September 2015 Press Highlights February 24, 2015­August 22, 2015

Katz, Rachel, “A Tempo: August 22” WWFM, 8/22/2015

“Tell us: What issues should the next mayor care about?” Philly.com, 8/20/2015

Katz, Rachel, “A Tempo: August 15” WWFM, 8/15/2015

“STAMP in Old City: 6ABC Action News, 8/14/2015

Johanson, Kristen, “Phila. High School Students Complete Summer Internships Through WorkReady Program” CBS Philly, 8/14/2015

Jamison, Mikala, “STAMP in Old City” Philadelphia City Paper, 8/13/2015

Middleton, Josh, “Cultural Alliance Hosts Free Old City Museum Crawl for Philly Teens” Philly Mag Ticket, 8/13/2015

Bloom, Robin, “Weekly Entertainment Guide ­ Watercolors” Newsworks.org, 8/12/2015

“Blogathon on the Intersections of Art and Science ­ Day 3” Barry’s Blog, 8/11/2015

Volpe, Allie, “This Week in Philly: Aug. 10­Aug. 16” Philly.com, 8/10/2015

Smith, Eric, “This Thursday: GroundSwell Hosting Happy Hour at The Oval” Geekadelphia, 7/28/2015

Mabaso, Alaina, “Geek out on arts and culture with the Philadelphia Geek Awards” Broad Street Review, 7/28/2015

Middleton, Josh, “Here are the 2015 Philadelphia Geek Awards Nominees” Philly Mag Ticket, 7/21/2015

Vadala, Nick, “Nominees announced for 2015 Philadelphia Geek Awards” Philly.com, 7/21/2015

“Philadelphia Geek Awards announces 2015 nominees” Newsworks.org, 7/21/2015

Manklang, Mo, “Cast your vote on the Mayor’s next Arts and Culture priorities (and grab a beer!) Generocity.org, 7/21/2015

Inquirer Editorial Board, “A need for more arts jobs” Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/20/2015

Inquirer Editorial Board, “A need for more arts jobs” Philly.com, 7/20/2015

Weightman, Judy, “$90,000 Instagram prints? Philly talks fair use” Broad Street Review, 7/20/2015

Mabaso, Alaina, “The Cultural Alliance hits the ground running with a new arts and tech residency” Flying Kite Media, 7/14/2015

Manklang, Mo, “This Cultural Alliance residency wants artists and techies to come together” Generocity.org, 7/10/2015

“Cultural Alliance Announces Technology Innovation Program for Art Groups” Philanthropy News Digest, 7/4/2015

Lyon, Maud, “Issue: Art in Schools” Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/3/2015

Jones, Ayana, “Business Briefs: GPCA launches awards program” The Philadelphia Tribune, 6/30/2015

Jones, Ayana, “Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance launches awards program” The Philadelphia Tribune, 6/30/2015

Kelley, Dan, “Where is the creative job growth? Not in Philly” Metro, 6/28/2015

Hilario, Kenneth, “New initiative to connect cultural groups with tech experts” Philadelphia Business Journal, 6/25/2015

Kelley, Dan, “Where is the job growth? Not in Philly” Metro.com, 6/25/2015

Weightman, Judy, “Knight Foundation gives $1.48 million to 22 Philly arts groups” Broad Street Review, 6/25/2015

Gillette, Kristen, “GroundSwell’s Advocacy Helps Keep Cultural Fund Budget at $3.14 Mil” Generocity.org, 6/19/2015

Mabaso, Alaina, “City dollars maintained for Philadelphia Cultural Fund in 2016” Broad Street Review, 6/18/2015

Hilario, Fran, “City Council will not cut Philadelphia Cultural Fund budget” Philadelphia Business Journal, 6/18/2015

Norton, Dan, “Philadelphia’s Corporate Problem: A Shortage of HQs” Philadelphia Business Journal, 6/12/2015

Wingert, Bridget, “Culture ecology and the economy” Bucks County Herald, 6/11/2015

Volpe, Allie, “#PhillyFive Things to Do: May 28, 2015” Philly.com, 5/28/2015

“MOJO 5.27.15 ­ STAMP Pass Party” 900AM WURD, 5/27/2015

Wilson, Jillian, “STAMP On The Parkway Celebrates The City’s Museums With A Free Museum Scavenger Hunt For Students This Thursday, May 28” uwishunu.com, 5/27/2015

Bloom, Robin, “Weekly Entertainment Guide ­ Baskervilles, Beer & Broadway (Forbidden)” Newsworks.org, 5/27/2015

Dientsman, Caralyn, “Local Teens Record Audio Tours to Get Youth Interested in Philly’s Museums” Philly Mag Ticket, 5/27/2015

Pompilio, Natalie, “Teaching teens museums aren’t boring” Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/27/2015

Pompilio, Natalie, “Free museum passes for teens cultivating future stewards” Philly.com, 5/27/2015

Roncace, Kelly “Join the STAMP­ede” South Jersey Times (Gloucester County Times), 5/26/2015

Booker, Bobbi, “Teens flock to museums for Parkway scavenger hunt with Chill Moody” The Philadelphia Tribune, 5/23/2015

Roncace, Kelly, “Teen­focused audio tours boost interest in Philadelphia culture” NJ.com, 5/22/2015

Crimmins, Peter, “Teens craft audio tours for Philly galleries and museums” Newsworks.org, 5/21/2015

Udo, Justin, “New Program Aims to Get Students Excited About the Arts in Philadelphia” CBS Philly, 5/21/2015

Bloom, Jerry H., “Out and About ­ Dining and Entertainment News ­ Special Events” City Line News, 5/20/2015

Gillette, Kristen, “PHLConvos: #PHLArtsAccess Twitter Chat with @PhilaTheatreCo” Generocity.org, 5/20/2015

Meiksins, Rob, “Mayoral Primary in Philly Could Impact Creative Economy” Nonprofit Quarterly, 5/14/2015

“Patron Loyalty Study Reveals New Data on Museum and Performing Arts Audiences” Grantmakers in the Arts, 5/11/2015

Pankratz, David, “Taco Salad and Democracy in Harrisburg” Arts Loud and Clear, 5/11/2015

Dobrin, Peter, “Will the city’s arts scene get a mayor who cares?” Philly.com, 5/11/2015

“Philly STAMP Pass” Universal Companies, 5/4/2015

Manklang, Mo, “[Video] #PhillyChanger Chats: Maud Lyon of Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance” Generocity.org, 4/29/2015

http://wwfm.org/webcasts_katz.shtml

Rachel Katz 8/22/2015

A Tempo is a 30­minute public affairs program devoted to issues, challenges and opportunities facing the performing arts.The show examines the impact of the economy, technology, and social and cultural changes on musicians, ensembles, venues and other organizations involved with the arts. It also looks into the importance of music and arts education, and public support and appreciation, including philanthropy. In addition to one or two feature interviews, the show includes a short selection of news headlines from around the arts world. A Tempo airs Saturdays at 7 pm. These webcasts are made possible by a grant from the Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation and by contributions from listeners like you. If you like what you hear, please support our webcasts by becoming a member of The Classical ​ Network. Thank you! ​

August 22 Tech and the Arts: The Quartweet Project, and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's TechniCulture Program. Guests: Marc Uys, executive director, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Xandi van Dijk, violist, Signum Quartett, Michael Norris, vice president of external affairs, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/mayor/next_mayor_readers.html

Tell us: What issues should the next mayor care about?

8/20/2015

We know that Philly's next mayor has a lot of big issues to tackle. The Philadelphia School District's crisis, income inequality and the city's growth are just a few of major items on the to­do list for the first term of the next mayor. But there are also many smaller changes that can improve Philadelphia.

Maybe you've always thought that 30th Street Station should connect underground to the Market­Frankford Line. Or maybe you wish there was a Philly Bike Week. Or maybe your neighborhood school really needs a nurse. We're asking all Philadelphians to share the small problems they'd like to see the next mayor tackle.

Tell us what you want the next mayor to solve by using the hashtag #NextMayorPHL on Instagram or Twitter (make sure your post is public so that we can see it!) and we'll feature the best responses on Philly.com. Preference given to photo and video content.

http://wwfm.org/webcasts_katz.shtml

Rachel Katz 8/15/2015

A Tempo is a 30­minute public affairs program devoted to issues, challenges and opportunities facing the performing arts.The show examines the impact of the economy, technology, and social and cultural changes on musicians, ensembles, venues and other organizations involved with the arts. It also looks into the importance of music and arts education, and public support and appreciation, including philanthropy. In addition to one or two feature interviews, the show includes a short selection of news headlines from around the arts world. A Tempo airs Saturdays at 7 pm. These webcasts are made possible by a grant from the Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation and by contributions from listeners like you. If you like what you hear, please support our webcasts by becoming a member of The Classical ​ Network. Thank you! ​

August 15 Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's Teen Arts and Culture Internship Program. Guests: Interns Troi Strickland and Ashley Walker; Michael Norris, vice president of external affairs, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; Rebekah Sassi, director of institutional advancement, Walnut Street Theatre.

STAMP in Old City

8/14/2015

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/08/14/phila­high­school­students­complete­summer­internships­through­workready ­program/

Phila. High School Students Complete Summer Internships Through WorkReady Program

Kristen Johanson 8/14/2015

As school is about to start, summer jobs and internships are winding down. High school students from Philadelphia finished their WorkReady programs.

An end of season party was held at the National Constitution Center on Friday.

The WorkReady internship program allows city teens to gain real­life work experience as interns. Seventeen­year­old Alyssa says the experience was invaluable.

“It was pressure, but it wasn’t too much pressure, I learned a lot of patience,” said Alyssa.

Teens came out to celebrate the end of the season, a party hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Fifteen­year­old Bierce worked in the Mural Arts Program and says what he learned was beyond using a paint ​ brush.

“Being able to work with just about anybody, there’s a whole lot of people with varying kinds personalities, interests. It’s easy to learn a lot from different people and learn new things,” said Bierce.

Sixteen­year­old Nijayah encourages other teens to participate.

“I would definitely recommend it, because even if you aren’t interested in art, they give you other things like college tips. ​ ​ ​ It’s not just something to do, you’ll really enjoy it,” said Nijayah.

In searching the publicly accessible web, we found a webpage of interest and provide a snapshot of it below. Please be advised that this page, and any images or links in it, may have changed since we created this snapshot. For your convenience, we provide a hyperlink to the current webpage as part of our service.

STAMP in Old City :: Events :: Philadelphia City Paper Page 1 of 3

http://citypaper.net/event-detail.php?12782 8/20/2015 http://www.phillymag.com/ticket/2015/08/13/cultural­alliance­hosts­free­old­city­museum­crawl­for­teens/

Cultural Alliance Hosts Free Old City Museum Crawl for Philly Teens

Josh Middleton 8/13/2015

Tomorrow afternoon, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance‘s STAMP program, an initiative to get young people out to Philly’s cultural attractions, will host an Old City museum crawl for area teens aged 14­19.

The day starts at the National Constitution Center (NCC) at 3:30 pm. From there, teens can venture out to explore participating museums in the vicinity, which include the African American Museum, National Liberty Museum, National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia History Museum and Independence Visitor Center.

Those who choose to ride their bikes to the event should make a pitstop at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council's pop­up bike repair clinic at NCC from 3:30 to 6:30 pm. There, riders can nab some bike lube, flat­repair material or get a general bike tune­up.

The romp will culminate with a mixer back at the Constitution Center, with food, prize giveaways and a dance party hosted by DJ Marcus.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/arts­culture/entertainment­guide/item/85151­weekly­entertainment­guide­watercolor s

Weekly Entertainment Guide ­ Watercolors

Robin Bloom 8/12/2015

Get ready for the arrival of Pope Francis in Philadelphia with Penn Museum's Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World. Plus, music festivals old & new, theater shows & exhibits. Robin Bloom shares her picks. What's Happening

Penn Museum honors the first visit by Pope Francis and the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia with Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World, opening August 15 through November 7. The special centerpiece exhibition offers one of the world's oldest fragments of the gospel of Saint Matthew, the first Bible printed in the Americas (in the Native American Massachusett language), a New Testament Bible published in twelve languages in Nuremberg, Germany, 1599, and more. Also, rare artifacts from the museum's collection and rare books and manuscripts from Penn Libraries, including a Latin Bible produced in Arras, France in the late 13th century, the first authorized Roman Catholic translation of the New Testament Bible into English, the first complete Bible printed in the New World, a polyglot New Testament Bible, a late 15th century Italian illustrated manuscript copy of Werner Rolevinck's history of the world detailing events from the creation to the election of Pope Sixtus IV, an early 16th century Rabbinic Bible, and more, along with the museum's renowned ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Canaan and Ancient Israel galleries, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia. Pictured: An ancient clay tablet in Sumerian cuneiform from the site of Nippur in Mesopotamia (now in Iraq), ca. 1650 BCE, contains the earliest version of the Mesopotamian flood story. Photo courtesy of Penn Museum.

Enjoy festive and free summer fun on the riverfront:Screenings Under the Stars: The Lego Movie, Thursday, August 13 beginning at dusk. Smooth Jazz Summer Nights concert with Brian Culbertson, Friday, August 14, 7:30pm. On Saturday, August 15 is the annual Festival of India, 1pm­7pm, celebrating India's Independence Day and the Greater Philadelphia region's vibrant Indian community, with music, food, art, vendors and more. Transport yourself to the islands with the 29th annual Caribbean Festival, Sunday, August 16, 12pm­8pm. All events at Great Plaza, 101 S. Columbus Boulevard at Market Street, Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's STAMP (Students at Museums in Philly) offers Philadelphia teenagers (14­19 years old) free tours of participating institutions and is hosting a free party at Old City museums on Friday, August 14, 3:30pm­6:30pm. The fun begins at the National Constitution Center and then continues at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, National Liberty Museum, National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia History Museum and Independence Visitor Center with a free afternoon of live music, games, food and dance party. Free for Philly residents only. Registration for a STAMP Pass is available online. Photo by Wide Eyed Studios.

Fort Mifflin brings the colorful history of piracy on the Delaware River to life with Pirate Day, Saturday, August 15, 10am­4pm. Explore 18th century history and interact with pirates and soldiers. Battles take place at 11am and 3pm along with a scavenger hunt, guided tours, treasure dig, drills with wooden muskets, live parrots and live music. Dress as a pirate (circa 1772), Fort Mifflin & Hog Island Roads, Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of Fort Mifflin. #SassySays Collingswood Crafts and Fine Arts Festival

The 10th annual Collingswood Crafts and Fine Arts Festival is Saturday, August 15 and Sunday August 16, 10am­5pm, with over 150 craft and fine artists from all over the country presenting contemporary works in wood, clay, glass, metal, fiber and more, along with food, entertainment, family activities, silent auction and more, along downtown Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. Free. #SassySays

Celebrate the quintessential summer fruit at the 4th annual Reeds 'N' Seeds Watermelon Fest, Tuesday, August 18, 10am­1pm, at the Water Star Grille at the Reeds at Shelter Haven. Enjoy watermelon related activities including watermelon eating contests with heats by age group (starting from age 3 to adult) beginning at 10:30am, watermelon pong and other games, watermelon snacks, crafts, live music, cupcake decorating and more. Start working on your speech to enter for your chance to be the Reeds 'n' Seeds King and Queen. Free and open to the public, rain or shine, 9601 Third Avenue, Stone Harbor, NJ. Photo courtesy of The Reeds at Shelter Haven. Music

The Philadelphia Folk Festival is back for the 54th year August 13­16 at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township near Schwenksville, PA. Featured performers include Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, Arlo Guthrie performing the 50th anniversary of Alice's Restaurant, Bruce Cockburn, Tom Paxton, the North Mississippi Allstars (pictured), and many more, with lots to do for families, including crafts, The Great Groove Band, jugglers, storytellers, kid­oriented musicians, food and more. Photo by David Conger.

Singer/Songwriter Chris Staples brings his poetic sound to Ortlieb's, Thursday, August 13, performing songs from his new album with a full band at 847 N. Third Street, Philadelphia. Doors open at 8pm, show at 9pm. Staples' widely­acclaimed album American Soft was hailed by NPR as one of the top albums of 2014. Photo courtesy of Riot Act Media.

Expect a high­energy show with the seven­piece Gypsy music­inspired brass band Black Masala(pictured) at Johnny Brenda's, Friday, August 14. Doors open at 8pm, show at 9pm with Josh Jones and then the nine­piece Philly exotica punk orchestra Mercury Radio Theater opening, 1201 N. Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia. Photo by JPZ Photography.

Dance to live blues along the Schuylkill River at the inaugural Hidden River Blues Festival, Saturday, August 15, 11am­8pm. Expect a mix of national and local blues artists including headliners Otis Taylor Band (pictured), Sugar Blue Band, James Supra Blues Band, Deb Callahan Band, Steve Guyger and the Excellos, and Tattar Tucker Moog Jackson Band with "Chicago" Carl Snyder. Also, food vendors, beer garden, and merchants, plus sprinkler stations to cool off, Venice Island Performing Arts Center, 7 Lock Street, Manayunk. Bring folding chairs or blankets. Rain or shine. Photo by Alvin Clay.

The inaugural Pinelands Music Festival comes to Millville, New Jersey, Saturday, August 15, beginning at 2pm with live music from more than 25 bands including Jukebox the Ghost, Early November, X Ambassadors (pictured), Good Old War, Plantation, Palmas and more along with food trucks, go­karts, vendors and more, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, NJ. Photo by Kayla Surico.

Cape May Stage goes on The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, made famous by Lily Tomlin, who won a Tony for her performance. The show was written by Jane Wagner (Tomlin's wife), stars New York actress Tricia Alexandro, and is directed by Roy Steinberg. The provocative and funny one­woman show reflects on the human condition through September 4 at the Robert Shackleton Playhouse, 405 Lafayette Street, Cape May, NJ. Special events include a post­show discussion with cast and crew on August 21 and pay­what­you­wish performance on September 1. Photo courtesy of Cape May Stage.

Don't miss BEEHIVE: The 60's Musical Sensation, as five female vocalists belt out the hits of Janis Joplin, The Supremes, Carole King, Brenda Lee, Aretha Franklin and more with songs including "Respect," "Me and Bobby McGee," "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," "Proud Mary," and more, August 13­23, 208 Vine Street, Hammonton, NJ. While there, visit the on­site wine lounge! Free parking. Photo by Chris Miller.

Garden State Watercolor Society's 46th annual Juried Show Nature's Beauty is on display at D&R Greenway Land Trust, showcasing 65 artists from across the state, many nationally known, including Tom Chesar, Joan Gantz, Charles McVicker, Beth Shoenleber, and Jimmie May, and juried by Philadelphia trained artist Jeanne Dobie. Related events include Debby Fryer demonstrating wet­in­wet painting of a Yosemite Park Landscape on Tuesday, August 18, Lucy McVicker with an artist demonstration using different techniques and materials such as monoprint on synthetic Yupo paper, Wednesday, August 26, experimenting with Clayboard demonstration and plein air session, August 26. Plus, more demonstrations, gallery walks, and an awards and closing reception on Friday, September 25, in the circa 1900 restored barn (Johnson Education Center), One Preservation Place, Princeton, NJ. Pictured: Going Fishin' by Tess ​ ​ Fields. Photo courtesy of D&R Greenway Land Trust.

Delaware Watercolor Society's juried exhibition offers as many as 50 watercolors on display through September 20 at the Biggs Museum of American Art, 406 Federal Street, Dover, DE. Award winners include Chillin' Out in January by ​ ​ Elizabeth Forsythe (First Place), The Winifred by Christine Heyse (Second Place – pictured), and Feeding Osprey by ​ ​ ​ ​ Nancy Orms Mysak. Photo courtesy of the Delaware Watercolor Society.

Look for #SassySays for pet friendly events. Let us know if your event is pet­friendly! Email [email protected] and put #SassySays in the subject line.

http://blog.westaf.org/2015/08/blogathon­on­intersections­of­art­and_11.html

Blogathon on the Intersections of Arts and Science ­ Day 3

8/11/2015

Where are the two communities already merging and working together and where could they work together more effectively in the future? What are the next steps?

Lucinda: The arts and science communities already are working together on the national level, as evidenced by conversations between the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation. On some state levels, there are intersections between these disciplines in state education agencies and in policy circles. On regional and local levels, these two communities are joining to form coalitions and even whole schools that are based on these intersections. In the museum world, both art and science museums are reaching out to the other discipline to enrich their programming and the understanding of their own collections and disciplines.

While these are great steps towards intersecting the arts and science communities, there are many steps yet to take. These include research that looks at models and the most effective applications of these intersections to a variety of purposes. The arts/science intersections are not a one­size­fits­all. The beauty of these intersections is that they allow for a great degree of flexibility and adaptation to specific purposes. Research into the effectiveness of these applications is of the greatest importance.

The most important next steps are developing a firm research­based underpinning of the power of these intersections in education, industry, policy, and many other areas. This research not only would provide a firm foundation for this movement, but it also would point to other important areas for research.

Gregory: Universities that encourage interdisciplinary work are places where these intersections can easily happen, and do. Geographic locations that have a high density of both artists and scientists also are ripe areas for these collaborations due to the number of possible interactions, especially if there are events in those cities that can highlight these activities. For example, Washington, DC, has a few recurring events that draw focus to this intersection, and allow for the communities to mix and mingle. One of these is DASER (DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous), hosted by the Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences. This is actually related to LASERs (replace “DC” with “Leonardo”) set up by Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. These are influential in not only showcasing people involved in the intersections, but also in bringing together like­minded individuals to spark collaboration.

These communities with dense artist and scientist populations are great starts, but more communities could be encouraged to have events, especially if there are natural places like science centers, large art galleries, or museums. Other universities could be focuses of these interactions, and interuniversity collaborations could happen between arts and science institutions. Large science facilities which have infrastructure could have artist­in residence programs. For example, both Fermi National Lab (Fermilab) in the US and the large physics facility CERN in Switzerland which houses the Large Hadron Collider that found the Higgs Boson, have such programs. Dance choreographer Gilles Jobin was one of the two first artists­in­residence at CERN when the program began in 2012. He and his dancers interacted with the scientists and explored the facilities, and he ultimately created a dance work from the experiences there called Quantum. This opened up new worlds of experience to both the scientific community at CERN and the greater arts community once Jobin’s piece was performed on tour. Fermilab’s program began just at the end of 2014 and I feel they should be applauded for beginning it. Hopefully it will inspire other science facilities to do the same. Arts institutions could also think about having a scientist­in­residence as a complementary program. Perhaps some do, but I am not aware of them at this time.

By establishing centers of focus across the country, the infrastructure can be laid for increased resources, opportunities, and support.

Bill: One recent example took place at the Nevada Museum of Art­Center for Art+Environment in June in Reno Nevada. The Museum hosted a workshop supported by the National Science Foundation on “Perspectives: Examining Complex Ecological Dynamics through Arts, Humanities and Science Integration”. Janet Brown from Grantmakers in the Arts also attended and wrote about the convening here. The primary aim of this workshop was to advance the integration of the arts and humanities with science to address complex ecological and social­ecological challenges. One of the most compelling themes that emerged throughout these conversations related to how certain artists working at these intersections, like eco­art pioneers Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison can function in these art/sci investigations not so much as an “interpreter” or “translator” of someone else’s science, but as a “creators” of new work that is inspired by science and that can illuminate new lines of inquiry and meaning in both scientific and artistic realms. Raising visibility and awareness of this type of work could be a great next step for promoting improved collaboration among art and science in the future. Another example would be the Network for Science, Engineering, Art and Design (SEAD), which sprung out of the first summit convened by the NEA and the National Science Foundation and seeks to harness assets at these intersections to make advances in areas like culture, economic development, research, education and collaboration.

Julia: Years ago, coming into the science/art scene, I became immediately aware of programs and institutions such as Symbiotic, Leonardo/ISAST, the CERN artists residency program, Arts Catalyst… the list goes on, and is very international in nature. When I came to New York a few years ago I realized there wasn’t an organization here like those listed above, which is why I started SciArt Center. In short, we bring scientists and artists together for a common cause through our online platform and our monthly events series which look at science through the lens of art. In cultivating this community, we help connections form across the disciplines. We also just launched a virtual residency program entitled “The Bridge”(in honor of the late C.P. Snow) where we are going to track the collaborative processes between three scientist and artist pairs – the first program of its kind. I think that the next step, for us and other like­minded organizations and initiatives, is simply to grow and gain traction. It has been very encouraging over the past few years to see other organizations pop­up all over the world that address the science/art intersection in different ways – evidence that interest in this intersection is truly on the rise.

Rieko: There are organizations that have art + science in their DNA – places like Exploratorium and New York Hall of Science were intentionally set up without disciplinary divisions. At these organizations, which focus on informal science education, they use a blended approach of science and art/design. Perhaps not surprisingly, they have a public­facing mission and by necessity, their work needs to speak to an audience with a wide range of backgrounds. When you think about the “end users” (in this case, the audience they need to reach), you often need to step outside what you already know and to experiment with new ways to carry out your work. These are some of the places where the alignment of arts + science seem to have found a natural home.

We need to make further progress at the higher education level. Universities, in particular, are organized into different disciplines and as a result, disciplines that are “far apart” rarely have ways to connect with each other. This is manifested in both research and education and how we train students to think and create.

For the most part, the incentives and reward structures like tenure and promotion for faculty are not geared towards collaboration. Addressing this issue is complex and not an easy fix.

Youngmoo: The maker movement and the rapid proliferation of maker spaces and arts+tech collaboratives are examples of the communities starting to find one another. There are also a number of arts­related hackathons (intense 24­48 hour events of rapid prototyping and development) across the world that create a venue for intersection.

In Philadelphia, our cultural organizations are pursuing a variety of efforts to bridge between the worlds of arts and science (and technology). I have worked with the Philadelphia Orchestra for several years on LiveNote, a smartphone app that provides program notes synchronized with live performances. This past season, the system was available for select concerts. I also had the privilege of taking my sabbatical with Opera Philadelphia, serving as Resident Technologist to explore ways of better incorporating technology in the development of new operatic works. Based in part on this experience, the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is now offering a small grant to support short technical residencies at member organizations. A potential next step would be to connect with other arts+tech communities nationwide to share ideas, outcomes, and best practices.

Another prominent example is the upcoming 2015 National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAFKI) Conference on Art and Science, Engineering, and Medicine Frontier Collaborations. NAFKI is a program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, with support from the W.M. Keck Foundation, to catalyze interdisciplinary research. This is the first year the focus of the conference has included art, and it would be great to see more prominent science and technology organizations emphasizing the importance of research collaboration with the arts.

Thank you panelists.

Tomorrow's question asks what obstacles stand in the way of expanding and perfecting work between the two sectors and what research do we need.

Have a great day.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/things_to_do/This­week­in­Philly­Aug­10­Aug­16.html

This Week in Philly: Aug. 10­Aug. 16

Allie Volpe 8/10/2015

A few ways to spend your week in (and out of) Philly.

Monday, Aug. 10 It’s a night out at the museum! The National Museum of American Jewish History (101 S. Independence Mall East) that is. Yelp is throwing a 7 p.m. bash with drinks, food from Zavino, Fat Jack’s BBQ, Fuel and more.

With a sound that’s a little dark, a little groovy and a bit dreamy, England’s Glass Animals definitely bring the right kind of chill to a warm summer. See them at 8:30 p.m. at Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden St.).

Tuesday, Aug. 11 After the doors close for kids at the Franklin Institute (222 N. 20th St.), adults get free roam for Science After Hours. From 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., attendees can make art using scientific experiments and a Theremin performance.

After an evening of produce shopping at the farm stand at Henry Got Crops at Saul Agricultural High School (7095 Henry Ave.), Stuart Little will be shown on the urban farm’s big screen starting at 8 p.m. ​ ​

Wednesday, Aug. 12 The Kimmel Center’s (Broad and Spruce Streets) free monthly jazz jam session returns with local songwriter Kate Faust. Doors and DJ tuneage start at 8 p.m. and Faust’s beat­driven contemporary pop begins an hour later.

Sometimes you just need to talk a little trash. That’s where the Throwing Shade podcast comes in. Hosts Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi bring their pop culture­based irreverent show to Johnny Brenda’s (1201 Frankford Ave.) for a 9 p.m. show.

Thursday, Aug. 13 What do Philly streets and cemeteries have in common? Experts at Laurel Hill Cemetery (3822 Ridge Ave.) will tell you secrets about storied roads while taking a twilight tour of the grounds at 6 p.m.

Celebrate with the Daily News and our Sexy Singles at Parx Casino (2999 Street Rd., Bensalem) for a 7 p.m. bash ​ ​ where you’ll meet this year’s Sexy Singles of Philadelphia.

They say laughter is the best medicine and Act II Playhouse (56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler) will be serving it up big­time for their stand­up comedy night. Starting at 8 p.m. hear sets from Act II’s Michael Donovan, Sidney Gantt from Comcast’s “Summer Joke School,” LaTice Klapa from “The View” and Philly’s Phunniest Phinalist Roger Weaver. (The playhouse hosts another comedy night on Friday, too.)

Friday, Aug. 14 How’s this for a package deal? Teens ages 14 to 19 are invited to explore Old City museums as a part of the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s STAMP program summer party. Starting at 3:30 p.m. at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch St.), the day will give participants the opportunity to explore the African American Museum in Philadelphia (701 Arch St.), National Liberty Museum (321 Chestnut St.), National Museum of American Jewish History (101 S. Independence Mall East), Philadelphia History Museum (15 S. 7th St.) and Independence Visitor Center (1 N. Independence Mall West). By 5:30 p.m., the tour will end back at the Constitution Center for a party with food and music. Best of all? Everything’s totally free.

Think of your most unfortunate sexual experience. Now imagine telling it to a crowd of strangers. That’s the premise for touring comedy show Awkward Sex and the City. Four funny ladies will share their tales at L’Etage (624 S. 6th St.) at 7:30 p.m. Doors are half an hour prior.

Saturday, Aug. 15 You know those inflatable bounce houses you loved as a kid? Revel in that same excitement when the Insane Inflatable 5k comes to Atlantic City where ten inflatable obstacles will be set up over a trail and mixed terrain 3.1­mile course. You’ll start at Bader Field (601 N. Albany Ave.) and wave times begin at 8:45 a.m. and continue every 15 minutes until noon.

40 years after the initial release of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, the TLA (334 South St.), one of the locations that ​ ​ screened the film at midnight, celebrates the anniversary of the cult classic with a midnight showing. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 16 Play poker for a good cause at the Borgata (1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City) to benefit the southern branch of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. Players can register starting at 9 a.m. Competition starts at 11 a.m.

Celebrate Elvis’ legacy with a documentary screening and performance of the King of Rock ‘n Roll’s hits at 7:30 p.m. at the Sellersville Theater (24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville).

For more Things to Do, check out our calendar for the most up­to­date happenings.

http://www.geekadelphia.com/2015/07/28/this­thursday­groundswell­hosting­happy­hour­at­the­oval/

This Thursday: GroundSwell Holding Happy Hour at The Oval

Eric Smith 7/28/2015

This Thursday, come meet one of the nominees of this year’s Philadelphia Geek Awards. Maybe give them a few high fives and awkward hugs. Make it weird.

The annual GroundSwell happy hour till take place on Thursday, July 30th at The Oval. A celebration of the Cultural Fund advocacy win in this year’s city budget, the happy hour will give you the chance to vote on what you think the next mayor’s top cultural priorities should be. According to the team at GroundSwell, the results will be shared with both campaigns.

Issues on the ballot for the event include: Create permanent Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy ​ Make art and music core to PSD curriculum Increase annual Philadelphia Cultural Fund budget to $7.5M Full­time music and art teacher for every PSD school Develop tax incentives for creative economy businesses to locate in Philadelphia Find dedicated revenue source of $25 per capita for non­profit arts & culture groups Develop comprehensive community­wide cultural plan Develop tax incentives for individual artists to work here Change Percent for Arts to “at least 1%”

You can get more information over on GroundSwell’s official website. The get together will run from 6pm to 8pm. Enjoy some drinks, and help make a difference.

http://broadstreetreview.com/wnwn/geek­out­on­arts­and­culture­with­the­philadelphia­geek­awards

Geek out on arts and culture with the Philadelphia Geek Awards

Alaina Mabaso 7/28/2015

It pays to be a geek in Philadelphia, at least in terms of the honor and glory. On August 15th, Geekadelphia and Drexel’s Academy of Natural Sciences will hold the fifth annual awards ceremony honoring Philly’s “bustling geek community,” boasting 13 categories of geeks.

A look over the nominees proves today’s definition of “geek” is quite broad, and far from derogatory. Many honorees are scientists, entrepreneurs, game designers, or web and social media mavens, but arts and culture geeks are well represented.

Streaming media; IRL One category honors “streaming media” leaders, who reach an audience around the world from their Philly home base. Out of Town Films, launched in 2012, captures musical performances (from both local and touring artists) all over the city, putting music lovers in touch with their favorite shows through videos online. Also jostling for the honor is Not Nearly Nerdy Enough, a new local podcast devoted to pop culture full of Philly­area guests, laughs, and “smart geek debate.” Rounding out the category is the irresistibly titled podcast Book Fight!, from a pair of Temple professors who can’t keep their literary opinions to themselves and host shows in diverse venues throughout the city.

The “I.R.L.” (in real life) Project of the Year category honors Klip Collective, which found an unusual canvas for their outdoor lighting projections and animations: Longwood Gardens, mapping the Collective’s unique visual effects onto trees and plants for an amazing nighttime experience. Nightscape launched in 2014. ​ ​

String, films, and prints Visual artists also get their own category, if they’re geeky enough — in this case, “creating fantastic, unique art that draws attention from the local community.” UArts­trained Caitlin T. McCormack works in string. South Philly’s Cory J. Popp is a filmmaker and journalist, known for a lovely and popular video called “A Very Philly Christmas,” among other series, who captures a lot of his videos on spontaneous walks through different neighborhoods, highlighting “hidden gems” and “reigniting our interest in city spaces.” Screen printer Michael Norcross, who has mounted work at Indy Hall, also got attention last year with his “Posters Against Ebola,” a group exhibition benefiting Doctors Without Borders, done in partnership with Philadelphia University, Print magazine, and Northwestern University. ​ ​

The awards also honor “underdog” feature­length indie films shot in Philly. This year’s nominees are Angry Video Game ​ Nerd: The Movie, digitally released last September and featured in screenings across the country. The protagonist “must ​ overcome his phobia of the worst video game in the world in order to save his fans.” I Am Santa Claus was made with a ​ ​ Kickstarter campaign that raised over $50,000. This documentary follows a year in the life of professional Santa Clauses “protecting the integrity of the Red Suit.” Finally, Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere, from Philly filmmaker ​ ​ Dave Jannetta, is inspired by Poe Ballantine’s memoir.

Crowdfunded comics Of course, the Philadelphia Geek Awards wouldn’t be complete without honoring comic creators. This year’s nominees are Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman for their Dirty Diamonds, an all­girl­authored comic anthology with contributors from ​ ​ all over the world. They’re tearing up the crowdfunding dollars, raising over $8,000 on Kickstarter for their first professionally printed book, and then reaping $17,000 from crowdfunding fans in June for an anthology about beauty. UArts teacher Ian Sampson, an award­winning resident artist at West Philly’s Neighborhood Time Exchange (NTE), got inspired by the work of one of his fellow NTE residents. More crowdfunding made dreams come true at University City’s Locust Moon Press, whose Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream raised over $150,000 for the “epic anthology” featuring ​ ​ notable locals like J.G. Jones, Jeffro Kilpatrick, and Box Brown.

Other geek categories give nods to events or stories you’ve seen in What’s New, What’s Next this year, including the BlackStar Film Festival and the Groundswell effort that helped to save the Philadelphia Cultural Fund’s piece of the City budget.

The Philadelphia Geek Awards are coming to the auditorium of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia on August 15. Doors to a cocktail reception in the museum open at 6:30pm, and the ceremony starts at 8pm. Tickets for the black­tie, red­carpet event will go on sale August 3 through www.phillygeekawards.com.

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http://www.phillymag.com/ticket/2015/07/21/here­are­the­2015­philadelphia­geek­awards­nominees/

Philadelphia Geek Awards announces 2015 nominees

Josh Middleton 7/21/2015

This morning, Geekadelphia and the Academy of Natural Sciences announced the nominees for their 2015 Philadelphia Geek Awards.

Now in its fifth year, the awards were established to “celebrate and honor Philadelphia’s bustling geek community.” There are 13 categories—everything from Scientist of the Year and Streaming Media Project of the Year to Visual Artist of the Year, in which Cory J. Popp is nominated for his stunning videos that pop up regularly on Ticket and other Philly Mag blogs. Other arts­focused nominees include the GroundSwell, the advocacy and community engagement branch of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance who are nominated for Geek Story of the Year for their efforts to organize a campaign to prevent budget cuts aimed at the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Longwood Gardens‘ light and sound show “Nightscape” also made the list, nominated in the I.R.I (In Real Life) Project of the Year category.

The Philadelphia Geek Awards will take place at the Academy of Natural Sciences on Saturday, August 15. An opening reception begins at 6:30 p.m., and the ceremony begins at 8 p.m. in the Academy’s auditorium. Tickets go on sale on Monday, August 3rd, and can be purchased here.

For now, check out the full list of nominees below (a more detailed description of each nominee can be found here):

SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR ● Michelle Johnson (GRASP Lab at the Penn School of Medicine) ● Penn’s “Twitter Predicts Heart Disease” Team ● Peter Lloyd Jones (Associate Dean of Emergent Design + Creative Technologies in Medicine for the Sidney Kimmel Medical College)

STREAMING MEDIA PROJECT OF THE YEAR ● Out of Town Films ● Not Nearly Nerdy Enough ● Book Fight!

GEEK STORY OF THE YEAR ● Analog Watch Company’s Ant Farm Watch ● Philadelphia’s First Renaissance Faire ● GroundSwell

STARTUP OF THE YEAR ● The Monkey & the Elephant ● Scholly ● Billy Penn

I.R.L. (In Real Life) PROJECT OF THE YEAR ● Nightscape ● The White Mountains ● Ikire Jones’ Africa 2081 AD

VISUAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR ● Caitlin T. McCormack ● Cory J. Popp ● Michael Norcross

GAME OF THE YEAR ● Pretense ● Soulfill ● Clusterpuck99

FEATURE­LENGTH INDIE FILM OF THE YEAR ● Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie ● I Am Santa Claus ● Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere ● WEB PROJECT OF THE YEAR ● Close to Good’s Lunar Sellout ● TypeDrummer by Kyle Stetz ● Open Data Philly’s Relaunch

COMIC CREATOR OF THE YEAR ● Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman for Dirty Diamonds ● Ian Sampson ● Locust Moon Press for Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream

SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECT OF THE YEAR ● The Narrator: Philadelphia Police Department ● FindMePhilly ● @Mrs_Angemi: Nicole Angemi’s Autopsy Instagram

EVENT OF THE YEAR ● Blackstar Film Festival ● J­1 Con ● City Council Candidate Convention

GEEK OF THE YEAR ● Jon Geeting ● Ather Sharif ● Alexis Jeffcoat

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/Nominees­announced­for­2015­Philadelphia­Geek­Awards.html

Philadelphia Geek Awards announces 2015 nominees

Nick Vadala 7/21/2015

Nominees for the 2015 Philadelphia Geek Awards have been announced, with the ceremony returning Aug. 15 for its fifth straight year.

Presented by Geekadelphia and the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Philadelphia Geek Awards will honor the city’s top artists, scientists, projects, games, and more for 2015 across more than a dozen categories.

Tickets for the event, which is a black­tie affair, go on sale Monday, Aug. 3. Nominees are below:

Comic Creator of the Year

Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman — Phillips and Folkman’s Dirty Diamonds serves as an awesome all­girl comic collection, featuring 32 artists from around the world in their fifth issue.

Ian Sampson — For every hour Sampson works on a project, he donates another to volunteering for his community as the resident artist at the Neighborhood Time Exchange West Philadelphia Artist Residency.

Locust Moon Press — ‘Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream’ gave celebrated local artists like Jeffro Kilpatrick and Box Brown the opportunity to pay homage to legendary comic artist Winsor McCay.

Event of the Year

City Council Candidate Convention — WHYY and Committee of Seventy joined Young Involved Philly to produce this event, which allowed young Philadelphians to meet city council candidates face­to­face.

J­1 Con — Jason Richardson, last year’s Geek of the Year, created this convention, which is touted as Philly's "#1 Anime Convention."

Feature Length Indie Film of the Year I Am Santa Claus — Local filmmaker Tommy Avallone's look into the world of the men who not only play Santa Claus around Christmas, but live his legend year­round.

Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere — Dave Jannetta brings to life Poe Ballantine’s memoir, which examines suicide, depression, and the American dream.

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie — Jamels Rolfe brings his famous, foul­mouthed Cinemassacre character to the full­length format. In it, the Nerd must get over his fear of bad video games to rescue his fans.

Game of the Year

Pretense — More than 1,300 Kickstarter backers helped bring Jason Tagmire’s party game to life, and now you can join in on the fun. Just fulfill your assigned role from a card, get a point, and steal another player’s card so the process can begin all over again.

Clusterpuck99 — Even if you’ve never played it, you can know it’s good because it comes from PHL Collective — the video game studio that only hires local grads.

Soulfill — Little Wins LLC’s story­heavy game helps you get over social anxiety and have a good time doing it — all with a game based almost entirely around public transit.

Geek of the Year

Jon Geeting — PlanPhilly’s engagement editor helps to build an engaged online community — plus the monthly Urban Geek Drinks.

Ather Sharif — EvoXLabs’ founder focus on web accessibility to help make the Internet a more inclusive place.

Alexis Jeffcoat — One of Philly’s most prolific figures, Jeffcoat has her hands in everything from the Philadelphi a Science Festival and Science on Tap, to Nerd Nite and Laurel Hill Cemetery.

In­Real­Life Project of the Year

The White Mountains — Ambler, Pennsylvania’s asbestos production is the focus of this project, which involved ten Philly playwrights tackling the subject through a partnership with University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Ikire Jones’ Africa 2081 AD Campaign — Germany’s Vitra Design Museum displays Jones’ 2081 A.D. series of Afrocentric menswear at their ongoing “Making Africa” exhibit.

Nightscape — The trippiest light show ever to come to Longwood Gardens, courtesy of Klip Collective.

Scientist of the Year

Penn’s “Twitter Predicts Heart Disease” Team — Johannes C. Eichstaedt and his team showed that negative emotional language is closely connected to heart disease mortality, with Twitter serving as an indicator of a person’s social health in a community.

Michelle Johnson — Known for engineering therapeutic rehab robots at the GRASP Lab at the Penn School of Medicine.

Peter Lloyd Jones — The first Associate Dean of Emergent Design and Creative Technologies in Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, Jones helps promote a human­centric approach to science with area medical students.

Social Media Project of the Year

FindMePhilly — Everybody's favorite local mystery man, @FindMePhilly gives away $100 bills to strangers who are able to find him in an alotted time period. He also dislikes Philly Jesus, but that probably won't change his chances — right?

Nicole Angemi’s Instagram Account(s) — @Mrs_Angemi may have been shut down several times, but Nicole Angemi’s autopsy­focused photostream cannot be stopped. She hopes to inform viewers about health, death, and the human body.

The Narrator: Philadelphia Police Department — We might not know who this mystery person (or persons) is, but we love them all the same. And, no, not just because they miss Hi­C’s Ecto Cooler as much as we do.

Startup of the Year

Billy Penn — Aggregated content meets original reporting for a news platform targeted specifically at young Philadelphians that hopes to help construct a more civically engaged city.

Scholly — Drexel grad Chris Gray nabbed $40,000 in funding from two Shark Tank investors for his app. which streamlines the college scholarship search.

The Monkey & the Elephant — Philly’s first nonprofit cafe, which offers assistance to young Philadelphians who have outgrown foster care to make the transition into adulthood. Its permanent location opened this year in Brewerytown.

Story of the Year

Philly’s First Renaissance Faire — The Mountain from Game of Thrones showed up at Patrick Rodgers’ event this year, ​ ​ which is pretty much the coolest thing that’s ever happened here.

Analog Watch Company’s Ant Farm Watch — Lorenzo Buffa at Analog Watch Co. scored one of the best April Fool’s Day pranks for this year with his put­on about an ant farm watch, which garnered covered everywhere from Complex to TechCrunch.

Groundswell — Using a mix of social media and protest, GroundSwell managed to protect the Philadelphia Culture Fund’s budget from being slashed by 40 percent. Thanks to them, more than 100 arts organizations will get funded.

Streaming Media Project of the Year

Book Fight! — Two Temple profs show off their literary knowledge in this podcast, which has done shows around town at locations including Tattooed Mom and the Philadelphia Writers Conference.

Out of Town Films — From offering pop­up shows in strange places to releasing great recorded performances from some of the best indie bands around, the filmmakers in Out of Town Films are a force to be reckoned with.

Visual Artist of the Year

Caitlin T. McCormack — Haunting, beautiful art carefully constructed from crocheted cotton string and glue that McCormack describes as “structurally similar to delicate bone tissue.”

Michael Norcross — Expert screen printing and graphic design out of Old City’s Indy Hall — plus great art shows

Cory J Popp — The man behind all those beautiful aerial videos of Philly that have become local hits over the last year. When it comes to showing Philly's beautiful side, Popp is always on point:

Web Project of the Year

Open Data Philly’s Relaunch — Azavea’s relaunched shot at creating a better community through technology and government transparency.

TypeDrummer by Kyle Stetz — P’Unk Ave developer Kyle Stetz’s app turns your words into beats — and at 120BPM, too.

Close to Good’s Lunar Sellout Site — Chiptune favorites Close to Good are behind this playable remix of their track, “Lunar Sellout.” Just play along — DDR style, naturally — with your arrow keys on their site.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/philadelphia/84311­philadelphia­geek­awards­announces­2015­nominees

Philadelphia Geek Awards announces 2015 nominees

7/21/2015

The nominees for the 2015 Philadelphia Geek Awards, presented by Geekadelphia and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, were announced Tuesday.

For the fifth year running, the Awards will be a celebration of Philadelphia geekery in 13 categories covering science, arts, social media, and in­real­life events and projects.

Tickets for the Aug. 15 black­tie gala, held at the auspiciously geeky Academy of Natural Sciences, will go on sale on Monday, Aug. 3.

The 2015 nominees are listed below and on the official Philadelphia Geek Awards website.

Scientist of the Year

Michelle Johnson: At the GRASP Lab at the Penn School of Medicine, Johnson is working on assistive and therapeutic rehabilitation robots. She participates in the Franklin Institute’s Science After Hours program, and Technical.ly Philly named her one of their four favorite talks from TEDxPhiladelphia 2015. WHYY's The Pulse featured her in 2014.

Penn’s “Twitter Predicts Heart Disease” Team: Led by graduate student Johannes C. Eichstaedt, this team released a study showing how negative emotional language is connected to heart disease mortality, and how Twitter might be seen as an indicator of well being in a community. WHYY's Todd Bookman reported on this work in January.

Peter Lloyd Jones: Thomas Jefferson University's first associate dean of emergent design and creative technologies in medicine works through theMEDstudio@JEFF to bring a human­centered design approach to science and to encourage creative thinking in medical students.

Streaming Media Project of the Year

Out of Town Films: This Philadelphia­based filmmaking collective creates high­quality videos of performances throughout the city and offers them for free on their website. Out of Town Films also hosts pop­up shows at unusual spaces around town, for example, The Districts performed in a Fishtown warehouse loft, and Ra Ra Riot performed in a Kensington art space.

Not Nearly Nerd Enough: Two best friends create this thoughtful and hilarious addition to the Philadelphia geek podcast community, covering pop culture.

Book Fight!: A pair of Temple professors show their passion for all things literary in this insightful and sometimes heated podcast about the books they love and hate and the craft of writing, itself. They've also taken their production out into the field, hosting discussions at Tattooed Mom, The Spiral Bookcase, and the Philadelphia Writers Conference.

Geek Story of the Year

Analog Watch Company’s ant farm watch: Listed as one of the Best April Fool’s Pranks of 2015 by The Telegraph, this story about a non­existent ant farm watch took local and geek media alike by storm and inspired some fiery debate on sites including Philly Mag, Technical.ly Philly, Geekadelphia, TechnaBob, Design Taxi, Beautiful Decay, Complex, Fast Company, and TechCrunch, bringing attention to this startup and Philadelphia itself.

The first Philadelphia Renaissance Faire: Patrick Rodgers launched the festival to bring Philadelphia its own celebration of the medieval and fantastic and, this year, The Mountain from HBO’s "Game of Thrones." Coverage of the Faire took the cover of Philadelphia Weekly and was featured by NewsWorks, Uwishunu, CBS3 and Getty Images. WHYY's Kimberly Paynter photographed the event in May.

GroundSwell: As WHYY's Peter Crimmins reported in April, the advocacy arm of the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance worked to protect the Philadelphia Cultural Fund's budget allocations from being cut by 40 percent in fiscal year 2016. Helping over 100 art organizations get funded, GroundSwell blended protests and social media to help preserve Philadelphia’s arts scene.

Startup of the Year

The Monkey & the Elephant: Philadelphia's first stand­alone nonprofit cafe helps young people who have aged out of foster care to learn work and life skills to transition to self­sufficiency as adults. What began as coffee service pop­ups in the Italian Market, at Transfer Station and at Impact Hub, launched this year at a permanent Brewerytown location. NewsWorks' Emily Brooks reported on the pop­up phenomenon in 2014, and Human at Work blogger Susan Richardson wrote about the new cafe in April.

Scholly: Social entrepreneur Chris Gray graduated from Drexel University this June, but not before creating an app that helps break down barriers in the search for college scholarships and securing $40,000 in funding from two Shark Tank celebrity investors. With state and federal partnerships, the app is now sidely available for free to students applying for college. WHYY's Dave Heller interviewed Gray in 2013.

Billy Penn: Launched in October 2014, this news platform designed for mobile use among young Philadelphians, blends original reporting with aggregated content from other local news organizations and hosts events around town in an effort to build a civicly engaged community.

In­Real­Life Project of the Year

Nightscape: Klip Collective has mapped lighting, animated projections and other visual effects onto Longwood Gardens' living trees and plants, using layers of textures, colors and patterns.

The White Mountains: Ten Philadelphia playwrights spoke to residents, activists, and government officials about asbestos production in Ambler, Pennsylvania, to develop short plays about the town's past, present, and future. REACH (Resources for Education and Action for Community Health), a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and the Chemical Heritage Foundation, is now a model for recording and sharing stories of environmental justice.

Ikire Jones’ Africa 2081 AD: The 2081 A.D. sereis of Walé Oyéjidé and Samuel Hubler’s line of Afrocentric menswear, Ikire Jones, is currently on display in the Vitra Design Museum’s "Making Africa" exhibit in Germany.

Visual Artist of the Year

Caitlin T. McCormack: Using string, McCormack expresses an appreciation of nature, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of our world.

Cory J. Popp: This South Philly filmmaker tells stories of the fascinating people and places of his hometown using video.

Michael Norcross: An artist and screen printer, Norcross works out of Old City’s Indy Hall creating printwork and organizing socially conscious art shows.

Game of the Year

Pretense: Created by Jason Tagmire (creator of Pixel Lincoln and Storytelling Cards), this party game launched with over 1,300 Kickstarter backers. It's a game that you play during other games: Fulfill the role you're assigned on your card (e.g., the critic, the bookworm, the glutton), and earn a point and steal someone else’s role.

Soulfill: Developed by Little Wins LLC, this story­driven game challenges the social anxieties we all suffer by prompting players to follow certain instructions while riding or waiting for public transit. Score points by initiating and maintaining eye contact with strangers, but lose points by making eye contact with people already looking at you.

Clusterpuck99: Clusterpuck99 is a party and convention game born out of the PHL Collective game studio which hires only graduates from the Philadelphia area.

Feature­length Indie Film of the Year

"Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie": The title character must overcome his phobia of the worst video game in the world to save his fans.

"I Am Santa Claus": This Kickstarter­funded documentary examines the spring, summer and fall lives of professional Santa Clauses, the flawed, flesh­and­blood men who feel responsible for protecting the integrity of the red suit.

"Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere": Inspired by the memoir by Poe Ballantine, Philly filmmaker Dave Jannetta explores the mystery, while examining the author’s life, touching on themes such as depression, s suicide, the ephemeral nature of reality, and the American Dream.

Web Project of the Year

Lunar Sellout: Local chiptune group Close to Good, known for recording the entire Mega Man III soundtrack and releasing it on their website for free, surprised fans by releasing Lunar Sellout: DDR Remix, a playable remix of the original song "Lunar Sellout." While streaming the song on their official website, you can play Dance Dance Revolution with your arrow keys.

TypeDrummer: Kyle Stetz, a developer at P’unk Ave, created an experiment to turn your (typed) words into sick beats. Anything you type into the box is interpreted as sound and played back at 120BPM.

Open Data Philly relaunch: OpenDataPhilly collects more than 250 data sets, APIs and applications related to the region for the purpose of creating a better community, more transparent government, and a more engaged citizenry. Both the new site and its predecessor were created by local firm Azavea.

Comic Creator of the Year

Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman for Dirty Diamonds: This all­girl comic anthology curated by Philadelphia’s own Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman provides a platform for women who create comics to tell their stories. Their fifth issue, and their first professionally printed one, is an anthology about comics, featuring 32 artists from six different countries. Ian Sampson: Sampson is a resident artist at the Neighborhood Time Exchange West Philadelphia Artist Residency. Every hour he works on a project, he donates an hour to volunteer and help the community. This year, Sampson chronicled the work of his fellow Neighborhood Time Exchange artist, Kandis Friesen.

Locust Moon Press for "Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream": In 2014,NewsWorks reported on this passion project, two years in the making, which included celebrated locals such as J. G. Jones, Jeffro Kilpatrick, and New York Times bestselling author Box Brown, giving them the opportunity to pay tribute to comics innovator Winsor McCay.

Social Media Project of the Year

The Narrator, Philadelphia Police Department: The person (or persons) behind the PPD's social media channels, particularly Facebook and Twitter, known as the "Humble and Faithful Narrator," has a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of geek culture canon, using video games, memes, and popular film to poke fun at Philadelphia and keep its citizens informed at the same time. In September, WHYY's Amy Quinn talked about the Narrator's exchange with citizen sleuths following the beating of a gay couple in Center City.

FindMePhilly: Using videos and images, anonymous social media account FindMePhilly sends Philadelphians around the city on scavenger hunts to win actual cash, encouraging exploration of and engagement in the city.

Nicole Angemi’s Autopsy Instagram: @Mrs_Angemi has been shut down multiple times, but her stream of autopsy photos isn't meant to be controversial; it's meant to educate and inform and reveal hard truths about the body, our health, and the causes of death.

Event of the Year

Blackstar Film Festival: This ever­growing celebration of film highlights movies that often are overlooked by the mainstream press from filmmakers in stages of their careers.

J­1 Con: Created by Philadelphia’s Jason Richardson, who took home the coveted Geek of the Year award last year, J­1 Con is a convention founded to make conventions accessible, created for fans, by fans.

City Council Candidate Convention: Young Involved Philly worked with the Committee of Seventy and WHYY to produce an event to give young people of voting­age the chance to talk face to face with all of the Philadelphia City Council candidates.

Geek of the Year

Jon Geeting: The engagement editor at PlanPhilly, Geeting keeps busy creating an online community of city planners, developers and activists. Geeting also helped found the political action committee 5th Square, created the hashtag #urbanphl, and is the co­organizer of the monthly happy hour Urban Geek Drinks.

Ather Sharif: The founder and researcher at EvoXLabs, Sharif is a software engineer, a freelance web developer, and a consultant who is constantly researching web accessibility and jQuery tools to make the Internet a more accessible place. As a developer for Unlock Philly, he also founded the SCI Video Blog, full of tutorial videos that help people with spinal cord injuries perform daily activities.

Alexis Jeffcoat: From her work making Laurel Hill Cemetery a geeky place to hang out, to her fantastic lectures during Nerd Nite Philadelphia, Alex Jeffcoat is a geek with her hands in a lot of projects. She also collaborates on projects like Science on Tap and the Philadelphia Science Festival. WHYY's Dave Heller spoke to her in 2014.

http://www.generocity.org/2015/cast­your­vote­on­the­next­mayors­arts­and­culture­priorities­and­grab­a­beer/

Cast your vote on the next Mayor’s arts and culture priorities and grab a beer

Mo Manklang 7/21/2015

GroundSwell, a piece of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, unites Philly residents and organizations that are leveraging arts and culture, libraries, parks and public space to enhance the quality of life in our region. Next week, they’re inviting you to party with them.

On Thursday, July 30 GroundSwell will host its 3rd annual happy hour, this time with a citizen’s twist. GroundSwell is partnering with the Fairmount Park Conservancy from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and will be taking over The Oval for an Arts and Culture night.

What’s so special about this happy hour? Groundswell wants gather the community’s perspective on what the next Mayor’s priorities should be as the fall election season approaches.

Attendees will be able to “cast their ballot” on what arts and culture topics should be top priority once the new mayor is in office: ● Making the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy a permanent office ● Making art and music core to the School District’s curriculum ● Increasing the annual Philadelphia Cultural Fund budget to $7.5M ● Hiring a full­time music and art teacher for every School District school ● Developing tax incentives for creative economy businesses to locate in Philadelphia ● Finding a dedicated revenue source of $25 per capita for non­profit arts & culture groups ● Developing a comprehensive community­wide cultural plan ● Developing tax incentives for individual artists to work in Philly ● Changing Percent for Arts to “at least 1%” ● More information and registration for the event can be found on the Groundswell website.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20150720_A_need_for_more_arts_jobs.html

A need for more arts jobs

Inquirer Editorial Board 7/20/2015

A new report that indicates Philadelphia has lost more jobs than New York, Chicago, and several other big cities in creative industries such as music, theater, and related fields should concern arts leaders and public officials.

Some in the arts community disagree with the Center for an Urban Future's assessment in June that Philadelphia experienced a 24 percent decline in creative jobs between 2003 and 2013. They say self­employed workers and workers in related jobs such as graphic design and communications were wrongly left out of the survey.

It would be wrong, however, to dismiss the report out of hand given the importance of the arts to the city's economy. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance reported last year that the region's cultural nonprofits spend $1.1 billion annually and generate billions more indirectly.

Creative organizations ranging from theater groups to advertising agencies help to make the city a cultural hub that attracts residents and institutions. For that reason, establishing an environment that continues to foster creative jobs must be a priority of the next mayor.

John McInerney, vice president of marketing and communications at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, says the city needs a master plan for cultural development that not only provides a vision for the creative sector's future but lists specific goals to get there. He said Philadelphia could emulate cities like Austin with a master cultural plan. Chicago has a master plan, too, and New York is creating one.

McInerney said organizations such as the nonprofit Economy League of Philadelphia, which conducts research used to promote job creation, could lend a hand to increase employment among the city's rich cultural assets. The same museums, shows, and art programs drawing the millennials who have taken up residence in the city could spur businesses to locate here, he said.

Increased public funding could also help arts organizations add jobs. Philadelphia could mimic Miami and San Diego and give cultural institutions a share of the city's 8.5 percent hotel tax. Visit Philadelphia, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Convention Center Authority get shares of that revenue, which totaled $54 million in fiscal 2014. If a portion of the hotel tax went to the arts, cultural organizations could hire more Philadelphians while improving their services, which would help them attract more paying patrons whose spending could pump more cash into the city's economy.

Of course, it's not just about the money. A strong creative economy will fill the city with musicians, dancers, actors, poets, painters, sculptors, and culture that can enrich the lives of all Philadelphians.

http://broadstreetreview.com/wnwn/90000­instagram­prints­philly­talks­fair­use

$90,000 Instagram prints? Philly talks fair use

Judy Weightman 7/20/2015

Richard Prince has made a career of using the work of other photographers and artists as the basis for his own works. He won a lawsuit in 2013, giving him the right to do so, but the controversy has re­erupted this year about his practice of appropriating images from his Instagram feed and selling them for $90,000 — with no payment to the artists whose work he uses.

Fair use is an ever more contentious issue in our online world. The “copyleft” movement, which releases material to be used freely as long as those uses or modifications are also available for free use, originally arose amongst the programming community, but has since been extended to written and visual works, the latter often distributed via Creative Commons. (Attentive readers of BSR image captions will have noticed the frequent appearance of Creative ​ ​ Commons attributions.)

Is there a difference, legally, between images published with the creator’s permission for reuse and images that, as in Prince’s works, are taken without permission? What about when an image isn’t directly taken but used as a source of “inspiration”?

Bottom line — does Prince (or any other artist) have the right to use whatever image captures his or her imagination, or does the creator of that image have the right to have his or her creation acknowledged and protected? The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. are sponsoring "Rip Off, or Fair Use?," an event to discuss these and other issues. The speakers will include attorney Nancy Wolff, artist David Graham, and Philadelphia Photo Arts Center's executive director Sarah Stolfa.

"Rip Off, or Fair Use? Does Copyright Law Adequately Protect Photography and the Visual Arts?" is coming up on Thursday, August 6, 5:30­8pm, at Pepper Hamilton LLP, 3000 Logan Square, at 18th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia. ($10 for Cultural Alliance & Copyright Society of the U.S.A. members; $20 for nonmembers.) Register here; questions can be addressed to Tracy Buchanan at [email protected]. ​ ​ ​

http://www.flyingkitemedia.com/innovationnews/technicultureresidency071415.aspx

The Cultural Alliance hits the ground running with new arts and tech residency

Alaina Mabaso 7/14/2015

Fresh from its victory helping the Philadelphia Cultural Fund secure stable funding for 2016, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is on the trail of innovations that spark deeper collaborations between the local arts and technology sectors.

2014 saw the launch of the organization’s TechniCulture Initiative, and president Maud Lyon says this year’s TechniCulture Innovation Residency Awards, announced in June, further that work.

Local cultural groups invited to apply for the residencies must have an annual operating budget of $1 million or less. The hard part isn’t necessarily finding the solution to a problem, but trying to frame what you need in the first place.

"One of the things that’s both fascinating and intimidating for technology is that you don’t even know what questions to ask," explains Lyon.

That’s what these unique art/tech residencies, each seeded with $2,000, are going to help three local organizations accomplish. Winners will be paired with a technologist or a digital agency who will work in­depth with them for months to help them achieve something they don’t have the resources to develop on their own.

"What really is an issue for a lot of organizations is that they sort of have an idea that technology could help them with something, but they don’t know what that is," says Lyon. On the other hand, "the technology people can create an app for anything, but they need to understand what the organization’s really trying to accomplish."

What those projects will be is still an open question, but Lyon points to challenges such as better management of existing data, better audience and consumer services, new organizational capacities, new forms of art, or more efficient, effective business models.

A specific timeline is in place. On July 16, the Cultural Alliance is hosting a free orientation session for interested organizations (register online); August 21 is the deadline for applications. Three winning organizations will receive their new tech residency partner on September 30.

The first phase will include 80 hours of work from the participating tech professional or firm between October and December, developing an actionable concept. In early 2016, a "design challenge" will follow in which volunteering technologists, marketers, and communications and development experts create grant­ready road maps for implementation of the three residencies’ concepts, pinpointing the platform or medium and estimating costs. (The Alliance has an open call for TechniCulture design challenge partners; interested professionals or firms should contact grants and program manager Tracy Buchanan at [email protected].)

The TechniCulture Innovation Residency Awards will culminate in a public presentation on April 29 as part of Philly Tech Week 2016. An audience vote will award one of the concepts further dollars for implementation, but all three organizations will walk away with a concept ready for funding.

http://www.generocity.org/2015/this­cultural­alliance­residency­wants­artists­and­techies­to­come­together/

This Cultural Alliance residency wants artists and techies to come together

Mo Manklang 7/10/2015

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has opened entries for the TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award program, the next phase of the organization’s TechniCulture initiative, which encourages deeper collaborations between Philly’s arts & culture community and the tech scene.

Three organizations will be selected and awarded a residency with a technologist or digital agency, a process that will help organizations evaluate their digital needs and develop a plan to launch a project or application that will best suit their mission.

“A lot of the feedback we heard from our 2015 TechniCulture event was that though the cultural community is eager to innovate, the biggest obstacle to breaking into the digital arena isn’t just funding—for many, it’s not knowing where to even begin,” said Maud Lyon, President of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. “This award is a great opportunity for an organization that has the will and passion to innovate, but doesn’t have the capacity or resources to take the first step.”

Now through Friday, August 21, the Cultural Alliance invites its member organizations with an operating budget of $1 million or less to apply online atwww.philaculture.org/techniculture.

Each residency will be seeded with a $2,000 stipend for the individual technologist or digital agency assigned to the cultural organization. After their residency, organizations will also be supported in winter 2016 with a curated “design challenge” of technologists, arts professionals, marketers, communications specialists and grantwriters who will help them take their project planning to the next level and think through the next phases of development and implementation, including grant applications to seek full funding of their projects.

At the next TechniCulture event during Philly Tech Week in April 2016, TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award participants will present their project proposals for the opportunity to receive additional support.

In addition, the Alliance is putting out an open call for any interested technologists to participate as potential TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award partners or join a design challenge team. Developers and digital agencies interested in being part of TechniCulture are encouraged to contact Grants & Program Manager Tracy Buchanan at [email protected].

http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/rfps/rfp5767­cultural­alliance­announces­technology­innovation­residency­program­for­ art­groups

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance launches awards program

Ayanna Jones 6/30/2015

Established in 1972, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is the region’s leading arts and cultural advocacy, research, and marketing organization.

As part of its mission to "lead, strengthen, and give voice to a diverse cultural sector that is making Philadelphia a world­class region to live, work, and play,” the alliance is accepting entries for its TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award program, part of the organization’s TechniCulture initiative to encourage deeper collaborations between Philadelphia’s arts and cultural community and the tech sector.

Through the program, three organizations will be awarded a residency with a technologist or digital agency to help them evaluate their digital needs and develop a plan to launch a project or application that aligns with their mission. Each residency will be seeded with a $2,000 stipend for the individual technologist or digital agency assigned to the cultural organization. After their residency, organizations will be supported in winter 2016 with a curated "design challenge" featuring technologists, arts professionals, marketers, communications specialists, and grantwriters who will help them take their project to the next level and think through the next phases of development and implementation, including funding for their projects.

At the TechniCulture event during Philly Tech Week in April 2016, award participants will present their project proposals for the opportunity to receive additional support. Attendees will vote on their favorite project, and the most compelling proposal will receive additional services to help make it a reality.

The program is open to current Cultural Alliance member organizations with an operating budget of no more than $1 million.

Visit the alliance website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

http://www.phillytrib.com/news/business/greater­philadelphia­cultural­alliance­launches­awards­program/article_05b8ada 8­dd1a­58cb­881e­855dcee6a98d.html

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance launches awards program

Ayanna Jones 6/30/2015

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has opened entries for the TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award program, the next phase of the organization’s TechniCulture initiative to encourage deeper collaborations between Philadelphia’s arts and culture community and the tech sector. Three organizations will be selected and awarded a residency with a technologist or digital agency, a process that will help organizations evaluate their digital needs and develop a plan to launch a project or application that will best suit their mission.

Each residency will be seeded with a $2,000 stipend for the individual technologist or digital agency assigned to the cultural organization. After their residency, organizations will also be supported in winter 2016 with a curated “design challenge” of technologists, arts professionals, marketers, communications specialists and grantwriters who will help them take their project planning to the next level and think through the next phases of development and implementation, including grant applications to seek full funding of their projects.

Now through Aug. 21, the Cultural Alliance invites its member organizations with an operating budget of $1 million or less to apply online at www.philaculture.org/techniculture. ​ ​ ​

Convention Center wins award The Pennsylvania Convention Center, managed by SMG, has been selected as Venue of the Year by the Philadelphia Area Chapter of Meeting Professionals International.

Group members selected the Pennsylvania Convention Center/SMG from among 12 facilities in the Philadelphia region. Among the selection criteria were quality of service, food and beverage, atmosphere and overall performance. Lorenz Hassenstein, general manager of the Pennsylvania Convention Center for SMG, accepted the award June 17 during a gala attended by more than 100 members and guests in the newly renovated ballroom of Radisson Blu Warwick.

HOK opens new office HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm, has opened a new office in downtown Philadelphia. Located in One Logan Square, HOK’s office is focusing on the planning and design of projects in the region’s healthcare, higher education, science and technology, aviation and transportation, sports, hospitality, corporate, and commercial mixed­use markets.

HOK’s Philadelphia office will provide services on current projects including the Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building on Pennsylvania State University’s University Park campus in State College, Pa., and ongoing design services for Rowan University/Rutgers­Camden in Camden, N.J.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/06/25/technicultural­innovation­residency­award­arts.html

New initiative to connect cultural groups with tech experts

Kenneth Hilario 6/25/2015

An arts­meets­technology initiative was announced on Thursday with a goal of giving cultural organizations the tools they need to innovate new ideas and concepts.

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance opened entries ​ ​ for the TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award ​ program, the next phase in its TechniCulture initiative.

The result of the residency program will be matching three arts­and­cultural organizations with a technologist or digital agency to evaluate individual digital needs and to develop a plan to launch a project or application.

Member organizations with an operating budget of less than $1 million can apply for a residency until Aug. 21.

“The process of digital innovation or technology development is very similar to the creative process,” said Michael Norris, vice president of external relations of the ​ Cultural Alliance.

The cultural sector can benefit from the technology community’s sense of process and development, trial and error, and innovation, he said.

Past iterations of the TechniCulture initiative only involved a showcase of existing projects. The residency addition will spark and foster new projects and innovations within organizations.

Residencies will be seeded with a $2,000 stipend for the individual technologist or digital agency assigned to each cultural organization.

After their residency, organizations will be supported in winter next year with a design challenge of technologists and other professionals to flesh out their ideas and help them through the next phases of development and implementation, including grant applications to seek full funding of their projects.

At the next TechniCulture event during Philly Tech Week next April, the residency award participants will present their project proposals for the opportunity to receive additional support. Attendees will then vote on one project; the winner will get additional services to move forward with its project, including pro bono legal services, Norris said.

"We want the event in April to be a smooth and professional presentation,” he said. “The design challenge will be nitty gritty, and people will crunch into the meat of what the organization needs to do.”

Organizations don’t need extensive knowledge in or have experience in technology. The Cultural Alliance will be looking for a combination of varying expertise levels.

"In theory, the rights to the finished product would exist with the cultural organization that came up with and developed the concept," Norris said.

Read more about the residency award here.

http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/where­is­the­job­growth­not­in­philly/zsJofy­­­eMUN4vWfdUTiE/

Where is the job growth? Not in Philly

Dan Kelley 6/25/2015

For years, we’ve heard that Philadelphia’s population has grown, thanks in large part to young people attracted by a vibrant and expanding arts scene.

While it’s true that Philadelphia’s population has grown, a new analysis by a New York City public policy organization has cast doubt on whether creative industries are actually growing in Philadelphia.

The size of creative industries in Philadelphia fell 24 percent between 2003 and 2013 to 11,841 jobs, according to the Center for an Urban Future, which says Philadelphia came in dead last in job growth among cities it analyzed.

The new report, which was designed to highlight the importance of creative industries to New York City’s economy, used Bureau of Labor Statistics to count the number of people employed in the architecture, television and film production, advertising, publishing and other industries.

Growth in the Big Apple’s creative economy topped 15 percent to 216,000 jobs, the report noted, despite sky­high real estate costs and a high cost of living that makes paychecks seem comparatively smaller.

Local arts administrators questioned the numbers in the Center for an Urban Future analysis.

“It doesn’t seem logical to me,” said Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

An analysis by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance pegs the number of local arts­related jobs at 44,000. The difference might be that the two organizations are counting different things. The Center for Urban Future’s analysis excludes freelancers. The cultural alliance includes chefs and bartenders whose jobs are supported by arts funding in their review of available data.

For those on the hunt for jobs in the arts, Philly’s lower cost of living give young creators lots of opportunities to experiment.

“There are lots of places you can go and create work, said Hannah Van Sciver, 22, an actress, photographer and restaurant hostess. “I also know that a decade from now or two decades or now, I don’t know if I want to be in Philly.”

http://broadstreetreview.com/wnwn/knight­foundation­gives­1.48­million­to­22­philly­arts­groups

Knight Foundation gives $1.48 million to 22 Philly arts groups

Judy Weightman 6/25/2015

Victoria Rogers, the Knight Foundation’s recently appointed vice president for the arts, announced the recipients of its 2015­2016 grants on June 24. Arts groups in Philadelphia, which is one of eight resident communities where the foundation makes grants, will share a total of $1.48 million in the coming year.

Recipients include groups of all sizes. Large, established companies get grants for programs to engage with their communities in new ways, such as the Kimmel Center’s Underground Residencies, which will now expand to include cabaret and jazz artists. Smaller groups get funding for more experimental fare, like INVISIBLE RIVER (read our piece about them here), the public art and boat festival that will take place in, on, and above the Schuylkill on August 29 this year.

There’s also an emphasis on bringing the arts to young people, such as the Cultural Alliance’s STAMP (Students at Museums in Philly) program and Play On, Philly!, the local El Sistema­inspired music program.

Grant amounts range from $10,000 (to Pennsylvania Ballet Association for the company premiere of a Larry Keigwin work) and $15,000 (to Philadelphia Young Playwrights) to $135,000 (to the Curtis Institute, for its ArtistYear program, which places professional musicians in the community) and $150,000 (to Opera Philadelphia and the Bearded Ladies Cabaret for their site­specific cabaret opera, ANDY: A Popera). ​ ​

“Each of these groups reflect the artistic excellence and audience engagement that Knight Foundation is committed to advancing,” Rogers said.

You can read the full list of recipients here.

http://www.generocity.org/groundswells­advocacy­helps­keep­cultural­fund­budget­at­3­14­mil/

GroundSwell’s Advocacy Helps Keep Cultural Fund Budget at $3.14 Mil

Kristen Gillette 6/19/2015

Earlier this year, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund was in jeopardy of having its funding cut by 40 percent for FY2016. However, yesterday, June 18, City Council approved an amended budget that maintains the Cultural Fund budget at $3.14 million. Mayor Michael Nutter is expected to sign the budget into law next week.

The Philadelphia Cultural Fund is a nonprofit corporation established by Philadelphia’s Mayor and City Council in 1991 to support and enhance the cultural life and vitality of the City of Philadelphia and its residents.

“It’s wonderful to see that City Council will continue to value the social, educational and economic impact of the arts and maintain PCF funding for another fiscal year,” said Maud Lyon, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, in a press release. “We’d like to particularly thank Councilwoman Marian Tasco, who led the way by issuing a strong letter of support that influenced the majority of her fellow Councilmembers to vote in favor of maintaining the budget.”

According to the Cultural Alliance’s website, GroundSwell (the advocacy arm of the Cultural Alliance) and the Cultural Fund worked throughout the spring to organize behind­the­scenes and public advocacy action campaigns to protect the Philadelphia Cultural Fund’s budget allocation, including holding the second annual Philadelphia Arts Advocacy Day on April 7.

The two organizations also helped organize pop­up acts of arts & culture in City Hall ahead of the public budget testimonies. In addition, GroundSwell helped push online advocacy efforts, including calling on supporters to email their City Council members and tweet using hashtag #SavePHLArts.

“We want to thank everyone who participated in this campaign,” said Lois Welk, Interim Executive Director of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. “This isn’t just a win for PCF; it’s good news for the entire cultural sector, and for Philadelphia as a whole. Cultural Fund grants go to groups all over the city, including small and volunteer­run organizations that provide essential services to their communities.”

http://broadstreetreview.com/wnwn/city­dollars­maintained­for­philadelphia­cultural­fund­in­2016

City Dollars Maintained for Philadelphia Cultural Fund in 2016

Alaina Mabaso 6/18/2015

It’s a victory for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF), theGreater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance announced this week, thanks in part to events, rallies, and a social media campaign to #SavePHLArts organized through its grassroots advocacy arm, Groundswell (launched in early 2013).

In April, BSR covered Groundswell’s Arts Advocacy Day rally at City Hall, which aimed to let City Council members know ​ ​ what a proposed 40 percent cut to PCF’s funding in the City’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget would mean to arts and culture groups on the ground throughout the region and the people they serve. On April 7, members of many arts groups across the city, from Piffaro Renaissance Band and Anna Crusis Women’s Choir to the Mural Arts Program, gathered in the central City Hall courtyard for songs, signs, speeches, and activities.

According to the Cultural Alliance, on June 18, City Council approved an amended City budget that leaves PCF’s funding intact at $3.14 million. These dollars are key to operational support for many local cultural organizations. “Cultural Fund grants go to groups all over the city, including small and volunteer­run organizations that provide essential services to their communities,” says PCF interim executive director Lois Welk.

In the same statement from the Cultural Alliance, president Maud Lyon particularly praises Councilwoman Marian Tasco for spearheading support for maintaining PCF funding. “It’s wonderful to see that the City Council will continue to value the social, educational and economic impact of the arts and maintain PCF funding for another fiscal year,” she says. The Cultural Alliance invites supporters to a celebration at The Oval's beer garden on July 30 (details TBA).

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/06/18/city­council­will­not­cut­philadelphias­cultural.html

City Council will not cut Philadelphia Cultural Fund budget

Fran Hilario 6/18/2015

In a major win for Philadelphia’s arts­and­cultural industry, City Council, on Thursday, announced it would not be cutting the Philadelphia Cultural Fund's budget.

Mayor Michael Nutter, in his fiscal 2016 budget proposal earlier this year, said he would be allotting only $1.8 million to the Cultural Fund, a 40 percent decrease from last year.

City Council, however, on Thursday, approved an amended city budget that will maintain the full $3.14 million.

"It’s wonderful to see that City Council will continue to value the social, educational and economic impact of the arts and maintain PCF funding for another fiscal year," said Maud Lyon, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

Lois Welk, interim executive director of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, echoed Lyon’s sentiments and said the win is not just for the cultural sector, but for the city as a whole.

“Cultural Fund grants go to groups all over the city, including small and volunteer­run organizations that provide essential services to their communities,” she said.

The $3.14 million budget was a result of a revised fiscal 2015 year city budget approved last year by City Council, which increased the city's grantmaking budget by $1.3 million.

GroundSwell and the Cultural Fund worked this year to organize campaigns to protect the budget allocation, including the Philadelphia Arts Advocacy Day in April.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/things_to_do/PhillyFive­Things­to­Do­May­28­2015.html

#PhillyFive Things to Do: May 28, 2015

Allie Volpe 5/28/2015

Usually this kind of stuff is reserved for Fridays, but since you’re so well behaved, we’ll give it to you now. For lunch: Kildare’s Irish Pub (4417 Main St., Manayunk) will serve their new ‘Merica Burger (that’d be bun, patty, coleslaw, barbecue ketchup, American cheese, apple wood smoked bacon and matchstick potato fries, bun) for only $3 from noon to 2 p.m. today.

For an artistic afternoon: Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s youth initiative Students at Museums in Philly (STAMP) is hosting an afternoon of culture starting at 3 p.m. at the Academy of Natural Sciences (1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway) with an audio tour. Teens will be able to try out the new tool during a scavenger hunt that will take players from the Academy of Natural Sciences to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Eastern State Penitentiary, Franklin Institute and the Barnes Foundation (2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway). The final destination (that’d be the Barnes) will hold a 5:30 p.m. party with food and music from West Philly musician Chill Moody.

For high­caliber entertainment: Innovative circus arts troupe Tangle Movement Arts brings a free performance, “Intersections,” to Clark Park (4300 Baltimore Ave.) at 6 p.m. today where undercover performers dressed as ordinary park­goers will swing from trapezes during the Clark Park Farmers Market. Update: This event has been postponed until Thursday, June 4.

For a finale: Be there as La Colombe (1335 Frankford Ave.) wraps up their Thursday night rum distillery tour series. Pop in between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. for rum knowledge and a taste of the good stuff.

For a festival warmup: Before next month’s Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Del., get a chance to win four day passes and sip on complimentary beverages at a 7 p.m. party at Morgan’s Pier (221 N. Columbus Blvd.).

For more Things to Do, check out our calendar for the most up­to­date happenings.

https://soundcloud.com/900amwurd/mojo­52715­stamp­pass­party

MOJO 5.27.15 ­ STAMP Pass Party

5/27/2015

Nicole Allen of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance describes the plan of activities for teens, incl uding a scavenger hunt and dance party, celebrating the success of the STAMP Pass program on Thurs May 28.

http://www.uwishunu.com/2015/05/stamp­on­the­parkway­celebrates­the­citys­museums­with­a­free­museum­scavenger ­hunt­for­teenagers­this­thursday­may­28/

STAMP On The Parkway Celebrates The City’s Museums With A Free Museum Scavenger Hunt For Students This Thursday, May 28

Jillian Wilson 5/27/2015

This Thursday, May 28, local teens can discover the city’s great museum scene by way of a scavenger hunt as STAMP (Students at Museums in Philly) on the Parkway hits the city.

From 3 to 7 p.m., teens can search for items throughout five museums — the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Eastern State Penitentiary, The Franklin Institute and the Barnes Foundation.

The scavenger hunt closes out at the Barnes Foundation where Chill Moody, a West Philly­based rapper who has performed at the Roots Picnic, Wawa Welcome America and more, will perform a 20­minute set for guests at 6 p.m. After Chill Moody, DJ Ricochet will provide the tunes. Giveaways, food and dancing will round out the fun at the Barnes.

Registration is not required, but those who register will be entered to win special prizes. Click here to register.

STAMP on the Parkway serves as the kick off for STAMP Audio Tours. STAMP Audio Tours are recorded tours by members of the STAMP Teen Council that include little­known facts about participating museums.

The STAMP Pass is a free pass for teens ages 14 through 19 who live in Philadelphia. Click here to register for the STAMP Pass. The full list of participating STAMP museums is available below.

Bonus: Philly PHLASH will be providing free rides to museums for those with STAMP passes.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/entertainment­guide/82438­weekly­entertainment­guide­baskervilles­beer­a­br oadway­forbidden

MOJO 5.27.15 ­ STAMP Pass Party

Robin Bloom 5/27/2015

16 things to do this week in the Philly region. Robin Bloom shares her picks.

Onstage

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" at Lantern Theater Company

The Hound of the Baskervilles takes to the stage at Lantern Theater Company, a three­actor spoof of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic "tail" adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, May 28 through June 28. Matt Pfeiffer directs the fast­paced farce that features a new twist on the beloved mystery with multiple, quick­changing roles played by Daniel Fredrick, Dave Johnson, and Damon Bonetti, making his Lantern debut. The madcap mayhem takes place in the intimate St. Stephen's Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, Center City Philadelphia. Related programs and events include Directors in Conversation pre­show discussion, June 5, Young Friends Night, Artists in Conversation post­show discussions with the cast on June 7 and 14, and open captioning performances June 19 and 20. Photo by Plate3 Photography.

"Passion" at Arden Theatre Company

Arden Theatre Company takes on Stephen Sondheim's romantic and powerful musical Passion, the Tony Award winning musical collaboration between the great composer/lyricist and James Lapine. The tale of love and obsession is set in 19th century Italy (adapted from the 1981 film Passione d'Amore), and is directed by Producing Artistic Director Terrence ​ ​ J. Nolan, reuniting the creative team that put on the successful Sunday in the Park with George. Starring Ben Michael, Ben Dibble, Ben Cherry, Jennie Eisenhower, Liz Filios, and Frank X through June 28 at 40 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia. A frequent producer of his works, the Arden Theater honors Sondheim with the inaugural Master Storyteller Award on June 1. Additional related programs and events include post­show discussions on June 4, 7, 10, 17, and 21, open captioned and audio described performances on June 19­20, and Teen Arden on June 7. Photo by Mark Garvin.

"Forbidden Broadway's Greatest Hits" at Act II Playhouse

The iconic songs and performers of the "Great White Way" are spoofed in Act II Playhouse's Forbidden Broadway's Greatest Hits. The long­running Off­Broadway hit was created and written by Gerard Alessandrini and is a satirical tribute to some of theater's greatest stars and songwriters. Directed by and starring Artistic Director Tony Braithwaite, with Elena Camp, Jeffrey Coon, Tracie Higgins, and choreographer and music director Sonny Leo. The fun and popular show is already extended through June 28 at 56 E. Butler Avenue, Ambler, PA. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Art Appreciation

STAMP on the Parkway

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's STAMP on the Parkway offers Philadelphia teenagers (14­19 years old) free tours of participating institutions (with audio tours created for and by teens) and rides on the Philly PHLASH for the season. The fun starts Thursday, May 28, 3pm­7pm, with a scavenger hunt through five different museums ­ Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Eastern State Penitentiary, the Franklin Institute, and the Barnes Foundation, where the evening concludes with a dance party with West Philadelphia hip­hop artist Chill Moody. Free for Philly residents only. Registration for a STAMP Pass is available online. Photo courtesy of the Barnes Foundation.

Philadelphia Sculptors' "5 Into 1"

The Philadelphia Sculptors' annual exhibition showcases the works of emerging sculptors and provides soon­to­be graduates with a special opportunity to exhibit their art in a professional gallery. 5 Into 1 highlights the achievements and artistic merit of 12 selected artists from five Philadelphia colleges and universities: Moore College of Art and Design, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Tyler School of Art, The University of the Arts, and University of Pennsylvania. On display in the galleries of Moore College of Art and Design, 20th Street and the Parkway through July 25. Opening reception is Friday, May 29, 7pm­8:30pm. Pictured: Moore College of Art and Design student Victoria Lattanzi's Tibetan papermaking. Photo courtesy of Moore College of Art and Design.

Rift/Fault – Landscape Photographs of the North American Continental Plate

Photographer Marion Belanger's first one­woman show in the Philadelphia is on display at Haverford College. Rift/Fault – Landscape Photographs of the North American Continental Plate documents the way geological boundaries demarcate difference and change within the landscape. Large­format color images capture diverse landscapes such as the splitting earth, steaming hot water, volcanic eruptions, and tree­less lava landscapes of the eastern edge (Atlantic Rift in Iceland) as well as the San Andreas fault topographies in California that make up the western boundary. Belanger's works are included in many permanent collections such as the Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Haverford College. Opening reception May 29, 4:30pm­6pm. On view through October 4, Atrium Gallery in the Marshall Fine Arts Center, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA. Music

Exit 0 Jazz Festival

Stroll from one concert to the next at the Exit 0 Jazz Festival, May 29­31, as Cape May hosts international touring musicians playing jazz, soul, blues and R&B. Performers include Dr. John (pictured), Rebirth Brass Band, John "Papa" Gros Band, Cyrille Aimee, Melissa Aldana and Crash Trio, Sean Jones, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Pepito Gomez, and more, at various venues in Cape May, NJ. Photo by Jerry Campbell.

40th Street Summer Series returns

University City District's 40th Street Summer Series returns to Philadelphia the last Saturday of the month through September, opening this Saturday, May 30, 6pm, with a performance by the experimental cabaret group, Bearded Ladies (pictured) with Tapestry Tribal, blending traditional Middle Eastern dance with influences from around the world. Upcoming performances include BalletX on June 27, behind the Walnut Street Free Library, 40th and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia. Photo by Plate3 Photography.

Festivals, Food & Fun

Tangle Movement Arts, the all­female circus arts company, employs dance, theater, and aerial acrobatics in their newest circus­theater show, Intersections, Thursday, May 28, 6pm, Clark Park, 4300 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia. Trapeze, aerial rope maneuvers, and acrobatics are used to portray visitors at the Clark Park Farmers Market. The free performance is part of the City of Philadelphia's Performances in Public Spaces program. Photo by Mike Ermilio. **UPDATE ­ due to impending inclement weather, this performance has been moved to next Thursday, June 4***

The 5th Philadelphia International Tango Festival takes place May 28­31, with Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, Nick Jones & Diana Cruz, Adam Hoopengardner & Ciko Tanik, Andres Amarilla & Meredith Klein, along with performances by BalletX, classes and more at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 North American Street, Old City, Philadelphia.

Philly Beer Week kicks off this Friday, May 29 through Sunday, June 7, a 10­day celebration of the "Best Beer­Drinking City in America," the largest beer celebration of its kind in the United States, featuring hundreds of events including festivals, dinners, tours, pub crawls, tastings and meet­the­brewer nights at area bars, restaurants and other locations throughout Greater Philadelphia.

Center City District Sips returns this summer with over 85 bars and restaurants offering drink and appetizer specials every Wednesday from 5pm­7pm and $5 cocktails, $4 wine, $3 beer and half­priced appetizers, through September 2.

Wyck Historic House hosts a Celebration of the Roses, programs honoring the oldest rose garden and its history, Saturday, May 30, 11am­4pm with light refreshments, rose tea, children's activities, a "Rose is a Rose" art contest, lecture, and more. The Wyck Rose Garden was designed and created in 1824 by Jane Bowne Haines, the wife of Reuben Haines III, co­founder of the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The garden features over 50 types of heritage roses, most of which bloom in May, 6026 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia.

The first Art is Life Festival hits Roxborough this Saturday, May 30, 12pm­6pm, offering three stages with culinary demonstrations, visual arts, and fashion and performing arts, plus a beer garden, food trucks, and more, Ridge Avenue between Green Lane and Leverington Avenue. Rain date Sunday, May 31.

The annual Brewerytown Spring Festival is Saturday, May 30, 12pm­5pm, as the 2700­2900 blocks of West Girard Avenue are transformed into a street festival celebrating art, food and live music, along with crafts and children's activities, Philadelphia.

The Downingtown Fine Arts Festival features artists, food trucks, vendors, music in the Armor Alley Pocket Park and more, Saturday, May 30, 10am­6pm, and Sunday, May 31, 10am­5pm, 100 Block of E. Lancaster Avenue, Downingtown, PA.

Each week, the Entertainment Guide spotlights interesting local arts offerings happening now, including music, dance, theater, museums, special exhibitions and other arts events from across the region.

To submit an event to be considered, email Robin Bloom at [email protected]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20150527_Free_museum_passes_for_teens_cultivating_future_stewards. html

Local Teens Record Audio Tours to Get Youth Interested in Philly’s Museums

Caralyn Dientsman 5/27/2015

Many teenagers would argue that museum tours don’t exactly scream cool … up until now. The Philly museum scene is gaining youth appeal with the help of The Greater Philadelphia Culture Alliance’s Students At Museums in Philly (STAMP) program.

On Thursday May 28th h​ undreds of Philly teens will flock to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to partake in the debut of the ​ teen­crafted STAMP Audio Tours. After special announcements by the STAMP Teen Council and Mayor Michael Nutter, hundreds of youth will be released to partake in a free scavenger hunt that will take participants through five different museums along the Parkway.

The first five tours will include the Dinosaur Hall exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University; the Modern and Contemporary Art and Japanese Tea House exhibits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Al Capone’s Cell at Eastern State Penitentiary; the Joel N. Bloom Observatory at the Franklin Institute; and the Collection Gallery at The Barnes Foundation.

The scavenger hunt will end in front of the Barnes Museum, where local hip­hop artist Chill Moody will lead the teens in a dance party from 4 p.m. to 7.pm. Guests who successfully complete the STAMP on the Parkway scavenger hunt will have access to grand prizes along with additional smaller prizes that will be available throughout the evening. Museums haven’t sparked this much excitement since Ben Stiller played a night watchman and discovered exhibits came alive at night.

For the rest of the summer local high schoolers will have access to the STAMP Audio Tour. The tours were designed on a DIY platform and were written and recorded by teens for teens. Each audio tour comes complete with relatable insider tips and gives students access to collections beyond the typical museum tours. Teens can discover, for instance, more about the how Academy of Natural Science uses 3­D printing to recreate ancient fossils or learn why there are no labels on the walls of the Barnes Foundation. All insider tips and information have been pre­approved by fellow adolescents, so you know they're "P.H." phat.

The STAMP Pass is available at no charge to teens ages 14 to 19 who live in the City of Philadelphia. Even after the initial kickoff, teens will be able to access the audio tours at any time by visiting spts.us/stamp, where additional tours will be added later this summer.

Teens who are new to the program can sign up for a STAMP Pass at phillySTAMPpass.org.

The STAMP audio tours are available online and accessible at any location via smartphone. Participating STAMP museums and cultural institutions:

● African American Museum in Philadelphia ● Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University ● Barnes Foundation ● Eastern State Penitentiary ● Fabric Workshop and Museum ● The Franklin Institute ● Institute of Contemporary Art ● Mutter Museum ● National Constitution Center ● National Museum of American Jewish History ● Penn Museum ● Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts ● Philadelphia History Museum ● Philadelphia Museum of Art ● Philadelphia Zoo

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20150527_Free_museum_passes_for_teens_cultivating_future_stewards. html

Free museum passes for teens cultivating future stewards

Natalie Pompilio 5/27/2015

Less than a year ago, Asef Khurshan had never been to the Barnes Foundation. Now, the 16­year­old would like to give you a tour, starting with his favorite room, No. 19.

"Because the Barnes is not a typical museum, I've worked out some hints for you," he says. In Room 19, he introduces the family of Henri Matisse as depicted in The Music Lesson and asks, "What do you see when you look at this family? ​ ​ What are the relationships like?"

He tells you to look closely at two paintings by Chaim Soutine on another wall and compare them: "What do you notice about the brushstrokes? Stand in front of Praying Man. Now back away a bit. How does this painting change? Do the ​ ​ lines become more clear or less?"

That's not Khurshan actually standing by your side. It's his recorded voice as part of a new, free audio tour available through your phone and created by Students at Museums in Philly (STAMP), a growing Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance program that offers city residents ages 14 to 19 free admission to 15 museums.

The alliance hopes to grow STAMP by having the 15 members of its teen advisory council provide personal insight into their favorite museums. But it's not just off­the­cuff remarks about Al Capone's cell or that cockroach in the tiger diorama: Each teenager went through extensive research, script writing, and recording sessions for the final product (See for yourself at http://spts.us/stamp.)

"It's a great place to relax and unwind," the real­life Khurshan, a sophomore at J.R. Masterman High School, said during a recent interview at the Barnes. "Most art museums, they have a plaque saying, 'This is what the artist wants you to think.' But in the Barnes, you get to be the artist. Placards make you feel trapped. The Barnes frees your mind."

Now halfway into its second year, STAMP continues to introduce a generation of future cultural stewards to what the city has to offer while also helping fill in the educational gaps left by lack of school funding, said Nicole Allen, alliance director of policy and community engagement.

The program's initial goal was to sign up 1,000 teenagers in the first year. It hit that mark after the first month, she said ­ more than 11,000 students enrolled during the 2013­14 school year. About 100 teenagers sign up each week, bringing the total of STAMP pass holders this year to 16,000.

That group, Allen said, "looks like Philadelphia" ­ about 64 percent of pass holders are of African American or Latino heritage. About half of those who use STAMP passes come from disadvantaged backgrounds or neighborhoods with low cultural participation.

"They don't come from households where art and culture are priorities, but they're using the passes," she said.

In STAMP's first year, one student blogged about her regular visits to the Mutter Museum after initially noting she'd never heard of the place and was even unsure how to pronounce it. STAMP introduced another student to West Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art, where he made connections and later interned.

Some schools even encourage STAMP pass use to enhance their curriculum, Allen said.

"They'll say, 'We're learning about the Constitution. Why don't you go to the Constitution Center? You can go for free,' " she said. "It really brings subjects to life."

The program also seems to be good for the museums.

The Mutter Museum, for example, has had a rise in teen engagement and plans to expand its STAMP offerings, for example, allowing the passes to be used for special events. It's also developing more programming aimed at teens, said Daniel Corti, Mutter director of visitor services.

The teen council members are STAMP's best ambassadors. Asia Kaiser, a 17­year­old Masterman junior who gives the audio tour for the Academy of Natural Sciences, promotes the program in two languages. "I'm always talking about STAMP. Today, I announced the new [audio] program in Spanish class," said Kaiser, who lives in the northwest part of the city. "I trekked down here 40 minutes on a snow day to go the Academy of Natural Sciences. The more you go, the more you have an appreciation of what they have to offer."

Kaiser recorded some insight about the academy for its audio tour. She advises visitors to check out the model of deinonychus, a cousin of the velociraptor. Deinonychus was a transitional species that bridged the gap as dinosaurs evolved into birds.

"Just recently, the science community has accepted the fact that many dinosaurs were not only covered in scales, like a reptile, but also in feathers," she says in her audio tour. "That's right. Those terrifying beasts you recall from Jurassic ​ Park should really be covered in feathers." ​

With information like that to uncover, it still surprises Kaiser and the other STAMP teens that some of their peers think museums are boring. Sharon Shania, who voices the tours for Eastern State Penitentiary, estimated she has visited the prison at least 100 times in the last two years.

"I like horror movies and I like scary stuff, but I'd never been to Eastern State before, even though I passed by it once. I thought it was expensive to get in," the 16­year­old student at Prep Charter High School said. "Every time I go there, I find something new."

FREE SCAVENGER HUNT STAMP will host a free scavenger hunt for teenagers in five museums starting at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. A dedicated bus will run a loop among the museums to speed the hunt along.

To take part, you must have a STAMP pass. You can register in advance at phillystamppass.org/parkway, or at the starting point of the hunt.

At 5:30 p.m., all players are invited to the Barnes Foundation for a free dance party hosted by West Philadelphia hip­hop artist Chill Moody.

For information, visit www.phillystamppass.org.

http://www.phillytrib.com/lifestyle/teens­flock­to­museums­for­parkway­scavenger­hunt­with­chill/article_73b2685c­4a07­ 55d1­8443­8d426e93e3f1.html

Teens flock to museums for Parkway scavenger hunt with Chill Moody

Kelly Roncace 5/22/2015

If reading is fundamental, then art is instrumental for a student’s cultural development.

For the second consecutive year, Philadelphia high school students will have the opportunity to explore the renowned artistic treats the region has to offer when they enroll in STAMP (Students at Museums in Philly), a community engagement initiative from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The program offers these teens and any other high­school aged teenager living in Philadelphia one year of free admission to 12 of the city’s top museums and attractions.

This year, members of the STAMP Teen Council helped develop and record the STAMP Audio Tour with insider tips, such as information on The Academy of Natural Science’s use of 3D printing to recreate fossils (narrated by Asia Kaiser, age 17); and an explanation of how the lack of wall labels on artwork at The Barnes Foundation was a purposeful choice by Dr. Albert C. Barnes, so that visitors could make up their own minds about the art, not just read about it (narrated by Asef Khurshan, age 17).

“It was really fun writing and recording these tours for STAMP,” said Amani Bey, a senior at Science Leadership Academy and STAMP Teen Council member. “STAMP makes it easy and free for Philadelphia kids to visit museums, but we’re not always sure what to do when we’re there. With these new audio guides, teens will be able to get a more detailed perspective on the artwork and exhibits from people their own age. It’s cool that now there will be something at every museum that’s just for them.”

The free STAMP on the Parkway event on May 28 will kick off with a presentation of the new STAMP Audio Tours by the STAMP Teen Council and a special announcement about teen summer internships at cultural institutions from Mayor Michael Nutter, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

“This is the largest STAMP event we’ve ever planned, but once the program reached over 12,000 teens enrolled, we knew we needed to start thinking bigger,” said Maud Lyon, president of the Cultural Alliance. “With an evening on the Parkway dedicated just for them, Philly teens will be able to use their STAMP Pass at five museums in just one night, and see just how easy it is to get out with their peers and access all of the incredible arts and culture Philadelphia has to offer.”

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s STAMP program will host a blockbuster event for Philadelphia teens, STAMP on the Parkway, on Thursday, May 28, from 3 to 7 p.m. Hundreds of teens will embark on a free scavenger hunt taking them up and down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway through five different museums, and ending with a free dance party at The Barnes Foundation hosted by West Philadelphia hip­hop artist Chill Moody.

The STAMP Pass is available at no charge to teens ages 14­19 who live in the City of Philadelphia. Teens who are new to the program can sign up for a STAMP Pass at phillySTAMPpass.org. http://www.nj.com/indulge/index.ssf/2015/05/teen_audio_tours_boost_interest_in_philadelphia_culture.html

Teen­focused audio tours boost interest in Philadelphia culture

Kelly Roncace 5/22/2015

Getting teens interested in fine art and history can sometimes be a daunting task.

However, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance came up with a plan a few years ago that has more than 12,000 teens running rampant through 15 Philadelphia museums.

STAMP ­ Students at Museums in Philly ­ was launched by the alliance in 2013.

"It's our effort to engage teens in culture and museums and attractions," said Michael Norris, VP of external relations for the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

For many schools, art education and field trips are limited at best, Norris said. And for some, non­existent. Since it's inception, STAMP has been providing the STAMP pass at no charge to Philadelphia teens between 14 and 19 years old. The pass provides access to 15 Philadelphia museums and attractions including Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Barnes Foundation. ​ ​

On May 20, members of the STAMP Teen Council debuted the first STAMP Audio Tours at the Barnes Foundation. The teen council worked with Cliff Stevens, president and CEO of CultureSpots, to research, read, and record audio tours of each museum in the STAMP network. They kicked off the program to the public by debuting the teen audio tours of Barnes Foundation.

"They were incredibly attentive and soaking up whatever we were talking about," Stevens said of the teen council members who recorded audio tours. "They were always well prepared and when we got into the recording studio at WHYY, they were naturals."

The audio tours are written in a way that interests teen visitors and keeps their interest throughout their visit. "The teen council members have just blown me away," Stevens said. "They are a testament as to how this kind of technology can increase access to arts and culture."

The STAMP audio tours are available online and accessible at any location via smartphone.

Asef Khurshan, 16­year­old teen council member, read a portion of the Barnes audio tour while standing in one of the many galleries at the museum.

"There's so much to see here," he said. "Because the Barnes is not a typical museum, I've worked out some hints for you. To really get this place you'll be looking at specific works of art, their location, and the art that surrounds them." Teen council member Asia Kaiser, 17, recorded an audio tour for the Academy of Natural Sciences, while Sharon Shania, 17, recorded the Eastern State Penitentiary teen audio tour.

"It was exciting," Asia said. "I never thought in a million years I would do something like this."

Sharon agreed, noting that the STAMP program has an impact on her personality.

"Working with Cliff gave me so much confidence," she said. "Before STAMP, I didn't feel like I was outspoken, but this has brought me out of my shell."

Stevens said the audio tour is "experimental," but can be tweaked depending on how the teens take to it.

"Based on the feedback, we'll adjust accordingly," he said of the web­based program. "I'm excited that's even an option." Audio tours for each STAMP location will be available at spts.us/stamp.

"We hope this develops patterns of behavior that continue as they grow older," Norris said.

STAMP is hosting the first­ever STAMP on the Parkway event on May 28 from 3 to 7 p.m. featuring a massive scavenger hunt and dance party.

For more information about STAMP, visit phillystamppass.org.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/arts­culture/item/82209­teens­craft­audio­tours­for­philly­galleries­and­museums

Teens craft audio tours for Philly galleries and museums

Peter Crimmins 5/21/2015

Most museums offer hands­on art sessions for children, cocktail parties for young adults, and art classes for older adults. Teenagers are the gap years.

Last year, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance tired to fill that gap with its STAMP pass (Students at Museum in Philly), giving free admission to 15 museums in the city.

This year, the Alliance is introducing audio tours of select museums, made by teenagers for teenagers.

"What we wanted to do was have audio tours in a teen voice that highlighted things that teens thought were cool," said Nicole Allen, director of community engagement for the Alliance. "I've done a ton of audio tours, sometimes they can be a little boring. I can only image what a teen thinks. I think it's kind of cool to hear someone your age talking about it." The first five audio tours will debut Thursday May 28, at a party hosted by all five museums along the Parkway in Philadelphia: the Art Museum, the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Science, the Barnes Foundation, and Eastern State Penitentiary are collectively hosting high school students from around the city with free admission, DJs, a performance by rapper Chill Moody, food, and a scavenger hunt inside the galleries.

Each venue will have its own audio series, highlighting select items in their collections. The audio spots are streamable via smartphone at spts.us/stamp.

Ten more museums will each have their own audio spots created by teenagers at the end of the summer.

High school students on the STAMP teen council were asked to interpret and comment on things in the museum that excited them. Sharon Shania, 16, a student at Prep Charter High School in Point Breeze, created commentary for Eastern State Penitentiary, the defunct prison in Fairmount that has become a historic site.

"I wanted to do this one dungeon in the basement. It's for criminals who were acting up," said Shania. "It's really creepy down there. I love creepy."

Each museum gave the students access to the collections beyond the regular public tours. Asia Kaiser, 17, from Masterman High School was told things about the artifacts at Academy of Natural Science of Drexel University that its docents don't normally mention.

"They had gotten a moose, but they realized its antlers were smaller than the antlers of a moose in another museum," said Kaiser. "So they got another moose, a bigger one, and just put the antlers on the original moose."

At the Barnes Foundation, 16 year­old Asef Khurshan selected some of the paintings in Dr. Barnes densely assembled galleries and encouraged patrons to really move around the room to appreciate them.

This is the voice of Asef Khurshan, a sixteen year­old from Masterman school. In this audio post he encourages the viewer to really move around the room while considering two paintings by Russian modernist Chaim Soutine.

"Stand in front of [Chaim Soutine's] Praying Man, now back away a bit," said Khurshan in his audio guide. "How does this painting change? Do the lines become more clear, or less? Move closer again."

Khurshan finds the Barnes interesting because none of the paintings have wall text next to them, so the viewer has to swim through the dense assemblage of art on his own.

"The Barnes is really about putting yourself in it, and letting your mind interpret it," said Khushan. "I wanted to make the listener really feel it, and make their own interpretation. There's no right answer." In a similar vein, the Michener Museum in Doylestown will host a summer class for children and teenagers to develop audio tours for that museum's collection.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/05/21/new­program­aims­to­get­students­excited­about­the­arts­in­philadelphia/

New Program Aims to Get Students Excited About the Arts in Philadelphia

Justin Udo 5/21/2015

“Students at Museums in Philly” is an organization geared toward getting teens excited about the arts ​ ​ around the city. They are now launching a new program to do just that.

The program is free audio tours done by different students featured at 15 sites around Philadelphia. Asef Khurshan wrote and recorded an audio tour for one of the exhibits at the Barnes Foundation:

“I take the listener and I put them into the painting. I make them feel what the artist is feeling. I ask them a lot of questions about, what do you think the artist was thinking would you like to be portrayed in this style? Do you like this kind of painting? What are your thoughts on this painting? I let their mind flow.”

Asef says he thinks this is a great way to help get teens interested in art:

“I always thought that museums were like a place where you listen to some boring tour guide speak, but in my tour, what I did is I let the listener make the painting his own and embrace it and make his own story out of it.”

For more information about the tours, CLICK HERE.

http://www.generocity.org/phlconvos­phlartsaccess­twitter­chat­with­philatheatreco/

PHLConvos: #PHLArtsAccess Twitter Chat with @PhilaTheatreCo

Kristen Gillette 5/20/2015

Over the past year, we’ve covered a variety of programs designed to make the arts in Philadelphia more accessible, from the STAMP pass program for teens to Art­Reach’s ACCESS program.

We partnered with Philadelphia Theatre Company this Wednesday, May 20 to discuss art access in Philadelphia on Twitter. We discussed how organizations in the city are working to make sure art is accessible to all and how we can make that even stronger as well as what arts organizations feel is the biggest barrier to their accessing the arts here.

Feel free to jump in to continue the conversation using #PHLartsaccess on Twitter!

Here’s our recap of the chat: https://storify.com/generocity/phlconvos­talking­about­phlartsaccess­on­twitter?utm_source=embed_header

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial­context/26124­mayoral­primary­in­philly­could­impact­creative­economy.html

Mayoral Primary in Philly Could IMpact Creative Economy

Rob Meiksins 5/14/2015

This week, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund announced a round of grants to arts organizations in that city. The grants ​ ​ totaled $2.5 million, which represents a significant increase over previous years. That boost to the creative economy is very welcome, but may be at risk in coming months. The results of the primary in the mayoral race on May 19th could have a significant impact.

The Philadelphia Cultural Fund was created by the mayor and city council in 1991 to invest in and promote the arts in that city as an engine of economic, social, and cultural development. With funds allocated in the city budget, the Fund has been making grants to a wide variety of arts organizations since then.

Recently, awards were announced to more than 30 arts groups. Funding areas included history and culture (7 recipients), literary and theatre (7 recipients), music and dance (5 recipients), film and media (3 recipients), art centers and community groups (6 recipients), and museums (2 recipients). One interesting series of grants is to a group of historic sites and organizations in one community in Philadelphia. Those organizations in Germantown have a plan to better coordinate their hours of operation to enhance synergies between them.

This funding level marks a return to pre­Recession levels, well over the $1.7 million that had been available recently. Mayor Nutter has proposed a return to that lower level as part of a new budget, so some in the arts community have concerns that support will become scarce again. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has estimated that the ​ arts community in that city contributes $3.3 billion to the region’s economy, so the issue of support is not a minor one. In fact, $3.3 billion seems like a pretty good return on investment for the $7.5 million that is available overall ​ ​ for the arts in the city’s budget. In the past, there had been some investment in the downtown arts scene, and it is now ​ considered to be booming and one of the main reasons why Philadelphia is gaining recognition as an exciting place to live and visit.

Mayor Nutter has reached the end of his eligibility to serve and is working on his final budget. As the city rarely elects a Republican as mayor, the upcoming Democratic primary will likely determine who will serve the city. A recent forum for ​ the seven candidates apparently left city arts leaders less than excited. One commented that it seemed that none of the ​ candidates had any very viable, dramatic ideas about what to do about the arts. The arts community itself does have some ideas about what to do, if the candidates are willing to listen. For example, if one half of one percent of the city’s eight percent sales tax were devoted to a Quality of Life Fund, with half of devoted to the arts, there would be $37.5 million available. Plans also include making the newly re­established Office of Arts Culture and the Creative Economy a permanent part of the city government, requiring the school district to assign a full­time music and art teacher in every school, and more.

Of course, these ideas cost money—a lot of money—something that is scarce for cities all across the country. Even the arts leaders acknowledge that in a time when it is increasingly difficult to fund basics such as public education, it is hard to justify a significant increase in funding for the arts. Still, we return to that estimate that the arts add $3.3 billion to the region’s economy, a number that any candidate for mayor would do well to pay attention to. Many cities that have the reputation of being exciting communities, such as Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Denver, Colorado; and Austin, Texas have established coordinated cultural plans. Apparently, New York and Boston are in the process of developing something similar. Awareness of the value of the creative economy to a region has been growing, but it still seems to be on a back burner as far as legislative agendas go in many communities, including Philadelphia. Perhaps the time has come for that city in the form of its current mayoral race.

http://www.giarts.org/blog/steve/patron­loyalty­study­reveals­new­data­museum­and­performing­arts­audiences

Patron Loyalty Study Reveals New Data on Museum and Performing Arts Audiences

5/11/2015

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has just released an in­depth study of patron loyalty in the arts. The new report, 2014 Patron Loyalty Study: Loyalty By the Numbersexamined the financial transactions (including ticket sales, ​ ​ memberships and donations) of almost a million Greater Philadelphia households, using seven years of data from 17 major cultural attractions in the region. One of the key findings of the report is that, despite the sector’s focus on developing new audiences, the erosion of current audience loyalty represents one of the most significant financial risks for cultural groups.

The study found that less than 3% of patrons generated over 62% of total patron revenue. However, spending by this small but powerful group of patrons declined 12% throughout the study, driven by a decline in primarily donor activity/revenue.

http://communityvoices.post­gazette.com/arts­entertainment­living/arts­blog/item/39093­taco­salad­and­democracy­in­ha rrisburg

Taco Salad and Democracy in Harrisburg

David Pankratz 5/11/2015

Tuesday is taco salad day at the Pennsylvania State Capitol cafeteria. I hear they're really tasty. Maybe I'll get a chance to try one tomorrow (May 12) when staff from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (including me) lead a SWPA delegation to Harrisburg for the annual Arts & Culture Legislative Visits Day. We'll be joining nearly 100 arts & culture advocates from across the Commonwealth, as well as advocates representing interest areas from firearms rights to ALS treatment to environmental regulations ­ lots of politically active groups turn out when the PA General Assembly is in session, and Tuesday is one of those days.

Yes, democracy in action, a chance to interact directly with our elected representatives. But I suspect some of us may be drawn there, at least in part, by the taco salads.

But, we'll have to see about cramming in tomorrow's lunch, because our schedule's looking pretty full. After all, for the arts & culture, it's an exciting time in Harrisburg, with a new Governor, many new elected representatives and committee chairs, budget debates, and a range of hot­button issues affecting the nonprofit arts industry, for example: 1) the prospect of lifting tax exemptions from admissions to museums and historic sites to generate new tax revenues, and 2) Senate Bill 4, on who is to decide the tax­exempt status of non­profit organizations ­ the judicial or legislative branch?

Our delegation will be meeting with these legislators and/or their staffs this year:

Sen. Jay Costa, District 43 Sen. Wayne Fontana, District 42 Sen. Matt Smith, District 37 Sen. Randy Vulakovich, District 38 Rep. Paul Costa, District 34 Rep. Dan Deasy, District 27 Rep. Dan Frankel, District 23 Rep. Mark Mustio, District 44 Rep. Adam Ravenstahl, District 20 Rep. Jake Wheatley, District 19 Now, actually finding the offices in time for the appointments can be a challenge. On the Senate side, there's actually an elevator. For the rest of it, we're schlepping.

Once there, these meetings are often about relationship­building. The elected officials like to hear about the activities of arts & culture organizations in their districts and how they are serving the public. GPAC will have information on hand about grants to each district from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the PA Museums and Historical Commissions, counts of creative industry businesses by district, and reports on the economic impacts of the arts & culture in the SW PA region. We always try to include at least one constituent from the official's district who can share their personal stories of the arts in their community.

But make no mistake, there are "asks" to be made and objectives to be achieved during these visits – it's not just about the taco salads. This year we will seek commitments, for example, to:

● Increase Pennsylvania Council on the Arts per capita funding from its current ranking of 26th nationwide to $1.66 per capita ● Re­establish the Governor's School for the Arts ● Increase the cap on the PA Film Production Tax Credit Program

One new "ask" stems from GPAC and statewide partners such as the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Citizens for the Arts in PA to develop aspirational policy goals based, in part, on review of other states' policy innovations. This new ask is "to pass legislation that provides tax incentives and technical assistant to create arts & culture districts in PA."

Our rationale: "Cultural districts are a proven success in drawing residents and visitors, creating a destination that supports local businesses and attracts residents. They build upon existing infrastructure, such as historic building and performing arts venues, around which new investment occurs. Cultural district designations and tax credits create a tipping point for the redevelopment of population centers as focal points for community engagement."

Rep. Dan Deasy will likely be putting forth legislation about cultural districts in this session, so we particularly look forward to meeting with him. GPAC will keep in touch about the results of these meetings and will share opportunities for you to get involved going forward.

http://articles.philly.com/2015­05­11/news/62005302_1_philadelphia­singers­greater­philadelphia­cultural­alliance­candid ates

Will the city’s arts scene get a mayor who cares?

Peter Dobrin 5/11/2015

When it comes to insuring a healthy future for arts and culture in Philadelphia, does it really matter who becomes the next mayor?

The answer is important because, like a prospector who discovers a gold mine then watches others pull riches from it, the Philadelphia arts and culture community has been looking around and wondering when its turn will come.

Center City is a boomtown, its vibrant street life and desirable real estate in large part a consequence of arts pioneers taking a chance on new facilities and expanded missions more than two decades ago. Yet even as the city's riches have grown, support for arts and culture groups has not kept pace. Many are struggling. A few, such as Dance/USA Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Singers, are folding.

Attempts to establish a dedicated public funding source for arts groups have been thwarted, while the plight of pensions and schools looms large. Even the staunchest arts supporters pondering a new source of revenue can see what they're up against.

"How can we approach any of these questions, given that the city has essentially no money and its pension is underfunded by billions?" asks Richard Vague, the Philadelphia investor and president of the FringeArts board.

But approach these questions the arts community must ­ survival depends on it ­ and the city's arts leadership is feeling frustration with the candidates as precious time slips away before the May 19 primary.

Candidates' positions range from Doug Oliver's "round it up" program ­ ask customers to contribute change from purchases to boost the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and possibly restrict its funding to institutions with at least a 25 percent "economically disadvantaged" audience ­ to Anthony Hardy Williams' pledge to secure a dedicated revenue stream for the arts and culture sector. The city's current arts spending totals $7.5 million, for everything from public libraries to repairs to the Please Touch Museum's dome.

Many left an April 22 arts forum with the seven candidates feeling deflated by the wan answers.

"The candidates didn't really have positions or policies on the arts. They were vague. Their collective knowledge of arts education was pathetic," said Beth­Ellen Kroop, a longtime arts and political consultant who worked with Frank Rizzo on his 1987 mayoral campaign. "They generally agreed that dedicated regional funding for the arts was a good thing."

But does it matter what the candidates say? Can a mayor really create a more hospitable environment for arts and culture?

Actually, yes. Mayor Nutter reestablished the city's moribund Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. Ed Rendell and Marjorie O. Rendell were tireless fund­raisers for various arts projects, among them the Kimmel Center and the Avenue of the Arts. John Street took on $68.6 million in bond debt to pay for badly needed maintenance and renovations to arts facilities.

"Being the lead cheerleader, supporter and rainmaker is critical, as well as having an accessible administration who are involved in the cultural life of the city," says Cathryn Coate, former head of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA), who was key in getting Rendell interested in the arts.

"A good mayor can create an atmosphere where a kid from anywhere in Philadelphia feels welcome and safe in any museum or theater ­ and knows how to get there." Coate says. "Celebrating our artists the way we celebrate our sports heroes is another way to provide this kind of leadership. We have a lot of Mo'nes out there."

Still, without any help from the mayor's office, the arts community has some well­developed ideas about what it needs if it is to continue as an economic engine that contributes $3.3 billion to the region's economy each year, according to GPCA. And the next mayor would be wise to heed them, lest the sector ­ and the jobs and tax revenue it generates ­ wither.

"We are begging, borrowing and stealing all the time," says John Jarboe, artistic director of Bearded Ladies Cabaret. "Even the larger institutions in town are struggling, especially since the major foundations . . . have shifted their priorities."

"I just don't buy the argument that there's no money," says Leslie Anne Miller, a philanthropist and member of the board of directors of the Free Library of Philadelphia. "Money can always be found when something is deemed a priority, when it is important to the leadership.

"Clearly, there must be a champion. . . . And it's got to be somebody who is going to involve the inner circle ­ in the budgeting process, in health and welfare, and the decisions on schools. These are overlapping areas, they intersect with the arts."

How much of Nutter's arts agenda has he accomplished in two terms? Much of it, says Joseph H. Kluger, chair of the Mayor's Cultural Advisory Council. Still, arts leaders have had to lobby continually to get even the same funding each year for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. It is currently $3.14 million; Nutter has proposed cutting that to $1.8 million.

"The bad news is that because of the city's challenging finances ­ and, frankly, also political resistance in Harrisburg and City Council ­ a number of Mayor Nutter's initiatives may not be achieved during his tenure," Kluger says.

Speaking not for Nutter but as a longtime arts administrator, Kluger says the next mayor should build on Nutter's unfinished business with a plan providing more public support to arts groups while beefing up education. Such a plan would:

Require the Philadelphia School District to assign a full­time music and art teacher to every school; establish art and music as core curriculum elements, not merely as extra­curricular activities; expand arts education offerings in schools through curriculum­based partnerships with nonprofit arts and culture organizations.

Modify the City Charter to make the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy and the chief cultural officer permanent government components.

Amend the Percent for Art program's mandate to read "at least one percent" instead of "up to one percent" and have it apply ­ as a requirement, not an option ­ to the full cost of projects funded by the city and/or on city­owned land.

Establish a dedicated source of revenue (not subject to annual appropriation) to increase the total annual city investment in arts, culture and the creative economy from $7.5 million to $37.5 million.

If Philadelphia arts leaders have developed any kind of collective manifesto, it contains these ideas in one form or another. But public money for the arts has been a wish­list item for decades. Kluger proposes that half of one percent of the eight percent city sales tax go to a "quality of life" fund, generating an estimated $75 million annually, half to augment the city's budget for parks and libraries, and half toward arts and culture organizations.

If governmental support is lagging, so is corporate support. Arts groups here only get about two percent of their revenues from corporations, while the national average is eight percent, says Karin Copeland, executive director of the Arts + Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, citing a GPCA study.

"Our cultural community is one of the reasons people are moving into or back to the city, but these organizations need support from the community to be successful," Copeland says.

Philadelphia has an arts scene envied by many other cities, but, argues GPCA, many other cities have something our town does not: a cohesive cultural plan. New York and Boston are working on such plans; Chicago, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Denver, and San Francisco, along with Portland, Ore., Charlotte, N.C., and Austin, Texas, already have plans. For better or worse, Philadelphia's arts scene has developed more organically.

A cultural planning process overseen by the city's Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, says Coate, could cultivate "a grassroots effort involving all stakeholders as opposed to 'policies' developed and advanced by the foundation community. Foundations seem more concerned with how to fund what they want or not fund what they don't want, without being accused of funding what they want or not funding what they don't want. So they do massive studies to prove to themselves that they can do whatever they want to do."

But it's not just foundations that push agendas. It seems clear to many that if the arts are to receive more public funding, they may have to give something in return. Some see that as arts groups stepping into public schools to take on aspects of the arts education curriculum that has been slashed.

Temple University's Center on Regional Politics is considering overseeing a conversation and report on the idea of a dedicated funding source, and its director, Joseph P. McLaughlin Jr., sees the project as perhaps taking on some of the same contours as discussions about unfunded pension obligations.

http://universalcompanies.org/philly­stamp­pass/

Philly STAMP Pass

5/4/2015

School may not be closed for summer vacation yet, but scholars can get a jumpstart on the summer at the STAMP on the Parkway event Thursday, May 28th 3­7 p.m. at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The event is a massive scavenger hunt on the parkway to kick­off the Philly STAMP pass program, which gives high school students one year of free admission to select museums and attractions in Philadelphia. The kick­off event will feature West Philadelphia rapper Chill Moody with DJ Ricochet, free food and dancing. To register to attend visit: PhillySTAMPpass.org/Parkway ​

The Philly STAMP program was created to give teens greater access to cultural entertainment, and change their perception of museums being an unwelcoming place or a place they only visit on school field trips. Some of the participating museums include:

● Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University ● The Barnes Foundation ● Eastern State Penitentiary ● The Franklin Institute ● Philadelphia Museum of Art

The STAMP program is made possible by a gift from Virginia and Harvey Kimmel, with additional support from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Lomax Family Foundation, the Philadelphia Foundation, Hess Foundation, Victory Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, Wells Fargo and the 25th Century Foundation.

http://www.generocity.org/video­phillychanger­chats­maud­lyon­of­greater­philadelphia­cultural­alliance/

[Video] #PhillyChanger Chats: Maud Lyon of Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Mo Manklang 4/29/2015

#PhillyChanger Chats is a video series aimed at making Philly leaders more accessible. Featuring leaders of nonprofits, social enterprises, local government, and community organizations, these are people who are actively working to change Philadelphia for the better.

Is there someone you’d like to see featured here? Email us at [email protected]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W­70Qf6DTmo

Maud Lyon took over as president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance after serving as the executive director of Culture Source (a similar organization in Detroit) since 2008.