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As we move into the new century, it is critical to plan for and sustain the Greater Philadelphia region's cultural advantage to provide residents with the diverse experience, economic stability and quality of life that they deserve. The Cultural Alliance's Cultural Planning Initiative is a region-wide planning effort to map our cultural future.
Over the past twenty years, major metropolitan areas across the country have learned to fully develop all of their assets in order to remain competitive in economic development and quality of life. In much the same way that communities plan for schools, parks, health care, recreation, libraries, and other infrastructure elements, planning and prioritizing for arts and culture is essential.
The Cultural Alliance's Cultural Planning Initiative is designed to engage residents to:
- research a region’s cultural resources, describe useful models in other communities, and define our audiences;
- establish a region-wide consensus on cultural priorities for residents;
- develop a consensus vision, goals, strategies and action plan.
Those of us who live in the Greater Philadelphia area are fortunate to enjoy a cultural and artistic wealth virtually unparalleled in this country. Our five-county region encompasses over 1,000 arts and cultural organizations providing a breadth of experience and enrichment to 5 million residents and 2 million visitors each year, while employing more than 11,000 of our family, friends and neighbors.*
Our cultural resources give us a competitive advantage that has demonstrated its value to the Greater Philadelphia region. Over 61% of the region’s residents recognize arts and culture as vitally important to our economy and 69% rate our cultural attractions as our greatest strength in comparison to other metropolitan regions. Among business leaders, Greater Philadelphia’s cultural product ranks second only to location as a competitive edge that distinguishes us from other metropolitan areas.**
Area Residents Rate Importance of Six Quality of Life Factors
The Cultural Alliance’s Cultural Planning Initiative 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
* Pennsylvania Economy League, "Greater Philadelphia’s Competitive Edge: The Nonprofit Culture Industry and its Economic Value to the Region," May 1998
** Sovereign Bank/Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Survey, 2000/2001
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