Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, ensembleartsphilly.org
FunTimes Magazine Culture + Entertainment column, week of November 11, 2024
“If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.”
— American writer Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
Let’s see: November is filled to the brim with observances like All Souls Day, Thanksgiving Day, Cliché Day, Scented Candle Day, and National Gingerbread Cookie Day. There’s a day for almost everything. Let’s dive into the month of goodies with these free or low-cost activities highlighting jazz, art, history, food, and books. Please don’t forget: When event-going, take precautions, especially when among groups and while indoors, with the ongoing risk of COVID-19 variants.
Mickalene Thomas. Afro Goddess Looking Forward, 2015. Rhinestones, acrylic, and oil on wood panels. © 2024 Mickalene Thomas
A Colorful Palette Of The Black Experience
Through Thursday, January 25, 2025. Earlier this year, artist Mickalene Thomas told WHYY radio’s Peter Crimmins: “I knew they had some significance and connection because they triggered for me a sense of unity and family and strength and vulnerability and love. A place where anything’s possible.” Thomas was describing her once-loose collection of paintings inspired by images and memories of friends, family, and former romantic partners. Many of her pieces explore beauty and Black femininity, and are now assembled neatly in a collection called “Mickalene Thomas: All About Love,” They are a cohesive array of innovative portraits of Black women including works using a collage effect, textures over patterns and sparkly rhinestones. Experience a selection of her paintings, photography, video, and a “site-specific installation that celebrates Thomas’s distinctive artistic practice, from the late 2000s to the present day.” The exhibit is organized by the Hayward Gallery, London, and The Broad, Los Angeles, through a partnership with the Barnes and Les Abattoirs, Musée–Frac Occitanie Toulouse. Thursdays to Mondays, 11 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST. Adults $30; seniors $28 (tickets good for 2 days); students $5; Barnes’ members, free. 215-278-7000 or https://www.barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/exhibitions/mickalene-thomas.
Confab Finds Solutions For Philadelphia
Thursday & Friday, November 14-15, 2024. The media nonprofit Philadelphia Citizen searched far and wide to find true change-makers and innovators whose ideas could move the needle of progress and problem-solving in Philadelphia. We will call them revolutionaries if you will. The Philadelphia Citizen, whose calling is to engage the next generation of innovators, calls them participants in the Ideas We Should Steal Festival® presented by Comcast NBCUniversal. For the seventh year, this impressive think tank of movers and shakers will convene for an opening reception and the main festival of workshops to inspire the future and potential in the city of firsts. Enjoy workshops by entrepreneurs, scholars, authors, philanthropists, and government leaders covering topics like human rights and housing. One workshop will include a film screening, Punch 9 for Harold Washington, about Chicago’s late, legendary first African-American mayor. The film will be followed by a conversation and live How to Really Run a City podcast recording with director Joe Winston; New Yorker writer, Princeton professor, and MacArthur “genius,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership; and podcast co-hosts former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and Larry Platt, The Philadelphia Citizen’s co-founder. Attend one or both events. Register in advance; Thursday: $15; 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. EST. Opening Night, Fitler Club Ballroom 1 South 24th St., refreshments included, $15 discount on a ticket for the main event by using the code CITIZENFRIEND at checkout; Friday: $50; 9 a.m. EST to 4 p.m. EST, Main Festival at the Comcast Technology Center’s Ralph J. Roberts Forum, 1800 Arch St., includes lunch. thephiladelphiacitizen.org or https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/iwss/.
Charles L. Blockson
Photo Courtesy of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University Libraries
Celebrating Historian Blockson’s Legacy
Through Friday, November 22, 2024. There’s just over a week left to catch the Creative Philadelphia’s Art In City Hall-hosted exhibit: Celebrating the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection’s 40th Anniversary at Temple University. It will be worth the trip to City Hall to experience an insightful journey of African and African-American history organized by Dr. Diane Turner and archivist Leslie Willis-Lowry. The exhibit is culled from The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection known worldwide. It’s a remarkable time capsule of the Black global experience. Blockson, who died last year at age 89, helped to officially secure a designation of the Underground Railroad as a national treasure. He started a local initiative of placing historical markers at sites recognizing African-American milestones; it has emerged as the nation’s largest historical marker program. The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection is one of the nation’s leading research facilities preserving the important but often overlooked history of people of African descent. The exhibit focuses on Blockson’s career as an author, bibliophile, historian, collector, and athlete. On display are some of the treasures housed in the Blockson collection of more than 700,000 items such as books, magazines, awards, photographs by John W. Mosle, and artifacts. It honors the curator’s lifelong mission of collecting, uncovering, and documenting Black history. Free, open weekdays, 10 a.m. EST to 4 p.m. EST. City Hall (2nd-floor hallway, northeast corner), Broad and Market Sts. 215-686-8446 or https://library.temple.edu/libraries/9.
Book Signing With Jamar Nicholas
Saturday, November 16, 2024. Meet best-selling children’s author Jamar Nicholas, a Philadelphia-based graphic artist and educator. Hear all about Ncholas’ Leon Worst Friends Forever (2024), the follow-up to his novel Leon the Extraordinary(Scholastic, 2022). The illustrator’s new novel chronicles superhero Leon’s exploits, but the youth’s focus on heroics comes at the expense of neglecting his friendship with his bestie, Carolos. Nicholas also is a contributor to the new Marvel Super Stories #2 collection. Get a signed copy of his new books. Nicholas’ books, funny and educational, help youngsters who are coming of age learn the life-changing lessons of standing in their power. Free entry, noon to 2 p.m. EST. Multiverse, 8026 Germantown Ave. E-mail: hello@multiversephilly.com, 215-896-1073 or https://www.multiversephilly.com/events.
Django Festival All-Stars
Playing Django
Saturday, November 16, 2024. Who could resist this promotional opening?: “They swing like crazy and will break your heart with a ballad.” That would be the Django Festival All-Stars Legendary Dorado Schmitt and Sons Samson & Amati. The group is coming to Philadelphia. It brings its music inspired by the legendary guitarist-composer Jean “Django” Reinhardt who has influenced guitar greats Carlos Santana, and Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix and Willie Nelson adopted Django’s country swing music. Django is considered to be one of the most gifted guitarists ever. The Django Festival All-Stars have performed in tribute to Django who died in 1953. The band performs the Django-infused Gypsy, or sinti styles, featuring swing, jazz manouche, and hot club jazz, and adds its twist of modern arrangements and compositions. $39 to $69, 7:30 p.m. EST Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts/Perelman Theater, 300 S. Broad St. 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.org.
GOOD GRIEF is about poetry in motion (pictures).
Coping With Grief Through Film & Healing
Saturday, November 16, 2024. The approaching winter holidays unfortunately can bring anxiety and sadness for those experiencing the loss of a loved one or pet. This is why SIFTMedia 215 (that stands for Sisters in Film and Television) will present a GOOD GRIEF Community Event with its partner, @thethreadphilly. Check out The Good Grief Film Project featuring eight engaging short films by SIFTMedia filmmakers developed from various original poems. The screenings will include breaks for reflection through recordings of an improvised musical performance by PARALLEL WAVE, inspired by the films and poets. A question-and-answer session will follow with the poets and filmmakers. The event includes resources, memorial candle-making, socializing, and a conversation about experiencing grief around the holidays with Janice Tosto, host of “Grief Journeys” on @gtownradio. Refreshments in a welcoming environment. Free but pre-registration is required, 2 p.m. EST. PhilaMOCA, 531 N. 12th St. siftmedia215.org or eventbrite.com.
A Timeless Taste Of Black Diaspo-Rican Vegan
Saturday, November 23, 2024. Take one hour and 30 minutes out of your day, and be amazed. Celebrate World Vegan Day, which was November 1st but extends through November, and treat your taste buds. Inspired by “Diasporican, experience the rare treat of learning all about the authentic and nostalgic fusion of Black Diaspo-Rican, or Black-Rican cooking, featuring fire plant-based Afro-Latinx dishes like plant-based creations of zesty Cajun shrimp pasta, coquito leches cakes, planto mango con salami. “Share foods and stories of intersecting identities, living in the diaspora,” and how these foods connect to the ancestors of the past with host Rebeca of Veggie Mijas, a group of people of color raising awareness about healthier food options in underserved communities. Organized by the Culinary Literacy Center, the event will highlight food treasures from the books Black Rican Vegan and Diasporican. Free, but free registration is required, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST. Lillian Marrero Library, 601 West Lehigh Ave. eventbrite.com or https://www.veggiemijas.com.
