Fleisher: ARTspiration

A Free Community Arts Festival for the Whole Family

10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Saturday, 16 June 2007

The nation’s oldest tuition-free art school, the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, presents ARTspiration! — a Community Arts Festival funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The day-long event will offer an exuberant round of art, music, and dance activities to invite youth and their families to join the Fleisher community for a day of art-making.

This event is free and open to the public.

ARTspiration! will offer a variety of cultural and art-making opportunities geared towards local youth and their families. Free hands-on art workshops including printmaking, painting, drawing, and ceramics/mosaics will be offered on a rotating basis throughout the day. There will also be performances by Kulu Mele, a traditional West African dance troupe; Roko Kawai, a modern dance group inspired by Japanese classical dance; and Pasion y Arte, a flamenco dance group.

Events will begin mid-morning and run through the late afternoon, allowing participants to sample a variety of art workshops that will be offered on a rotating basis throughout the day in addition to performances by three multicultural dance groups. As a complement to the indoor art workshops and dance performances, ARTspiration! will include arts and crafts booths set up outside. All workshops, performances, and activities are free of charge; refreshments offered by local vendors will be available for purchase on-site throughout the day. With several different activities available at the same time, and repeated over the course of the day, participants may choose to spend the whole day at Fleisher, or to stop by for a specific workshop or performance.

ARTspiration! is funded through The National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America program. Through Challenge America, the NEA awards $10,000 grants to organizations for a one-time event that will broaden access to the arts. This year, Fleisher is one of 136 organizations to receive funding nationally, and one of two organizations in Philadelphia.

Schedule of ARTspiration! events:

ALL DAY:
Free outdoor arts and crafts booths featuring mural painting, printmaking, face painting, fruit-sculpture, button-making, t-shirt painting, and beading.

11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.:
Philadelphia artists lead in-depth hour-long workshops for youth and parents in painting, printmaking, and ceramics.

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.:
Performances by Fleisher's Cambodian Classical Dance class, Kulu Mele, Roko Kawai, and Pasion y Arte.

To make reservations for a specific art workshop or dance performance, or for additional information on ARTspiration!, call 215.922.3456 ext 323.

CBS3 and The CW Philly 57 are Fleisher's media partners for ARTspiration!

Image: Pasion y Arte (photograph by Cylla v. Tiedemann)