Improving Arts Participation as a City-wide Endeavor

Monday, October 13, 3:30 pm – 5:45 pm
Dogwood A, M1/Street Level

Organized by Catherine Fukushima, program officer, The Wallace Foundation. Presented by Catherine Fukushima; Tom Kaiden, chief operating officer, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; and Gregory T. Rowe, deputy director, culture, The Pew Charitable Trusts

Cities benefit from residents who, when engaged in the arts, develop the basis for building social capital and community identity. Successful efforts to increase arts participation rely on knowledge of local markets and employ strategies that respond to local conditions. Encouraging arts organizations to work together to address issues of shared concern strengthens the arts sector and empowers multiple organizations to succeed. When, in 2006, The Wallace Foundation began to concentrate grantmaking in cities, there emerged new opportunities for raising visibility for arts participation and sharing knowledge and best practices. In this session, representatives from The Wallace Foundation, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Pew Charitable Trusts describe strategies and approaches to building participation in the arts that emerge from the needs of an entire city rather than those of an individual organization. Panelists will describe joint marketing efforts, shared mailing lists, the learning network and, as part of their current plan, Engage 2020, a new research effort to create a cultural index that measures levels of cultural engagement across the entire region.