Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Celebrates Annual Meeting & Arts Party 2023

Let’s start 2023 off with a bang! We are excited to bring you many events this season that will build upon your resiliency, creativity, and spring forth an artful future. Over the next few months, we will have programs that help you navigate the evolving hiring and retention practices; a workshop to assist with understanding and expanding your revenue potentials; a mayoral forum that will give you a voice to influence policy changes; and much more. Learn more about our upcoming events on our website!

As a reminder, as a member you receive special perks with these upcoming programs. If you are not a member, consider joining today! To learn more about membership at the Cultural Alliance, please contact Lauren Gilmore, Director of Member Engagement at laureng@philaculture.org.

Launched in 1945 as a student-run radio station at the University of Pennsylvania, WXPN has become a nationally recognized leader in public media, renown for discovering and promoting emerging new musical talent. Since becoming a professionally managed public media organization nearly four decades ago, WXPN has built a supportive community of members and business sponsors. Through innovative on air and online programming, a robust event offering, and partnerships with venues and cultural institutions throughout the region, WXPN serves its mission of connecting artists with audiences. Learn more about WXPN and how to participate in its annual gathering of music fans happening this September along the Camden waterfront.

Cambodian American Girls Empowering (CAGE) started in 2015 with a mission to create safe spaces for identity exploration in Greater Philadelphia. A global pandemic reshaped the way we look at ourselves as individuals, artists, and a performing arts nonprofit. CAGE is excited to share their story with you and a little bit about how important it is to center joy and celebration.

The Village of Arts and Humanities is a cultural treasure in the Fairhill-Hartranft neighborhood of North Philadelphia, which uses art to envision and generate a thriving community where Black residents are leaders, stewards, and ultimate beneficiaries of reinvestment. The organization is a renowned model for ground-level work that blends art with social justice, neighborhood revitalization, and youth development. 

People travel from as far away as Gambia and Taiwan to visit The Village's Ile Ife Park, the crown jewel of its creative campus comprising art parks, murals, and sculptures created over 36 years by the hands and imaginations of artists and neighbors. Read the blog to learn more about its roots, unique approach to work, and what’s next for the organization.

Jazz Bridge Project assists Jazz and Blues musicians living in the Greater Philadelphia Metro area who face financial, health, housing and similar crises.  A registered 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, they also support musicians by providing paid performance opportunities through their live neighborhood concerts and special event presentations. Their concerts celebrate the Philadelphia Jazz & Blues tradition and build cultural awareness throughout the region. As a service organization in the arts and culture community, they are uniquely positioned to address the suffering resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite new challenges, they remain committed to assisting Jazz and Blues artists of all ages and backgrounds. Read more in our blog!

Spiral Q is a 25 year old arts and justice nonprofit that unleashes the power of art to connect people, actions, values, neighborhoods, organizations, and movements to each other and to their collective creative force for change. They work with up to 100 diverse partners annually, prioritizing disenfranchised communities whose residents are systematically oppressed due to race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic, and sexual identities. They are artists, educators, and cultural workers partnering with schools, youth service providers, CBOs, cultural centers, AIDS service and advocacy groups, LGBTQIA+ groups, advocates for the unhoused, addiction recovery centers, and mental health providers. Spiral Q knows their communities to be culturally rich in tradition, heritage and strong social bonds. Their neighborhood and city-wide partners are committed collaborators and informational resources that guide our work along with their team of talented teaching artists who demonstrate high quality teaching artistry and share their creativity and experience as thought-partners.

The first ever Arts Montco Week will be held Friday, September 17 through Sunday, September 26 in partnership the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board. From theatrical performances to art galleries, concerts, and everything in between, Arts Montco Week aims to showcase the county’s wide variety and consistently high quality of arts and culture venues. Some of the participating venues are also Cultural Alliance members, like Act II Playhouse. Founded in 1998, Act II Playhouse is committed to creating and programming theatre that is accessible and entertaining. Through that commitment, they have won several Barrymore Awards, pivoted to streamed performances during the pandemic, and are excited to return to live theater this fall. Read more about them in our blog!

This Friday, the Cultural Alliance will celebrate the conclusion of the 2021 Bloomberg Arts Internship (“BAI”) with presentations by interns in a special closing ceremony. Since 2015, the Cultural Alliance has partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies to deliver this one-of-a-kind program, matching exceptional high school students from across the city with paid internships at dozens of area arts and culture organizations.