music and progressive social change, in the Philadelphia area
Information: email polson@igc.org, or call 215-848-6246. Tickets: app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=folk
Information: email polson@igc.org, or call 215-848-6246. Tickets: app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=folk
2019-2020 Calendar:
Thurs., Feb. 27 People's Choice Open Stage/Open Circle
7:30pm $2-5 (see description below)
Sat., March 14 Music for the New Revolution Showcase Concert
8:00pm $11-40 ANNA Crusis Women's Choir, Karen Smith, Lydia Muñoz, Kora Feder
(see performer details and photos below)
Thurs., March 26 People's Choice Open Stage/Open Circle
7:30pm $2-5 (see description below)
Fri., April 3 Tret Fure
8:00pm $14-40
Thurs., April 23 People's Choice Open Stage/Open Circle
7:30pm $2-5 (see description below)
Fri., May 8 Alastair Moock and Two of a Kind
8:00pm $12-40 (David & Jenny Heitler-Klevans, doing grownup material)
Thurs., May 28 Open Stage/Open Circle
7:30pm $2-5 (see description below)
Sun., June 11** People's Choice Concert!
7:00pm $7-20* (top Open Stage vote-getters)
* For all Folk Factory events, low and no-wage folks can pay as little as half the bottom end of the sliding scale (or whatever they can afford) at the door. Kids under 12 are free, except for family concerts.
** Tentative date - check website in early May to confirm
past events
Open Stage/Open Circle
7:30pm, 4th Thursday of most months (Sept. - Oct., and Jan. - May), $2-5*
Doors open at 6:45pm. Come at least 15 minutes early to sign up for the Open Stage. Feel free to bring food and non-alcoholic beverages with you to eat before showtime. The Open Stage (maximums: 10 minutes/2 songs or pieces) normally lasts from 7:30 to 9:00, followed by a break, and then the Open Circle runs from 9:15-10:30. In the Open Circle, everyone present is invited to sing a song, read a poem, tell a story, request a song, or pass; songs are often participatory. It's a great place to perform for the first time or try out new material!
People's Choice Open Stage/Open Circle (January through April): The Open Stage part of the evening involves People's Choice audience voting; top vote-getters earn a spot in the May/June People's Choice Concert! People's Choice acts get a bonus for multiple performances (different months), but many acts have won a slot just from one appearance. Tell and bring your friends!
7:30pm, 4th Thursday of most months (Sept. - Oct., and Jan. - May), $2-5*
Doors open at 6:45pm. Come at least 15 minutes early to sign up for the Open Stage. Feel free to bring food and non-alcoholic beverages with you to eat before showtime. The Open Stage (maximums: 10 minutes/2 songs or pieces) normally lasts from 7:30 to 9:00, followed by a break, and then the Open Circle runs from 9:15-10:30. In the Open Circle, everyone present is invited to sing a song, read a poem, tell a story, request a song, or pass; songs are often participatory. It's a great place to perform for the first time or try out new material!
People's Choice Open Stage/Open Circle (January through April): The Open Stage part of the evening involves People's Choice audience voting; top vote-getters earn a spot in the May/June People's Choice Concert! People's Choice acts get a bonus for multiple performances (different months), but many acts have won a slot just from one appearance. Tell and bring your friends!
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SATURDAY, March 14, 2020 Music for the New Revolution Showcase Concert! "Music For the New Revolution" is podcast produced by David Heitler-Klevans and Rodney Whittenberg about music and progressive social issues - contemporary political, topical, protest music on a wide variety of subjects and from an eclectic selection of genres. This concert, a showcase of 4 local acts in this spirit, is planned to contribute to one or more future podcasts, and each act will be interviewed before their set. David is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, a composer, and a teacher of music appreciation classes, and performs in Two of a Kind and Acoustic Blender, and Rodney is a music producer and singer/songwriter. Anna Crusis Women's Choir ANNA Crusis Women’s Choir is the longest-running feminist women’s choir in the United States, founded in 1975 by Dr. Catherine Roma. For all those 45 years, diverse individuals have joined together in a song – building community, changing lives, and singing out for justice. Guided by a feminist sensibility to the richness and multiplicity of human experience, and to the power of collective creativity, ANNA Crusis Women's Choir (ANNA) strives for musical excellence to uplift, challenge, and empower its members and its audience with music that inspires and transforms. Currently, ANNA is working to discover what it means to be inclusive to trans-gender and gender non-conforming singers while maintaining its feminist history and identity (www.annacrusis.org). ANNA is a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA), the world's only association committed to the GLBTQ choral movement that comprises 190 choruses and more than 10,000 singers across the US, Mexico, and Canada (www.galachoruses.org). ANNA is also a member of Sister Singers Network, a cooperative web of feminist choruses and ensembles, composers, arrangers, and individual singers working together to support and enrich the women's choral movement (www.sistersingers.net). Karen Smith Karen Smith, Lead Percussionist & Artistic Director for Weez The Peeples Collective & Sistahs Laying Down Hands, playwright, director, poet, and producer, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She was born with the love of rhythmic energy and embraced percussion instruments at an early age. Karen was the lead percussionist for an Artist in Residence program of the Mann Center. She also manages Sistahs Laying Down Hands, all female percussive, poetry, storytelling, dance and drumming, and has written several plays with Childhood Lost Entertainment Group, including one on The Tubmans and an Anti-Bullying play. She is the new recipient of Lee Way Foundation's March 2019 Art & Change Grant as well as the 2019 Project Stream Award from the Philadelphia Council of the Arts, and will release a new production entitled, "Awoke, the Musical". Possible is Possible. Lydia Muñoz Lydia Muñoz is a proud Puerto Rican born in Lancaster PA. She has been involved in creating music and leading music with social justice themes, from the World Council of Churches to Immigration Rallies and Tuesdays with Toomey. She is an Elder in the Eastern Penn Conference and lead pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Kennett Square, PA, which was developed as an intentionally inclusive and diverse congregation from its inception. She has 20 years experience developing ministries of justice among marginalized and multicultural communities, locally, nationally, and as far as South Korea and Sweden. According to Lydia, "Music … needs to be incarnational, in other words we sing what we live and what we work at becoming… I have a passion for following the Spirit’s lead in the creation of sacred moments and spaces for emergent communities.” Kora Feder A self proclaimed "songwriter and concerned citizen," Kora Feder has already gained international recognition and awards for her lyrical craft. Her debut full length record 'In Sevens' spent four months on US Folk Radio Charts, drawing comparisons to Pete Seeger's writing and Iris Dement's voice. NPR recently described Feder's music as carrying "an emotional weight that can stop you in your tracks, even long after the song is finished.” Although originally from Northern California, Kora spent college traveling across Asia and Europe with her guitar and recently relocated to Philadelphia. |
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About the Folk Factory
The Folk Factory, based at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Mount Airy, is a forum for people interested in music of all kinds and progressive social change. Unless otherwise indicated, all events are held at the church, located at 6900 Stenton Ave. (at Gorgas Lane) - see the map at right. Facilitated announcements of progressive events (marches, boycotts, etc.) can be made before the start of each event. All Folk Factory events are wheelchair accessible. The Folk Factory is a kindred spirit of the People's Music Network for Songs of Freedom and Struggle, co-founded by Charlie King and Pete Seeger. Regular concerts are normally on the first or second weekend of most months during the academic year, and an Open Stage/Open Circle is held on the fourth Thursday of most months. To volunteer or for more information, call (215) 848-6246.
If you have snail mail and/or email address changes, deletions, or additions, you can call us at 215-848-6246 or email us at polson@igc.org. You can send any financial contributions (we suggest $5/yr or $15 for 5 yrs to help cover our copying and postage costs for snail mail, and other donations are gratefully appreciated!) to The Folk Factory, 6900 Stenton Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19150. * For all Folk Factory events, low and no-wage folks can pay as little as half the bottom end of the sliding scale (or whatever they can afford) at the door. Kids under 12 are free except for family concerts. |
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More information about the Folk Factory: polson@igc.org , or call 215-848-6246