Philadelphia News Briefs: 5/21/15

1.) A new program designed to get students excited about arts in Philadelphia has launched. “Students at Museums in Philly” consists of free audio tours narrated by 15 different young people throughout the city. The program is meant to get teens interested in art. Asef Khurshan, who narrated the audio tour for the Barnes Foundation museum, told the local CBS station that he tried to immerse students in the paintings, asking them questions about the style of the art and what they think was the artist’s intent. In this way, students’ interest is captured. Ideally students will respond to the idea that it’s another young person and not a stuffy, old museum guide sharing art with them.

Students guiding students is the theme of the program designed to get kids interested in art.

2.) Hot on the heels of the primary elections on Tuesday the City Council website of Philadelphia was hacked. The site was manipulated to a plain black background with a message about Islam and a warning that the site’s security measures were low. A group called the Cyber CommandOs took credit for the hack on Twitter. The Council says that no secure or confidential city information was breached during the attack. Despite being locked out for several hours in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, the Council was able to regain control of the site by 10:30 A.M.

3.) A fast-casual food chain based in Washington, D.C. is on its way to the Philadelphia area! The Amsterdam Falafelshop will launch in the Philly metro area with three locations, all under the same franchisee. The small restaurants are known for their falafel sandwiches and Dutch-style french fries.