Love Now Magazine
Sarah Mueller’s Community-Centered Film Revolution
Sarah Mueller’s Community-Centered Film Revolution Sarah Meuller for Love Now Magazine. Photo by Ronald Gray
June 4, 2025
No Comments
{{excerpt}}
{{excerpt}}
Photos by Azella Gardens. This past Sunday, Philly held its annual Juneteenth parade in West Philly.
{{excerpt}}
Just a mile from the protest in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia, another kind of gathering was unfolding: Sketch 2025, a public preview of ArtPhilly’s “What Now: 2026” festival. Nearly 200 artists, elders, funders, and culture keepers entered a space deliberately designed to honor multidisciplinary arts practices and invite imagination.
Love Now Magazine is a celebration of love, power and beauty. Each issue features uplifting narratives, luminous visuals, lessons on love, money, faith, and healing that lead to seeing ourselves bold, brilliant, and whole.
Sarah Mueller’s Community-Centered Film Revolution Sarah Meuller for Love Now Magazine. Photo by Ronald Gray
Video Story. Raised in North Philly, Vernon Ray transforms pain into purpose—capturing hope, healing, and truth through his lens. Founder of Shoot Cameras, Not Guns, Vernon mentors young creatives and builds community, believing that love is showing up, every day. His art invites us to see, feel, and remember what matters most.
Jacen Bowman knows what it means to fight for love—beginning with himself. The lessons he has learned about self-love are the foundation for how he loves others today.
This activist, leader, and advocate channels his awareness into his work on behalf of intentionally marginalized communities, particularly LGBTQIA+ individuals, to ensure their visibility, amplify their voices, and validate their experiences.
Cake Life Bake Shop has crafted confections for icons like Beyoncé and Lizzo and they are beloved in Philly. But, the unreasonable expectations birthed by hyper-curated Pinterest boards and, more recently, AI-generated cake images have made it increasingly difficult to manage wedding orders and maintain the shop’s high standards.
The way survivors and co-survivors of gun violence are taught to heal from gun violence can be formulaic: talk to your loved ones, seek therapy, and take anti-anxiety medications. But the path to healing isn’t the same for everyone, and these solutions aren’t a fix-all. For many folks seeking a remedy to the emotional pain they have experienced, the key has been access to nature and green spaces.
“I want my story to show others that healing is possible, no matter where you start.”
A profound statement, rooted in love and a deep belief in all things good, from educator and activist Victoria Best.
Now forty-five, Best was thrust into the Philadelphia foster care system after being separated from her biological mother at age 2. On a journey where resilience and survival became necessities, she quickly learned the difference between shelter and belonging after she and her brother were taken in by her uncle’s family.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Philadelphia was the cradle of the Neo Soul Movement. More than a genre, a new group of homegrown musicians, sirens, and wordsmiths created a vibe and culture that was best experienced live in clubs, coffee shops, and basements. They blended the groove of Gamble & Huff with the grit of 90s Hip-Hop, the experimentation of Jazz with the spirit of a COGIC (Church of God and Christ) service, and the poetry of The Black Arts Movement with the fashion of Soul Train. In that moment, Philly birthed a n
As opera continues to navigate these transformative times, artists like Karen Slack are at the forefront.
©2024 Love Now Media All rights reserved
