Organ pipes, Philadelphia Organ Festival 

FunTimes Magazine ‘Culture + Entertainment,” Week of March 11, 2024

As the caterpillar of winter is about to turn into a spring butterfly, March events are heating up with an abundance of lively music, storytelling, and spoken word. Read on for low-cost or free entertainment options, ranging from jazz concerts and doll exhibitions to tribute concerts. And don’t forget: When event-going, please take precautions, especially when in groups and indoors, with the current COVID variants and other infectious health threats on the rise. Check with the event organizers about their safety protocols, and also any changes due to inclement weather. 

Word up!

Through Thursday, March 28, 2024. All poets, musicians, creatives, and all-around wordsmiths, listen up; this is for you: FunTimes CelebrateHer Spoken Words Contest is offering a golden opportunity to celebrate an inspirational Black woman of your choice in the community. Show us what you got. Just present your creative spoken-word masterpiece in English on a quality video (80 seconds or less). Select a suitable background that complements the mood and theme of your expressive spoken-word performance. Feel free to incorporate music or visuals in your presentation. Free to enter. Submit your video, with your full name and email address, by Thursday, March 28, 2024, to: [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook (FunTimes Magazine), Instagram (funtimesmagazine), X (FunTimesMag), or Linkedin (FunTimes Magazine). If you have the prose, we’ll give you the platform. Good luck!

Get jazzed about this jam

Wednesday, March 13, 2024. World Cafe Liveʼs Jazz Jam will make a splash with composer-pianist Orrin Evans and his house band kicking off a rotating lineup of various musicians featuring guest artists from Imani Records. Instrumentalists and vocalists also can sign up and sit in on stage throughout the musical evening. The opening of the show is in the cool and capable hands of jazzer Orrin Evans, who has landed Grammy Award nominations for his Smoke Sessions albums The Intangible Between and Presence. 8:30 p.m. EST to 11:30 EST. The Lounge at the World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St. Email: [email protected], 215-222-1400 or http://www.worldcafelive.com/events.

All dolled up!

Through Saturday, April 20, 2024. Artists Kimberly Camp and Emilio Maldonado are the stars of a new exhibition, Dolls, Idol, and Ideals, at the  InLiquid Gallery featuring more than a dozen handmade dolls created by Camp. It explores the history of African culture in the United States and studies African Diasporic history. The artists examine individual as well as their shared heritages including “their identity, label, lineage… use symbols – made or found – that reference their ancestry and spirituality.” Maldonado, who is Afro-Caribbean, looks at culture, poverty, and trauma through her art. She is the artist relations director for Mural Arts Philadelphia. Camp has served as President & CEO of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Meet the artists at receptions on Thursdays, March 14 & April 11, at the gallery. The exhibit is free, Wednesdays to Saturdays, from noon to 6 p.m. EST. InLiquid Gallery/Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St. in Kensington. E-mail: [email protected], 215-235-3405 or https://bit.ly/DollsInfo. 

Get in tune at Drexel’s jazz orchestra concert

Thursday, March 14, 2024. Go on a jazz junket as the Drexel University Jazz Orchestra joins Greg Osby, an accomplished improvising alto saxophonist, composer, producer, educator, and curator. Enjoy the soulful sounds of contemporary as well as legacy jazz, which Osby has spent a 16-year career perfecting, at the Jazz Orchestra Winter Concert. Free but pre-registration required, 7:30 p.m. EST to 9:30 p.m. EST. Drexel University Department of Performing Arts/ Mandell Theater. 3220 Chestnut St. E-mail:  [email protected], 215-895-2787 or https://drexelperformingarts.universitytickets.com.

Tindley Temple

Organ-music tribute honors historic moment 

Sunday, March 17, 2024. South Philadelphia singer and civil rights champion Marian Anderson and American composer Florence Price will be honored in a performance featuring some of Philadelphia’s best musicians. Organist Alan Morrison, Curtis Institute of Music Organ Department Chairperson, will perform on a classic 1927 Möller organ. Featured vocalists will be from the Marian Anderson Society Scholars program -- Jillian Patricia Pirtle, Laurice Kennel, and Brenton Mattox. In a historic moment in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, contralto Anderson performed one of African-American classical composer Price’s version of “My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord.” The spiritual was one of Price’s most evocative songs. That year, Anderson was prevented from singing at Washington’s DAR Constitution Hall due to her race; it prompted the Lincoln Memorial concert. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped make the Lincoln Memorial show happen in a defiant effort against racial injustice. The performance on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, was attended by 75,000 people, while many listened to a live radio broadcast. It was a defining moment. Alan Morrison and guest vocalists will pay tribute to the momentous occasion as part of the Philadelphia Organ Festival presented by Partners for Sacred Places; the festival is scheduled citywide, from March 15 to March 22, 2024. The Marian Anderson tribute is $10 to $30, from 7 p.m. EST to 9 p.m. EST. Tindley Temple United Methodist, 750 South Broad St. Eventbrite.com or phillyorganfestival.org.

Good vibrations at ‘Organ Day’ 

Saturday, March 23, 2024. Get a cool chance to “feel” the music up close at Organ Day at the Kimmel Center. The whole family will love Bach, Handel, and other classics performed by Paul Jacobs on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ — the largest mechanical pipe organ in a concert venue in the United States. The mechanically-action concert-hall organ arguably is the “King of Instruments,” with nearly 7,000 pipes and a whopping 32 tons. Experience the pure joy of jazz, classical, opera, and "Organ Pumps," which avail you to the stage to vibe with the organ's powerful vibrations firsthand. In the Kids Play the Organ portion of the day, curious young ones can touch and play an organ. To kick off the day, The Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Assistant Conductor Austin Chanu, will perform selections highlighting the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ and the famous Philadelphia Sound of the 1970s. Free, 11:30 a.m. EST to 6 p.m. EST; The Philadelphia Orchestra performance at 11:30 a.m. EST. Free but ticket registration in advance is required for The Orchestra’s concert. (For activities after The Orchestra concert, no registration or tickets needed). The Kimmel Center/ Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999 or philorch.org. 

A light for those with mental illness

Saturday, March 16, 2024. Mural Arts and First Person Arts will team up for “Embracing the Light,” a performance highlighting individuals who share their stories connected to mental-health challenges including suicide issues. Raising Awareness about mental health resources in the Philadelphia area through the arts and community is the aim of this initiative. The project underscores the pressing need for dialogue and healing for those impacted by the mental health crisis. The performance is part of the Mural Arts Porch Light program, along with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. Trained mental health experts will be at the event to offer assistance. Free but pre-register, 2 p.m. EST to 6 p.m. EST. FringeArts, 140 N. Christopher Columbus Blvd. 215-413-9006, muralarts.org or https://www.muralarts.org/embracingthelight/.