Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

When it comes to celebrating America’s birthday, nobody rocks it like Philadelphia, America’s birthplace, and 2012 will be no exception thanks to a calendar filled with festive happenings before, during and after the Fourth of July. This year’s revelry includes patriotic ceremonies; a hometown-style parade that features a salute to the U.S. military; the nation’s largest free outdoor Independence Day concert starring The Roots, Queen Latifah, Joe Jonas, Common and Daryl Hall; dazzling displays of pyrotechnics; historic storytelling; outdoor movies; and much more.

With the value-packed Philly Overnight® Hotel Package, visitors can join in America’s birthday blowout without blowing the

On the heels of Jay-Z’s announcement of the Labor Day weekend Budweiser Made in America festival, Philadelphia is gearing up for another musical bash—Black Music Month. Founded more than 30 years ago by the city’s famed songwriter and record producer Kenny Gamble and on-air personality Dyana Williams, the month-long celebration features different genres of music, including jazz, hip-hop and rap—all representing the influence of black performers and producers. A highlight of the festivities: The Roots Picnic, which takes place for two full days for the first time in its five-year run.

Black Music’s Roots In Philly:
Soul, R&B and

When the Barnes Foundation opens to the public on Saturday, May 19, 2012 (after the collection’s relocation from nearby Merion, Pennsylvania), the already-compelling cultural district along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia will become the focus of the art world, and a new interactive website, visitphilly.com/withart, is launching on May 15 to help visitors curate their own plentiful art experiences.

To tell the whole story of the parkway and the city, a growing list of organizations have partnered for the city’s first-ever coordinated and sustained visual arts marketing campaign called With Art Philadelphia™. Led by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism

This is a Wawa Welcome America! press release.

Whether it is July 4, 1776 or July 4, 2012, Philadelphia is the only place to celebrate America’s birthday. People of all ages are invited to the City of Brotherly Love to make lifetime memories at Wawa Welcome America! -- the nation’s largest, free 4th of July festival -- from June 25 to July 4, 2012. With 10 patriotic days packed with free, family fun, Philadelphia rolls out the “red, white and blue” carpet to area natives and visitors from the Greater Philadelphia region and across the nation.
A detailed event schedule

The Calendar of Events is organized as follows:

May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
November 2012
December 2012
January 2013
February 2013
March 2013
April 2013
Ongoing Activities

MAY 2012

Through May 1, 2012
THE PHILADELPHIA ANTIQUES SHOW. During this annual event, dealers from across the U.S. offer the finest examples of period furniture, folk and fine art, ceramics, porcelain, silver, jewelry and textiles at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. (610) 902-2109, philaantiques.com

Through May 6, 2012
VAN GOGH UP CLOSE. The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents some of the most daring and innovative works

May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
November 2012

MAY 2012

May 6, 2012
BLUE CROSS BROAD STREET RUN. The largest and one of the fastest 10-mile runs in the nation goes from North Philadelphia down the length of Broad Street to The Navy Yard to raise money for the American Cancer Society. This year, all finishers will receive a medal. (215) 683-3594, broadstreetrun.com

May 12, 2012
QUAD COUNTY METRIC BIKE RIDE. Cyclists pedal at their own pace and ride up to 76 miles through four rustic Philadelphia-area counties. The two longer rides include an

In Philadelphia, the first weekend of June starts off the busy tourism season with four big draws in just three days. Visitors to Philadelphia can catch all the action by booking the Philly Overnight® Hotel Package on visitphilly.com/hotels. The package comes with two nights at one of more than 30 hotels and free hotel parking. Here are the big events happening for June’s premiere:

• Philly Beer Week – Brewers, crafters and beer lovers pour into Philadelphia for this fifth annual sudsy celebration. The “Opening Tap” event on Friday night signifies the beginning of the 10-day event, which continues with

May is going to be a monumental month on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, particularly during the time span that stretches from May 10 through May 19. What will the week bring? The opening of the Barnes Foundation and Sister Cities Park, the debut of one of the most comprehensive Dead Sea Scrolls exhibitions ever organized at The Franklin Institute and the running of two of Philadelphia’s most historic events: the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ Annual Student Exhibition. Here’s a look at what’s about to bloom on the city’s most culturally rich mile:

As the world prepares to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking on April 15, Philadelphia museums and attractions are doing their part to honor the storied ship all year long. Visitors can explore the overall story with a tour of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, returning to The Franklin Institute this fall by popular demand, or they can delve into the Philadelphia story specifically thanks to special displays on view at The Rosenbach Museum & Library and the Independence Seaport Museum. Visitors can even view some of the Titanic survivors’ graves at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Here’s a look at

For the second year in a row, Philadelphia is officially joining Jazz Appreciation Month, begun in 2002 by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. As the birthplace or temporary home of such noted jazz figures as Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Bessie Smith, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Philadelphia’s role in the history of the art form cannot be understated. Throughout April, dozens of venues will host events to engage the public in America’s only native musical genre. But the tribute doesn’t stop at the end of the month; in Philadelphia, jazz is a tune that’s played all year long.

Philly may be best known as the City of Brotherly Love, but sisters from Center City to New Hope have plenty of reasons to celebrate the gay nightlife scene for women. An exclusive nightclub and monthly parties have put Philly on the map for lesbian life. Here’s a look at where gay women come out to play and where they stay after the festivities end:

Venues:

• Sisters – Philadelphia’s longtime lesbian nightclub attracts women of all ages Tuesday through Sunday with live entertainment, DJs, karaoke and some of the best happy hour specials in the Gayborhood. The tri-level club

New Museums Add Even More Cultural Cred
This summer, the Barnes Foundation’s Philadelphia campus marks its first full season on the culturally rich Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Home to one of the world’s greatest collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, the Barnes Foundation’s new building combines the vision of original owner Dr. Albert Barnes with a contemporary and green execution. In view of the Barnes, the Rodin Museum will reopen this summer after a major renovation and welcome visitors to stand in awe of The Thinker, The Kiss and The Gates of Hell, plus wander around the beautiful outdoor

The heart of Philadelphia’s Gayborhood may be centered on 13^th and Locust Streets, but there are plenty of LGBT-friendly destinations throughout the region catering to crowds looking for fun. From weekly parties and annual gay pride events to blockbuster art exhibitions and celebrity-studded film festivals, visitors will find something lively going on in every corner of Philly. Here’s a look at what’s happening every day, every week and every month of the year:

Seven Days a Week:

• As one of the most popular gay nightclubs in Philadelphia, Woody’s keeps the crowds coming with its sprawling dance floor and

It may still be winter, but Philadelphia is set to bloom a little early this year thanks to a blockbuster Van Gogh exhibition that pays special attention to the artist’s floral works, the largest indoor flower show in the world and the American debut of Bruce Munro’s imaginative garden light display. Here’s a look at what’s flourishing in Philadelphia even before spring has sprung:

• 2012 promises to be a banner year for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, hosting the sure-to-be blockbuster Van Gogh Up Close, running from February 1-May 6. The exhibit explores the painter’s deep immersion into nature, including

In 2012, the art world will be focused on Philadelphia, thanks to some major exhibitions, openings and happenings: The Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibits masterpieces by Gauguin, Cézanne and Matisse; works from Italy’s Uffizi Gallery travel to the U.S. for the first time and make a stop at the James A. Michener Art Museum; the Rodin Museum reopens after extensive renovations; and the Barnes Foundation collection debuts in its new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In addition to these headline-grabbers, Philadelphia’s vast and vibrant art scene—promoted as part of the two-year, $2 million With Art Philadelphia™ campaign—boasts daily, weekly,

This is a Philadelphia Museum of Art press release.

"I…am always obliged to go and gaze at a blade of grass, a pine-tree branch, an ear of wheat, to calm myself,” Vincent van Gogh wrote in a letter to his sister, Wilhemina, in July of 1889. An artist of exceptional intensity, not only in his use of color and exuberant application of paint but also in his personal life, van Gogh was powerfully and passionately drawn to nature. From 1886, when van Gogh left Antwerp for Paris, to 1890 when he ended his own life in Auvers, van Gogh’s feverish

This is a Philadelphia Museum of Art press release.

When visitors from around the country and beyond arrive in Philadelphia to see Van Gogh Up Close—the highly-anticipated international loan exhibition for which the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the only U.S. venue—they will have their choice of four exclusive hotel packages that combine a premier overnight experience with tickets to the post-Impressionist feast for the eyes at the Museum, as well as 15% off Amtrak tickets, 10% off in the Museum Store, and a special celebratory van Gogh dessert in the Museum’s Stephen Starr-operated Granite Hill restaurant.

Travelers can

This is a Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts press release.

A major exhibition of artwork by African-American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner will premiere at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), on view from January 28 through April 15, 2012. Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit will contain over 100 works, including 12 paintings that have never been shown in a Tanner retrospective and the only two known sculptures that Tanner completed. The exhibition also includes Tanner's famed Resurrection of Lazarus, from the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, a career-making canvas that earned Tanner his first international praise when

This is a Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts press release.

In celebration of the debut of the Barnes Foundation in its new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)
presents PAFA and Dr. Barnes, on view April 7 through July 8, exploring the connections between the Pennsylvania Academy and Dr. Albert Barnes. This exhibition will feature works from the permanent collection that relate to Barnes’s tastes and philosophy, as well as works by his friends (such as William J. Glackens), and items from the PAFA Archives.

It was at