PHonkPhilly

05/29/2026

Congratulations to our 2026-2027 Philadelphia Teaching Artist Community of Practice cohort! Through a competitive application process, 12 artists representing a range of artistic disciplines and cultural traditions who are committed to expanding their teaching practice and serving as future mentors and leaders in arts education were selected.

Danielle Dube – Storytelling and Performance
Athena Dugan – Labyrinth Centered – Expressive Arts
Alex Hanesworth – Oral History, Zines, Sound Art
Patricia Jones – African Diaspora Dance
Peri Law – Printmaker
Ziania Narvaez-Garcia – Acrylic Painting & Mixed Media Repurpose
Tafari Robertson – Painting, Multimedia, History
Elaine Smith Holton– Folk Arts, music and movement
Senfu Stoney – Rhythm and Percussion
Jean Wong – Visual Arts
Mama Carla Wiley and Kym Clark – African American storytelling apprenticeship

Learn more:
https://locallearningnetwork.org/local-learning-and-facts-announce-2026-2027-teaching-artist-mentorship-cohort/

05/24/2026

Let me introduce you to Bloco Afro Oyá — created to give our Jubilee graduates the opportunity to stay in community with us and always know they have a place to belong. 🥁✨

We are so incredibly proud of our K–6th grade Jubilee Sambistas for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to learning, growing, and building together through rhythm, culture, and community. Watching our Jubilee sambistas shine this year has been such a joy, and we can’t wait to continue the journey in 2026-2027

Also, Axé to our Jubilee moms & dads, moms-moms, pop-pops, uncles, aunties and community for supporting this beautiful work all year long! 👏🏾✨🎉

05/21/2026

05/19/2026

Oi gente! Our Jubilee School spring concert on Friday 5/22 at 6pm has moved indoors and will be at at world cafe live, ooohlala 🥁🪘🇧🇷

05/17/2026

ONLY 30 TICKETS LEFT!
DON’T MISS THIS FABULOUS TASTING — GET YOURS TODAY!

05/16/2026

The Music Mural is a fun, hands-on music, visual arts, and textile arts experience where elementary students work together to create their own original rhythm composition using percussion instruments, symbols, shapes, and teamwork.

Over the course of 4 weeks, students build a large collaborative “music mural” using textile arts — fiber, pattern, color, and texture — that connects to different percussion instruments and sounds. Working in small groups, students make creative decisions together, practice listening skills, and learn how individual ideas can become part of a larger group performance.
Students might choose to use fiber, color, pattern, texture, symbols, or shapes to represent different instruments as they create and organize their musical score. For example, purple circles could represent drums, yellow waves for shakers, pink stars for bells, and green squares for rhythm sticks. This visual system encourages creativity while helping all students participate and connect with the activity in their own way.
Using drums, shakers, bells, and rhythm sticks, students explore rhythm, improvisation, and ensemble playing in a supportive classroom environment where every contribution matters. The program encourages creativity, confidence, communication, and collaboration through accessible music-making activities designed for all experience levels.

At the end of the residency, students perform the musical score they created together as a class. The completed music mural remains as a visual reminder of their creativity, teamwork, and accomplishments, while also giving students the opportunity to teach their peers how to read and perform the mural they created together.

Photographs 2 & 3: Music Mural Workshop at the Jubilee School of West Philadelphia

05/15/2026

Sneak Peek 👀 We LOVE our Jubilee School Art Teacher, Kalila 🥰✨🥁🇧🇷

You can see our Jubilee School Bloco Afro Oyá perform on Friday May 22 at World Cafe Live

(We’ll try not to 🥹😭)

05/15/2026

Watch Da Road 🖤💛🩵

Rhythmic Roots is a dynamic 90-minute cultural music program that immerses students in the rich traditions of African, Brazilian, New Orleans and Caribbean percussion. Through hands-on instrument exploration, call and response, and collaborative music making, participants discover how rhythm connects culture, community, and identity.
Rooted in the African diaspora and the vibrant carnival and street parade traditions of Brazil, New Orleans and the Caribbean, Rhythmic Roots introduces students to the foundational rhythmic patterns that drive Samba, Junkanoo, Secondline and Black Masking musical traditions. Students explore these rhythms through listening, body percussion, and a variety of instruments — building both musical skills and cultural awareness along the way.
Sessions are structured to take students from listening to creating. Drawing on live recordings and the original field research of Bloco Director Elaine Smith — whose work spans parade traditions in New Orleans Mardi Gras, Secondline, Black Masking culture, and the Junkanoo festival of the Bahamas — students gain a firsthand connection to living rhythmic traditions. From there, students progress to guided practice culminating in a full-group Bloco playing.

All sessions are facilitated using the learning-in-the-round technique, with chairs and musicians arranged in a circle. This approach places every student at the center of the music-making experience, ensuring no one is in the back of the room or on the sidelines. Learning in the round promotes equal participation, strengthens listening skills, and allows students to make eye contact with one another — deepening their sense of collective music making and shared rhythm. It also reflects the communal circle traditions found in African diasporic music cultures, connecting the classroom experience directly to the traditions being studied.

05/14/2026

Are you ready for Festival Afro Bahia Washington D.C on June 4-7

We’re looking for a handful of volunteers to join us for Taste of Bahia on Friday, June 6! Volunteers who sign up for a volunteer shift will receive credit to attend a Festival dance or drum workshop.

If you’re interested in volunteering or have any questions, please contact Elaine at [email protected]

Event location: All Souls Church Unitarian 1500 Harvard Street Northwest Washington, DC 20009 Event Date & Time: Friday June 5 from 6:30pm- 11:30pm Contact: Elaine Smith Holton [email protected] Volunteers needed to support Taste of Bahia. Experience the vibrant flavors of Afro-Bahia. Join us fo...