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Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
Advocacy Platform for Fiscal Year 2003*
In order to advance and sustain the cultural sector in southeastern Pennsylvania --Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties -- the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance seeks support for the following platform.
The Cultural Alliance’s platform addresses infrastructure, funding, and education, three focus areas critical to the continued development of the region’s arts and culture community.
I. Infrastructure
Arts and culture organizations must work with agencies in other civic sectors as well as governmental departments in all of the five counties by finding commonalties and advancing mutually beneficial policy agendas. Only with a strong civic infrastructure will arts and culture advocates be able to enact such partnerships. To this end, the Cultural Alliance seeks to:
- Maintain the Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture in the City’s Department of Commerce and Economic Development, at an organizational level close to the Mayor and at a funding level that will ensure continued involvement of the City on issues related to arts and culture. The Cultural Alliance applauds Mayor Street’s appointment of a Deputy City Representative for Arts and Culture; and
- Identify local leaders within Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery county governments with the intention of increasing awareness among high level officials about ways cultural issues directly impact their constituents and communities. The Cultural Alliance also encourages the development of infrastructure in each county for future advocacy and funding initiatives.
II. Funding
Local, state, and national government officials, as well as foundations and corporations, have an obligation to support arts and cultural institutions and to ensure that these assets can continue to serve citizens and contribute to the prosperity of our region and our nation. Recognizing this, the Cultural Alliance supports:
- The city of Philadelphia appropriating funds that, starting in FY 2002, will gradually increase to $5 million for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
- An assessment of the exact amounts of government support of arts and culture in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties in the interest of creating a more informed cultural sector that can better define and understand its needs.
- On the state level, appropriations of $17.5 million for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and $6 million for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's History & Museum Grant Program for FY 2003. The Cultural Alliance also urges the Commonwealth to continue its support of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, which represents Pennsylvania in the Federal-State Partnership of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
- On the federal level, appropriations of $150 million for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, a funding level of $33.4 million for the Office of Museum Services, and continued funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for FY 2003.
III. Education
Arts and culture enable students of all ages to better understand themselves, each other, and their surrounding environment, to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills, and to discover their creative potential. Recognizing that arts and culture are a critical component of every child’s daily educational life, the Cultural Alliance will:
- Identify key allies, investigate methods, and develop strategies to facilitate cooperation among arts and culture organizations and school administrators and educators;
- Support the adoption of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s curricular standards for arts and culture courses and the establishment of permanent courses in the school districts of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties, as well as in the Archdiocese and other independent regional schools; and,
- Support the continued presence of professional artists in schools to enhance the classroom curriculum in the arts and other subjects.
*Note: The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Advocacy Platform is currently under review. Changes in this policy statement will be reflected in the revision of this document as soon as they are available.
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