WHAT: | On Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 10:00 a.m., Philadelphians who have played a role, past and present, in the establishment of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, will gather to celebrate a City Council Resolution honoring the 20th Anniversary of the Fund, which has invested over $33 million in Philadelphia's arts and culture community over the past two decades. |
The bill to establish an independent entity for the distribution of arts funding was created in 1991 by City Council members Joan Specter and John Street . By 1992, under the Mayoral administration of Edward G. Rendell, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund was established as an independent 501C-3 with an 18-member board, including ten members of the cultural community. Since it was founded, City Council and Philadelphia's Mayor have consistently provided annual funding to the Cultural Fund, from $440,000 in 1994 to a peak of $3.2 million in 2010. Last year alone, over $1.8 million was distributed to over two hundred cultural groups of varying sizes and disciplines through Philadelphia's neighborhoods. | |
BACKGROUND: | In 1991, Philadelphia City Council Bill 1424 was a glimmer in the eye of arts-minded individuals all over this region. Envisioning an independent entity that would distribute cultural funding on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, an ad hoc committee of city leaders came together to guide the development of the organization, including Cathryn Coate, then Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Helen Haynes, then Executive Director of the Coalition of African American Cultural Organizations, and John Allen (deceased), Artistic Director of New Freedom Theatre. |
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund has a mission of supporting and enhancing the cultural life and vitality of the City of Philadelphia and its residents, and promoting arts and culture as engines of social and economic development in the Philadelphia region. In 2010, the Cultural Fund also established a new initiative, Youth Arts Enrichment Grants for arts projects that enrich the lives of young people, with individual grants of up to $50,000. In 2011 and 2012, the Youth Arts Grants have continued with grants of up to $25,000. The Fund is committed to an open and peer driven grant process with grants being made by a peer panel review through an open application process. | |
WHO: | Many of the past and present advocates for the Fund, including Helen Haynes and Joan Specter; past presidents, former City Council members and civic and cultural leaders |
WHEN: | THURSDAY, MAY 24 10 AM |
WHERE: | CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS / CITY HALL |
CAMERAS AND REPORTERS WELCOME | |
For more information on the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, visit http://www.philaculturalfund.org/. | |
CONTACT: Nina Zucker Associates
Ph: 610.667.0706 /cell: 610.457.4387/
nzapr@aol.com
or June W. O'Neill / PCF Manager
june.oneill@phila.gov
SOURCE Philadelphia Cultural Fund
