Member News

Toronto's Mail and Globe has a fantastic article about Opera's working outside-the-box, innovating and reaching new audiences. Examples cited include San Francisco's Opera at the Ballpark and Opera Philadelphia's simulcast and co-production of Salome. Read full story

The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation would take over the Rosenbach Museum and Library under the terms of a letter of intent approved Tuesday by their boards. The memorandum of understanding leaves important details to be negotiated, but aims to make the Rosenbach a subsidiary of the library by June 30. Read full story

GroundSwell and the Penn Museum have partnered on a month-long book drive for Philadelphia READS! Now through Sunday, May 12, 2013 (Mother's Day), we're looking for new or gently used books appropriate for pre-kindergarten through elementary school-aged children.

Children are our future—and getting them on the right track for their own success and the benefit of our communities starts with education.  The key to helping kids do well in school and beyond is literacy, but for many struggling Philadelphia schools, there aren't enough books to go around.  That's where Philadelphia READS comes in!

Since 2006, Philadelphia READS has donated over a quarter of a million books to Philadelphia's classroom teachers. Studies have shown that children who are not independent readers by the third grade are rarely able to catch up later on, so it's their mission to make sure Philadelphia's youngest and neediest children have the resources they need to become strong readers as early as possible.  

With your donation to the GroundSwell & Penn Museum Book Drive, you can help Philadelphia READS reach even more schools and students, and "do something good for a change" in our region.

Here are the ways you can donate your book(s):

In Center City (Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance): http://www.philaculture.org/
The Philadelphia Building – Lobby  - 1315 Walnut Street

On the Penn campus:
Penn Museum, 3260 South Street - www.penn.museum
Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3860 Walnut Street - www.pennpresents.org
Arthur Ross Gallery, 220 South 34th Street -  www.upenn.edu/ARG
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street - www.icaphila.org
Office of Community and Public Affairs, 133 South 36th Street, 5 fl - www.upenn.edu/ogca

Please check hours at individual organizations before dropping off donations.

You may also mail donations to:

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance + GroundSwell
Attn: Alison Zeidman
1315 Walnut Street, Ste 732
Philadelphia, PA 19107

 

On Wednesday, February 20th, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and City of Philadelphia Office of Arts Culture and the Creative Economy presented a special speakers event and panel discussion to discuss how cultural journalism has changed in recent years and what the future may hold for the field.

The panel featured Douglas McLennan of Arts Journal and the National Arts Journalism Program, Bill Marimow of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Chris Satullo of WHYY and NewsWorks.org, Megan Wendell of Canary Promotion and Meredith Broussard of the University of Pennsylvania.

Here's an audio slide show of moderator Tom Kaiden's (President of the Cultural Alliance) opening remarks and Douglas McLennan's keynote presentation.

Listen to an audio podcast of the full event:

Penny Balkin Bach, Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Association for Public Art, is the 2013 recipient of the national Public Art Dialogue (PAD) Award in recognition of her longstanding and continuing contributions to the field of public art. PAD is an affiliate of the College Art Association (CAA). Its membership includes art historians, artists, curators, administrators, educators, architects, landscape architects, and others engaged with the wide arc that public art encompasses. Their goal is to provide platforms for dialogue among public art professionals and students across disciplines. Awardees are chosen from nominations made by PAD members.

The PAD award for achievement in the field of public art is given annually to an individual whose contributions have greatly influenced public art practice. Established in 2009, the award has been presented to artist and educator Suzanne Lacy; curator, critic, and educator Mary Jane Jacob; Anne Pasternak, President and Artistic Director of Creative Time; and media artist Ben Rubin.

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After a six-month national search that attracted a large pool of extraordinary candidates from across the country, the Cultural Data Project announced that Beth Tuttle will become its president and CEO. Beth’s distinguished career, on staff and as a consultant, in the nonprofit arts and cultural sector reflects her dedication to its advancement. Click here for a pdf of the full press release.

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Though it's only a matter of two words, Opera Company of Philadelphia's adoption of the simpler moniker "Opera Philadelphia" in its 39th season is full of implications for 2013-14, right down to the cursive of the new logo.

 

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The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA) is looking to combine two of the things the Delaware Valley does best — culture and philanthropy — through its recently announced and feted GroundSwell campaign. GroundSwell’s first initiative is a “campaign for people to donate new or gently used musical instruments” in collaboration with Musicopia, says Michael Norris, vice president for external relations at GPCA. Read full story

In the past week, the cultural community lost two good friends, Craig Lewis and Happy Fernandez.  As a State Senator, Craig introduced in 1991 the first bill calling for regional funding for arts and culture. Although the bill did not pass at the time, it was the first to call attention to the importance of sustaining our region's cultural assets. Through the rest of his life, Craig and his wife Dianne Semingson were the strongest of cultural partners, patrons, advocates and leaders.

Happy Fernandez was a former community activist, City Council Member, candidate for mayor and, until her retirement last year, President of Moore College of Art. During her tenure at Moore, Happy was a member of the Cultural Alliance Board, serving as Board Chair from 2004-2006.  Under her leadership, the Alliance's role as a research and advocacy organization blossomed.  In 2006, the Alliance issued the first Portfolio report, using the Cultural Data Project to quantify the health and impact of the cultural sector.  Happy then pushed for that data to be used to advance our advocacy agenda, expand state and local arts funding, get candidates to adopt cultural platforms, and reestablish our long term goal of building a regional cultural fund.

In Happy and Craig, we have lost two good friends and pioneers.  Our sympathy goes out to their families, friends and colleagues. At the Alliance, we remain committed to honoring their service by continuing the community engagement and sustainability work that they initiated.