Q&A with new PHS chief Drew Becher: ‘It’s just very flattering’

Posted on Fri, Feb. 26, 2010 http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/85456882.html#axzz0o1PCviPy

By CHRISTINE FISHER
Philadelphia Daily News

fisherc@phillynews.com 215-854-5444

On Feb. 10, just weeks before the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show was scheduled to open, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society announced that Drew Becher will succeed President Jane Pepper, who has held the title since 1985. Becher, executive director of the New York Restoration Project, starts as PHS president-elect in March.

Q. What were your initial thoughts when you learned you were a candidate for the PHS job?

A. I was thrilled. I mean, this is a job that I had been looking at basically for the last 15 years of my career because I had always looked when I was working for Mayor Daley in Chicago and then in D.C. and New York. I was always looking at PHS and what they were doing because they’ve always been leaders in greening, landscapes and horticulture.

Q. What is your involvement going to be in this year’s flower show?

A. I will be there full time, starting at the chairman’s dinner through the preview party, and then I’ll be there every single day.

I’ve always seen it from the other side. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.

Q. What are your plans for PHS?

A. I really want to focus on the marquee program, Philadelphia Green, and expand that and community gardening – really take that to the next level.

Q. Are there New York Restoration Project programs or initiatives that you want to bring to Philadelphia?

A. I know there’s a tree-planting program [here], TreeVitalize. I really want to focus on that. We did MillionTreesNYC in New York, and I think that communities rallying around planting trees is just a win-win-win.

Q. Of your professional work thus far, what are you most proud of?

A. I would say MillionTreesNYC is great, but actually what I’m most proud of is in Chicago when we did the paradigm shift and created the idea that parks and open spaces were important, and people actually focused on the landscape and greening in Chicago.

People now think it’s a necessity not a nicety, and it’s something that’s really important.

Q. While working with NYRP, you increased funding by 250 percent and raised $6 million for revitalization programs. What funding goals do you have for Philadelphia?

A. I’m going to set my sights high. PHS is the greening organization in this nation, and I think that Philadelphia should be the city that, when people talk about sustainability and greening and horticulture and landscape architecture, Philadelphia should be up there with the Seattles and Chicagos. With that will come the funding.

Q. How do you feel about taking over for Jane Pepper, who has such a legacy in Philadelphia?

A. I am honored to be chosen as the person to succeed Jane because I have just been in awe of what she’s been able to do. For actually all of my career so far she’s been in charge of PHS. It’s just very flattering.

Philadelphia Daily News: African American Children’s Book Fair

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/83620102.html

Posted on Fri, Feb. 5, 2010

African American Children’s Book Fair includes illustrators who plot life lessons

By CHRISTINE FISHER
Philadelphia Daily News

fisherc@phillynews.com 215-854-5444

The adage that a picture speaks a thousands words holds especially true in the world of children’s books, where audiences link entire stories to illustrations.

Later this month, children’s book illustrators along with authors and publishers will share their work with fans at the 18th annual African American Children’s Book Fair held at the Community College of Philadelphia. Because of this weekend’s threatening snowstorm, the fair which was originally scheduled for tomorrow, will take place on Feb. 27.

LITTLE CLOUD AND LADY WIND, illustrated by Sean Qualls - Photo Credit: Philadelphia Daily News

Event founder Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati said illustrators are the stars of the children’s book industry.

Each illustrator has a unique approach and style, she said. “The one constant thing is that their illustrations bring a book to life.”

The award-winning illustrators attending this year’s event understand the importance of artwork in children’s literature and of making books accessible to young readers.

Eric Velasquez, who has been illustrating for more than 20 years, said that as a child his mom frequently read to him because she “hoped I’d fall in love with the words.”

“Instead I fell in love with the pictures.”

But those pictures rarely featured black faces.

Today Velasquez challenges people to imagine a world in which they do not see people like themselves in books or film and, when they do, these characters are often in antagonistic or subservient roles.

Illustrator R. Gregory Christie works to make sure such a world no longer exists.

Christie, who also will attend the book fair, illustrates books focusing on historical and cultural issues.

“When I was in school, there was a lot I didn’t learn about,” he said. In his own work, “the idea is that if you learn about a white inventor, you’re going to learn about a black inventor.”

Sean Qualls, whose illustrations were honored with the Coretta Scott King Award, credits the books he read as a child with changing the way he sees the world visually.

Like the other illustrators, Qualls uses his artwork to convey messages and themes such as the individual’s ability to overcome adversity, to believe in oneself and to pursue one’s dreams.

The goal of the African American Children’s Book Fair, which has as its mantra “take a book home,” is to bring these positive, educational messages into the homes of Philadelphia children.

Lloyd-Sgambati believes it is the responsibility of every caregiver “to have a corner of the house that is used solely for reading.”

Besides selling affordable children’s books, this year’s book fair will be able to give a limited supply of books to educators, parents and children thanks to the generosity of its sponsors, including NBC10, PECO and the Philadelphia Daily News.

18th Annual African American Children’s Book Fair, 1-3 p.m. Feb. 27, Community College of Philadelphia gymnasium, 17th and Spring Garden streets, free.

Philadelphia Daily News: Philly Felons

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/83322102.html

Posted on Tue, Feb. 2, 2010

Philly’s felons: One-man show offers unique perspectives on violent crime in the city

By CHRISTINE FISHER
Philadelphia Daily News

fisherc@phillynews.com 215-854-5444

WHEN PLAYWRIGHT Sean Christopher Lewis moved to Philadelphia from San Francisco, he was familiar with the city’s sports teams and die-hard fans, but not its violent crime.

After interviewing lifers at Graterford Prison, talking with victims of crime, and observing the city and its politics, Lewis came to know Philadelphia as a city struggling with violent crime and the fear it generates. The play he wrote and stars in, “City of Numbers, mixtape of a city,” captures the complexity of this urban issue.

Photo Credit: Philadelphia Daily News

“City of Numbers,” which opened last week, is a joint venture between the Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program and InterAct Theatre Company, and is the centerpiece of a monthlong celebration of the transformative power of art as a tool for social justice.

In this one-man show, Lewis delivers monologues spoken by more than a dozen characters – prison inmates, crime victims, political figures (including Mayor Nutter) and besieged citizens.

“City of Numbers” has been two years in the making.

In June 2008, Lewis began interviewing Graterford lifers in the Mural Arts’ Restorative Justice Program, in which inmates paint murals that are installed by volunteers in neighborhoods throughout the city. His intent was to write a 20-minute play to be produced for the prison.

He found the inmates to be incredibly helpful and forthcoming, open and often charming. Too charming, he came to believe, realizing there was more to the story than the prisoners’ perspective alone.

When he completed his work at the prison and started writing, the work “felt wrong,” he said. He realized he couldn’t paint a complete picture of crime’s reach or complexity.

With the help of victim advocacy groups, he reached out to victims of violent crime and their families. For the political perspective, he studied politicians’ public statements about crime and law enforcement, many of which found their way into the play.

By expanding the scope of the play, it grew to the current 75-minute, documentary-style drama that is on stage at the Adrienne Theatre.

“Whenever a project like this starts, you never know where it’s going to go,” said Robyn Buseman, director of the Mural Arts Restorative Justice Program. “It’s a really thought-provoking piece that he came up with.”

Buseman, who has more than 20 years of experience in criminal justice, said that “City of Numbers” captures the complexity of the issue.

“It’s wonderful in the fact that it captures each phase of crime” from offenders, to victims, to political figures and the families living in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Before the play debuted in Philadelphia last week, Lewis workshopped it in cities across the country.

The response was enthusiastic and heartening.

“As a writer, you always hope it will connect with people,” he said. “An amazing thing is people would come up to me after or e-mail me after with amazing, incredibly personal stories.”

The feedback “has almost become a second act at this point. I’m a moderator as much as a participant,” Lewis said.

Besides “City of Numbers,” InterAct and the Mural Arts Program will host a free discussion with Nutter and other city officials on Feb. 15, an exhibition of art created through the Restorative Justice Program and a Young Voices Monologue Festival.

Lewis hopes the collaboration will provoke further conversation and sees dialogue as a key to solving the city’s intractable crime problem.

“Once headlines die down, people don’t really talk about it,” he said. “The idealist in me wants to say, ‘Don’t stop the conversation till [crime] is at zero.’ “

“City of Numbers: mixtape of a city,” Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom St., 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Feb. 21. $25-$29. Tickets: 215-568-8079, www.InterActTheater.org.

Citizens In Action, Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom St., 7 p.m. Feb. 15, panel discussion with Mayor Nutter, Ellen T. Greenlee, chief defender, Philadelphia’s Defenders Association, Everett A. Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, and Jane Golden, executive director of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Free.