After a 135-day impasse, the Pennsylvania State Budget passed on Wednesday, November 12. Here’s what it means for arts, culture, and humanities in Pennsylvania:

Governor Shapiro signed into law a $50.1 billion budget, a 4.7% increase over the previous year, that not only provides critical funding for services and programs within the Commonwealth but pushes forward elements that affect the arts, culture, and humanities sector.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

After 43 days, the longest federal government shutdown in the nation’s history has officially ended. President Trump signed a funding bill on Wednesday, November 12, which provides federal funding for government operations and allows government agencies to re-open.

The legislation did not include an extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies. Many independent artists, creative entrepreneurs, and other members of our creative sector depend upon ACA to access affordable healthcare services. The urgent need for a healthcare subsidy provision requires continued vigilance from the arts and culture community.

Actions determining funding for National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and other sources of arts-related funding are anticipated in the coming weeks as Continuing Resolutions are considered by the House and Senate. However, with the government now back open and the return of furloughed federal employees, we hope these agencies will quickly resume operations and the administrative backlog will be abated.

Read more.

• Contacting lawmakers across the political spectrum and at every level to advocate for the arts and culture sector. Find your representatives with this tool.
• Educating decision-makers about the creative sector’s value to our communities and their constituents
• Building constructive relationships with elected officials and members of their staff that will serve the cultural community in the near and long term.
• To help defend arts and culture initiatives against future threats, the Cultural Alliance is asking you to share the impact of federal funding on your organization with this survey.

On February 6, 2025, an update was released by the National Endowment for the Arts.

We are pleased to announce that our organization is participating in WeVote, an initiative of the nearly 120-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan organization the Committee of Seventy (C70). In order to ensure more Americans take part in the democratic process, WeVote provides voters with the tools and resources to be fully informed and successfully cast your ballot.

In October 2019, historic election reform was passed in Pennsylvania that provides every Pennsylvanian with the opportunity to Vote by Mail. This change removed several common obstacles to voting; lack of time, polling place confusion, and not knowing enough about the candidates are often cited as reasons why people don’t vote. However you choose to cast your ballot is, of course, up to you.

Here’s what we’re encouraging you to do:

• If you are registered to vote in PA, check your registration to make sure your info is accurate.
• Once you’re registered, if you’d like to Vote by Mail, apply ASAP (well before the November 1st deadline in PA). Don’t delay, and take care of this now if you can.
  • NJ voters must apply by November 1.
  • DE voters must apply by November 4.
• Visit the Committee of Seventy website to:
  • Learn about the candidates and questions on your ballot in Pennsylvania. C70’s online Build Your Own Ballot tool (BYOBallot) allows you to put in your address and see every candidate on your ballot, learn about each of them and the office they seek, save your picks to make voting at home even easier and quicker, and if you’d like, share your picks with friends and family.
  • Watch C70’s webcast, Studio C70, where C70 & their partners interview experts, policy makers and candidates, and civic leaders to discuss issues vital to the health of our local democracy.
  • Share WeVote with your family and friends, encourage them to Vote by Mail, and consider being a poll worker on November 8.

In addition to the info you need to cast your ballot, you’ll also find research-based information on the Five Habits of Highly Effective Citizens and interviews with experts and candidates.

Questions about voting or the election? Contact the team at the Committee of Seventy at bettergov@seventy.org.

The future of American democracy will be decided by those citizens who are critical, informed, and powered to take action. We hope you’ll help us promote a culture of voting at the Cultural Alliance. Because democracy works when WeVote.

The Fall 2021 COVID-19 Impact Study is the third in a series of research reports created by the Cultural Alliance to monitor the effects of the pandemic on the Philadelphia region’s arts and culture sector. Data was collected in September and October 2021, and 138 organizations participated in the survey.

Overall, more than 300 organizations have participated in the Cultural Alliance’s pandemic impact surveys since Fall 2020. The Cultural Alliance will continue to monitor how the pandemic is affecting arts and culture organizations in our region in the months and years to come.

Report Highlights:

• The total budgets of arts and culture organizations are currently down by 26 percent. from fiscal year 2019 to 2021. Earned revenue across all responding organizations dropped by 46 percent.
• While contributed revenue was down in fiscal year 2020, it was up by 9 percent in fiscal year 2021.
• The arts and culture sector is down by about 8,400 jobs, or a 35 percent decline in the size of the workforce in September 2021.
• Eighty-one percent of organizations reported that they were working at either a reduced or modified capacity.

Read more.

The Program’s purpose is to help creative entrepreneurs to grow their business, audience, and revenue. The Program will advance the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ overarching values of diversity, equity, and inclusion by prioritizing investments to creative entrepreneurs who identify Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) and those who are located in and whose work benefits low-income communities as defined by the Small Business Administration.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Funding decisions will be made four times throughout the year, as follows:

• December 1, 2021
• February 1, 2022
• May 2, 2022
• August 1, 2022

Learn more and apply.

What We Do

Creative Youth Development (CYD) describes the integration of the arts, humanities, and sciences into youth development principles. At the Cultural Alliance, the footprint of CYD has grown considerably in the last four years. Today, CYD encompasses a portfolio of programs and activities geared towards engaging young people to cultivate a diverse pipeline of workforce, advocates, and audiences for arts and culture.

Position Summary

The Creative Youth Development Manager is a year-round part-time position that supports the planning of the Alliance’s CYD programming and manages day-to-day implementation. Working on a team including the Senior Programs Manager and Director of Community Partnerships, as well as with a seasonal team of administrators and college-aged mentors, the CYD manager supports curriculum development, recruitment, event planning, and program implementation.

This is a part-time position, averaging 25 hours per week, with closer to 40 hours per week during the summer internship (June through August).

Learn more and apply.

Application deadline: October 22, 2021

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance works to lead, strengthen, and amplify the voices of a cultural community, with the goal of igniting creativity, inspiring people, and encouraging a healthy region.

To that end, the alliance is accepting applications to its Project Stream grants program. Through the program, grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded to individual artists, nonprofit organizations, and fiscally-sponsored organizations in support of innovative community-based projects with a public component in the Pennsylvania counties of Buck, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia. The public component can be a performance, exhibition, reading, or other project in any genre.

The alliance will be holding free informational sessions and grant writing workshops throughout the month of May.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, fiscally-sponsored organizations, and individuals 18 years or older. For-profit organizations are ineligible. Projects must take place in the Philadelphia counties of Buck, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia.

See the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance website for complete program guidelines, application instructions, a list of previous recipients, and to register for or receive a recording of an informational session.

Deadline: June 20, 2019

https://philaculture.org/sites/default/files/2019-20%20PPA%20Project%20Stream%20Guidelines.pdf

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has unveiled its most recent research report, Beyond the Check: A Roadmap for Engaging Individual Donors.

Previous research by the Cultural Alliance found that individual giving to arts and culture nationally was down 9.7% from 2009-2012, and in Southeastern Pennsylvania it was down 12.7%.

Generous support from the Wyncote Foundation has allowed the Cultural Alliance to make a fresh exploration of the motivations and barriers, perceived or real, of high-net-worth individuals when considering financial support of the arts and culture sector. A task force of wealth advisors and fundraising professionals shaped and informed the research project, which was led by The Melior Group.

“Arts organizations are having major social impact in neighborhoods and communities throughout the region and are often doing that with much less financial support than many people think they have,” says David Haas, trustee of the Wyncote Foundation. “This report shows that misconceptions about arts and culture funding are what hold many people back from supporting the sector, and the research and education that the Cultural Alliance is doing in this area will be invaluable in maintaining the health of Greater Philadelphia’s artistic ecosystem.”

The findings will lead to new strategies for individual organizations and the cultural sector as a whole. The report consists of three parts: a literature review revealing national trends in individual giving to all causes; the results of a survey to existing donors to the Cultural Alliance’s member organizations; and 18 in-depth interviews with high-net-worth philanthropists in the area, 13 of whom do not significantly support arts and culture.

“I commend the Cultural Alliance for taking on this important work,” says Eileen R. Heisman, president and CEO of National Philanthropic Trust in Jenkintown, PA. “Since most giving in this country comes from individuals, it is essential for all cultural nonprofits to make individual giving an organizational priority.”

“What came out of our series of interviews with high-net-worth individuals was that the decision not to support the arts is more often related to having different priorities and passions than it is a conscious choice to ignore the sector,” says Linda J. McAleer, president of The Melior Group. “What we found was high-net-worth donors’ decisions are based on what is important to them or to their families’ traditions and that they want to ‘feel needed’ for their intellect and abilities–not just their financial gifts.”

Read more: http://commongood.unitedforimpact.org/node/2885

Full report: https://www.philaculture.org/research/beyond-check-roadmap-engaging-individual-donors

Fresh Artists is an award-winning small nonprofit empowering young people as philanthropists. It was founded in 2008 as a solution to address the massive funding cuts experienced by Philadelphia public schools. Fresh Artists designed a unique way to fill empty supplies shelves. Engage the children by curating a digital collection of strong K-12 children’s art that will “come off the fridge and go to work” to deliver quality art supplies to schools in need. Children donate digital images. Businesses may choose high-resolution, scaled up reproductions of their artwork as thank-you gifts for financial donations. These funds deliver art supplies and innovative art programs to back into schools in need. It’s a unique circle of giving where children’s art fulfills a corporate facilities need.

Our Cool Jobs candidate must like to work with and respect young teens. Our ideal candidate is a positive, creative self-starter with experience in planning and implementing events, programs, or activities; is an effective communicator with a keen attention to detail and strong proactive organizational skills; The ideal candidate can effectively and happily work with or without a team. This position is for a person who can both take direction and take initiative. A master scheduler, who enjoys keeping track of lots of moving pieces. A clear and cheerful communicator. Able to work in an ultra-busy environment; flexible and adaptable to change. Punctuality is essential as well as a warm, friendly, outgoing and enthusiastic personality.

Cool Jobs Program Coordinator is a temporary, full-time position, reporting to the Executive Director, and in close collaboration with three other staff members, will be responsible for the following, and other related duties as needed:

• Contact and manage the volunteers, presenters and visiting school relationships for scheduling, agreements, load in and out
• Scheduling buses
• Helping with volunteer orientations
• Coordinating with Creative Director for graphics production
• Coordinating with Studio Manager to manage the program assessment project and any vendor payments
• Responsible for Expo day set ups – organize, Set up, switch out, and take down presenter booths and graphics
• Keep all files and schedule boards current
• Help with Wrap Up meetings and documentation for next year’s program

Additional qualifications include:

• Knowledge, comfort and commitment to the values and mission of Fresh Artists
• Ability to be flexible with morning, evening and long hours, particularly during Expo week
• Ability to work off-site
• Experience working with the business community
• Familiarity with Mac computers, WORD, Excel, Mail Chimp
• Basic graphic design skills in Photoshop and Illustration are a plus
• Bachelor’s degree strongly preferred
• Minimum 3 years of relevant experience
• Having PA Child Abuse History Clearance & FBI fingerprinting is a plus
• Own and drive a car and have a clear driving history (will be reimbursed for mileage)

Full time, Four Month Temporary Project
January 2 – April 30, 2018
Salaried Employee: 40 hours/week, M-F, 9 am – 5:00 pm, ½ hour lunch
All staff holidays, no benefits

To Apply
Please email a cover letter and resume to info@freshartists.org

https://www.philaculture.org/what-we-do/job-bank/cool-jobs-program-coordinator

The 2017 Arts Education Fair will take place on Thursday, August 31, 2017, 3 – 6 p.m. at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

The Arts Education Fair connects Philadelphia cultural organizations and arts educators to teachers, librarians, and program coordinators interested in including arts education, instruction, and experiences in their activities and curricula.

Looking to reach more communities?

Discover new programs and schools from across Philadelphia that present arts education.

Want to diversify your arts programming?

Meet new arts education providers, programs and activities that fit your programming needs.

Register as an exhibitor on EventBrite.

Questions? Contact arts@phila.gov.

https://www.philaculture.org/save-date-2017-arts-education-fair

The inaugural Agenda issue brief, called Agenda: Pre-K, focuses on the benefits of art integration in early childhood education, a topic especially important as the City of Philadelphia expands quality Pre-K through funding from the Philadelphia Beverage Tax.

Agenda: Pre-K is the first in a series of new advocacy tools that outline the impact of arts and culture not only on the economy but also on the issues that most affect our daily lives: education, wellness, social justice and more.

Agenda: Pre-K, summarizes findings showing that integrating arts education within Pre-Kindergarten classrooms has been proven to lower stress levels of students, boost vocabulary, and increase STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills such as number concepts and addition and subtraction. Read the brief at http://philaculture.org/research/agenda-prek.

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, is accepting applications through its Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts grant program.

Through the annual program, the alliance will award Project Stream Grants of up to $2,500 to individual artists and organizations for arts projects. The application deadline is Monday, June 20, 2016.

To be eligible, projects must be an arts activity conducted for the benefit of the public (for-profit organizations are ineligible); take place in Buck County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County, or Philadelphia County; and have a public component. The applicant, if an individual, must be at least 18 years old.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, visit the GPCA website.

DEADLINE: JUNE 20, 2016

https://www.philaculture.org/services/grantmaking/project-stream

Please join us on Monday, April 4, 2016 from 4:30 – 6:00pm at Fresh Artist located at 3510 Scotts Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129. One lucky teacher will receive a classroom workshop led by Philadelphia Young Playwrights. If you would like to attend or find out more information about the Teacher Focus Group, please contact me at rashandaf@philaculture.org or 215-399-3511. Please RSVP by noon on Friday, April 1st.

http://phillystamppass.org/get-the-pass/

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 world-class 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.

DEADLINE: AUGUST 21, 2015

http://www.philaculture.org/techniculture

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s GroundSwell program will host a Community Engagement Forum to highlight the work that cultural organizations are doing in communities across the region.

It will present a panel discussion focused on the importance of community engagement and how arts and cultural organizations can effectively connect with their communities. The panel will be followed by a cocktail reception.

The event will be held on Thursday, January 22 from 3-6:30 p.m.at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street in Old City Philadelphia.
For more information, email erind@philaculture.org.