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To our tenant community This year has been, well, a lot to handle for all of us. It’s forced us to get up each morning, mask on, and face a very new world. None of us could have expected this. And yet, even with all we’ve lost, we’re in awe of the amount of grace each of you has displayed. You are still finding ways to service your clients, help the families in your care, and ideate things that have never been done before. We love you, we’re here for you, and we celebrate you each day. This (newspaper) issue is for you, the ones Making a Difference.
Addressing Food Insecurity PH L CO M M UNI T Y F R ID G E
G A R C ES FOU N D ATI ON
PHL Community Fridge is doing some amazing work combating food insecurity in Philadelphia, and we are honored to have not one, but TWO fridges live on the corner of 9th and Mifflin. The fridge is open to the community with a “take what you need, leave what you can” policy that is working towards making fresh food more accessible to everyone while cutting down on waste. The cold fridge is recognizable by the wheatpasted artwork on the side, created by 6th floor tenant, Symone Salib (more about her on page 9!), and the second fridge sits beside as a pantry for nonperishable items. To donate to PHL Community Fridge or become a volunteer to maintain the fridge, DM them on Instagram @phlcommunityfridge, or send an email to www.philadelphiacommunityfridge@gmail.com.
Since COVID-19, the Garces Foundation has expanded its support of Philadelphia’s immigrant population through the creation of The Garces Foundation Food Pantry program. Through funding from the Patricia Kind Foundation, they are working with partners in the food service industry to provide families with boxes of free, fresh, nutritious food. They have also converted their English for the Restaurant and Everyday Life (EREL) program to an online format, which offers low cost instruction in English to immigrants working in the hospitality and restaurant industries. EREL teachers also use the platform to help inform students about food, healthcare, and housing. To donate or volunteer at their food pantry, visit garcesfoundation.org.
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Learning To Teach in Creative Ways
B E E HI VE
BILING UAL STO RYTE LLING
Rachel and Hugh, owners of Beehive, began the indoor playspace as a way to give families a community playspace within the neighborhood. Although COVID-19 has presented challenges, they remain committed to finding innovative ways to meet the needs of children and their caregivers. They created Hive Learning: a learning camp for K-2nd graders that gives 12 students at a time access to 2000 SF of space for flexible learning and play. Students are in small and consistent groups, directed by a teacher with 8 years of experience. They also offer virtual learning, supplemental art projects, and a Spanish tutor to support students in Southwark’s Spanish immersion program. Morning or afternoon spots are available, so if you’d like to learn more about the program, visit them at beehiveatbok.com.
This fall, we began hosting Bilingual Story Time on Fridays at the Bok Stoop on the corner of 9th and Mifflin! In September, Don of Philly drag, Brittany Lynn, brought some special guests to read children’s books to this sociallydistanced, outdoor event. This month, Olivia Ponce of the Garces Foundation and her son will be reading some of their favorite picks. Join us on Fridays at 4pm for this free family-friendly activity!
RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS Scholastic has educational activities for kids ages 4-10. Their store has curated bestselling, educator-approved resources, ready-made sets, and screen-free activities for every age. At Storyline Online, you can have books read out loud to your children - by other children or actors. Arcademics is a collection of fun games that can help students practice math while also flying a spaceship.
PRO J E CT P.L.A.Y. While we miss our Project P.L.A.Y. School kids and look forward to when it's safe for in-person school to resume, we are excited to share that the School is thinking outside of the box. This fall, Project P.L.A.Y. is offering Out of the Box, a subscription box that enhances athome learning with lots of play, creativity, joy and collaboration. The box includes a shared Zoom link, meeting times, music, special guests and more! New materials will be available bi-monthly for you to pick up at the School. Check out www.projectplayschool.org for more info on the boxes, to subscribe, or to donate.
Duolingo is a fun way for all ages to learn a second language. Available via app and web, Duolingo offers lessons in the form of challenges and short stories. Move This World is a resource that helps both students and educators understand, express, and manage their emotions in a healthy way for a safe and effective learning environment
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Fighting for Social Justice P H IL L IP S BL AC K Phillips Black is a non-profit law office dedicated to providing high quality legal representation to prisoners in the United States sentenced to death and life without parole. Phillips Black attorneys consult with and support capital counsel, conduct death penalty clinical training and mentorship, and develop research on the administration of criminal justice. Philadelphia is one of five principal offices for Phillips Black, with their offices located right here at Bok. They recently outgrew their 5th floor office and moved into a larger space on the 6th floor. Education is at the heart of their practice - they want to prepare future attorneys for the field, and have internships and externships with major law school and programs across the country, including University of California, Berkeley School of Law and Harvard Law School.
PH IL AD E L P HI A P R I N T WO RK S Philadelphia Printworks was born out of a love for DIY culture and social justice. Since its inception in 2010, Founder Maryam Pugh and team have developed Philadelphia Printworks into a digital and physical community space for creative collaboration around activism. Through their work, they hope to amplify marginalized communities and empower communities of color. Below, we feature four of their print designs. Head over www.philadelphia-printworks.myshopify.com to pick one up! National Bail Out
Chisholm for President
Cognitive Dissidence
School of Thought
The National Bail Out collective is a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers, and activists building a community-based movement to end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration. The collective behind National Bail Out are people who have been impacted by cages — either by being in them themselves or witnessing their families and loved ones be encaged. They are queer, trans, young, elder, and immigrant.
The collection "Cognitive Dissidence" explores the meaning of thoughtful dissent in terms of personal revolutions, the resistance of sub-cultures and the impact of listening to the voices of the unheard. The name of the collection comes from the term "Cognitive Dissonance" which was expounded on by Frantz Fanon in his examination of post-colonialism, critical theory and Marxism.
Shirley Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. She was a congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first African-American woman elected to Congress. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party Black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.
The "School of Thought" collection, designed by Mars Five and Philadelphia Printworks, imagines a different world where colleges and institutions have been established based on the philosophies of Marcus Garvey, Audre Lorde, Ida B. Wells, Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver and James Baldwin.
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Creativity During COVID BlackStar Film Festival
Klip Collective
BlackStar Film Festival’s annual celebration went virtual this year, showcasing more than 90 short and feature length films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world. The 6-day festival also consisted of panels with some of the greatest filmmakers, producers, and thinkers working today. Discussion topics included making revolutionary film and artistic works as a black mother, archiving more broad representations of black life, and capturing documentary imagery at a country's border. During the weekend festival nights, BlackStar held socially-distant drive-in feature-length movie nights at the Mann Center in Fairmount Park. They screened Be Water, The Forty Year Old Version, and Miss Juneteenth.
Philly’s own Making Time, one of the world’s longest running dance parties, decided a global pandemic couldn’t stop the vision for their 20th anniversary celebration. Dave P. of Making Time and Ricardo of Kilp Collective worked on a solution to bring the dance party from IRL to URL. Klip Collective came to the rescue, developing Transcendental Holographic Technology (THT), which brought the "mega-club” experience to our homes. In other words, the performers were holograms! The 3-day live streaming experience (Oct 2-4) ran from 1pm to 1am each day and immersed attendees in a video and light holographic art installation. Thanks to Klip Collective, Making Time’s 20th Anniversary became a global celebration of futuristic music, with a lineup featuring some of the greatest futuristic musical pioneers of our time, like John Talabot, Hot Chip, Lena Wilikens, DJ Python, Hieroglyphic Being and more.
Tenant Talk w/ David Guinn
Big things are happening in the West Gym! Let's learn more about muralist David Guinn's next project.
Tell us about the project! I'm working on a mural on parachute cloth — a fabric that can be adhered permanently to exterior walls. It's composed of 150 five foot by five foot panels. It has been amazing to be able to assemble them on the floor of the gym and see them all together. It also makes it possible to layer big areas of color across many panels. The wall for this mural is in Mattoon, Illinois, a small town about 3 hours south of Chicago. The mural is inspired by a park there, Lytle Park. It is a large park and has a bunch of playgrounds throughout the park. When I was there, I was struck by the number of kids playing together in this beautiful wooded area. Where will the mural be located? The mural will be placed on a wall next to the train station in Mattoon, Illinois, the center of the downtown area. How would you describe your work? My work as a muralist is driven by making images that are rooted in the places and communities that the murals are located in. The physical and social environment in which the mural will be seen guides the design. For the Mattoon mural I am going back to a style of painting where I build up transparent layers of color to achieve the luminousness and spontaneity of a watercolor painting on a large scale. What inspires you to create? I'm motivated by the desire to make spaces, especially public spaces, more soulful or human. There is a need to feel connected to the places we live in, work in, and travel through in our daily lives. I see my work as muralist as creating a medium that helps connect us to the places and spaces we live in.
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Artwork by: Supra Endura
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Growing Our Community We welcomed so many new tenants to the building over the past several months! From artists to entrepreneurs to nonprofits to an accredited arts school, we've got such a diverse new group getting unpacked and settled in here on the 6th and 7th floors. We are thrilled to introduce some of them here!
Symone Salib
Base Butter
Christina Griffin
Sierra Barela
Lace in the Moon
Rohe Creative
Sierra Barela Dutch Label Shop
Studio Incamminati
Lea Colie Wight
Elizabeth Bergeland
STUDIO INCAMMINATI Upstairs on the 7th floor (yes the entire 7th floor!) is Studio Incamminati - a school for contemporary realist art that models traditional Italian accademia and French atelier. They focus on the aesthetic and philosophy of techniques in painting and sculpture, and believe that mastery of technique is really what's essential to expressing yourself creatively.
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BASE BUTTER
ROHE CREATIVE
During their own skin care journeys, owners She'Neil Spence and Nicolette Graves found themselves selfeducating and actively piecing together information for their skin types, learning the chemical-filled products with benzoyl peroxide, retinals, exfoliants, and scrubs were doing more harm than good. Their solution: Base Butter - a skincare company on a mission to help make skincare easy for oily, combination, and acneic skin types. Their vision is a world where we all can feel protected and comfortable in our skin.
Rohe Creative is a Philadelphia-based interior design studio that specializes in creating curated, crafted and concept driven hospitality spaces. Their design team has a diverse background - from technical training in architecture and interiors to custom furniture design, product development and styling. Rohe isn't tied to any single style or period: they prefer to take a step back before thoughtfully approaching a new project, fully immersing themselves in that world to ensure each project tells its own story.
THE FOUNDRY COLLECTIVE
SYMONE SALIB
The Foundry Collective is a boutique digital marketing agency and business consultancy. Led by Bok alum Emely Roman, the team is a group of experts in social media, paid advertising, and content marketing. Emely and team are passionate about wholesome entrepreneurship and unapologetic communications.
Symone Salib is a Cuban/Egyptian painter, muralist, and street artist based out of Philadelphia. She has been wheatpasting the words and images of BIPOC across her city (and Bok's community fridge!) since 2017. She focuses on vibrantly sharing the stories of people in hopes we can connect and resonate with humans who are different from ourselves. Her work is a reclamation of space, both physically and politically, as she asserts the humanity of Black and Brown bodies and the necessity for justice against police brutality, sexism and homophobia.
THE BOK BEES Speaking of new tenants, we’re excited to announce we’ve taken thousands of bees under our wing! The project, realized in collaboration with social beekeeping company Alveole, aims to create greater ecological awareness by partnering with companies and schools to install beehives at their sites. Our thousands of new colleagues will pollinate the urban flora that surrounds us. Our awesome beekeeper Wynn Geary (pictured here) has taken care of the bees this season and harvested their honey to share it with our community. We’re thrilled to take part in the movement for a more eco-conscious city!
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Same same...but completely different at Bok Bar
This season at Bok Bar and Irwin’s, we knew we needed to approach things with a new perspective. The goal was not only to create a safe and intimate space, but to welcome partners, friends, businesses, and conversations — to use our wide open outdoor space to uplift the diverse and unique voices in our community and support the growth of their work. So far this season, we’ve held 82 reservation-only, socially distant events and food pop-ups featuring women-owned, BIPOC-owned, and South Philly-based chefs, creatives, and innovators.
We offered four main pillars of programming: | pop-up dinners and menu takeovers with local chefs | everything that moves you from DJ sets to fitness to dancing | classes, panels and lectures to ignite the mind and inspire change | hands-on collaboration and workshops with makers and artists
Bok Event Photos (left to right) - Alicia Delarge, Camille Cogswell, Expressions of Soul, Micah's Mixx, Mister John's Music, Milk Jawn, Palo Santo Yoga, National Youth Foundation, High Life and High Tops, Remark Glass, Fleisher Clay Play Photos by: Zara Neifield & Elizabeth Melusky
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DAHLAK Dahlak has been serving delicious Ethiopian and Eritrean food to the West Philly community for over 30 years. They popped up at Bok Bar from July 29th - August 1st, with Mama Dahlak serving her beloved dishes to hundreds of diners previously unfamiliar with Eritrean food. Visit them at 47th and Baltimore for takeout or socially-distant dine-in on their patio, or order online at dahlakrestaurant.com. CHEF CAMILLE COGSWELL Born and raised in Asheville, NC, Chef Camille Cogswell, named the James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef in 2018, presented a Bok Bar guests with a menu inspired by her Southern roots. She is a member of “Bake the Vote,” an organization that stands against racism. The funds raised by their bake sales are donated to organizations that work towards ensuring a fair election, preserving everyone's right to vote and creating pathways for true equality.
To support Bake the Vote, visit www.bakersagainstracism.com
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REMARK GLASS Expert glass blowers from Remark Glass reshaped bottles into bar ware, taught attendees about their process, and gave them a glass to take home. To learn more about their zerowaste glass studio and their nonprofit, Bottle Underground, check out remarkglass.com. MILK JAWN Milk Jawn is a Phillybased small-batch, super-premium ice cream company. They brought a guided ice cream taste testing to Bok Bar, where attendees learned the basics of ice cream making and the ingredients that make each Milk Jawn flavor unique. See where they’re popping up next, or get delivery, at www.milkjawn.com.
NATIONAL YOUTH FOUNDATION
DJ YOGA | EXPRESSIONS OF SOUL | DRAG BRUNCH
The National Youth Foundation honored a group of student authors who wrote and illustrated a book about Lady B: one of the earliest female rappers in hip-hop. They presented the book to Lady B (!!) and autographed copies, which were donated to Philadelphia schools. To learn more about the foundation, children’s writing opportunities, and how to donate, visit www.nationalyouthfoundation.org.
A’Tiya Sinae + DJ Muddy Taylor led an evening of DJ Yoga at Bok Bar Expressions of Soul performed music from yesteryear to today Brittany Lynn and her Drag Mafia came to Bok Bar for a Drag Brunch
W H AT ’ S N E X T
VOT E VOT E VOT E VOT E VOT E VOT E VOT E VOT E VOT E O c to b e r 19, 20 20 | L a s t d ay to r e g i s te r to vo te O c to b e r 27, 20 20 | L a s t d ay to r e q u e s t a m a i l - i n b a l l o t N ove m b e r 3 , 20 20 | VOT E ( i f yo u a r e vo t i n g i n - p e r s o n) Things to remember when you vote: -Vo te a s e a r l y a s p o s s i b l e !
-T h e r e a r e s eve r a l e a r l y vo t i n g l o c a t i o n s i n Ph i l a d e l p h i a w h e r e yo u c a n r e g i s te r to vo te a n d r e q u e s t , r e c e i ve , c o m p l e te a n d s u b m i t a m a i l - i n b a l l o t — a l l i n o n e v i s i t . F i n d a l o c a t i o n a t w w w. p h i l a .g ov/ vo t i n g . - O n e l e c t i o n d ay, p o l l i n g p l a c e s a r e o p e n 7a m - 8 p m . - I f yo u vo te by m a i l, b e s u r e to: 1) R e a d t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s c a r e f u l l y. 2) Pl a c e yo u r b a l l o t i n t h e s e c r e c y e nve l o p e a n d t h e n p u t t h e s e c r e c y e nve l o p e i n to t h e of f i c i a l e nve l o p e . Yo u r b a l l o t wo n' t b e c o u n te d i f yo u d o n' t p u t i t i n t h e s e c r e c y e nve l o p e ! ! 3 ) R e t u r n yo u r b a l l o t a s a p s o i t a r r i ve s o n t i m e . PRODUCED + DESIGNED BY scout
PHOTO CREDITS Elizabeth Melusky, Zara Neifield, Michael Persico