Philadelphia arts lovers, artists interact through Fourth Wall Arts Salon

THE MOMENT singer Jessi Teich's burgundy double-strapped Mary Jane pumps stopped pressing the keyboard pedal, applause burst from the packed room.

As the noise subsided and the crowd began to murmur excitedly, someone in the audience proclaimed the sentiment of the evening: "This is not a waste of a Saturday night."

Only halfway through the Fourth Wall Arts Salon's most recent program, held in the converted rowhouse headquarters of the city's Mural Arts Program at 17th and Mt. Vernon streets, salon-goers already had heard Italian opera, spoken poetry and vintage music.

They'd seen a display of vividly hued paintings by Yadira Leticia Torres that "honor the really strong women in my life." She also brought a painting depicting a horned, devilish creature.

"Yes, that is the male," she said in response to a question from the audience. "I have some issues."

"We'd never heard of Fourth Wall before, and we live just three blocks away," said James Thibault, who came with his wife, Isa, to support Torres, his sister-in-law. "This definitely isn't a waste of a Saturday."

Elijah Dornstreich, Keir Johnston and Alexandria "Brinae Ali" Bradley founded Fourth Wall Arts Salon because they saw something missing from the Philadelphia arts community: a communal place where art lovers could go to experience artists from every crevice of the city, and, in connection, where those artists could gain exposure.

"We took action in response to a void," said Johnston, an artist who works for the Mural Arts Program. "Some of the most talented people in the city are being under deserved because people don't know where to find all these different types of people in one spot."

Together, Dornstreich, a real-estate agent for 13 years, Johnston and Bradley, a multifaceted performing artist, use their web of connections to produce a monthly showcase of regional talent for Philadelphia audiences. A nonprofit, Fourth Wall held its first salon in May at the Media Bureau in Northern Liberties. Saturday's salon will be held at the Steel Pony, a boutique in South Philly; a Nov. 27 salon will be held at the Jeanne Ruddy Dance Performance Garage in Fairmount.

The original setting for the salons was supposed to be in the comfort of Dornstreich's South Philadelphia home, but when word began to spread, "it outgrew the idea of my living room," he said.

A hundred people attended the first salon. For the August salon, 260 people made their way to Center City's Trinity Center for Urban Life.

"We booked most of our venues before we knew our full capacity to get a crowd," Dornstreich said. "The salons have proven more popular than we projected."

Dornstreich foresees a 125-member audience for Saturday's salon, Steel Pony's maximum capacity. He is on the hunt for larger venues that can house 200 to 300 guests.

Nina "Lyrispect" Ball, a writer, poet and actress who performed at the first and the most recent salons, said the Philadelphia arts and culture scene sometimes works in pop-up mode.

"I've seen events sprout up in West Philly and other areas, but Fourth Wall is an opportunity to experience a certain caliber of art all in one place and get to know people you really wouldn't have met otherwise," Ball said.

Though Dornstreich said he knows of other salons deep within city neighborhoods, but a key aspect of Fourth Wall is the cross-pollination of communities.

"[Philadelphia is] not devoid of opportunity," Dornstreich said. "But a lot of these artists are traveling within different audiences when they have a lot to benefit from each other.

"We want to get people out of their comfort zones: to get attorneys and doctors and Center City people into South or West Philadelphia," he added. "We're exploring different parts of the city and showing our artists different parts of the city, too."

As Fourth Wall grows, Ball said, she continues to see artists network and form friendships.

"Each venue offers something different," she said. "I've watched my microcosm connect with Elijah's microcosm. It's kind of neat: We all move and swallow people up."

The Fourth Wall team scours the region's arts scene for each salon's artist lineup. Their goal is to give audiences a different experience every time. Dornstreich said they look for "diversity, quality and something different and interesting."

Performances are booked through the end of the year and, with a few exceptions, most acts don't repeat, to preserve freshness.

The artists are paid a small stipend from the salon's ticket sales, which are typically $10 to $15, depending on whether the venue has a limited capacity.

Fourth Wall is already broadening its artistic stroke, too.

The event at Mural Arts was a smaller "boutique" that coincided with a writing workshop organized by Fourth Wall and Mural Arts' Youth Restorative Justice Program. It was led by Bruce George, co-founder of "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam."

A friend of Bradley's, George said, he was attracted to Fourth Wall after the founders explained their interest in reaching out to Philadelphia's youth.

"It's very important to have artistic outlets for them," George, a gang member turned activist performer, said. "If you don't pay them any attention, you push them under the rug, which leads to violence on the streets. I cannot overemphasize the youth having a way to express themselves."

As the salon expands, Fourth Wall is connecting the individual circles that create the city's art scene.

Teich worked at the gym Dornstreich went to but connected with him via her boyfriend Nema Etebar, a street photographer whom Dornstreich recruited for a salon. Dornstreich asked Teich to be part of the August salon after listening to a recording of her soulful voice and jazz-influenced songs.

"When Elijah had approached me with this idea, I wasn't sure what he meant by it," Teich said. "But then I went to the [June] salon."

There, Teich saw more than just artists taking the stage.

"It was a crowd of people I've never even seen before," she said. "[It] ranged from 17 to 70-something. You may hear a poet you've never heard before or a singer who looks like she's 2 pounds but sings like she's 300 pounds."

Nadia Mughal, an undergraduate at Rutgers University, traveled from Camden to Philadelphia for two salons after her friend Ruth Rivera raved about her experiences.

"I'm really picky about art," Rivera said after the recent salon. "It's so easy now to say you're an artist, but here, it's all handpicked. I feel like I press the refresh button every time I come here."