MUSIC . Music Picks
Daniel Levin Trio
by Shaun Brady

jazz

It may sound like a limited palette — strings, strings and percussion — but the music on cellist Daniel Levin’s Fuhuffah (Clean Feed) is remarkably varied, juggling sounds, textures and approaches that don’t allow for the suggestion of monotony. That’s partly due to the talent on hand: Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and Detroit-born drummer Gerald Cleaver are well-entrenched in the European and Downtown improv scenes. (Chicago drummer Frank Rosaly steps in for Cleaver on this gig, but if anything that will make things even more comfortable given the constant musical exhanges between Scandinavia and the Windy City.) But beyond enlisting the right collaborators, Levin has a staggeringly inventive voice, quick-witted and visceral, sweetly melodic and savagely atonal.
Thu., Dec. 17, 8 p.m., free, Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., arsnovaworkshop.com.

Meeting of the Muses
The birth of West Philly’s decade-old arts house
By Grace Ambrose

These all have one thing in common — they took place at the Rotunda, a community arts space at 4014 Walnut St., tucked behind the 40th St. corridor. Originally a Christian Scientist church, this large white building stands apart from the storefronts that surround it both inside and out. A large, domed sanctuary gives the space its name, though the rest of the building is more modest — a stage and carpeted room reminiscent of a high school auditorium is where most of the action takes place.

The Rotunda is committed to hosting all-ages, drug/alcohol-free, inexpensive events over 300 nights a year, bringing an incredibly diverse collection of artists to West Philadelphia ranging from hip hop performers to jazz quartets, modern dancers to Tuvan throat singers. Many of these artists can’t be seen anywhere else in the city, but thanks to the work of a few Penn students, the Rotunda offers a space for them to be seen and heard, as well as, and perhaps more importantly, a way for them to build community.

Andrew Zitcer was introduced to the idea of the Rotunda in the fall of 1998 in a seminar taught by Dr. Ira Harkavy. In the seminar he was presented with a paper written by Harkavy’s previous students outlining their attempts to open a branch of an established Center City jazz club at 40th and Locust. Having spent the previous summer working for a record label and music festival in New York, Zitcer was interested in the work his classmates were doing, but he had a few suggestions on how to change the plan.

Gina Renzi, current executive director of the Rotunda, recalls that Zitcer thought a jazz club would be “inauthentic.” However, Zitcer agreed that a performing arts space near campus, albeit one with a slightly different focus, would be a critical addition to Penn.

read more here

Ringing in the Rotunda’s 10th birthday
by Lauren Lubetsky

From a live silk screening to a rap about a “master penis,” the Rotunda celebrated its 10th birthday with extravagant performances and art exhibitions from members of the West Philadelphia community.

On Saturday, the Rotunda hosted a gala to recognize its 10 years on 4014 Walnut St. The organization, founded in 1999 by Penn undergraduates, is a community-based center that allows local artists and performers to showcase their work. According to the Rotunda’s website, the center hosts over 300 events annually, and operates on the “belief that art is a catalyst for social change.”

Saturday’s birthday gala brought in an eclectic array of local performers, including black-light theatre dance troupe ArcheDream for Humankind, Brazilian folk group Old Goats, rock band The Notekillers and a variety of spoken-word poets. In addition to the performances, there was a silent art auction of pieces by local artists, a raffle and a buffet of samosas and Allegro pizza.

Among the gala’s performers was Djo Fortunato, a local artist who has performed at the Rotunda on many occasions. Fortunato commented on the uniqueness of the Rotunda, noticing the rare way it fosters an “interaction between a university and the community in which it lives.”

Over the past 10 years, the Rotunda has proved a valuable asset in promoting greater community cohesion. Khenti, a West Philadelphian, commended the Rotunda for “bringing the community together through the power of music and art” and letting people know that “it’s all about the little guy, the local guy - the musicians and artists who are just starting out.”

In the past, the Rotunda has served as a launching pad for several local artists and musicians.

Gina Renzi, executive director of the Rotunda, was integral in organizing the night’s events, and commented that “the events we put on are really motivated by the people who live in the neighborhood.” Part-time assistant Jason Neugent shared his fervor for the organization, which has exposed him to “people giving a part of their heart” on stage to the community.

The evening culminated with birthday cake and the singing of “Happy Birthday” to the Rotunda.

Rashida Holmes, a volunteer and former board member at the Rotunda, expressed excitement about the opportunity to “celebrate the Rotunda, which has been going strong for 10 years” and hopes to continue this cultural hub “for at least 10 more.”

Read the article here to view a Rotunda time line as well as a slideshow from September 26.

Down Dome
The Rotunda, West Philly’s iconic multiuse venue, turns 10.

by Lauren F. Friedman

The Rotunda — once a Christian Science church and now an ever-evolving venue — is a hulking, domed building that sits in gritty opposition to the gleaming sterility of The Bridge movie theater next door and the glass-and-steel Fresh Grocer across the street. Throughout its history, the venue has had brushes with glitz and glamour — John Legend played there when he was a Penn student, MTV.com and Vibe magazine brought national exposure — but it’s always stayed true to its low-key community roots. This weekend, it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary with a DJ’d silent auction on Friday, a drum jam on Saturday, a birthday gala on Saturday night, a film screening on Sunday and more. The Rotunda’s tireless director, Gina Renzi, began as a volunteer there in 2000 and even met and dated her fiancé under that iconic convex roof.

City Paper: How and why did the Rotunda start?

Gina Renzi: It was begun by Penn undergrads in an urban studies seminar. They were talking about ways to connect students with non-students in West Philly. You [had] all these diverse communities sharing these areas, using 40th Street as their main street, but not connecting in meaningful ways. Their idea was really arts for social change.

CP: How is the Rotunda different now than it was in those early days?

GR: The foundation is the same, but we’ve grown so much. They used to produce one event a week [with] not much activity in the summer. Now we have at least 300 events a year, and at least 200 different organizations and artists who have come our way. We’ve created this network of artist and activists.

CP: How do you describe the Rotunda to people who don’t know what it is?

GR: We don’t believe in just piping in events, having you come in and sit down and leave. We have a revolving door at the Rotunda where you can be an audience member one week, and then come back and be a presenter.

Also, even though we’re known citywide at this point, our heart is still in West Philly. More than anyone else, we reach out to West Philly — whether it’s students or residents or schools — and that was part of the original intent.

read more here

Rotunda to celebrate ten-year Anniversary

By Nicole Contosta | UC Review Staff | 23.SEP.09

After all, what began as a project in an Urban Studies seminar at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998, now hosts over 300 events a year.

“They were looking for ways for students and non-students to interact in a meaningful way,” explained the Rotunda’s Director, Gina Renzi of its genesis. “The students were viewing it from an academic stand point,” explained, Renzi adding, “none of them had any experience in event planning.”

So in the spirit of faithful academics, those same students then referred to “a paper written from a class the previous year about how opening a Jazz club could create community.” While determining that a Jazz club wasn’t necessarily the best fit-as a genre, Jazz represents a more particular sense of culture and history - and the students wanted a broader venue for mixing local arts, said Renzi. From that the Foundation Community Arts Initiative was formed, hosting its first show in the fall of 1999, which with its slew of student volunteers was led by undergraduate student, Andrew Zitcer.

Owned originally by First Church of Christ Science, Penn purchased the building in 1996, for the purpose community outreach, Renzi explained, adding that Penn’s support of the Rotunda is what has allowed it to flourish.

“Most of our shows are either free or for a very small charge.” But at the same time, continued Renzi, because Penn doesn’t charge rent and pays for the building’s maintenance as well other forms of financial support, “we are able to pay our performers without charging patrons too much.”

While the Rotunda’s scene has evolved over the past ten years, the last three, the busiest, it holds fast to its original concept. As it did then, the Rotunda still relies heavily on volunteer work to function, said Renzi, explaining that she’s in fact its only full-time employee.

“They help set up for events, table, distribute festival fliers for us. Our advisory board is made up of 14 members who are particularly active.”

To Renzi, this level of community participation proves vital since, “the focus of the Rotunda is on the community and on arts initiatives.”

“It’s not about money and it’s not about prestige,” Renzi exclaimed. “Someone can be an audience member, come up and say they would like to perform a show - and then they do.”

The celebration will kick-off Friday from 7:00-9:00 p.m. with a music and art schmooze with $5-$7 sliding scale cover (though larger donation are accepted-for all three nights.) The evening’s festivities will include DJing and live visuals by VJ Yakov, Dime Universal Feat, Divine Essence with Merkaba E, a Hip Hop Poeticz feat, as well as the opening of the Silent Auction with visual art from 20 artists. Desserts and other treats included.

Festivities will resume on Saturday with the Al Bustan drum jam from 4:00-5:00 p.m., $3-$7. The Rotunda encourages enthusiasts to bring their own drums to jam with top percussionists while learning about Al Bustan’s Seeds of Culture’s Arab arts programs. The silent auction will continue.

At 7:00 p.m. that night the Rotunda’s Birthday Gala will be in full force, $10. Several bands will perform including: MC Ramshackle, Old Goats, Phyllis Chapell, Plumdragoness & the Elements, Lillie Ruth Bussey, Drake Archedream for Humankind, Ebony Malaika Collier, Paul S.Frosty Jackson, Miss Wise, St. Skribbly LaCroix Nassunni Na’imah Abbul-Karim, Kyle Taino Leonardo, Jorge La Llave, Adam Meora, Ale Driver, Traycee Lynn, Wes Gil, Stinking Lizaveta, The Notekillers. The silent auction will continue along with live screen-printing and a raffle as well as singing happy birthday to the Rotunda - complete with cake and candles.

The Party will conclude on Sunday’s short films with a Philly slant from 5:00-9:00 p.m., $5-$7. Brendan Cooney of the West Philadelphia Orchestra will play a live piano musical score to the silent movies of Buster Keaton’s “One Week,” and Harold Lloyd’s “Never Weaken.” The silent auction will conclude at 9:00 p.m.

For more information visit TheRotunda.org.

by Jeffrey Barg

For the first few months, the question was always: Will anybody show up? While the organizers—mostly Penn students and their friends—milled about the Rotunda’s dark back room, just two or three attendees sitting on the carpet in the middle of the floor could make the space seem bigger and emptier than if no one were in it. Inevitably, a few more would trickle in and the artists would eventually take the stage (or the floor or the balcony or wherever the muse struck them), but early on, those dark couple of hours were always a question.

The Rotunda Birthday Celebration and Fundraisers: Fri., Sept. 25-Sun., Sept. 27. $3-$10. Rotunda,4014 Walnut St. 215.573.3234.therotunda.org

Now, a decade later, the Rotunda has played host to more than 2,000 events and a quarter of a million people. When attendees pack it in for this weekend’s 10th birthday bash, there’s more guarantee of a crowd, and fewer people will need to ask where the entrance is (on the side in the back, not through the row of arched double doors in front). But minus the apprehension, the vibe they walk into will be much the same.

“What’s amazing about it is how little has changed,” says Andrew Zitcer, who launched the project out of an undergraduate Penn class in the fall of ’98. Lights went up on the first show a year later. “We set up an architecture to empower community artists and didn’t set up many filters—and that hasn’t changed.”

Zitcer, working with like-minded Penn students at the time, began what was then the Foundation Community Arts Initiative with the goal of creating a space where university students and West Philly residents could come together through the arts—a fairly lofty ideal coming as it did at the end of the ’90s, a decade marked by hostile town-gown relations for Penn.

“We always started from the premise that it would be a community gathering place for the promotion of arts and culture,” says Zitcer, now 31. “The values and the work were key, as was the sense of access and celebration. That was a really powerful thing for us to create on 40th Street when 40th Street was just being reimagined.”

The area around 40th and Walnut, now one of the city’s major retail and entertainment corridors, looked very different at the time. There was no Bridge Cinema, no Distrito, no Metropolitan Bakery, no Marathon Grill, no Fresh Grocer. What was there was the majestic, empty old building that was formerly the First Church of Christ Scientist.

“There’s a lot of energy around here now,” says Gina Renzi, 31, the Rotunda’s director. “I don’t want to sound conceited for the Rotunda, but I really think we’re part of it because we bring something different every day, which means we’re bringing different people to the area.”

read more here

Alberto Gonzales, the Concert Opera (No, We’re Not Kidding)

By Ashby Jones

Anyone out there, by chance, looking for things to do in Philadelphia this weekend? The Phillies are out of town, but you could go see Alice in Chains at the Theater of Living Arts on Saturday, check out the Star Trek exhibit at the Franklin Museum, or get all gaga over Dada at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Duchamp exhibit.

But if law and politics is your bag (and we know that you know that it is), you might be intrigued enough to take a flyer on The Gonzales Cantata, a concert opera about Alberto Gonzales’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

Here’s the deal: The Gonzales Cantata, playing at this year’s Philadelphia Fringe Festival, is a 40-minute choral work based on the hearings that punctuated the U.S. attorney-dismissal scandal back in 2007. (Actually, every word sung is from the transcript of the hearings.) Click here for WSJ reporter Evan Perez’s story on the hearings, which links to a whole trove of other goodies. (Scroll to the bottom of the post to watch a video clip of the Cantata. Other clips can be found through the show’s very cleverly designed Web site.)

Even after looking over the Cantata’s Web site, we still had questions. Who did this? Why the Gonzales hearings? And for the love of Giuseppe Verdi, why an opera?

So we called up the name on the Web site, and a woman named Melissa Dunphy answered. Not only, it turns out, does Dunphy, 29, handle press inquiries but she thought up and wrote the Gonzales Cantata while an undergraduate at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. We took it from there.

Hi Melissa, we hear a bit of an accent there. Are you British?

Hi. No, I’m actually Australian. I moved to the U.S. six years ago and got very interested in U.S. politics. Part of it was the culture shock of coming from a country that mostly sits left of the spectrum from where the U.S. sits.

And something about the Gonzales hearings drew you in?

In 2007, I heard the audio of the hearings and just thought they were electrifying. The part that initially grabbed me was when I heard Arlen Specter basically yells at Gonzales, asking him ‘Did you prepare for these press conferences?’ I heard that on the radio and thought it was so dramatic and unlike anything I’d ever heard. I came here in 2003, and until the Gonzales hearings, I really hadn’t heard a Republican attack another Republican. This was the first time I’d heard that, and my first instinct was to dramatize it.

Really? Why?

Part of my impetus was that as much as I disagreed with some of the well-publicized mistakes Gonzales made, I really started to feel sorry for the guy, listening to him struggle his way through the questioning. So I wrote the piece as an exploration of someone who’s having a hard time arguing his way out of a situation. I think had Dick Cheney or Don Rumsfeld been put in the same situation, they could have acquitted themselves much better. But Gonzales, it appeared to me, didn’t have wit or the foresight about him to wriggle his way out of it.

Now, you’ve played with gender in your casting of the show. The men are played by women and vice versa. How come?

Frankly, it sort of annoyed me that only one member of the Senate Judiciary Committee - Dianne Feinstein - is female, and thought that casting the men as women would draw attention to that.

But another big part of it, to be honest, is that there are more female opera singers than male opera singers. So Feinstein is played by a male tenor. Gonzales, Specter and [Patrick] Leahy are all sopranos. Orrin Hatch is an alto.

Huh. Why’s Hatch an alto?

Well, if you watch the hearings, you’ll see that Hatch is one of the only people to have almost comforted Gonzales throughout. It really sticks out, both in clips of the hearings and in the transcript. Everyone else was attacking Gonzales, but Hatch was very comforting, almost motherly. He’s the one who says to Gonzales “I don’t think there’s any proof that you lied.”

So I wrote him a very comforting aria. It’s called “I think We All Can Agree.”

Do you consider the show one big political statement?

No. Not at all. This is not a partisan piece. I’ve had both Republicans and Democrats come to the show and remark that it really wasn’t about party politics. It’s about a man who made some mistakes and is facing the music. It’s also an exploration of how a man could so brazenly politicize the Department of Justice without really standing up for the reasons he went into politics in the first place.

The show has lots of humor, but there are some reflective moments also. I see Gonzales as a tragic figure who’s also simultaneously irredeemable.

But I’d imagine the show is predominantly funny, right?

Right. I’m mostly just making fun of the political system generally. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are just inherently funny. I watched the Sotomayor hearings and found them just as bizarre. They’re so mannered and there’s so much grandstanding, I just find something inherently funny about them. Add a bunch of beautiful young women singing the words of these senators, and it brings an extra absurdity to it.

So when did you write this?

I wrote it during my time at West Chester University, in Pennsylvania, when I was a bachelor’s student. I just finished my degree.

Now what?

I’m starting a PhD program at Penn in music composition in a few weeks. I’m also an actor - theater is a big part of my life - but opera is my thing. I want my next opera to be set in space. I just love the idea of a bunch of people dressed as aliens singing opera.

And did you ever try to give word to Gonzales about this?

Well, I sent a copy of the recording to him at Texas Tech, but I haven’t heard anything. I did, however, have a conversation with John Ashcroft about it. I called to get permission to do an arrangement of his song, “Where the Eagles Soar,” as sort of a companion piece. But he denied permission. [Editor's note: A spokesman for Ashcroft told us, with a bit of a laugh, that the two had "artistic differences."]

Well, best of luck with it.

Thanks!

Yo! Features
EATS BEAT

OK, we admit it’s a stretch. Philly Fringe in a food column? But, yes, and not just because vegan food will be served. “Public Eye: Artists for Animals’ Veggie Cabaret II” is all about food - in fact, it’s an evening of “veg zaniness” with comedy, theater and animation featuring Bizarro Comics’ Dan Piraro, emcee (and Daily News’ Online Editor) Vance Lehmkuhl, Dave Lambon and LaTice Mitchell-Klapa and music by Saint Mad. It starts at 8 p.m. Sept. 5 at The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. Delicious vegan food is available for purchase. $15. http://www.livearts-fringe.org or 215-413-1318.

Philadelphia Arts and Entertainment
Philadelphia Festivals Examiner

Crafts for the Cause

Philadelphia Festivals Examiner
by Whitney Brooker

This Sunday, artists, vendors and shoppers from all around the tri-state area will converge in The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street in University City) to help raise money for Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia. This event will raise funds and awareness as well as reach a wider audience for the new organization.

Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia (CNKP) is a group of citizens displeased with Philadelphia Animal Shelters and Animal Control methods of dealing with recent animal overpopulation issues. The CNKP believes every single adoptable animal deserves the chance to live a long healthy life, not to be euthanized due to lack of space or resources. The organization is currently working to petition our government to make Philadelphia a “No-Kill” city by the year 2018.

There will be rockin live music, snacks and beverages, and awesome crafts and art up for purchase from over 30 vendors such as such as Nicole Wiegand, Ryan Dillon and Gretchen Diehl, offering a variety of hand crafted items such as jewelry, accessories, clothing, toys, prints, stationery, etc.

AGENDA . Agenda Picks
Crafts for a Cause
Sun., Aug. 23, noon-6 p.m., free, Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234, therotunda.org.

by Kyle Press

Tina Dillon was looking for a way to fuse her two seemingly unrelated interests — animals and jewelry — so she joined Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia (CNKP), and crossed her fingers.

But the coalition, which calls for all city animal shelters to adopt a no-kill policy by 2018, had never held a jewelry or craft show before. Dillon sought to change that. “I called and asked them if they had anyone doing event-planning and would they like my help,” she says. “They were very interested.”

Her fundraiser for CNKP will bring in 30 vendors from the tri-state area, who’ll peddle items including LPs that’ve been recycled into dishes, organic dog treats, vegan human treats and playful skirts and brooches from local brand Chloe and Boo. Members of the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society will also be present, with adoptable dogs in tow. The critter-friendly atmosphere will be topped off with live music by six animal-loving indie and punk acts, including Afferent Cue, Sounds from Atlantis and The Nervous Rex; and a book signing by My Angels, My Girls author Kellianne Peterson. Needless to say, that book isn’t about humans.

Sun., Aug. 23, noon-6 p.m., free, Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234, therotunda.org.

AGENDA . Agenda Lead
Femme Fatale
Maggie Cee and her troupe fiddle with gender roles.
by Kristen Humbert

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN:

Two conservatively dressed women take to the stage and begin talking in prudish, Victorian English. But what comes out of their mouths isn’t related to Charles Dickens or the Corn Laws: Instead, they discuss how a femme person can look cute while going on a rock-climbing date, and when it’s proper to have sex in a public restroom.

The contrast between dainty speaker and naughty topic in this piece, one of many in The Femme Show’s routine, is glaring and funny. But for performer and founder Maggie Cee, it’s also a sardonic take on a serious subject — the social implications of femininity within queer culture.

Born in Boston in 2007, The Femme Show is ensemble-based and involves dance, clowning, spoken word and performance art. Cee and her gang did a previous show at Tritone in 2008, but this year’s act is completely new.
City Paper: What’s your personal definition of “femme?”

Maggie Cee: Femme for me is about consciously choosing femininity. That can mean all kinds of different things to different people and different things to the same person on different days. But consciously choosing femininity, [a gender] which is so often denigrated and marginalized in our society — there’s a real power in that.

CP: What was the impetus behind the creation of The Femme Show?

MC: I am a dancer by training and part of the impetus of the show was that I was not finding a place where my work, my choreography and dance pieces — which are explicitly queer — fit into Boston’s modern dance scene. As a femme person myself, I was part of a great femme community in Boston called MadFemmePride. I learned from my experience with those folks that there were people that would want to make and see art about femme identity. And from a more personal standpoint, I have experienced ways in which femmes are marginalized in the queer community. This show is partly a way to respond to that.

CP: How have you felt marginalized as a femme person?

MC: When I’ve been single [and] out trying to find people to dance with or date, I’ve definitely felt that I’m “invisibilized.” That people see me in a bar, in the gender I present — which is pretty feminine — and assume that I am a straight girl out in a lesbian bar with her lesbian friend. I also live in a very queer neighborhood in Boston, and people sort of look for a certain stereotype of what a lesbian looks like. To quote one of my performers, femmes like to do the “Hey fellow queer!” nod and smile too, and what we get back is an expression on that person’s face of “Why is that straight girl smiling at me?”

CP: What are some of the show’s highlights?

MC: This show is all-new from the last time we were in Philadelphia. We have spoken word from Alicia Greene and Rachel Kahn. We have the “Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Sapphic Social Mores,” which is Rachel Kahn and I talking about modern queer etiquette dilemmas in this ridiculous, over-the-top, Victorian-etiquette-manual language. And yes, we collect Victorian and more recent etiquette manuals, which is how that piece started.

We have a spoof-ballet number, with Johnny Blazes and I [combining] clowning and classical ballet, representing how femmes are often misunderstood by their partners and the community. And there is “Check One, Please,” a piece involving boxes and a used-car salesman character, which illustrates the ways in which, in picking a gender or identity outside the mainstream binary gender options, you can still be told that you need to do certain things to conform to the idea of the “outsider.”

CP: Why present the concept of femme identity through performance art?

MC: When you see a live performance, you are given the chance to take everything in and reflect it through your own experience. So what people think a piece is about, what they loved or hated about it, is going to come through their own experience. So I think we’re drawing audiences in and letting them interpret and feel things for themselves, which I think is really powerful.

CP: What do you hope people unfamiliar with femmes will take away from the show?

MC: I think folks who have had experiences where their gender was a place of tension will relate to the show on one level. And I think for folks who haven’t necessarily thought about gender and queer identity before, they might come away with a message about the importance of finding your own voice and being yourself.

CP: The show originated in Boston, and that’s where you live, so what drew you to perform in Philadelphia?

MC: We’ve been trying to find places to perform where we can connect with different queer communities, and we know that Philly has a great queer community. There’s a lot of independent, do-it-yourself art and music happening.

(kristen.humbert@citypaper.net)
The Femme Show | Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $10, Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234, thefemmeshow.com

At the sixth meeting for Rites of Passage, the future looks scary. “If just one person drops off, I don’t think we really have a show,” says Gina Renzi, executive director of the Rotunda (pictured, left).

Renzi, along with Dutch playwright Gerald van Wilgen, are gathered in West Philly with a few others to create a brand-new “rite of passage” out of thin air. They’ve been toiling since March on the work, which most closely resembles theater, if anything, and invite anyone to participate — regardless of artistic background, age, gender and so on.

“The idea came to me out of theater — theater is a ritual,” says van Wilgen (pictured, right). “I’m also fascinated by what we normally think of as rituals, like graduations, baptisms and inaugurations, and how we walk out of those one person and leave them another.”

Keeping with that theme of transformation, the participants — Bill Fieger, Cathy Wiegand and Caitlyn Hatzell, along with van Wilgen and Renzi — resolved that the ritual should seek to change both themselves and audience members for the better. The next step for the group, which operates like a commune by making leader-free, egalitarian decisions, was to choose an aspect of their lives they all wanted to discard. “We quite naturally arrived at excess consumption,” says van Wilgen. “It was on all of our minds.”

The details of the piece then quickly, and finally, solidified. In the first act, participants depict the ills of consumption. Through song, Wiegand focuses on overeating and buying, asking listeners, “Have you ever thought you could live with less and have success?” Conversely, Hatzell’s dance and monologue piece, which Fieger plays music to, is inspired by a very different type of excess: overthinking. And Renzi, who crafted an art installation out of pieces of trash, addresses the environmental effects of living in a consumerist society.

The second act, which audience members will partake in, is the ritual — a very simple deed that Renzi says “will involve water, but we’re not exactly sure how yet.” Once everyone has ceremoniously booted excess consumption out of their lives, the third act, as van Wilgen says, is a party.

“It will be very light — a celebration of the change we’ve made with both the audience and performers,” he says.

By the weekend before the performance, Renzi is considerably less anxious about the final product than she was when we first met. In fact, she already deems it successful.

“We’re almost more excited by the process,” she says, noting that another Rites of Passage will take place next month, and all are yet again welcome to join. “A lot of people will get ideas and commission an artist to express them. We really believe that — if we get people talking — we can get them to express themselves.”

(katie.karas@citypaper.net)

Alash show is Music Pick of the Week

by Daniel McQuade
Helvetica, the movie, is getting almost as ubiquitous as Helvetica, the font. The documentary about the popular typeface has been a hit since opening at SXSW last March. Helvetica isn’t just about the font, its history and the evil super-villain Arial, a pale imitation of Helvetica. The film intersperses the history of Helvetica with interviews with type designers, both Helvetica enthusiasts and (gasp!) haters. The movie’s entertaining: Seeing middle-aged men scream at the camera due to a hatred of a font—and a good, clean one at that—is a riot. But Helvetica is most engaging when it focuses on how type design influences perception. What’s funny is the bald man screaming about how he hates Helvetica; what’s more interesting is the riposte from other designers on why they like it. At its best, the movie focuses on how designers think and how that influences us, the simple little peons who probably can’t even tell the difference between Helvetica and Arial. A couple of giveaways, prefilm: The lowercase “t” in Arial has a slanted top; Helvetica’s is flat. Helvetica’s “G” has a spur at the bottom, too.

Helvetica: Paying Homage to the Power of a Font
Posted by Jonathan Wetstein

In the fields of graphic design and marketing, many will tell you how important a role type face plays, especially one of the most prolific fonts of all times, Helvetica. You can find this typeface almost everyday in ads and logos. Developed in Switzerland in the 1950s, its inclusion in the personal computer by Apple in 1984 helped Helvetica influence our global visual culture.

This week, on December 4th, you all have an opportunity to catch a free community screening of the documentary HELVETICA at the Rotunda on 40th and Walnut in West Philly at 6:30pm. Partners in the event include Independent Television Service (ITVS), WHYY, and, of course, The Rotunda. There will be a discussion panel following the screening.

The Producer/Filmmaker, Gary Hustwit has already produced five featured documentaries including coverage on the band Wilco, Robert Moog and even Death Cab for Cutie. “HELVETICA” is Hustwit’s directorial debut, which makes this screening a great opportunity to see his work brought essentially to the next level.

I have been working in design for more than a decade, and I have seen what impact the right font can have on the public eye. Featuring this impact on the screen with discussion for free of charge is worth the visit to 4014 Walnut St. here in Philadelphia. Doors open at 6pm! Call 215-351-0511.

On The DL: The Rite of Passage Project
by Dianca Potts
Sat., Nov. 15, 4-5 p.m., free, the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234, therotunda.org

We’ve all gone through a rite of passage, whether it be marriage, graduation or simply ditching the training wheels. We’ve looked forward to them, dreaded them, celebrated them and been dragged through them — and have the memories and photographs to prove it. This fall, the Rotunda wants to take a look. Eventually hoping to comment on the narrative of city life, the Rite of Passage project will collage Philadelphia rituals into a smorgasbord of creative expression, culminating in a series of performances planned for January.

Very much in the spirit of last year’s Collective Imprints community mural project, Rite of Passage encourages people to get out, get together and make something. “Now we’re not using a canvas, but the stage,” says artistic facilitator Gerald van Wilgen. “I really think it is important for people to be able to think critically about what motivates them in life, about why they have the dreams they have, about who they think they really are.”

The project’s first meeting this Saturday is open to everyone and invites all to be part of the discussion and planning. “I’m not anticipating anything because it implies expectations — I want to keep an open mind,” says van Wilgen. “Hope is the key word. I hope people will come up with something totally unexpected.”

Square Rootz Clothing Swap on Sunday 6/8/08

From rehearsal to Rotunda

“We refer to the Rotunda as a gathering place for the promotion of arts and culture,” said Gina Renzi, executive director of the Rotunda.

Originally a Christian Science church, the Rotunda was purchased in 1996 by the University of Pennsylvania as part of a larger initiative focused on transforming the 40th Street corridor into a cultural destination for the city. But, while permanent plans were debated, it was largely used as a rehearsal space for university groups displaced by the long-running renovation of the Perelman Quad and Houston Hall, their usual home.

That all changed in 1998 when then-student Andrew Zitcer, now Penn’s cultural asset manager, enrolled in a course on university/community partnerships. He was assigned a paper investigating the idea of a jazz club in the area.

“At the time,” Zitcer said, “this was no-man’s land, and I explained to anyone who would listen that you can’t just take a space and make it a jazz club, because jazz is really about history. However, I thought, why not for the 21st century think about an all-purpose space that can accommodate all the arts, all the genres and really achieve this goal of integrating communities.”

Zitcer’s paper on the idea found its way to Penn’s Real Estate Department, which jumped on the idea and enlisted Zitcer to run the space, sidelining his plans to move to New York and work in the music industry. Seeking to inaugurate the space with an event that would exemplify the venue’s expansive mission, he booked a hip-hop event and a jazz concert over two nights in April 1999.

“The jazz concert was nicely attended, 75 people clapping and behaving and appreciating jazz,” he said, “and the hip-hop event was 250 people raising the roof and representing hip-hop. I thought both were greatly successful.”

At the beginning, the Rotunda ran only on weekends, but gradually expanded to a seven-day schedule. Renzi came on in 2002, assuming many of Zitcer’s former duties as he moved into his current position. With Penn’s ownership, the rent-free space is in a unique position to offer all-ages, largely free events and still pay artists for their efforts.

The Rotunda’s efforts have also generated enormous goodwill in the community and encouraged the growth of local culture. “We don’t believe that someone who’s in the audience can’t also put on an event or perform on stage,” Renzi said. “We’ve found that as the Rotunda grows, things have gotten better in this organic way, where people are self-selective and decide to make it better. People mold the space, as opposed to the other way around.”

- Shaun Brady

Variety of interests at the Rotunda inspires mural project

By SHAUN BRADY
Philadelphia Daily News

For the Daily News

WALK INTO the Rotunda on any given night, and you might find the place thronged with 300 young hip-hop fans at the monthly Gathering, break-dancing up a sweat, trying out their mic skills, or writing graffiti on dedicated spaces; 20 music aficionados seated and listening intently to music from the fringe presented by Gate or Ars Nova Workshop; table after table laden with alternative culture for a Zine Fest or Punk Orck Flea Market; or a yoga class, dance performance, puppet theater, or rock show.

How could you encompass that much variety in a single representation?

That was the challenge for the Rotunda’s directors and artist Michael B. Schwartz when they devised Collective Imprints, a mural project assigned to illustrate the function and the spirit of the space. The finished piece, which came together via a series of meetings and community paint sessions starting last November, was unveiled May 1 with a presentation by several participants and, in the spirit of collaboration that has marked the creative process, an open jam session.

Both Schwartz and Rotunda executive director Gina Renzi referred to the inception of Collective Imprints as a moment of happy synchronicity. She had long been thinking of a way in which to commemorate the Rotunda, especially as it approaches its 10th anniversary this fall; he had recently arrived in Philadelphia from Tucson, Ariz., and had become involved in the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program, which grants West Philly artists free studio time in exchange for their outreach efforts to the local community. Long interested in sparking community interest via participatory mural projects, Schwartz proposed a Rotunda mural as his community project.

A series of planning meetings were held last summer involving many of the organizations that regularly present events at the Rotunda. From the concepts discussed there, the mural was designed and painted during weekly meetings and community paint days (one coinciding with the Martin Luther King Day of Service).

The images spanning the mural panels represent an array of ideas, styles and levels of talent. Representations of religious and musical figures stand beside a factory whimsically emitting popcorn kernels rather than polluting smoke; vegetables dance as B-boys, representing both community gardens and the hip-hop community; a businessman wears an anarchist symbol beneath a three-piece suit; and arms reach down from the sky, embracing people outside the welcoming doors of the Rotunda itself.

As these snapshots suggest, the mural has come to represent not only the Rotunda itself, but the surrounding West Philly/University City area. “The venue wouldn’t be the same if it were in a different neighborhood,” Renzi said, “and the neighborhood wouldn’t necessarily be the same if the venue weren’t here. That’s kind of lofty and ambitious to say, but I think it’s true for a lot of folks. The spirit of the venue and the spirit of the neighborhood influence each other.”

One Tuesday evening in January, nine participants sat in a circle on the Rotunda’s floor, joined by Renzi, Schwartz and his partner, artist Jodi Netzer. Musician Bill Fieger sat at one end of the room playing guitar, providing background music as he had at every meeting, bringing a different instrument each time. Many of the attendees were involved with the Rotunda, including MC I-Be4evr, the host of The Gathering, and Rashida Holmes, a former Rotunda board member and co-founder of the Girls’ DJ Collective, which held monthly sessions there. But there were also a pair of 14-year-old boys from Prep Charter High, there for the first time, curiosity sparked by an interest in the arts.

Schwartz, clad in paint-stained jeans, passed out a worksheet detailing the elements of perspective, then led a discussion about the work in progress, which was laid out in nine panels around the room.

He sifted through a stack of Post-it notes on which were scrawled words related to West Philly:

“Vegan. Unity. Colors. Violence. Theater. Community. Plays. Puppets. Dance.” After a few moments, everyone scattered to resume work on the mural. Schwartz, the professional artist, never picked up a brush but encouraged and advised the roomful of “amateurs.”

“I’m the artist facilitator,” Schwartz explained. “So I’m doing a lot of the administrative work, but also encouraging people to put their own voices into the project. I try to keep my own artistic and aesthetic sensibilities separate, because I’m a professional artist and I don’t want that to be something that people compare themselves to. I want them to have their own poetic and creative voices come out and be amplified, which promotes out of the box thinking.”

“This is a truly collaborative process where everybody gets a say,” Renzi said. “I don’t think people are used to working together in this way and they really appreciate the collaborative process more than they appreciate stroking their ego. Ultimately, when the participants look at the boards, I think that they see the process and they see what good can come out of that.”

The project’s democratic structure has raised questions about whether quality work can be expected from non-professionals. “The argument against participatory-designed artwork is that it doesn’t meet the public’s expectation of what is aesthetically pleasing,” Schwartz said. “But art is something that’s learned. We all have it inside of us.

“Creativity is a muscle that we have to exercise, and if we exercise that muscle as a community and nurture it, what comes out of that?

“These kind of projects build community because they get people to think collectively. There are a lot of different aesthetics being tossed together like a salad and it’s beautiful. It’s dynamic. And you get this effect that is almost impossible to get when you have just one or two people working on a project.”

Holmes, who doesn’t consider herself a visual artist, pointed out how Schwartz’s encouragement was key to transferring concepts to canvas.

“I feel that I have a very vivid imagination, but transferring that to something tangible, that’s the part where I kind of shut down,” she said. “But Michael has this great way of getting you to see things that you don’t necessarily see and to be easy on yourself. If you’re a control freak, this is a great exercise, because there are so many people who are part of it, and you have to realize that it’s not going to just be what’s in your head. Once you let that go, really beautiful things happen.” *

Send e-mail to bradys@phillynews.com.

The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., www.therotunda.org, www.collectiveimprints.blogspot.com.