CultureWire | June 2024

Cultural Alliance Member Carpenters' Hall is celebrating two major milestones this year! The year 2024 rings in the 300th year of The Carpenters’ Company of The City and County of Philadelphia and the 250th anniversary of Carpenters’ Hall and The First Continental Congress. Learn more. 

Arts & Culture in the News

• "It is very concerning to see the imminent closure of the University of the Arts, a pillar of our cultural community that has uplifted so many renowned artists and musicians since its founding in 1870." Questions, anger, and a lawsuit threat follow University of the Arts’ announcement of imminent closure, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. You can read the full statement from the Cultural Alliance's President and CEO Patricia Wilson Aden and find resources for those affected on our website. 
• Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater wins a Tony Award, reports Peter Crimmins for WHYY. The Regional Theater Award recognizes the company’s unique creative structure and risk-taking productions over the last 45 years. The Wilma is the only theater company in Pennsylvania to win the award since it began in 1976. 
• Philadelphia’s Tyshawn Sorey wins Pulitzer Prize in music, reports Peter Dobrin for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sorey is a Penn professor and former Opera Philadelphia composer in residence. He is receiving the honor for Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith), a concerto for saxophone and orchestra. 
• The New York Times reports that the U.S. is calling for the breakup of Ticketmaster's owner. Accused of violating antitrust laws, Live Nation Entertainment faces a fight that could reshape the multibillion-dollar live music industry. 
• Nonprofit theaters are continuing to face challenges in the wake of the pandemic, but proposed legislation would allocate $1 billion annually for the industry. Read more in The New York Times. 
   

Updates from the Cultural Alliance

Last month, the Cultural Alliance called on members of Philadelphia’s City Council to invest in stable funding across the city’s arts portfolio as leaders prepare to negotiate the City Budget. We urged our elected officials to support organizations and programs that demonstrate the sector’s impact on our communities and economy. Our letter to Council highlighted six key initiatives for this budget, which you can read here.

Photo by M. Edlow for Visit Philadelphia.

Coming up: the Lunch and Learn Workshop Series, sponsored by PNC Arts Alive. Join us on June 13 with Ade Lawal of Express Employment Professionals and June 18 with Nina Zucker, PR & Marketing Creative Strategist, for a total of four workshops geared towards small nonprofits.  

• HR Lunch and Learn Workshops led by Ade Lawal on Thursday, June 13 from 12:00-2:30 p.m. at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 
  • Workshop 1: Navigating Hiring and Retention Strategies Post-Pandemic
  • Workshop 2: Understanding and Managing Generations in the Workplace 
• PR & Marketing Lunch and Learn Workshops led by Nina Zucker on Tuesday, June 18 from 12:00-2:30 p.m. at Moore College of Art & Design.
  • Workshop 1: HOW TO GET NOTICED! PR and Marketing for Small Nonprofits on a Shoestring Budget, Part 1 
  • Workshop 2: HOW TO GET NOTICED! PR and Marketing for Small Nonprofits on a Shoestring Budget, Part 2  

Thanks to a sponsorship from PNC Arts Alive, we are proud to offer this series for the low cost of $25 per workshop. However, it is important to us to make this series accessible to all. If that price is out of reach for your organization, we encourage you to use code GPCAlive2024 for free registration. 

The 2024-2025 Creative Sector Flex Fund grant is now open! This $5,000 grant, funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, provides support to eligible nonprofit organizations that provide consistent artistic programming and services in Pennsylvania and have an annual average arts revenue of $10,000 to $200,000. Join us for a Virtual Information Session tomorrow on Wednesday, June 5 at 12:00 p.m. Learn more and register here. 

Photo courtesy of Wildflower Composers, a 2023-2024 Flex Fund awardee. Photo by Rec. Today.

Current and prospective Cultural Alliance members are invited to join us for upcoming online and in-person Information Sessions. Tailored to different geographic regions, these sessions are designed to help organizations make the most of their membership and connect directly with Cultural Alliance staff. 

• Bucks and Chester County on June 20 at 3:00 p.m. on Zoom (register)
• Montgomery County on June 27 at 3:00 p.m. on Zoom (register)
• Delaware County on July 11 at 3:30 p.m. at Darlington Arts Center (register)
• Philadelphia County on July 18 at 4:00 p.m. at CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia (register)

Last month we welcomed the 80 students participating in the Bloomberg Arts Internship to meet with representatives from 60 different worksites at the annual Job Fair held at Fringe Arts. You can find a full album of photos here. The students have all been placed and the program officially begins on June 19! To stay up-to-date on the program this summer, be sure to follow the Cultural Alliance on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X.  

Arts and Culture by the Numbers

One thing that sets our Arts, Culture & Economic Prosperity report apart is that it is the only national study that incorporates event-related spending by arts and culture audiences. The typical event attendee in Greater Philadelphia spends $49 per person per event, not including the cost of admission—even adjusting for inflation, that’s more than $5 more than the average spend reported in the 2017 report. See the full report here. 

Job Bank

The Cultural Alliance’s Job Bank is Greater Philadelphia's top resource for job opportunities in arts and culture. You’ll find positions at all professional levels in museums, theaters, historic sites, art galleries, dance studios, community centers, and much more. Keep reading for the most recent listings from Member organizations.

• Development Assistant at Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia, PA
• Percent for Art Rebuild Project Manager for the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy for the City of Philadelphia
• Music Teaching Artists at Musicopia in Philadelphia, PA 
• Museum Educator for Student and Family Programs at the Rockwood Park and Museum in Wilmington, DE
• Director, Development Communications at Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. in Philadelphia, PA
• Program Manager at Mural Arts in Philadelphia, PA
• Marketing Coordinator at Rock to the Future in Philadelphia, PA
• Marketing Production Assistant at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Winterthur, DE

SEE MORE ON THE JOB BANK

Want to connect to candidates? The Cultural Alliance’s Job Bank has 60,000+ views each month. Job listings are free for Cultural Alliance Members and start at just $95 for non-Members. Learn more.

Partner Messages

Join the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (PVLA) for their annual fundraiser, the Arts Affair 2024. Tomorrow, June 5 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Learn more. 

All eyes will be on Philadelphia, the birthplace of America, as the nation marks its 250th anniversary in 2026. Arts and culture organizations are invited to submit their programs and events to Philadelphia 250's Community Calendar.