Community Development & Economic Impact

A new type of company intended to put social goals ahead of making profits is taking root around the country, as more states adopt laws to bridge the divide between nonprofits and businesses. Read full story

On October 4th more than 70 people who live or work in Montgomery County gathered at the Ambler Theater to learn about Creative Montco, a cultural planning initiative for the county. The Ambler meeting was the kick off for a year-long planning effort that will include significant public involvement and community engagement through interviews, small group meetings, social media, surveys and a website that will collect personal stories and individual perspectives on the importance of arts and culture in the county.

Bob Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts, was the keynote speaker. After Lynch’s speech the crowd broke into small groups to discuss a variety of arts-related topics.  Artists, cultural organizations, businesses, residents and local government officials attended the event.

Creative Montco is actively looking for input and participants. If you live and/or work in Montgomery County and would like to volunteer or would just like to share your ideas and thoughts please visit the Creative Montco website or contact Nancy DeLucia, nancyd@philaculture.org.

 

Arts journalism nationwide has taken a beating during the recession, but a group of Charlotte media outlets including the Observer hopes to help reverse the trend with the aid of a $20,000 grant announced Monday. The project is one of five across the United States being backed by the National Endowment for the Arts and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The projects are finalists in the Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge, which is looking for ways to use technology "to reach new audiences and ... engage people in new ways," said the foundation's vice president, Dennis Scholl, on Monday. Read full story

This fall, 13 vacant windows and buildings along Lancaster Avenue in the Powelton section have been transformed by art. The display, paid for in part by a $30,000 city grant, will remain until Nov. 30. Read full story

President Obama’s plan to fund his $447 billion jobs-stimulus bill by limiting tax breaks for wealthier people is getting a wary reception from arts organizations, which fear that the proposal could cut into already diminishing donations to museums, symphonies, ballets and other groups.

President Obama’s plan to fund his $447 billion jobs-stimulus bill by limiting tax breaks for wealthier people is getting a wary reception from arts organizations, which fear that the proposal could cut into already diminishing donations to museums, symphonies, ballets and other groups.

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It's no secret that the recession has been hard on the nation's cultural sector. Studies such as the National Endowment for the Arts' Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, Americans for the Arts' National Arts Index, and the James Irvine Foundation's California's Arts and Cultural Ecology report have all documented downward trends in attendance. Read full story

It's taken a year. And it's been a valuable learning experience for all concerned. It's the project that led to the current exhibit "C3: Create, Connect, Collect" at Main Line Art Center, now celebrating its 75th anniversary. Featured is the full slate of 37 artist participants who began this initiative, nine of whom were commissioned through this project to make 11 pieces of art now displayed. These works are shown front and center, accompanied by the work of quite a few very worthy artists passed over in this first go-round. Read full story

The Barnes Foundation collection in Lower Merion, Pa., one of the most illustrious and distinctive art displays in the world, has received what may be a decisive legal green light for its hotly disputed transfer to a new museum under construction five miles away in downtown Philadelphia. Read full story

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