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CultureWire | June 2025

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Last month, Cultural Alliance member (and neighbor!) CultureWorks marked a major milestone—fifteen years of community, creativity, and shared impact. The Powered Up + Charged celebration brought together members, partners, friends, and supporters for an evening that reflected the spirit of CultureWorks: collaborative, energized, and deeply rooted in service to the region’s cultural ecosystem. Check out this blog post to learn more.

Arts & Culture in the News 

 

The Cultural Alliance is the trusted voice of our region’s creative community. We’ve mobilized to protect the arts and we're not slowing down, but we can't do it alone. We need your help as we fight for the future of the creative sector. Every donation makes a difference. Donate.

Updates from the Cultural Alliance

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The spring season is marked by annual deliberations for state and local budgets. The Cultural Alliance is proud to be your partner and voice in the halls of government. 

City of Philadelphia

City budget negotiations between the Parker administration and City Council are underway. This week, Cultural Alliance President & CEO, Patty Wilson Aden, sent a letter to City Council members and Mayor Parker underscoring the need to maintain stable funding for the city’s arts and culture portfolio. This position reflects careful consideration of several factors and consultation with key partners. The letter details the Cultural Alliance’s call for:

  • Increased funding for Creative Philadelphia’s operations and Mural Arts’ programs
  • Stable funding for Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) in alignment with the position of PCF’s leadership
  • Equitable investments in city-owned cultural assets.

You can support these and other priorities by emailing City Council at Budget.Hearings@Phila.gov or looking up your District Councilmember and emailing them and their staff directly. You can also email all At-Large members of City Council who represent the entire city. Budget negotiations are expected to culminate in early June, but that timeline is always subject to change. The Cultural Alliance will keep you apprised of any changes to the expected timeline.

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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: The General Assembly will return to the Capitol for the legislative session this week. Budget negotiations are in the early stages. As legislators finalize their priorities, it is important to advocate for critical cultural initiatives that impact organizations across the state and especially in Southeastern Pennsylvania. By contacting your district legislators and legislative leadership, you can support PA Museum’s request to maintain funding to the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) Grants to Museums line item. Use this link to contact your district legislators and leadership.

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Last month we welcomed the 95 students participating in the Bloomberg Arts Internship to meet with representatives from 50 different worksites at the annual Job Fair held at Esperanza Arts Center. You can find a full album of photos here. The students have all been placed and the program officially begins on June 23! 

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The 2025-2026 Creative Sector Flex Fund grant is opening in September. This $5,000 grant, funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, provides support to eligible nonprofit organizations that provide consistent artistic programming and services in Pennsylvania and have an annual average arts revenue of $10,000 to $200,000. Learn more.

 

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Arts, Culture, and Economic Prosperity Update: Now available are the five county-specific economic impact reports, which utilize our Arts, Culture and Economic Prosperity research. These reports contain specific economic impact data for Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. View them on our website. In addition, we’re excited to announce that we’ve received a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to support ten free custom economic impact reports for BIPOC organizations, a $250 value each. If you are interested in receiving a free report, please email Kristen Vinh at kristenv@philaculture.org. Priority will be given to organizations that participated in the 2022 Arts, Culture, and Economic Prosperity survey.

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We've moved! Please be aware of our new mailing address: 

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
The Philadelphia Building
1315 Walnut Street, Suite 1101 (previously suite 732)
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Questions? Contact us at info@philaculture.org or call 215-557-7811.

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Arts & Culture by the Numbers

As part of our effort provide a county-by-county assessment of the $3.3 billion economic impact of the region's creative sector, in partnership with Creative Philadelphia, the Cultural Alliance has released the Philadelphia County-specific Arts, Culture, and Economic Prosperity report found here. Other county specific reports can be found here. 

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Job Bank

The Cultural Alliance’s Job Bank is Greater Philadelphia's top resource for job opportunities in arts and culture. You’ll find positions at all professional levels in museums, theaters, historic sites, art galleries, dance studios, community centers, and much more. Keep reading for the most recent listings from Member organizations.

SEE MORE ON THE JOB BANK
 

Want to connect to candidates? The Cultural Alliance’s Job Bank has 60,000+ views each month. Job listings are free for Cultural Alliance Members and start at just $95 for non-Members. Learn more.