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Over the course of the last eight years, the Alliance’s cultural planning initiative has explored many opportunities for regional collaboration. During that time, a shift occurred from the idea of creating a single plan for the region to embracing an ongoing, evolving set of policy initiatives, flexible enough to adapt as the region and its communities continue to change. Now, the Alliance is poised to embark on the next phase of its cultural policy work.
In summer 2005, the Alliance hosted “At Your Service,” a gathering of 70 people from 30 different cultural service organizations in the region. This gathering laid the groundwork for many new collaborative ideas among service organizations. Learn more about At Your Service
Over the course of the next year additional research will greatly increase the region’s understanding of its cultural sector. In collaboration with the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project (PA CDP), the Alliance will create a “State of the Arts” report, an annual report for the cultural sector based on PA CDP data for Southeastern Pennsylvania. The first report will be released in 2006. To learn more about the PA CDP, click here
In addition to the “State of the Arts,” the Alliance, in partnership with the William Penn Foundation, will release a report from the RAND Corporation in 2006. This study focuses on city support for arts and culture, comparing Philadelphia to ten other cities nationwide and providing recommendations for Philadelphia’s sustained policy investment in its cultural sector.
Recently, the Cultural Alliance has identified a series of topics whose resonance has grown of late, both within the cultural sector and the region at large. Included among these are needs for space, interest in creating cultural districts, and developing deeper relationships with government officials, developers, and community organizations who are also interested in revitalization. It is our goal that the value of arts and culture to community growth and enhancement continue to be recognized, further leveraging our collective ability to create a powerful impact in this region.
The Cultural Alliance’s work is funded by the William Penn Foundation and the Independence Foundation. The project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by the Barra Foundation, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, PECO Energy Company, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Philadelphia Foundation.
We invite you to learn more and join us in the process. For more information, call the Cultural Alliance's Advocacy Department at (215) 557-7811, ext.11 or e-mail April Williamson
In Philadelphia, Neighborhoods with Culture Flourish
From 1990 to 2000, Philadelphia’s total population declined from 1,585,577 to 1,517,550. However, over that same time period, it was those areas with high cultural participation that gained residents – you’ll see her the yellow block going up. Areas with low or no arts participation lost residents at a very high rate, higher than the average.
>Sources: University of Pennsylvania, U.S. Census
“Between 1995 and 2000, the average sale price of a home in Philadelphia increased by $10,000. By comparison, neighborhoods with many cultural organizations saw an average price increase of nearly $30,000”
- “Cultural Builds Community”, Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation
“Neighborhoods with a history of arts and cultural activity were more likely than the rest of the region to experience revitalization during the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1990… a block group that had many arts and cultural organizations in 1980 was twice as likely as the average block group to undergo revitalization. ”
- “Summary of Findings on Community Arts”, University of Pennsylvania
At Your Service
Question? What happens when you bring together seventy people who work to provide services and programs to support artists and cultural organizations?
Answer: The Quizzo competition is intense!
On July 26th and 27th the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, with funding from the William Penn Foundation, hosted At Your Service, a two day conference at the Independence Visitor Center for nearly seventy people from thirty local organizations. This meeting was the first time that cultural service providers in our region gathered as a discipline to discuss the efficient distribution of resources and to focus on ways to ensure that cultural organizations and their constituents gain access to the full spectrum of services the region has to offer. A diverse group of organizations were represented at the meeting including discipline-specific groups, tourism organizations, social service agencies, and funders.
The conference sessions focused on discussions that address both the diverse services available to cultural organizations and individual artists, and the unique challenges facing nonprofit service organizations.
The event kicked off with a keynote address by Abel Lopez. Lopez, Associate Producing Director of GALA Hispanic Theatre and President of Theatre Communications Group, reinforced the value of service organizations to the cultural sector, and challenged the attendees to further expand collaborations and the development of new resources for the sector.
Four other special guests also provided attendees a perspective of what is happening with service organizations in other large cities and regions including Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Moderated by Stuart Adair, Director of Business Volunteers for the Arts at the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, the panel shared thoughts and experiences on the challenges, issues and rewards of working in the cultural service sector. Panelists included Kathleen Cerveny, Program Director at The Cleveland Foundation; Jeffrey Poulos, Executive Director of Stage Source; Sarah Solotaroff, Senior Fellow at The Chicago Community Trust; and, Jennifer Cover Payne, Executive Director of Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington.
In the afternoon, participants divided into teams for a hotly contested game of Quizzo , testing everyone’s knowledge of the local cultural service sector. Among the challenging questions was “What was the original name of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia?” (Check the end of this article for the answer.)
Participants also took part in an exercise to catalogue the wide variety of services available in the region. Plans are forming to compile the results into a comprehensive guide to services that can be shared among many service organizations and their constituents. Nick Crosson, Research Coordinator at the Cultural Alliance, then presented the results of surveys fielded to individual artists and nonprofit cultural organizations that illuminated their perceptions of service organizations.
The first day ended by setting the agenda for day two, followed by cocktails on the terrace and an opportunity to relax with colleagues.
On Wednesday, conference participants gathered in small groups to discuss seventeen topics that the group identified as areas of great interest and concern. Topics included creating a comprehensive service guide, comparing the merits of discipline-specific and multi-disciplinary service organizations, and the availability of cultural services to suburban organizations.
This first gathering of cultural service providers was a productive start of expanded collaboration and communication for this group. Many important discussion topics surfaced during the conference, and the Cultural Alliance will continue to provide a forum for addressing these and other issues in our ongoing efforts to bring service provision to a new level.
For more information about the conference contact Nancy DeLucia, County Outreach Manager, by phone at 215-654-0676, or e-mail ndelucia@philaculture.org
Quizzo answer: The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia was originally known as the Performing Arts League of Philadelphia.
Quizzo, a popular tavern game, is similar to team-based trivial pursuit.
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