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New exhibitions throughout the city and more Black History Month events
The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, February 6-12, 2025
Kyle V. Hiller
The winter chill has really settled in and won’t let go, but hopefully, that won’t keep you from exploring some cool performances, exhibitions, and screenings this week. Black History Month continues with events at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Weitzman, Curio Theater, and all over Chestnut Hill. New exhibits open at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, FRIEDA, and the Penn Museum, and a celebration of Philly books and authors comes courtesy of Blue Stoop.
Go Birds!
Black History Month programming at AAMP
Through Friday, February 28, 2025
African American Museum of Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia
AAMP hosts a variety of events in honor of Black History Month, like a family fun day, film screenings, tours, and more. This year is themed around “African Americans and Labor” and its enduring impact on history, culture, and progress.
Winterbloom
February 1-March 29, 2025
Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road, Philadelphia
This new solo exhibit features works by Claire Downes Whitehurst, a painter, printmaker, and sculptor who draws from the landscape and atmosphere of the deep South, exploring queer space, religious iconography, and architecture through form, color, and composition.
Black History Month at Chestnut Hill
Various times and locations
Black History Month celebrations are in full effect in Chestnut Hill. Events include performances by the Paul D. Best & the Black Boys Makin’ Noise Storytelling Troupe and African dance performances and instruction by SNAP Company Dance Group. Comic book shop Multiverse Philly will host a podcast recording to celebrate Sun Man, one of the first created Black action figures. There will also be a wood-making workshop, a Beyoncé-themed dance party, a sweetgrass baskets exhibition, and more.
Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round
Thursday, February 6, 7:30pm
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, 101 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia
Philly-based and Emmy award-winning director Ilana Trachtman’s documentary Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round will screen at the Weitzman this week, featuring a live talkback and audience Q&A with Trachtman. The documentary explores the first time Black civil rights activists were joined by an organized white, predominantly Jewish community to protest segregation at Washington DC’s Glen Echo Amusement Park in 1960.
As of publishing, the event is sold out, but there is a waitlist to join. The film screens again later this month at PhilaMOCA on Wednesday, February 26.
A Closer Look by Agathe Bouton
February 7-April 20, 2025
FRIEDA, 320 Walnut Street, Philadelphia
French printmaker and multimedia artist Agathe Bouton visits Philly for an exhibit of her work opening at FRIEDA this week. A finalist in the 2023 annual International Competition of the Print Center here in Philadelphia, her work draws from diverse cultures and histories encountered in her travels and experiences. The opening reception is on Friday, February 7, at 6pm.
A Celebration of 2025 Philly Books
Thursday, February 6, 7-9pm
Virtually on Zoom
Blue Stoop hosts nine authors from the area to celebrate Philly books in 2025. There are 46 conventionally published titles by Philly or Philly-connected authors coming out this year so far, according to Blue Stoop, and this is your chance to catch up with a few of the authors themselves.
See You at Home No Matter What
February 7 and 8, 6-8pm
Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia
Batikh Batikh—a pop-up cinema and gallery that centers Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) women and queer artists—and cinéSPEAK co-host a Lebanese cinema showcase featuring two short film programs. The first is New Forms, which features experimental cinema from Lebanese women artists. The next, on Saturday, is Queer Cinema, which will focus on queer narratives by Lebanese filmmakers.
Amusements
February 7 and 8, 8pm
Skinner Studio at Plays and Players, 1714 Delancey Place, Philadelphia
Emmy-nominated actor and comedian Ikechukwu Ufomadu performs his award-winning one-person show this weekend. The performance promises an evening of comic absurdity with a mix of words, songs, two books, one cup of tea, a slide show, and more, defying genre while operating safely within the bounds of international law. This show arrives as part of Shtick, a Philly-based creative production company focused on supporting new works in comedy and theater.
Preserving Assyria
Saturday, February 8-February 2026
Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia
Penn Museum’s newest exhibit looks to showcase archaeology’s role in safeguarding cultural heritage from targeted destruction. Assyria represents a crucial part of Iraq’s cultural identity, which was under attack in 2016.
Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed & Unbowed
Saturday, February 8, 7pm
Curio Theatre Company, 4740 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia
Ingrid Griffith, the creator and performer of this one-woman show, portrays the life of Shirley Chisholm and her lifelong fight for the disenfranchised all the way to her historic run for president in 1972.
At top: Solo show Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed & Unbowed comes to Curio Theater this weekend. (Photo by George Spence.)
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