Photo courtesy of Make Music Philly’s website

This summer, Make Music Philly (MMP) will return for its second year of spreading good vibes and tunes across the city. The organizers behind MMP, though, want to make the free one-day festival on June 21 bigger than the inaugural showing, and they’re looking for your help.

Early this month, Make Music Philly launched its first-ever Kickstarter Campaign, “You Make Music Philly,” to raise funds for marketing, social media and advertising efforts that will cast MMP’s net even wider this year. So far, since launching, Make Music Philly 2014 has raised a little over $1,700 of its lofty $20,000 goal. The fundraiser has 10 more days to go, ending on Friday, April 11.

“The inaugural Make Music Philly was by all counts a huge success,” Natalie Diener, coordinator for this year’s MMP event, told West Philly Local.  “Our biggest hope for year two is for Make Music Philly to reach beyond the boundaries of Center City—for each neighborhood to really take ownership of the MMP events in their area.”

According to Diener, part of the goal this year is to double the number of citywide events to 300 (last year, there were 150 performances and 50 involved organizations). Kickstarter donations will be used to achieved this goal by funding an improved website, print marketing materials like this flier, media advertising, and tee shirts for attendees, volunteers and donors.

“The best way for us to reach into every neighborhood and across every demographic is to get the festival’s name out there in every media,” said Diener. “Our neighborhood outreach is being done entirely grassroots right now. We are making great strides to get new venues and artists involved, but the Kickstarter funds would be a tremendous help.”

Like last year, Make Music Philly will kick off at 8 a.m. and end at 8 p.m., and include all the do-it-yourself ingenuity Make Music Day—of which MMP is a part—is known for, for free. But there is one change: MMP will hold a grand finale spectacular at Penn’s Landing at the close of the june 21 festival, said Diener.

Interested venues and musicians can login and sign up here to register for Make Music Philly 2014. For more information, visit makemusicphilly.org or check out MMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

–Annamarya Scaccia

AUNI alumni (Photo via AUNI website).

The wonderful young folks from the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI), a school-based program of the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, are hosting a delicious fundraiser on Saturday, March 29. The annual Eats and Beats community dinner is an event that showcases youth leadership and skills and also helps raise funds for AUNI’s High School Internship Program.

West Philly Local wrote about AUNI’s youth efforts to grow and sell organic food in West Philadelphia. AUNI also offers healthy cooking lessons to high-school students and older community members and teaches how to tend to school gardens and operate farmers markets and CSAs.

Eats and Beats serves a locally sourced, 4-course organic meal prepared and grown by youth interns, featuring ingredients from local farms, restaurants and businesses, including Bon Appetit, Franklin Fountain, Guacamole, Milk and Honey, Lancaster Farm Fresh, John and Kira’s Chocolates, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, Pure Fare and Tara’s Catering. The event will also include live entertainment and speakers, a silent auction and raffle with gift certificates to restaurants, yoga, fitness and cooking classes, and locally-made arts and crafts.

The event will take place at the Mantua Haverford Community Center (631 N. 39th Street) from 5:30-8:30 p.m.. Suggested minimum donation is $25. Click here for more information and to RSVP.

UC Green volunteers at The Woodlands.

UC Green, a nonprofit organization that with the help of volunteers (over 2,000 people annually) plants trees and cleans and maintains public gardens and open spaces in West Philly neighborhoods, is celebrating 15 years of service to the community this month. To mark the anniversary, UC Green will hold a cocktail reception and a fundraiser, called “The Harvest Moon Social,” on Thursday, Sept. 26 at the Hamilton Mansion in Woodlands cemetery (40th & Woodland). The food will be served by Harvest Restaurant which specializes in a high quality, farm fresh menu with ingredients supplied by local farmers. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased through Facebook.

UC Green’s mission is to empower volunteer environmental stewardship in West Philly communities through partnerships and education. Their programs include the summer pruning club of active volunteers that have pruned street trees for 10 years, which greatly increased their chances of survival in tough urban environments. In addition, the UC Green Corps of local, underserved youth has just completed its seventh year of service. Their latest project was the renewal of street trees and pits on 40th and Market Streets.

For more information about UC Green and its work, visit: http://www.ucgreen.org/

The Mill Creek Farm, the pretty terrific urban farming project near 49th and Brown, is hosting a mixer/fundraiser on Thursday called … wait for it … “weed dating”!

This thing kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with a weed identification lesson, then you’ll “jump right into weeding and a few rounds of getting to know the person across your row,” according to the invitation. All of that weeding will be followed by music and refreshments. 

Now there is a charge for this thing – it is a fundraiser after all – and there is a limited number of spots. Admission is $12 and you can order tickets here. It is also BYOM (Bring Your Own Mug) and is restricted to those 21 and over. No farming experience necessary, but dress to get dirty.

This is from the event Q & A:

Q: What does my ticket price support?

A: Your ticket supports Mill Creek Farm’s educational and food security programs for the fall of 2013. Mill Creek Farm is dedicated to improving access to healthy food, buidling a healthy community and environment, and promoting a just and sustainable food system – and we couldn’t do it without you!

Q: I am gay, can I participate? or I just want to meet like minded people, can I participate?

A: Everyone is welcome. While we can’t guarantee that there will be a match for every attendee, we do hope that we will meet some great friends in the process.

Have you ever dreamed of fixing an old boat and sailing it around the world? A group of young people led by hacker/anarchist/sailor Moxie Marlinspike did just that: they traveled to Florida, bought a junked boat, fixed it up and sailed it around the Bahamas, capturing their experience on a camcorder bought and later returned to Best Buy. This ultimate adventure movie, titled Hold Fast, is screening Thursday night (June 27), beginning at 7 p.m., at Cedar Works (4919 Pentridge St.) and everyone is invited, including families with children.

The film screening is a fundraiser for West Philly-based group AIDS Policy Project comprised of longtime activists pushing for a cure for AIDS for everyone who needs one. At Thursday’s event, the group members will be selling delicious snacks, raffling off boat trips and other nautical stuff, and “telling stories of maritime calamity and fun,” according to Executive Director and West Philly neighbor Kate Krauss. If you like, you can bring your maritime disaster story to share. If you bring your kids they can play on a big, fenced-in patio and still watch the movie through the glass wall.

Tickets are $10 to $20 on a sliding scale and can be purchased online or at the door. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the AIDS Policy Project website.

Here’s a good chance to support the University City Arts League (UCAL). Their annual auction and dinner, “Spring Fling,” is this Saturday (June 1), 6-10 p.m. This year, the event is being held at the Hall of Flags, Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania (3421 Spruce Street) and tickets are still available. The auction raises funds for children’s arts programs, summer camp scholarships and other programs and operational expenses. Tickets are $65 for one or $120 for two and you get access to silent and live auctions, open bar, dinner and live music.

The evening will be divided into two segments: a silent auction from 6 to 7:30 p.m. where an estimated 150 items and gift certificates will be available for bidding and a live auction, beginning at 8 p.m. The auctions include items from a cabin in Vermont to oriental rugs to an iPad to dinner at some of the city’s most popular restaurants.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.regonline.com/ucal. For more information, visit http://ucartsleague.org/