by Malana Battle
New artists, talent, tours, workshops and concerts will be featured at the 2nd Hidden City Festival. Check out some of Philadelphia’s most unusual art at even more unusual places. The festival has ten projects and nine sites for you to explore with plenty of time to see everything. The festival will take place starting May 23rd and last through June 30th. Every Thursday to Sunday, from Noon to 7pm you can visit any of the nine sites. So no excuses you have six weeks! That’s right six weeks.
So what is this? Hidden City Festival stands on four core values: diversity, dialogue, pragmatism and accessibility. The mission is to encourage people to engage in their community and envision the future of these places. Since Hidden City began in 2005, they built a large network of artists and professional relationships. After the 1st Hidden City Festival in 2009, the network continued to grow and four years later the Hidden City Festival is back and bigger than ever before.
Shivtei Yeshuron-Ezras Israel is a Jewish synagogue in South Philly that has been around since the early 1900’s. This little synagogue is the only site in the Hidden City Festival with two projects. Radical Jewish Music: A Concert Series project features a solo performance from cellist Erik Friedlander, Mycale and Abraxas. Then, help textile artist Andrew Dahlgren build a fabric quilt with the ADMK Knit Lab project.
There are eight other projects throughoutthe city including Germantown City Hall, Oil & Water, Ruins at High Battery, Through the Pale Door, Wood Shop, Bibotorium, Society of Pythagoras, and A/V Archaeology.
Festival passes start at just $20 for one day of fun at any of the nine sites. Get a head start on all of the festivities with at the kickoff block party at the Goldtex Building. It includes Philly’s favorite party requirements- craft beer, food trucks and local bands! For more information about the Hidden City Festival, the block party and site locations visit https://festival.hiddencityphila.org/.
