Latest / philly has heART / Philly Pride Arts Festival feat. Helen Huang, Bobb Hawkey, Samuel Keeler, Stephen Dagrosa

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Philly Pride Arts Festival feat. Helen Huang, Bobb Hawkey, Samuel Keeler, Stephen Dagrosa · philly has heART

0:14
Hi, Lucinda. Hi, Robert. How was your weekend?
0:18
So great. We're springing into the season. It's
0:22
beautiful. And how did I start this week off?
0:26
What did you have the privilege and opportunity
0:28
to do? I had the privilege and opportunity to
0:31
see an art unveiling on Tuesday night that was
0:36
very personal to a close friend of mine who had
0:39
a portrait of her mother commissioned. And, you
0:44
know, art is such a beautiful way of cementing
0:51
a legacy of someone's story. And it's beautiful
0:57
to see how each artist takes what could be their
1:01
very special method of art and pair it with a
1:06
commissioner's story. It was beautiful to be
1:11
a part of and to see and be a part of that family
1:14
moment for a mother and daughter, for siblings,
1:19
for children, and celebrating their mother in
1:22
a really special way. And I hope to one day be
1:25
able to do that. I can only hope Petit Carson
1:28
commissions a piece honoring me someday. 100%.
1:32
What do you think you'll be wearing? Something
1:36
fab. And then I found myself again with the ballet
1:41
at Red Rose Farm on Thursday night. It was a
1:44
beautiful evening to celebrate the ballet as
1:47
well as to celebrate a very special volunteer
1:50
that the ballet has had for over 20 years. From
1:54
dancer to chaperone at the school, this volunteer
1:59
has given almost her life's work to helping out
2:04
the ballet. On Thursday night, I went to an artist
2:11
talk at Pentimenti Gallery. Dan Gunn talked about
2:16
his work, American Interior, which was also shown
2:21
at the Independent very recently. Oh, excellent.
2:24
In the Pentimenti booth. Then we moved to the
2:27
Museum for Art and Wood for a brief tour with
2:32
the executive director. Jennifer, Nava, Milken.
2:36
Then we had dinner in the gallery. Oh, beautiful.
2:40
Friday night, we went to the Philadelphia Gay
2:44
Men's Chorus British Invasion Concert. So good.
2:48
So good. So good. Just the joy that they brought
2:53
with the community that they brought together
2:56
was absolutely incredible. The Philadelphia Gay
3:00
Men's Course episode is going to be live this
3:03
Friday morning. Throughout the month of June,
3:06
throughout the next year, we will keep the events
3:10
on their calendar on a weekly basis. Then on
3:15
Saturday, I had the privilege of bringing my
3:18
cousin and her friend. To Outsiders. I got to
3:23
see Outsiders in its previews on Broadway about
3:27
two years ago. And now to see it go on the national
3:30
stage was absolutely amazing. You got all the
3:34
feels. Did you cry? I did cry. I did cry. Such
3:38
a good show. Everyone should check it out at
3:40
the Academy Music. It's going to be on its last
3:43
week of the run this weekend. Maybe you should
3:46
read the book. And maybe with that, on to the
3:48
conversation. This is Robert Marsh and you're
4:04
listening to Philly Has Heart podcast. In this
4:07
podcast, we sit down with the artists, gallerists,
4:09
educators, curators, and other creatives who
4:12
comprise the Philadelphia art world to discuss
4:14
upcoming performances, exhibits, and other events
4:17
and initiatives that are not to be missed. The
4:21
art scene in Philadelphia is so rich that it
4:23
can seem daunting. Consider this your weekend
4:25
cultural recommendation. With me always is my
4:28
producer, Lucinda Degerland. Hello! And today
4:32
we have Philly Pride Arts Festival. This is the
4:36
first time we've had four guests on at the same
4:38
time. And so we're going to go around the table
4:43
and introduce each person, the group that they
4:47
are representing today, and maybe a little bit
4:50
about their group. Do you want to start? Sure.
4:54
My name is Stephen DeGrosa, and I'm the Artistic
4:57
Director of Cross Keys Theatre Collective. We
4:59
are an educational theatre company based in the
5:03
South Jersey area and also within South Philadelphia.
5:06
Our goal is to provide an experience for youth
5:09
to learn more about their craft and to get a
5:13
real taste of what it's like in the real world
5:15
as a professional musician to see if that's something
5:17
that they would like to pursue. As a career.
5:19
Every summer we do a camp for about four weeks
5:22
and they put on a wonderful production, both
5:24
technical on the back end side and performance.
5:26
Excellent. Thank you. Hi, I'm Bob Hawkey. I am
5:30
the head of strategic development and co -founder
5:33
of the East Pass Yonk Opera Project, also known
5:35
as EPOP. We are an on -the -ground arts organization
5:39
trying to bring opera back into the neighborhood
5:42
cultures of Philadelphia, primarily out of the
5:45
East Pass Yonk neighborhood. So we're creating
5:47
opportunities for local artists and for local
5:49
neighborhoods to see things, and we additionally
5:52
also do youth education, bringing opera to children
5:55
from the ages of three to seven. Excellent. Hi,
5:59
my name is Helen Huang, and I am one of the co
6:02
-founders and the executive director of Wear
6:05
Yellow Proudly. It's our mission at Wear Yellow
6:09
Proudly to amplify Asian American voices using
6:12
the power of classical music. Wear Yellow Proudly,
6:15
we started in 2020, the height of COVID pandemic,
6:19
when xenophobia towards Asians and Asian Americans
6:22
are at its peak. all across the globe. And many
6:27
of us as Asian artists, we were stuck at home
6:30
and all our jobs were canceled. So a few of us
6:33
banded together and we wanted to use our music
6:36
to give a kernel of goodness to the world. So
6:40
in the very beginning, we did a lot of online
6:42
contents of virtual concerts, panel discussions,
6:45
and also fun videos that shared our cultures
6:48
and family. stories. But since then, we got our
6:53
501c3 status about a year ago, and we are trying
7:00
to do a lot more artist -curated projects and
7:03
concerts in the recent years. Now we're finally
7:07
based out of Philly. We're trying to work with
7:10
the community much more, as well as working with
7:12
other wonderful non -profit organizations here
7:16
in Philly. LCA and WIP, Sam will talk about LCA.
7:20
in a little bit but we just did a collab two
7:23
months ago now yesterday and EPOP and WIP will
7:31
collab on one of the concerts in the festival
7:34
and we'll talk about that a little bit more in
7:37
a little bit So as Helen mentioned, my name is
7:41
Samuel Keeler. I'm the founder and executive
7:42
director of Liberty City Arts. We are a kind
7:45
of grassroots opera movement, as many of these
7:48
organizations are founded by artists. We've got
7:50
kind of multiple branches. Right now we're doing
7:52
a training program that is happening. There's
7:55
people coaching right now at my house while I'm
7:58
here. We do a lot of concerts where we explore
8:01
the communities that make up Philadelphia. So
8:03
we just did Tea with Tongue and Song. Right before
8:07
that, we did a concert of all African American
8:09
music with various African American artists based
8:13
here in Philly. We love to partner with as many
8:16
of our other organizations as possible, so this
8:19
opportunity has been great. We just did... Like
8:21
I said, the partnership with Way Yellow Proudly.
8:23
We just had a partnership with one of the other
8:26
organizations, Prismatic Arts Ensemble. Really
8:28
excited to be doing this with everybody. Wow.
8:30
And we're so excited to have all of you here
8:31
today to kind of talk through more what Philly
8:34
Pride Arts Festival will bring to Philadelphia.
8:37
Philly Pride Arts Festival is a month -long celebration
8:40
of LGBTQIA plus artists, stories, and community
8:44
happening across the Philadelphia area this June.
8:47
What brought everybody together for Pride? arts
8:51
festival this year i guess i'll start when we
8:54
can tag team a little bit okay yeah so last year
8:58
we were a little proudly we produced a concert
9:01
called memoirs of occasion and it was two -city
9:06
event so we had our premiere in Philadelphia
9:09
and we also did a performance in New York and
9:12
it's all about the intersectionality of being
9:15
queer and Asian and the joy and trials of I guess
9:21
that internal struggle and some of the wonderful
9:24
people from EPOP came to the performance in Philly.
9:29
And we got talking afterwards, and we said, wouldn't
9:32
it be amazing to produce this concert again in
9:36
2026 and join forces? At the same time, within
9:41
EPOP, my creative partner in crime, Ashley Marie
9:44
Robillard, and I had been discussing and just
9:47
thinking about the scenario of the real world.
9:51
sort of how the community, the trans community,
9:53
the LGBTQIA community, what was happening. And
9:57
she brought up a lovely book, and we started
9:59
conversations around this concept of how much
10:02
fear and self -hatred members of the community
10:05
can feel based off being ostracized by the rest
10:09
of the world. And we started developing this
10:12
concept of fear and self -loathing in Philadelphia.
10:16
Trying to bring all of those emotions and how
10:19
the community has responded to fear and hatred.
10:21
And so while other members of EPUB were having
10:24
conversations, we were off on the side in our
10:26
little creative bubble coming up with this. And
10:28
suddenly we're like, well, we have two shows.
10:31
And of course, the beautiful thing is, as Sam
10:35
and Helen were talking about, so many of us collaborate
10:38
on other initiatives. So it became very easy
10:41
for all of these like -minded organizations to
10:43
say, oh, we're doing this, we're doing this.
10:46
How do we bring all of these performances together
10:48
to try to make it a holistic experience for the
10:51
Philadelphia community? Wow. And there's so much
10:53
here in Philadelphia. Right. Yes. Yes. Just in
10:57
this one, two, three, four. 10 different events
11:01
throughout the festival to bring to the community.
11:04
Does anyone want to share a little bit about
11:06
what their group is doing? Okay, I guess I will.
11:09
Bob's already hit on it a little bit. And I've
11:11
actually got also a little bit about Prismatic
11:14
here as well, since their representative wasn't
11:16
able to join us today. For Liberty City Arts,
11:19
our event is called Opera is a Drag, and it's
11:22
on June 25th at Frankie Bradley's, which is going
11:24
to be kind of the multiple event hub for this
11:28
festival. And so this kind of was a brainchild
11:30
of an artist in Philadelphia a few years back.
11:34
She has another organization she also runs and
11:36
was going to explore doing it with them. But
11:38
as we were talking more about the festival and,
11:40
like, what are voices that we can amplify, we
11:43
knew that this idea was already out there floating.
11:45
And so we went and talked to her, and this opera
11:50
is a drag idea that she had came up with. Something
11:52
I always try to do with our events is kind of
11:55
tell a story or have the artists bring their
11:57
idea, and I say, what is the million -dollar
12:00
budget that we can do with this, and let's blow
12:02
it up and see how much we can do with it, and
12:05
then we can figure out how to do it on our small
12:07
budget. So we're really excited for this event.
12:11
We're kind of basing it off an episode of Drag
12:14
Race. We're exploring the intersection of opera
12:17
and drag, which has obviously been, well, maybe
12:20
not obviously to a lot of people, has been a
12:22
big part of opera for a long time. You know,
12:25
if you look back to Mozart, for example, and
12:28
the Nozze di Figaro, there's a character, Cherubino,
12:31
traditionally played by an assigned female at
12:34
birth person who is playing a boy who at one
12:37
point in the show has to play a girl. So it's
12:40
a woman playing a man playing a woman. And it
12:44
gets very gender. Am I allowed to curse on this?
12:47
Yeah. Gender rockery. Yes. Yes. So, you know,
12:52
we've got like a mini. So we've got the structure.
12:55
We're doing a kind of mini snatch game. But in
12:58
opera, we have a word called fuck. Spelled F
13:02
-A -C -H. Which is kind of like a categorizing
13:05
of vocal. So we're just going to pronounce it
13:07
wrong. And it's going to be thatch game. Yes.
13:10
Yes. And so we're going to have these characters
13:13
that are like kind of opera stereotype coming
13:16
in. So as an example, think J .G. Wentworth commercials.
13:20
You're welcome for the free advertising. You
13:23
know, so it's going to be fun stuff like that.
13:26
And then for like the kind of main challenge,
13:28
they're going to be exploring some of these characters
13:31
that kind of bend gender and all that stuff.
13:35
Absolutely incredible. We've got some great artists,
13:37
including a many -time collaborator with E -pop,
13:41
Cookie D 'Orio, is going to come in as a guest
13:44
judge. And, yeah, I'm really excited about that.
13:47
And then that same weekend, which actually works
13:49
out really well for us, the next day, Prismatic
13:52
Arts Ensemble is presenting Shakespeare. which
13:56
is at the Black Squirrel Club in Fishtown on
13:59
Friday, June 26th at 8 p .m. And it's exactly
14:02
what it sounds like, a drag cabaret built around
14:05
Shakespeare, filtered through operas and songs
14:08
and the musicals he inspired. Co -founders Balena
14:11
Canto and Violet Caballero are leading the whole
14:14
thing, and they're asking the big questions,
14:16
such as, why does the drag queen protest too
14:19
much? What's in a drag name? And if their previous
14:24
work, including Drag Messiah, is any indication,
14:27
it's going to be sharp, funny, and genuinely
14:29
moving. So I'm excited about that production
14:31
as well. Helen, how about yourself? So as I said,
14:34
we are... producing our concert, Memoirs of Agation,
14:39
again this year, but collaborating with EPOP,
14:42
and we're calling it Love Note Special Edition.
14:45
We did a series of cabarets. Actually, it started
14:50
during COVID. We're both COVID organizations.
14:55
We did a Valentine's event partnering with Jose
14:58
Pistolas, where we provided an online opera cabaret.
15:04
And we had guest appearances from everybody from
15:06
Anthony Roth Costanza to Will Liverman, like
15:10
all of these famous opera people donated videos.
15:13
And then Joshua Blow and Ashley Marie Rogel have
15:15
performed it. And so it became a series of four
15:17
shows that we did. And we said that we were retiring
15:20
it. But we didn't. We handed it over to Wear
15:26
Yellow Proudly to continue the tradition because
15:29
it's an amazing production that fits the mold.
15:32
Thank you. Well, again, this is also a cabaret,
15:35
but it explores the unique perspectives of queer
15:40
Asian experiences, but it also highlights different
15:43
Asian composers and librettists, but also features
15:47
songs and arias from the classical music canon,
15:51
as well as many living composers. And I have
15:54
a little blurb from our two singers, Spencer
15:58
Britton and Chuan Yuan Liu. Being Asian and being
16:02
queer are often compartmentalized. Traditional
16:05
family values and limited accessibility to same
16:09
-sex marriages in Asian countries result in many
16:12
LGBTQIA plus people being silenced. So join us
16:17
for an evening where queer Asian artists unite
16:20
these two worlds, sharing their unique stories
16:23
and perspectives with you. And this event will
16:26
happen on June 12th at Society Hell Dance Academy.
16:31
Oh, lovely. Lovely. As Helen mentioned, we are
16:34
partnering on Memoirs of Agation, but EPOP also
16:37
has two other performances. One we talked about
16:40
briefly, which was the Fear and Self -Loathing
16:43
in Philadelphia, which will be at Frankie Bradley's.
16:47
We are opening the festival there. This is on
16:49
Saturday, June 6th at 7 p .m. Again, another
16:53
appearance by the lovely Belana Canto, who is
16:56
our emcee. They are a baritone. Jonathan Pierce
16:59
Rhodes is joining us as a tenor. My partner,
17:02
Ashley... Ashley Marie Robillard, of course,
17:09
is our soprano. And ecstatically, we also have
17:11
Lauren Cook with us, who is a mezzo -soprano.
17:14
Joined by Rhys Rovak, who is our pianist, and
17:17
Omar Saleem, who is our DJ and beatmaker. And
17:19
so in... E -pop cabaret traditions, we tend to
17:23
do a mix of classical, musical theater, modern
17:27
music, really trying to let each individual artist
17:31
express themselves and then create a comprehensive
17:33
story with it. And with that, the musicians also
17:36
have a little freedom and do some things. So
17:39
it will be lively, it will be fun, it will draw
17:42
out some feelings, but then hopefully by the
17:43
end everyone is celebrating and ready to continue
17:46
partying through the opening weekend of Pride
17:49
Month. Our other event, we've been working with
17:51
the Center City District for a number of years
17:52
as part of their Arts on Center Stage program
17:54
at Dilworth Park. So this year, we scheduled
17:57
that event during the Pride Month Festival, and
18:00
we have Nia Drummond performing as our soprano,
18:03
Teddy Balfour Austin as our tenor, Aurelian Uhlert
18:07
is our pianist, and what I'm actually very excited
18:10
about, and I can't wait to see how this works
18:12
out, partnering with the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra.
18:15
And the principal oboist, Jeffrey Diemer, is
18:18
going to be joining the performance as well as
18:20
an additional musician. That is a free concert,
18:23
again, at Dilworth Park outside of City Hall
18:25
on June 18th at 6 p .m. In addition to all the
18:29
performances, we wanted to give back to the community,
18:31
and so we've also started an internship program
18:33
that that's where Cross Keys comes in. So we
18:36
don't have a performance, but we are going to
18:38
be collaborating with all the other groups to...
18:40
see what they need so they can give the interns
18:43
a professional experience so they know exactly
18:44
how to do on the technical side. With Cross Keys,
18:47
once it started, it's always, I found, because
18:50
I'm a performer, it's always easier to find opportunities
18:52
for performers, but what about what's happening
18:54
behind the scenes, because that's just as important
18:56
as what's on stage for those that might love
18:58
theater but might not want to be. on stage. It
19:01
kind of came out about with Katrina Thurman,
19:03
who's the general director and co -founder of
19:06
EPOP and Bob's wife. And we were talking about,
19:10
I was just wanting to offer help and then some
19:15
of the performers could just meet with the students
19:18
just to give them some feedback or they could
19:20
ask questions. But then when we were in our meeting,
19:22
Sam actually helped come up with this wonderful
19:24
program. So it's going to be really exciting
19:27
putting it all together. How many interns do
19:29
you have for that? We have five interns, which
19:31
has been great. So it was a little difficult
19:33
for high school -age kids because they're still
19:35
in school in Jersey. But we have high school
19:39
and college -age students, so it's going to be
19:40
really awesome. We have an intern with the front
19:43
of house and then also with assistant directing
19:44
as well as the production side. Wow. That's incredible.
19:49
Part of... Pride AF, we went out and identified
19:52
local LGBTQI mutual aid organizations that are
19:56
doing important work in the community for the
19:59
community. So at least three organizations that
20:02
we know that we're representing, they'll be on
20:04
site for performances so that we can bring attention
20:07
to their causes, bring attention to them. So
20:09
if people need resources, we're going to raise
20:11
some money for them with EPOP for fear and self
20:15
-loathing in Philadelphia. We are working with
20:18
the Covenant House. They are a local organization
20:20
that brings in displaced and homeless LGBTQI
20:25
children who have been forced out of their homes,
20:27
displaced from their families. So they help to
20:31
provide housing and education and everything
20:34
else that they no longer have. So we're working
20:37
with them. Opera as a Dragon LCA are working
20:41
with Hearts on a Wire. to raise funds and awareness
20:44
for their organization. They are a grassroots
20:46
inside and outside prison advocacy organization
20:49
working to address the needs of transgender people
20:51
in Pennsylvania's prisons. For EPOP and Wear
20:54
Yellow Proudly for Memoirs of a Gaysian, we are
20:57
working with Philly Asian Queer, or PAQ. They
21:02
are a... Volunteer social organization that strives
21:05
to engage queer or LGBTQIA Asian and Asian American
21:10
folks within the greater Philadelphia area. And
21:13
especially with the topic of this program, we
21:16
thought it's a perfect. fit. Four weeks, five
21:20
organizations, nine events, one festival. More
21:23
information and the full list of events can be
21:25
found at phillyprideartfestival .org. Can you
21:30
also let us know how our audience can find your
21:32
organizations online? I guess I'll start. Libertycityarts
21:37
.org is the best place to go to keep up with
21:39
us. Instagram at libertycityarts. For Wear YOLO
21:44
Proudly, you can visit our website at wearyoloproudly
21:47
.com or follow us on all of our socials at wearyoloproudly.
21:54
And for the East Pass Sun Copper Project, we
21:56
are epopfilly .org. And similarly, on Instagram,
22:01
we are epopfilly. And for Cross Keys Theatre
22:04
Collective, you can find us at www .crosskeystc
22:07
.com. And that's the same with our social media
22:10
at Cross Keys. And I've linked these in the show
22:12
notes already. Excellent. Everyone check out
22:15
these nine events. It's going to be an amazing
22:17
Pride Arts Festival. And we'll see you there.
22:20
We'll be right back with Rapid Fire Questions.
22:26
And we're back with Rapid Fire Questions for
22:28
the table. Take us out. Landing the plane. I'm
22:32
going to go around and ask each one of you a
22:34
question. Just give me your answer. Rapid fire.
22:38
I'm so scared. Samuel, Sam, let's start with
22:43
you. Philadelphia art scene in one word. Communal.
22:47
Steven, what is your favorite restaurant or bar
22:50
in the gayborhood? In the gayborhood. Charlie
22:52
was a sinner. Helen, Philadelphia artist people
22:55
are sleeping on. Not to say anyone else is not
22:59
amazing. Yes. Sarah Coyt. Bob, what are you most
23:04
excited for this Pride? Not our events. It will
23:08
be Shakespeare. I come from a traditional theater
23:11
background, so bringing together Shakespeare
23:15
into this experience is just really exciting
23:17
for me. Well, thank you all for this conversation
23:20
today, and we're super excited about the events.
23:23
Happy Pride. Great stuff. I mean, Lucinda has
23:40
me over here banging out these interview conversations
23:44
and interview. I mean, we're doing like three
23:47
a week, guys. It's going to be prepare yourselves.
23:50
Buckle in. Not only are you sending out the content,
23:53
but you're also able to participate in so much
23:57
pride art this year. Just be prepared. Can you
24:00
even? I can't. I can't. What are we doing though?
24:03
We're kicking off this weekend with First Friday
24:06
as we do in Old City. This is one of the first
24:10
nights in a while that we aren't sponsoring the
24:12
alcohol at one of the galleries or pouring the
24:15
drinks. And I'm kinda in love with that. We kinda
24:19
just get to chill. No getting high on our own
24:23
supply this first Friday. We are also going to
24:26
go to the 12 .50 p .m. Barry's Class upper body
24:30
as coached by friend of the pod and recent guest
24:33
Dylan as part of the Philly Fitness Pride Kickoff
24:37
2026 powered by Lululemon. 100 % of the proceeds
24:41
go to the Mazzoni Center. Now, I think that's
24:44
work sweating through a potential first Friday
24:47
hangover. You're telling me. I can't wait for
24:49
the alcohol to start dripping out. Also, The
24:52
Outsiders, presented by Ensemble Arts, continues
24:55
its Academy of Music run through June 7th. I've
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said it before and I'll say it again. Stay gold,
25:01
pony boy. Philadelphia Orchestra presents Gershwin
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and Bernstein at the Kimmel Center, running from
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June 4th through the 7th. Philadelphia Gay Men's
25:09
Chorus will be celebrating in two places on June
25:13
5th. Pride at Rudolf Shalom. And should you find
25:17
yourself in New York, our joy is a protest with
25:21
the New York City Gay Men's Chorus. That's a
25:23
lot of voices. So many. And as the gang at Pride
25:27
Arts Festival just shared in the conversation,
25:30
EPOP is presenting Fear and Loathing in Philadelphia
25:33
on June 6th at Frankie Bradley's. With that,
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Philly has heart. And art!