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Posting will be light today on account of the national holiday.

But we wouldn’t leave you out to dry; see below for our guide to all things MLK happening throughout the city today to commemorate one of our nation’s most celebrated Civil Rights heroes.

Note that all national parks have free admission in honor of today’s holiday, 18 of which are located in our state.

We’ll be back tomorrow morning with new theater shows opening, awesome restaurant deals and more.

• Free Philadelphia Orchestra Concert: The Philadelphia Orchestra is giving Philadelphia a different way to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Today at 3 p.m. the orchestra is holding its 22nd annual FREE Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert. The concert will be held, appropriately, at Martin Luther King High School, hosting the concert for the seventh consecutive year. The orchestra will play alongside the School District of Philadelphia’s All City Choir. Reserve your spot online.

• The National Museum of American Jewish History MLK Day Programming: Free admission is granted for all who visit the museum today between 10 a.m.-5 p.m. to take part in a selection of events including self-guided tours which pay tribute to the struggles and efforts made for equality in America. A screening of Eyes on the Prize, a TV series documenting interviews and historical footage during the civil rights movement will be shown in the museum’s Dell Theater. In addition, NMAJH is partnering with the Fleisher Art Memorial, a tuition-free visual art school in Philadelphia, to inspire the little ones to get a bit creative with a special watercolor project from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

• MLK Day at the National Constitution Center: The center’s day of remembrance today will include dramatic performances, an opera, service projects and craft activities, all of which are free with museum admission. At noon, a live reading of Dr. King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech will be performed by local actors and students.

• MLK Day at the Franklin Institute: Listen to the powerful and inspiring words of Dr. King’s speech before hundreds of thousands of civil rights supporters at the 1963 March on Washington, played every hour on the hour at the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial inside the institute. There will be scavenger hunts, storytelling, coloring activities and more, all day long.

• MLK Day Kensington Neighborhood Clean-up: Take today as an opportunity to help clean up the Kensington neighborhood, organized by NKCDC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing East Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond.

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service at the African American Museum: Join AAMP, Citizens Bank, neighbors and volunteers for a day of service and celebration of the life and principles of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There will be a full day of activities, entertainment, opportunities for service-learning. Think performances by the Philadelphia CLef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble and Freedom Choir of Philadelphia, a Historical Scavenger Hunt, a chance to meet the Phillie Phanatic and more.

• Interested in other ways of participating in MLK Day in Philly? Register to volunteer at one of the 1,200 service projects throughout the city that day, or create your own personal service project within your own community.

Join the African American Museum in Philadelphia for two days of Kwanzaa celebrations, December 28 and December 31.

On Wednesday, December 28 from 1-1:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 31 from noon-12:30 p.m., there will be a special candle-lighting ceremony.

Learn the meaning of Kwanzaa and its rituals, discuss the Nguzo Saba, or Seven Principles, witness the candle-lighting, and sing along with Mlanjeni’s Magical Theater in this family-friendly program.

Then from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and 12:30-1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Camara Arts will teach a Drum and Dance Workshop. Get the whole family moving towards a healthy, active new year while connecting through traditional African movement and music.

Wednesday from 2:30-4:30 p.m., or Saturday 1:30-3:30 p.m., Martina Johnson Allen and Tanya Murphy Dodd will teach a Mixing Media Art Workshop appropriate for all ages, drawing on themes from AAMP’s current exhibition, Mixing Metaphors.

Finally, from 3-4:30 p.m. on both days, the museum will screen The Black Candle, an explosive documentary that uses Kwanzaa as a vehicle to celebrate the African American experience. It’s narrated by Maya Angelou and directed by award-winning author and filmmaker M.K. Asante, Jr.

Bonus: attend the Wednesday Kwanzaa Celebration and you can enter for a chance to win 2 Southwest Airlines Tickets to anywhere that Southwest flies!

All Kwanzaa activities are free with museum admission.

Kwanzaa Celebrations at the African American Museum in Philadelphia
When: Wednesday, December 28 and Saturday, December 31
Where: 701 Arch Street
Cost: Adults $10, Kids 4-12/Students/Seniors $8
More info: www.aampmuseum.org

On September 21, the African American Museum in Philadelphia will unveil a dynamic new exhibition, Mixing Metaphors: The Aesthetic, the Social and the Political in African American Art.

Mixing Metaphors is composed of more than 90 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures and mixed media works by 36 artists, including talented Philadelphia native Allen Edmonds.

The exhibit was guest curated by Deborah Willis and will help celebrate the AAMP’s 35th anniversary. Willis says, “I wanted to focus on how African-American artists define and explore the concepts of beauty and abstraction when depicting moments from the extraordinary to the mundane.”

You can get tickets online.

Mixing Metaphors: The Aesthetic, the Social and the Political in African American Art
When: September 21-December 31
Where: African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street
Cost: Adults $10, Kids 4-12/Students/Seniors $8
More info: www.aampmuseum.org

The "A Tribute to Urban Horseman" is one of 47 murals throughout the city that celebrate African American culture in Philadelphia.
(Photo courtesy the Mural Arts Program)

The Mural Arts Program, in partnership with the African American Museum, is launching the Albert M. Greenfield African American Iconic Images Collection, which highlights 47 murals that uniquely capture the rich African American experience in Philadelphia — including murals of icons like Patti LaBelle, the Tuskegee Airmen, Malcolm X and many more.

The hub of the collection will be the brand-new interactive website where users can get an in-depth look into each of the murals through commentary from scholars, community leaders and artists. The site will also provide the tools to get out and explore the collection on your own with the self-guided tour, which features a downloadable audio podcast narrated by The Roots’ Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson plus a map highlighting the locations of 21 murals throughout the city.

On Saturday, February 26, the first public guided tours of the collection will depart from the Independence Visitor Center. Beginning at 11 a.m., free one-hour tours will depart from the center every half hour until 2 p.m. To make a tour reservation, visit the Mural Arts Program’s official site.

If you can’t make it this Saturday, monthly public tours of the collection will take place the last Saturday of each month at 10 a.m., beginning March 26 at the African American Museum. The tour lasts two hours explores 21 murals aboard a trolley and the tour-ticket also includes admission to the African American Museum.

In addition to the new website and the various tour options, monthly special events celebrating the Albert M. Greenfield African American Iconic Images Collection will take place every month in various locations around the city, concluding in October with an exhibition at the African American Museum. Information on all things related to the collections will be available at the official site.

Albert M. Greenfield African American Iconic Images Collection Free Guided Tour & Opening Celebration
When: Saturday, February 26, 2011; 11 a.m.
Where: Independence Visitor Center, 6th and  Market Streets
Cost: Free
More info: www.muralarts.org/iconicimages

Museum Day = A great Saturday in Philly. (Photo by G. Widman for GPTMC)

Get your culture on for free this Saturday, September 25th, thanks to the sixth annual Museum Day.

In the Philadelphia region, approximately 20 museums are giving their sales staff the day off and inviting the public to experience their collections for free.

All you have to do to is go the official Museum Day website, fill out the form, and download the required ticket.

And here are some ideas for what you could do with your Museum Day ticket, good for admission to one museum for you and a guest:

• The Franklin Institute – Cleopatra isn’t included in the admission, but when’s the last time you walked through The Giant Heart or tested your skills in The Sports Challenge? Plus, the museum’s totally re-imagined Changing Earth and Electricity exhibits opened earlier this year.

• Brandywine River Museum – Fall in love with the Philadelphia countryside all over again when you browse the breathtaking works of the suburb-loving Wyeth family. While you’re there, check out the current exhibition, Reality Check: Contemporary American Trompe l’Oeil.

• The African American Museum in Philadelphia – Meet some people who lived and worked in 18th-century Philadelphia through life-size, 3-D projections in the Audacious Freedom exhibition, and then go beyond the textbook account of Rosa Parks with 381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story.

• Scott Arboretum – It might not be a museum, but Saturday’s weather definitely calls for some outdoor activities. So take in the last of the beautiful weather by strolling the arboretum’s 300 acres, and then join the tour of the three onsite green roofs.

• Rosenbach Museum & Library – Head to the picture-perfect 2100 block of Delancey Place and step inside this unassuming townhouse to find rare literary treasures, including original manuscripts of Ulysses and Alice in Wonderland and 10,000 drawings, notes and editions belonging to Maurice Sendak.

Additional participating museums include The Academy of Natural Sciences, PAFA, Penn Museum, ICA, The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Independence Seaport Museum and The Pearl S. Buck House.

To see a full list of participating museums, visit the Museum Day’s website. Also check out their FAQs.

Museum Day [Official Site]

Summer is flying! Believe it or not we’re already in week 14 of of the “Phanatic Around Town” photo submission contest.

There aren’t many statues left to feature, so keep sending in your photos for a chance to receive free Philly baseball gear. Check out last week’s winner after the jump.

Week Fourteen’s featured Phanatic Around Town location: The African American Museum in Philadelphia

This week’s featured statue is the African American Museum in Philadelphia’s “Tribute” statue and the deadline to submit your photo is Monday, July 19th.

(more…)

Life-sized 3D characters greet visitors at The African American Museum in Philadelphia’s permanent exhibition, Audacious Freedom – African Americans in Philadelphia, 1776-1876.

As the characters speak fervently about their lives, beliefs and aspirations in 18th-century Philadelphia, listeners are immersed in their world. (Photos by G. Widman)

Audacious Freedom [gophila.com]