Cultural Policy

Through its cultural policy program the Alliance works proactively to make the case for public funding of arts and culture, respond to threats to cultural programs, encourage community-based cultural projects, and promote better understanding of the cultural field to stakeholders throughout the region.

Our cultural policy work

Our work is designed to:

• promote favorable public policies for arts and culture
• encourage arts-based revitalization
• provide seed money for innovative projects
• chart future directions for the creative sector

As outlined in our 2009-2014 Strategic Plan, we focus on helping organizations adapt to a rapidly changing environment, characterized by economic and other pressures. In partnership with area service providers, the Alliance is developing opportunities to help cultural organizations address the recent economic downturn and the implications of the sector’s previous growth, and to assist organizations in carefully exploring options including strategic redefinition, shared services, marketing partnerships, mergers, and consolidation. Learn more about these initiatives here.

Join us

We believe that to build for the long term, the field needs a strong foundation of advocates and supporters highly-attuned to the value of arts and culture and to culture’s role as a distinguishing feature of this region.  Join us in these efforts by becoming a member of our Action Center, investigating our community resources, reading our research reports, or applying to one of our grant programs.  Our staff are also available to answer inquiries about cultural policy issues, advise advocacy efforts, convene meetings of community stakeholders, or present research and other information.  Please contact us to schedule a meeting or presentation that meets the needs of your community.

History and accomplishments

The Cultural Alliance played a key advocacy role in establishing the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, organized the effort to preserve Philadelphia’s nationally-recognized Percent for Art programs, led major campaigns to preserve city and state funding for the arts, and more recently, served as a catalyst to re-establish the city’s Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy.

The Alliance built a national reputation for solid research with the release of four major reports: 2008 Portfolio (2008); Arts, Culture, and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia (2007); Arts & Culture in the Metropolis: Strategies for Sustainability (2007); and 2006 Portfolio (2006).

Alliance-led advocacy efforts played an important role in Philadelphia’s 2007 mayoral race, with all major-party candidates releasing cultural policy platforms. A candidate’s forum convened by the Alliance attracted 300 attendees and further spotlighted the sector’s issues. Mayor Nutter’s 34% increase to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and his creation of the Office of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy can be traced directly to these efforts. In recent years, the Alliance has also led two serious efforts at introducing legislation to create a regional cultural fund.

Our community-based work, primarily in underserved areas outside of Philadelphia, has promoted arts-based development in 21 communities, including Chester, Kennett Square, Norristown, Phoenixville, and Pottstown. The Alliance also gained national attention as the local host for the 2008 Americans for the Arts Convention, American Evolution: Arts in the New Civic Life, which drew more than 1,400 attendees, the largest gathering in AFTA’s history, and yielded $2.3 million in economic impact for the region.