It’s official, the inaugural year of the Philadelphia-wide Philagrafika 2010 international print festival (a Canary PR client!), which celebrates the vital role of print in contemporary art, has made an imprint on The New York Times’ art critic Ken Johnson!

In Johnson’s review, which hit newsstands today, he calls the works presented in the festival’s core exhibition, The Graphic Unconscious, “provocative,” “entertaining,” and “fantastic.”

In his review, Johnson reflects, “Is printmaking dead, or is it reborn? Is it a meaningful category at all anymore for contemporary artists who revel in mechanically produced imagery of all kinds and fearlessly use and misuse whatever tools are at hand? If you think these questions matter — and there are good reasons to think they do — you need to plan a trip to Philadelphia.”

You can read Ken Johnson’s full New York Times review, here.

And, take a look at the accompanying Philagrafika 2010 photo gallery, here.

To check out the festival for yourself, Philagrafika 2010 runs through April 11 throughout Philadelphia. For participating venues and a full calendar of festival events, please visit: www.philagrafika2010.org.

I don’t know about you, but I am very excited for fall this year—warm sweaters, falling leaves, pumpkin-flavored everything, and Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, Edgar Allan Poe! On October 7, it was officially the 160^th anniversary of the death of Philadelphia’s one-and-only master of macabre. Ironically, this year is also the 200^th anniversary of his birth. To celebrate, our client, Brat Productions, has built a 13-room labyrinth of his most famous tales full of the suspense, literature, and violence for which the celebrated poet is infamous, for the world premiere of Haunted Poe.

Dave Johnson as Edgar Allen Poe - image by: Gabriel Bienczycki

To create a truly Poe-worthy experience, Brat has put together a team of note-worthy actors, designers, and consultants including “Philly Poe Guy” Edward Pettit, Barrymore-award winners Bruce Walsh (who gives a terrifying performance of The Black Cat while yielding an axe, yikes!) and the absolutely gorgeous Kim Carson, as well as ex-Eastern State Penitentiary: Terror Behind the Walls designer Brad Helm. Brat has also brought in approximately 4,000, now famous (see the article here!), cockroaches from the Insectarium for that extra-added psychological scare.

Being a lover of the arts, but, admittedly, a big baby as well (I watch scary movies rarely and with the lights on!), I was apprehensive about attending the production, which promises “blood – and ghosts and magic and murder and mayhem.” However, I was pleasantly surprised that, although plenty scary for the thrill-enthusiast, the production is so intriguing and unusually gorgeous as well.

After spending four years working very closely with my college’s small theater company, I am completely in awe of what a huge project this relatively small theater company was not only able to pull off, but execute beautifully, and I am honestly so thrilled to be working on publicity for Haunted Poe!

You don’t have to take my word for it; the whole city is a-buzz about this Halloween season’s most exciting production!

The Philadelphia Inquirer calls Haunted Poe a, “compellingly dark vision of the torments that haunted Poe’s soul,” here.

“Directed with considerable flair by Distefano, Poe has a punk rock sensibility: raw, visceral and roughly poetic,” Says J. Cooper Robb of Philadelphia Weekly. Read the full article here.

Also, you can always check out the video footage on ABC.com featuring the production.

Happy Birthday, Edgar!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Well, it is if you’re in Philly and you’re a performings arts lover.  Today the 13th annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe kicks off in venues all over the city.  Here at Canary, we’re ready for 16 days of performing arts gluttony.

Want to see what we’ve been up to lately?  Here’s a selection of some of the many stories we’ve been obtaining for the Festival. Click here.

Looking for a fun place to hang out after the shows? Come have a drink with us at the Festival Bar and tell us about what shows you saw.

This weekend, I’ll be seeing:

How Theater Failed America, Mike Daisey

STORE, Kate Watson-Wallace

Welcome to Yuba City, Pig Iron Theatre Company

Company, EgoPo Productions

Kill Me Now, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre

We’re seeking a smart, detail-oriented lover of the Arts to join the publicity & marketing team at our small but rapidly-growing public relations, marketing and graphic design company. This is an entry level position and an opportunity to work in a fun, informal but hardworking office, focusing on campaigns for some extraordinary artists and cultural organizations, from major theater and dance companies to museums, arts festivals and more.

Tasks include: supporting the PR team by assisting with strategy and implementation of campaigns, crafting story pitches and working with members of the press, writing press releases and other press materials, writing marketing and web copy, updating company’s website and client pages, direct communication with clients, tracking and reporting media campaign results and general project research and database management.

Qualifications: The successful candidate will possess strong written and verbal communication skills and will be an expert at multi-tasking. Internet savvy, social media experience and basic knowledge of MS Word and Excel programs are all a must. A minimum of 1 year of experience working in the publicity and/or marketing fields, and knowledge of Philadelphia’s cultural community and the area’s media are strongly desired.

To Apply:
Explore our website and get to know a little about our company and clients. Email cover letter, resume, salary requirements and 1-3 applicable writing samples to info@canarypromo.com. Please submit any questions via email; no calls.

The Rosenbach Museum and Library celebrated its 17th annual Bloomsday on Tuesday, part of a world-wide celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Hundreds of friends, neighbors, Joyce enthusiasts, book-lovers, and curious passersby were drawn to Delancey Place to commemorate the book’s fictional odyssey of protagonist Leopold Bloom through Dublin. Every year, Bloomsday features a marathon reading of Joyce’s novel by some of the city’s most interesting business, creative, and media personalities on the steps of the museum. This year, we had the fortunate opportunity to hear a reading from Philadelphia’s own District Attorney, the Honorable Lynne Abraham, among others.

Bloomsday at the Rosenbach on Delancey Place

Having the original manuscript of one of the world’s most well-known and acclaimed literary works is a privilege to the city of Philadelphia, one that leaves many people wondering, “Why here?” An article published this week in the Bloomsday Herald is printed below for your enlightenment:

WHY IS THE ULYSSES MANUSCRIPT IN PHILADELPHIA?
By Michael Barsanti, former associate Director of the Rosenbach Museum and Library

In January of 1924 Dr. A.S. Rosenbach bought James Joyce’s manuscript of Ulysses at auction for $1,975. It was a curious purchase—modern literature was never Dr. Rosenbach’s strongest suit. The novel must have had a special meaning for him—two years earlier he had arranged for a copy of the first edition to be smuggled from Paris by a friend. Upon buying the manuscript, he said that it was for his own collection, and it was never put up for sale by the Rosenbach Company.

Joyce first sold the manuscript to John Quinn, a New York lawyer, book collector, political activist, and patron of the arts. Quinn actively promoted Joyce’s career, and his purchase of the Ulysses manuscript was a means for providing financial support. In 1923 and ’24, however, Quinn decided to liquidate his impressive collection. Although the auction was expected to be one of the great book events of the year, if not the decade, neither Quinn nor the auction house thought the Ulysses manuscript would sell for very much. While the book had some degree of notoriety in the United States, it could not be legally printed or sold here at the time, so it was little known.

Quinn had warned Joyce before the sale that the manuscript would not bring a very high price, but Joyce was nevertheless disappointed. It surely didn’t help that Quinn had sold his Joseph Conrad manuscripts a few months before for much more money—most of them to Dr. Rosenbach. In May of 1924 Rosenbach cabled Joyce directly, asking him if he wanted to sell the page proofs for Ulysses. Joyce wrote to Harriet Shaw Weaver that “When he [Rosenbach] receives a reply from me all the rosy brooks will have run dry” and appended this verse, which suggests that the Doctor’s cable must have misspelled the title of the book:

“Rosy Brook he bought a book
Though he didn’t know how to spell it.
Such is the lure of literature
To the lad who can buy it and sell it.”

The limerick is unfair in several ways—Rosenbach was widely known for his exceptional knowledge of literature, but it is also apparent that he cared deeply about Ulysses. Ironically, Joyce had earlier inquired about buying the manuscript back from him, only to be told that Rosenbach’s interest in Ulysses was personal, not professional, and that he was unlikely to sell it, even back to its author. While the purchase of the Ulysses manuscript might appear to have been only one of Dr. Rosenbach’s canniest bargains, it better testifies to his desire to build a collection that would become a priceless cultural legacy to Philadelphia and the world.

WHYY viewers can now view Philadelphia Young Playwrights (a Canary client!) in a WHYY Experience segment. The short film features Nirvana Rivera, Dwight Wilkins and Young Playwrights from the Meade school in Philadelphia. Watch the video online by clicking the image below and visit whyy.org/artsandculture/experience.html to view more Experience videos.

For more information about the organization visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org.

Want to know what our clients are up to between now and June? Click on the link below to open a PDF file listing upcoming productions, events and exhibitions from Bristol Riverside Theatre, The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, the Rosenbach Museum & Library, nEW Festival, and Girls Rock Philly.

PDF: April-June events from Canary Promotion

nEW Festival dancers

Some upcoming summer and early fall projects we’ll be working on include:
Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe
Lace in Translation presented by The Design Center
Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s Charley’s Aunt
Philadelphia Dance Projects

Stay tuned!

2008 Girls Rock Philly camper band, Close Encounters

Canary Promotion + Design is proud to be a sponsor of the first BarCamp Philly!

The first-ever BarCamp Philly, an all-day collaborative event for people involved in technology, media and creative fields, will be held on Saturday, November 8th at The University of the Arts in the Terra Building, located at 211 S. Broad Street (Broad & Walnut). Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m., and sessions will run from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. BarCamp Philly creates opportunities for participants to share knowledge, experience and support with one another in an open, classroom-style environment.

With over 200 registered attendees, registration has been closed, but people still interested in attending may add their names to a waiting list for possible openings. For more information, visit www.barcampphilly.org.

Philadelphia’s first BarCamp, organized by JP Toto and Roz Duffy, is part of an international network of BarCamps which have taken place across North America as well as in South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. It’s also part of a city-wide movement to encourage a collaborative creative community.

“With events like BlogPhiladelphia, PodCamp Philly and Ignite Philly bringing people from all over the region together to be inspired, BarCamp seemed to be a natural next step,” says Duffy, a web producer and a founding member of Independents Hall. “The connections that are possible may lead to new collaborations, new projects, future events. Hopefully it will bring more attention to our fine city!”

Toto, owner of a small technology consulting firm called 30Points Design & Consulting, attended his first BarCamp in Orlando. “I was hooked instantly,” he says. “About a month later, I attended Social Dev Camp East in Baltimore where I met fantastic like-minded developers, creatives and community organizers. After that it was obvious to me that Philadelphia needed to hold its first BarCamp. We hope that events like this inspire other folks to step up, organize more events and help lead the city’s technology and cultural growth.”

The events’ content is provided by participants, with the schedule being determined the morning of November 8th. All attendees are invited to present at BarCamp Philly and can sign up on a schedule when they arrive. Participants include web developers, designers, entrepreneurs, software engineers, public relations, marketing and social media specialists, community organizers and students.

Through BarCamp Philly’s website, participants have been exchanging ideas on session topics, which could include entrepreneurship, product design, branding, the broader social impact of social media and new technology, community organizing through social networking, understanding open source licenses, how to develop web or iPhone applications, and the state of the creative economy.

BarCamp Philly is sponsored by The University of the Arts, 30Points Design & Consulting, Canary Promotion + Design, ChoiceShirts, Comcast Interactive Media, Microsoft, Mother’s Work, Umlatte, AlertBot, BadCat Design, Empressr, Independents Hall, P’unk Ave, Rock River Star, and Wharton Learning Lab.

The name BarCamp originates as a play on Foo Camp, an invitation-only event held by open source publisher Tim O’Reilly. The first BarCamp was held in 2005, in Palo Alto, CA. The open invite event was a huge success and thus spawned a series of BarCamps all over the globe from Boston to New Zealand to India to Orlando and on November 8, 2008 in Philly. For more information on the BarCamp concept and events around the world, visit www.barcamp.org.

To schedule interviews and event coverage, please contact:
Megan Wendell, Canary Promotion
(215) 242-6393, megan@canarypromo.com

The 7th annual First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art is coming up, and our lovely press kit is ready for your perusal.  The Philadelphia festival, produced by First Person Arts, runs from November 11 – November 16 (with preview events on November 6 & 7) and is the only festival dedicated to presenting works of art based on real-life experiences.  This year’s programming features a diverse line-up of memoir readings and author discussions, documentary film screenings, food events, performance art, experiential tours, visual arts exhibitions, music, competitions, artist receptions and more.

Check out their EPK here and download the press kit here.

Friend and former client Val Emmich is all over the place this week - new album, new video on MTVU.com, appearance as the new hearttrhob on Ugly Betty tonight.  Back when Canary was still a baby bird, we booked Val’s tours through the nooks and crannies of the U.S.  It was clear back then that he was a star in the making.  We congratulate Val on his recent successes and are glad to say we knew him when.

Watch Val’s video for “Get on With It” from his new record Little Daggers here.