Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

STAMP Update: New Programming, STAMP in West Philly, Getting Your Organization Involved & More

 

The overwhelming success of this program shows that Philadelphia teens are ready, willing and able to experience all of our cultural assets. They want an experience that is just for them, which is what the STAMP program is all about!

While 13,000 teens signing up for the pass is an incredible number, what is more impressive is where they come from. The STAMP program has been extremely successful in reaching youth from neighborhoods with traditionally low cultural participation, with over 75% coming from such areas. Furthermore, 58% of Passholders are African American or Latino, and 47% come from economically-disadvantaged households.

With the current state of public school funding and arts programs being drastically cut, STAMP is working to serve as a resource for arts & culture education. The program is focused on school outreach where we host STAMP days to sign up students for the pass to ensure teens have continued access to all of the incredible arts and culture Philadelphia has to offer.

At the start of STAMP's third year in August 2016, we added two new museums, bringing the total number of museums that teens can visit to 17. Passholders can now visit the National Liberty Museum and Bartram's Garden, and with the addition of these two new museums we believe an even greater number of teens will be enticed to visit and become avid STAMP Pass users.

We also launched STAMP Audio Tours this year. STAMP Audio Tours are powered by CultureSpots, a web platform for mobile audio tours. These unique tours were created for and by teens as an exciting new tool for engagement with STAMP museums. The STAMP teen council took complete ownership of the program, selecting the exhibitions, creating scripts and recording and editing audio for their peers. The first round of tours were released on Thursday, May 28, 2015 during STAMP on the Parkway, where more than 200 teens joined STAMP for a multi-museum scavenger hunts through The Academy of Natural Science, Franklin Institute, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Eastern State Penitentiary. The remaining museums debuted their audio tours on Friday, August 13, 2015 during STAMP in Old City, where more than 150 teens took part in activities offered by the National Constitution Center, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the National Liberty Museum, the Philadelphia History Museum and the Independence Visitor Center. Stay tuned for the release of the Spanish translations for each tour, which will debut in the coming months.

STAMP is proud to announce that this year's blockbuster teen event, STAMP in West Philly, will take place on Friday, March 11, 2016 from 4:00 - 6:00pm at the Institute of Contemporary Art.Teens are invited to experience exhibitions featuring paintings, sculptures, videos and sound installations, as well as activities being offered by other participating museums. The event will have free food, prizes, photo booth, and more for teens to enjoy! To learn more about the event visit http://phillystamppass.org/westphilly/.

If your organization works with teens and wants to get involved with STAMP, please contact Rashanda Freeman at rashandaf@philaculture.org.

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STAMP is about midway through its third year, and we are pleased to announce that more than 13,000 teens from neighborhoods across Philadelphia have signed up for STAMP, with signups continuing to roll in! If your organization works with teens, we have some exciting new programming opportunities to share as Year 3 continues.