Thank you to everyone who contributed to and came out for Ars Nova’s first annual fundraiser, which was held on the 19th anniversary of our very first presentation! We celebrated jazz giant Dave Burrell in style, with remarks by Ars Nova board member Germaine Ingram, who presented Dave with a handmade book of photographs, and a transporting performance by two of Dave’s long-time collaborators: percussionist Chad Taylor and bassist William Parker. They performed a very special duet on mbira and doson ngoni that was memorable and mesmerizing.

All our guests enjoyed abundant food provided by Liberty Kitchen, Hungry Pigeon, South Philly Barbacoa, South Philly Smokhaus, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and more, and some great Tired Hands beers and wine from Vine St. Imports, as well as tastes of some very special Powers Whiskey. Thank you to ALL of these generous partners!

Thanks also to Jamie at Print Natural for designing the invitations, Fireball Printing for printing them, and Revival Letterpress for making some beautiful notecards for us, and to Vine & Vault in East Falls for the beautiful flower arrangements. And finally: thanks to Space & Company, and our board member Michael Garden, for opening up the amazing space at 22nd & Walnut to us.

Last but not least, our talented friend Ryan Collerd worked hard to mount a special exhibition of photographs of some of our most memorable musicians and performances from the last 10 years. Many of these photographs are still available for sale, and they’re still available for viewing at Space & Company, for the time being. Please contact us at info@arsnovworkshop.org if you have any questions.

We can’t believe it took us this long to have our first fundraiser. We can’t wait for the next one! We hope to see you all next year.