A sampling of things going on around the hoods today. There may be more in the happenings section (our ever-expanding listings). Send your listings to editor [at] westphillylocal.com

• Members-only sneak preview • 7 p.m.-10 p.m. • University City Arts League • 4226 Spruce St.

UC Arts League members get a sneak preview of the handcrafted items up for sale in the annual Holiday Craft Show and Sale. The show is open to the general public on Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and then again Monday through Friday 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

• The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society presents fantasy novelist Ellen Kushner • 9 p.m. • The Rotunda • 4014 Walnut St. • Free

Ellen Kushner is a writer of fantasy novels and the host of the radio program Sound & Spirit, produced by WGBH in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International.

• Emil Baumann: Return To The Future exhibition opens today at the Second Floor Gallery • 6 p.m.-9 p.m. • 3809 Pearl Street

Emil Baumann’s present body of work and his exploration of yet another dimension of painting: Still Life. Also on display, Emil Baumann’s recent ceramic art. The exhibition will run Dec 10-Dec 23. For more information call: 215-382-1541.

City and private planning officials last night unveiled an “action plan” to turn 500 acres of vacant lots, desolate schoolyards and derelict parks into revitalized green space.

Green2015: An Action Plan for the First 500 Acres is the result of cooperation between the city and PennPraxis, the hands-on branch of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. It’s ambitious and expensive, although the city maintains that the costs will be kept low thanks to private and community partnerships and the fact that many of the sites under consideration will be relatively easy to green-up.

The idea is to create green space where there isn’t much, particularly for the 200,000 or so Philadelphians who live further than a 10-minute walk from a public park. A caveat: These spaces won’t necessarily be turned into “parks.” Some will be spruced up school playgrounds, for example. Many are an acre or less.

The city is inviting citizen feedback here.

Here are some “opportunity sites” in West Philly that the plan mentions:

• Walnut Hill Community Park and Farm (pictured left). This project on a quarter-acre lot near 46th and Market is actually already underway and will include a pocket park and an urban garden (p. 79).

Green 2015

The Provident Mutual Building at 46th and Market in its glory days from an old postcard.

(UPDATE: The Preservation Alliance is holding an art show Friday that includes pieces inspired by the buildings on the endangered list. The show is at the Globe Dye Works (4500 Worth Street) and starts at 7 p.m. Half the proceeds go toward the Alliance’s Advocacy Fund.)

The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building at 46th and Market, that majestic, cupola topped building overlooking the El tracks, is eroding before our eyes and it is still unclear whether help is on the way. The building is one of many that the Preservation Alliance of Philadelphia has identified as “still endangered”  in its eighth annual Endangered Properties List released today. The list is full of sad stories of landmark buildings that have fallen into disrepair.

The list also includes the Divine Lorraine Hotel on North Broad Street, the Germantown Town Hall on Germantown Avenue and 109 Elfreth’s Alley.

Built in 1926 by Cram and Ferguson, the Provident Mutual building was abandoned when the company moved in 1983. Parts of the building have been occupied by a hodgepodge of agencies over the years. The building has been considered for the relocation of both the Philadelphia Family Court and the Philadelphia Police Headquarters. The Family Court contract went elsewhere (under a cloud of alleged corruption) and the estimated $70 million rehab price tag has made the police move doubtful, at least for now.

Sadly, the building is not on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, making it even more likely to be ignored, according to the Preservation Alliance.

Here is the Endangered Properties list:
Preservation Alliance 2010 Endangered Properties List

The next All Around This World session, Jay Sand’s songs, rhythms and movement extravaganza for kids, starts tomorrow. This time Jay and the little ones will be having a look and listen to Eastern Europe and the Baltics. The 45-minute classes are aimed at kids 0-8 and are divided into age categories.

The full schedule is here. The winter session runs through March 5 and includes a holiday break from December 20 – January 2. All of the classes take place in Jay and family’s West Philly living room.

Jay and friends will also also be holding events at two local shops over the next few weeks. The first, with Cat’s Pajamas’ Emily Bate, will be at Milk and Honey on Saturday, December 11 at 2 p.m. This is a free workshop, but space is very limited. RSVP here. Another, a workshop with the Eastern European women’s vocal ensemble Svitanya,  is Sunday, December 12 at 4 p.m. at the Green Line Cafe at 45th and Locust. This workshop costs $10 for one child, $5 for first sibling and $3 for second sibling. More to come on the others.

Books Through Bars, a renowned West Philadelphia non-profit that makes educational resources and programming available to prisoners who are trying to improve themselves and change during their time inside, is hosting a film festival this week at different venues around West Philly to commemorate its 20th anniversary.

The festival features 17 films stretched across six evenings, Dec. 5 through Dec. 12. Each night will include a brief introduction from local organizers and activists who will connect the films to local issues.

Light refreshments – popcorn and cider – will be available for purchase, as will the Books Through Bars 20th Anniversary commemorative poster designed and printed by Eric Ruin (see left, click to enlarge), which is really (really) cool. Proceeds will go toward Books Through Bars’ ongoing work.

The film schedule is below. The venues and times change, so be alert. The Dec. 12th edition, for example, is a matinee.

Wednesday, Dec. 8
WOMEN IN PRISON
7:30 PM @ West Philly Acupuncture, 50th & Baltimore (above Dock St. Pub)
Introduction by Naima Black, from MoMobile (& former lead organizer of the AFSC StopMax Campaign)
Featured films:
Charisse Shumate: Fighting for Our Lives, 2004, 37 min
An examination of the conditions of medical neglect facing women prisoners in the CA system, seen through the lens of Shumate’s efforts to bring a class action lawsuit forward to improve her own and other’s circumstances.
Eyes of the Rainbow, 1997, 45 min
An unusual doc on Assata Shakur, filmed primarily in Cuba, and narrated by fellow political exile Nehanda Abioudon
OUT: The Making of a Revolutionary, 2000, 60 min
A portrait of the life and actions of former political prisoner and current prison activist Laura Whitehorn.

Thursday, Dec. 9
IMMIGRATION DETENTION: The Racialized Face of U.S. Incarceration
7:30 PM @ Cindergarden, 4823 Baltimore Ave.
Introduction by Mia-lia Kiernan, Cambodian Community Organizer
Featured Films:
Exiled in America, 10 min
Uses the portrait of a single family’s experience to highlight the current landscape of immigrant detention and deportation in the U.S.
I Won’t Drown on That Levee & You Ain’t Gonna Break My Back, directed by Ashley Hunt, 2006, 31 min
Looks at the impact of the police state on New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, as well as the conditions faced by prisoners held in New Orleans Prison Parish at the time of the levee break.
The Least of These: Family Detention in America, 2008, 60 min
Story of the Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Texas, run by the Corrections Corp of America (CCA) and the legal/community efforts to contest conditions there.

Friday, Dec. 10
YOUTH INCARCERATION: The School to Prison Pipeline
7:30 PM @ A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave
Introduction by Members of the Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (YASP), whose film “Stolen Dreams” will be one of the featured pieces this evening.
Featured Films:
Books Through Bars, produced by Media That Matters, 4 min. A brief piece that draws connections between the increasing criminalization of youth in general, particularly in the context of the public school system, and the juvenile prison system.System Failure, produced by Media That Matters, 8 min. A critical portrait of the California Youth Authority System
Stolen Dreams, 2010, 26 min
A look at the local Philadelphia/Pennsylvania landscape of youth incarceration and its costs, produced by Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project
CCJT$: At What cost?, 2004, 26 min
An examination of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, a max facility for youth, produced by Youth Rights Media

Saturday, Dec. 11 – Double Feature!!
POLITICAL PRISONERS: In the U.S. and Internationally
6 PM & 8 PM @ A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave
Introduction by Dan Berger, Wild Poppies Collective (6 PM) and David Anthem, BTB (8 PM)
Featured Films:
Through The Wire, directed by Nina Roseblum, 1990, 77 min
An expose of conditions at an underground isolation cellblock constructed at the Federal Corrections Institute in Lexington, KY to house three well-known female political prisoners of the anti-imperialist and Puerto Rican independence movements.
Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen, 2008, 96 min
An intimate cinematic exploration of the conditions faced by IRA prisoners in England’s prisons and, in particular, Bobby Sand’s death during the hunger strikes orchestrated to resist that environment.

Sunday, Dec. 12
THE PRISON ECONOMY
2 PM @ A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave
Introduction by Emily Abendroth, BTB
Featured Films:
Excerpt from The Farm: Angola, USA, 1998, 10 min
In its entirety, this film focuses on the lives, stories, and cases of six different men incarcerated in Angola prison. We will be looking at just a single clip of one of those men’s appearance before the Angola parole board.
Excerpt from The Last Slave Plantation and the Angola 3, 2006, 45 min
A look at the history, legacy, and ongoing resistance struggles to current conditions at Angola Prison in Louisiana – narrated by Mumia Abu Jamal.
Prison Town, USA, directed by Po Kutchins & Katie Galloway, 2008, 75 min
Looks at Susanville, CA’s current incarnation as a “prison town,” wherein half of the adults residing there work at one of the area’s three massive prisons.