First Person Arts

“Best Content” at the 2008 Grand Slam: Ted Passon

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:35:09 +0000

Your 2008 Grand Slam winner: Ryan Barlow!

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:15:54 +0000

Ryan came in late in the year to win the September “Belonging” StorySlam (you can see his monthly winning slam story here). It was the first StorySlam he’d ever attended, let alone participated in! Here he delivers the winning story at the 2008 Grand Slam:

Stay tuned for all of the stories from the 2008 Grand Slam, and get ready for the 2009 season fast approaching with a very special FREE season-opener at the Kimmel Center right before Ira Glass on Saturday, January 24th. Details here (scroll down to the bottom). Starts at 6:30pm! The theme will be “Broke.”

The regularly scheduled monthly Slam returns to L’Etage on the following Tuesday, January 27th at 7:30pm.

Dave Kessler’s Artbus Documentary

admin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:02:15 +0000

If you were at the Salon du Festival on November 13th, you might have seen our embarrassing technical snafu that led to Dave Kessler’s film being clipped at the edges. As it happens, that’s the second year in a row we’ve managed to foul up something of Dave’s, so we’re especially sorry! You can read Chris Paquette’s account here at Artblog and then check out the original in right-sized brilliance on your own computer screen at Dave’s site Studioscopic.

Take a gander at some of the other cool short pieces Dave’s producing about artists and the arts scene here in Philly. Many of the faces will seem familiar.

2009 Story Slams open at the Kimmel Center before Ira Glass

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:35:15 +0000

Okay, we haven’t picked the 2009 themes yet, but we might as well announce that the 2009 StorySlam season will open just a hair early with a special slam on Saturday January 24th at the Kimmel Center for FREE. The regularly scheduled slams resume on the following Tuesday the 27th back at L’Etage, and every 4th Tuesday of the month thereafter. Here’s some more info on the event on the 24th:

Saturday, January 24
6:30pm | Commonwealth Plaza Stage | Free in the Plaza
First Person Arts Story Slam

First Person StorySlams are real-life-storytelling competitions. Each slam has a theme which elicits stories from the life experiences of Philly’s storytellers. Who are these local tale spinners? Everyone with a story and a little sense of competition is encouraged to participate. Join us for a free First Person Arts Story Slam in the Commonwealth Plaza prior to the ticketed evening with Ira Glass event in Verizon Hall.

Free in the Plaza events are part of the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Program made possible by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.

Slam of the Day: Ted Passon’s Strange Coincidence

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:15:31 +0000

Ted Passon won Best Content at the 2008 Grand Slam. Here’s his “Strange Coincidence” story from the final regular-season Slam at L’Etage:

The Story Slams resume in 2009 at L’Etage on January 27th at the Kimmel Center before Ira Glass on January 24th and THEN on January 27th at L’Etage. The 2009 themes will be announced soon.

Thank You

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:57:53 +0000

A special thanks to the thousands of you who flocked to the 2008 First Person Festival! It’s a lot of work putting on a festival of this size, but you made it all worthwhile with your enthusiasm for memoir and documentary art in all the myriad ways it appeared at the Festival. Stay tuned here and to our main website for video highlights from the festival and for new information as we get ready to launch our 2009 season of monthly activities! If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for our mailing list here.

Come celebrate the end of the Festival with Soul Supper at 6pm!

admin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:58:01 +0000

The 2008 First Person Festival is coming to a close tonight from 6-9pm. Join us for a soul-food buffet, documentary about Solomon Burke called Everybody Needs Somebody and a live performance from The Barbara Walker Story!

Today at the First Person Festival

admin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:53:30 +0000

Beautiful brunch this morning at Fork Restaurant with Kim Sunee! Thanks to Ellen Yin for hosting…

We’re back at the Painted Bride this afternoon. A Family Gathering–a film produced by Lise Yasui and Ann Tegnell–is showing on the main stage presently, and we’ll have Lise Funderburg and Daniel Mendelsohn for Relative History from 4-5:30pm. And from 6-9pm you’ll want to be here for the Festival finale, Soul Supper!

Grand Slam Winners

admin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:03:21 +0000

What a stunning display of storytelling prowess last night at the Grand Slam. We’ll have video up as soon as we can, but first, thanks to our host Madi Distefano and especially to the gracious Juliet Wayne, the 2007 reigning champing. And of course our incredible crew of storytellers for 2008:

Kendra Gaeta, Ingrid Wiese, Sandy Beaches, Kevin Lee, Katonya Mosley, George Dougherty, Angel Hogan, Ted Passon, Donald Carter, Ryan T. Barlow and Tre Rials

The judges had to make some tough calls, but when all was said and done, here were the results:

Best Content: Ted Passon

Best Presentation: Katonya Mosley

Best Storyteller in Philadelphia: Ryan T. Barlow

Saturday Live Blog

admin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:09:41 +0000

You just missed a delightful mini-concert by Katie Davidson (check out the myspace page for her band Dear Nora) and now the documentary Girls Rock is underway. If you get here in time, you might be able to catch the program-closing performance by Philly band Oak Oak Okay.

After Girls Rock, we’ll be screening Doubletime from 6:30-8:30 and maybe tapping this brand new keg of Philly Brewing Company’s Kenzinger.

4:53 pm

There are apparently well-founded reports of severe weather headed our way, but we don’t care, we’re hunkered down in the Painted Bride. Come on out and snuggle with us for Doubletime at 6:30pm.