Proctor & Gamble Hall, 650 Walnut St, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
June 1, 2025, 3pm
Sonia Sanchez: This Is Not a Small Voice
Celebrate one of the most important writers and scholars of the Black Arts Movement, Sonia Sanchez. Throughout a distinguished career of 70+ years, her poetry has rocked the spoken-word scene and our nation. Join us as we give well-deserved flowers to this revolutionary voice of activism, Black identity and social justice. Sanchez herself will take the stage, along with special guests Mayor Ras. J Baraka, Mahagony L. Browne, Saul Williams and the Christian McBride Trio.
Location: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St, Newark, NJ 07102
Friday July 4-Sunday July 6
International African Arts Festival
Wednesday, August 13 7:30pm
Gregory Porter
His generation’s most soulful jazz artist, two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer-songwriter Gregory Porter takes the stage with his bone-deep baritone voice, warm sound, and stirring mix of jazz, soul, blues, and gospel music.
One of eight siblings raised by a minister mother in a poor part of Bakersfield, California, young Gregory found his voice both by singing in church and by studying her Nat King Cole records at home. Though Cole’s talent, wisdom, and poise made him something of a surrogate father to a musically gifted boy who lived in his own head, it was a football scholarship that eventually carried Porter from California’s Central Valley to San Diego State University. An injury derailed his athletic career, but while singing in jazz clubs in San Diego, he found a mentor in producer Kamau Kenyatta, who brought him into a Hubert Laws session and has worked with Porter ever since (in fact, he co-produced All Rise‘s L.A. sessions).
Location: Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348