Da Vinci Art Alliance (DVAA) was founded in 1931 by sixteen Italian immigrant artists and collectors at a time when immigrants were barred from major artistic, academic, and scientific institutions. DVAA was a creative refuge where members could show their works, hold meetings, engage in social activities, and offer intellectual and cultural exchanges and events. Together, they chose as their namesake the master of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci.

DVAA permanently moved to 704 Catharine St. in South Philadelphia in 1966. Since then, the building has housed artist studios and exhibitions annually.

In 2015, DVAA hired its first full-time Executive Director to improve the Artist Membership program. DVAA’s Artist Membership program now offers several annual exhibition opportunities for artists and critically engaged programs monthly. To build community within Philadelphia, DVAA has created a Fellowship program for underserved artists, designed an annual community art and science festival called Da Vinci Fest, and installed a permanent mural on our building.

DVAA is housed in a rowhome in the Bella Vista area of South Philadelphia. In an essay by Ricki Sablove they speak about our neighborhood as a part of Philadelphia “that sparkles with the history of its people--a history rich with the music of opera and organ grinders, redolent with the wonderful aromas of Italian cooking, and alive with the dialects brought from faraway places.” Read more about our vibrant neighborhood here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://davinciartalliance.org/

Learn more about RestART!

RestART: The Arts are Back!

https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back

Rooted in Arab arts and language, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture offers artistic and educational programming that enriches cross-cultural understanding and celebrates diversity.

“Al-Bustan,” Arabic for “The Garden,” serves youth and adults of all ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, while supporting the pursuit and affirmation of Arab American cultural identity and playing a constructive civic role within broader American society.

Mohannad Ghawanmeh: Executive Director

Mohannad is a scholar, cineaste, educator, and culturist intimately at large. A teacher of communication and media for twenty-five years, Mohannad’s instruction has centered on the cinema, for which he has also written, produced, acted, consulted, programmed, and curated. He is co-founder of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival produced by Mizna. Mohannad curated the first editions of the Arab American National Museum’s film festival and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Italian Film Festival, as well as the series Melnitz Movies at University of California, Los Angeles. Mohannad is well awarded and published, having earned in 2020 his PhD from UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies. His research of the cinema decidedly examines such intersecting fields as governmentality, migration, nativity, religion, theater, music, literature, industrialization, and modernity typically in the mold of cultural history. Born to Palestinian refugees and an immigrant to the United States, Mohannad has also lived in Egypt, Japan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Mohannad thrives on conjoining education and cultural production, connecting people and places, enriching and inspiring.

To contact Mohannad please email: mg@albustanseeds.org

Learn more about RestART!

RestART: The Arts are Back!

https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back

Today on the podcast, Elise Seyfried and Denita Stevens talk about This Is My Brave, the nonprofit bringing a mental health storytelling event to Philadelphia. Here is my interview for THIS IS MY BRAVE.

This Is My Brave was co-founded in Virginia by Jennifer Marshall and Anne Marie Ames (1958-2017), two women passionate about ending the stigma surrounding mental illness, and saving lives through storytelling. In May of 2014, TIMB debuted its first ever live show in Arlington, Virginia at the Spectrum Theatre to a sold-out crowd of nearly 400.

Over the past six years, the nonprofit organization has hosted performances across the United States and in Australia, including Greenville, SC; Valparaiso, IN (Chicagoland); Denver, CO; Iowa City, IA; Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA; Lewiston, ME; Wheeling, WV; Boise, ID; New York, NY; and beyond. TIMB has been featured on the Today Show: Mind Matters with Carson Daly as well as in The Washington Post and O, The Oprah Magazine, Stage-Directions Magazine, and Health as well as many other publications. In 2019, This Is My Brave launched high school and college pilot programs.

This Is My Brave, Inc. (TIMB), the national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the stigma surrounding mental illness through storytelling, comes to Philadelphia hosting auditions May 7, 14, and 15, 2022. The resulting performance will be held at the Ambler Theater on October 9, 2022. Performances will feature area community members who live with mental health challenges or substance use disorders, telling their stories through spoken word, poetry, music, dance, and more. No performing experience is necessary.

Register to Audition: https://calendly.com/thisismybrave-philadelphia (Participants must be age 18+).

Today on the podcast, Our Eric returns as his star continues to rise. With three plays, a book on the way and a weekly newsletter, we’ll play catch up with R. Eric Thomas. Here is my interview with R. Eric Thomas.

We’re living in the “The Ever Present”, we’re “Backing Track”, spending time with “The Folks at Home”, will soon bow to the “Kings of B’More”…, soon, we’ll be “Crying On Television”, all this and more “Previously On…”, is Our Eric, R. Eric Thomas in the virtual studio!!

Keep track of R. Eric Thomas on his website at: https://rericthomas.com