We are very excited to share that today we are speaking to Corey, one of the organisers of Fun A Day Philadelphia aka the original, first ever, Fun A Day!

Hi Corey! Please can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to run Fun A Day Philadelphia? Do you run it alone, or is there a team of you?

I’m one of the original organizers of Fun-A-Day, along with Nick, Kara, and Mike. Our first show was at Nick’s house in January 2005. The concept spread via flyers and word of mouth – there was no signing up, the idea was just to drop off your art at Nick’s house the day of the show, and that night would be a party. We had no clue if 10 people or 100 people did a project. We quickly realized as the projects came in during that day that we were going to have a full house later that night! Since then we have had Fun-A-Day shows every year, except in 2020 😦 Nick and Kara are still involved in various ways, but Mike and I still live in Philadelphia and help organize the show every year. We do it as a community, with support from our friends at Studio 34 Yoga (who have hosted 13 out of 16 shows!) and all of the amazing creative people who participate year in-year out, or are doing it for the first time.

How long has Fun A Day Philadelphia been happening and on average how many participants do you have?

60-ish projects seems to be the average. 80-ish was the most we ever had. Luckily we have never run out of space at Studio 34. I never think that the show needs to “scale up” and get bigger – in fact the year after we had 80 projects, I purposely promoted the show a little less to get the numbers back down. The consistent level of participation from the community feels correct.

We have a huge variety of participants and types of creativity here at FADD and it must be the same in Philadelphia! Could you tell us about some of the projects your community has made this year?

People posted lots of drawings this year. Some Gameboy Camera pics too. With no show due to COVID-19, I kind of disconnected from the performative internet posting of projects to just get away from the ever present Screen. I chose not to organize some kind of online show because I felt the anarchic beauty of an IRL art show just couldn’t be replicated in a hierarchical Zoom format… best of luck to you and everyone doing it! I miss real art shows

You weren’t able to have a show this year due to the pandemic but I know you’ve had lots in the past. Do you have a fun story or two about past shows?

One project had a dead bird as part of it. One year there were acrobats hanging from the ceiling. A couple’s first date was at Fun-A-Day, they later got married! The room of found sticks. The cardboard pinball machines. The clay sculptures from Mexico. So many weird/great/joyous performances. Projects so honest they make you cry, or so funny they make you cry! People coming out through snow, rain, freezing temperatures. Seeing friends, making new friends, getting to know people better.

The thing I like best about Fun-A-Day is that I get to see the astounding creativity of the people in my community. These titans can do anything, and they can do things in ways that I would never even think possible. It’s really an honor to be able to help organize something that brings the people in my neighborhood together to bask in the power of creative ingenuity. Together we live in abundance!

Thank you so much for talking with us, Corey! Fingers crossed that by the time of next year’s FAD there will be IRL art exhibitions again.

Here are some albums of photos from Fun A Day Philadelphia, thank you Corey for the links:

Further photos can be found at:

http://artclash.com/fungallery/pages/Fun-A-Day.htm

http://artclash.com/fungallery/pages/P2110008.htm

http://artclash.com/fadpics/index.php?photo=1https://www.flickr.com/photos/karaschlind/5457034559/in/album-72157625959257073/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/karaschlind/5457650850/in/album-72157625959257073/