FRIEDA community Information

Curating and creating opportunities for people of all generations to find community by connecting around food, art and culture FRIEDAcommunity is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization that curates and organizes a year-round program of culinary, artistic and cultural events at FRIEDA and beyond. FRIEDAcommunity, established in 2020, is the not-for-profit sister organization of FRIEDA, the café established in Philadelphia in 2015. The two entities share the mission of (re)connecting generations by building community around food, art and culture. The COVID pandemic crystallized the basic need for physical human interaction that so many were deprived of during those months of isolation. What the US Surgeon General referred to in 2023 as “our epidemic of loneliness and isolation” had long been at the heart of the social concern that had motivated FRIEDA founders David Wong and Thomas Steinborn. They wanted to address this issue that affects so many people of all ages, with a human, caring alternative to a society that is obsessed with technology and is often reliant on prescription medication and habit-forming drugs. FRIEDAcommunity creates opportunities for people to find community by connecting with one another. It nurtures friendly relationships among its members through social gatherings, such as our community suppers and language conversation groups; designs and coordinates workshops, activities and happenings, including our participatory art projects, such as the #TheLovePavilion and #BlueAsAButterfly, our COVID lockdown project made of tens of thousands of blue butterflies hand cut at home by community members; offers excursions that provide focal points for people who are curious and share similar interests to meet; and supports creative talents of all ages through our artist talks and art exhibits, with 100% of sales benefiting the artists. Join us! Come and find what FRIEDAcommunity can be for you!