EXEMPLARY SOCIAL SERVICES
HOSTED BY SACRED PLACES
Art Sanctuary
at Church of the Advocate
by Ann de Forest
For a few sultry nights this past spring, North
Philadelphia’s landmark Church of the Advocate was
transformed into Harlem’s Cotton Club, circa 1940. On
stage, teenage performers bedecked in vintage finery
channeled stars of a bygone era – Ray Charles, Etta
James, Billie Holiday. “This joint is jumpin’,” they sang,
and by the end of an evening that interwove old-time
jazz standards with hip-hop dance, African drumming,
and spoken-word poetry, the audience was jumping
too. The crowd was on its feet for the finale, clapping
to a rousing version of Stevie Wonder’s empowering
anthem, “Higher Ground.”
The North Stars Afterschool Program, in which 12- to
18-year olds study music, poetry, voice, and dance with
accomplished professional artists free of charge, is just
one of several high-impact programs initiated and run
by Art Sanctuary, a community arts organization based
at Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia. As
the brainchild of Philadelphia writer Lorene Cary, Art
Sanctuary was originally founded to bring prominent
African-American writers and performers to innercity audiences all too often overlooked by national
book and concert tours. At Art Sanctuary’s recent
Reading in Concert series, for example, Pulitzer-prize
winning playwright Charles Fuller spoke informally to
an audience of high school students at Church of the
Advocate about his craft, his career, and his formative
years spent in the housing projects just a few blocks
away.
“Art Sanctuary just doesn’t fit neatly