Category: Uncategorized

Tell City Council to support nightlife!

Use the link below to email all of our Councilmembers to tell them you support the proposal for a Nighttime Economy Office in this week’s budget talks.

This new office would be an advocate for arts, nightlife and hospitality inside the government – helping to keep venues from closing, getting financial relief to artists, promoting good relationships with neighbors and government departments. Our peer cities all have an office like this, it’s time Philly steps up!

https://tinyurl.com/nighttimecampaign

Learn more about the office and read the proposal from the Arts and Culture Task Force here: http://24hrphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/The-Nighttime-Economy-Office-Full-Proposal.pdf

What do Philadelphia’s creative spaces need to survive COVID-19? Four veteran venue owners, managers and promoters talk about what they’ve been doing … what they’re preparing for… and what they need from the community and the government to make it through.

Hear about their experiences, ask questions, and volunteer your ideas at 4PM this Thursday, June 25th at a virtual happy hour.

Featured panelists:

Meg Bassett (Warehouse on Watts)

Robert Del Famine aka DEL (underground concepts at Divine Lorraine | DO YOU WANNA BOOGIE?)

Lee Jones (Sundae)

Karen Lauria Saillant (The Fire)

Moderated by Michael Fichman

Visit the Facebook Event Page to RSVP and receive virtual meeting details

New event alert!

April 1st, 2019, 6-10PM at Franky Bradley’s (1320 Chancellor St.)

24HrPHL – a collective dedicated to building resources and community with a progressive vision for Philly’s nightlife arts and culture – invites the public to a presentation and discussion of themes and ideas in nightlife and a workshop for ongoing projects.

Several rapid-fire presentations will be followed by a panel discussion and an informal workshop session.

Music and dancing to follow.

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Projects and presentations include:

Philadelphia Nightlife History and Culture – Rich Medina

What is 24HrPHL? – Michael Fichman

Accountable Spaces – Kerri Hughes and Cristina Caudill

Stayin Alive: Harm Reduction for Party People – Michael Lasday and Allison Herens

The Venue Toolkit – Lily Goodspeed

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Panel moderator: L’Oréal McCollum

Music following the event by DJ Craig Dash (@craigdash)

Photos by Tim Blackwell (@shotsfired215)

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This is a FREE 21+ EVENT, please RSVP at 24HrPHL.eventbrite.com

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This event is presented with support from PennPraxis, the community engagement arm of PennDesign.

Philadelphia Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown proposed a bill which would allow alcohol-serving establishments in certain, undetermined districts to stay open until 4AM.

You can read the text of the bill at City Council’s website. The bill, if it passed, would still need enabling legislation from the state to take force.

There are a variety of viewpoints and questions in Philadelphia’s nightlife arts and culture community about this bill. Are later closing times better for business? Why 4AM? Where would these zones be located and why? What kind of music and entertainment would be presented there? Which cities have profitable, safe and culturally productive post-2AM nightlife cultures? What would the effect of this be on unregulated post 2AM nightlife?

24HrPHL founder Michael Fichman was interviewed by WHYY’s PlanPhilly about the 4AM bill.

“People in nightlife arts and culture envy cities that have longer hours,” said Fichman. “I think most people would welcome this.”

Fichman points to cities in Europe that allow alcohol-selling businesses in certain areas to stay open later in exchange for meeting certain public safety demands. In addition to providing extra streetscaping, they also have to offer “public safety ambassadors” to help guide people who get lost or manage the risky situations that inebriated people find themselves in.

These zones are also only able to get these licenses if they are providing what Fichman calls “quality cultural content.” Nightlife should be about entertainment, not guzzling more booze, he said

“I hope that whatever comes out of this provides additional venues for nightlife, arts, and culture and it isn’t just about food and drink,” said Fichman. “When you make good culture you get better behavior, and public safety and nuisance are foremost in people’s minds when they raise concerns about nightlife.”

24HrPHL community members look forward to having a productive discussion about whether or not this bill is a good idea for our city, and if so – how can it best be implemented to benefit the city’s culture and vitality?

Photos by Tim Blackwell – @shotsfired215

Last Thursday, Berlin Clubcommission Exective Spokesman and Creative Footprint founder Lutz Leichsenring gave a lecture to the public and the 24HrPHL community at Liaison Room in Philadelphia. After the lecture, panelists Chris Ward, Larisa Kingston Mann, George Lawrence, the audience and moderator Michael Fichman held a discussion about nightlife and the city. Topics discussed included the role of the artist in the economy, the power of organizing and protest, the role of race in American vs European club culture, gentrification and more.

The event was recorded in its entirety and is streaming for free on the 24HrPHL Soundcloud.

You can view the contents of Lutz’s presentation in PDF form.

Many thanks to Lutz Leichsenring, Liaison Room, Shawn Ryan, Tim Blackwell, PennPraxis, Knight Foundation and 880 Cities for their support of this event.

The Knight Foundation and 880 Cities awarded 24HrPHL’s Michael Fichman a fellowship for his community engagement work in the Philadelphia nightlife arts and culture community. The fellowship lasts one year and supports some of the engagement work 24HrPHL is doing. Hear his audio submission describing his project: