Markets and festivals abound

The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup, December 7-13, 2022

3 minute read
A collage featuring images of Prince, Star Trek, family photos, and buildings. Flowers populate the image
Shavon Norris's 'Me and Jesus and Prince and Captain Jean-Luc Picard' is one of the performances at this year's Miniball. (Image courtesy of Shavon Norris.)

This week features a handful of holiday pop-ups in the city, including Liberty Flea, the Feminist Flea Mini Market, and the Arts League Holiday Market. Coming back for another year, the Miniball Festival gives us a wintry taste of Cannonball Festival performances, including some encore performances seen from this year’s Fringe Festival. Traveling one-man show In Between comes to the Penn Museum this week, tackling the complexities of an Israeli-Palestinian performance artist’s life experience. Then, popular storytelling podcast The Moth hosts a storytelling championship with 10 contestants (with some familiar faces).

Miniball
December 8-18, 2022
Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 North American Street, Philadelphia

Fire away with Miniball, a micro-version of the Cannonball Festival featuring encores of previous shows and other works not featured in the festival previously. This year’s edition features eight mainstage shows and more. Shows coming up include the Fringe Festival sensation Me and Jesus and Prince and Captain Jean Luc Picard in a One Bedroom Apartment in the Bronx by Shavon Norris (a hearty mouthful and an even heartier performance), Visions, Oedipus in Seattle, and more.

In Between
Thursday, December 8, 7pm
Sunday, December 11, 2pm
Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia

Performance artist Ibrahim Miari pays a visit to Philly with this one-man show that portrays the complexities and contradictions inherent in a shared Israeli-Palestinian identity. The play touches on issues around identity, culture, religion, traditions, and the tensions between Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians.

The Moth’s GrandSLAM Championship
Monday, December 12, 6:30pm
Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia

The Moth—the event series and podcast where regular, everyday people tell real stories—presents the Philadelphia GrandSLAM, “a battle of wits and words—fierce, hilarious, heartbreaking, and all points in between” between 10 previous StorySLAM winners who take the stage for the “ultimate storytelling competition.” R. Eric Thomas hosts the event and frequent BSR contributor Anndee Hochman is one of the competitors.

A variety of pop-up markets and fleas

Feminist Flea Mini Market
Friday, December 9, 6-10pm
BOK Building, 1901 South 9th Street, Philadelphia

The evening market pops up this weekend with over 10 unique vendors and 50 local artists.

Liberty Flea
Saturday, December 10, 10am-5pm
BOK Building, 1901 South 9th Street, Philadelphia

The Captain’s Vintage hosts its annual market also at BOK this weekend, with over a dozen vendors offering a variety of artisan goods. Check out the full roster of vendors online.

The Arts League Holiday Market
Saturday, December 10, 10am-6pm
University City Arts League, 4226 Spruce Street, Philadelphia

Handmade ceramics, clothing, textiles, prints, original art works, and more will be in tow at West Philly’s UCAL, and there’s even complimentary hot chocolate to keep your shopping hands warm.

Black Cat Tavern’s Holiday Pop-up Market
Saturday, December 10, 5-10pm
Black Cat Tavern, 2654 South 12th Street, Philadelphia

Shop local in deep South Philly for a variety of artisan goods on Saturday night. This is a 21+ event, so you can leave the kids at home for this one.

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