CultureWire | March 2025

Quintessence Theatre, a Cultural Alliance member organization, is celebrating their 15th anniversary this year! Located in the historic Sedgwick Theater in Mt. Airy, Quintessence is Philadelphia's text-based, actor-focused repertory theatre re-envisioning the classics to inspire our community to consider what is essential in theatre and in human nature. Pictured is the Season XV hit holiday production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, directed by Todd Underwood. Photo courtesy of Linda Johnson.

Arts & Culture in the News 

• Grant money is available now to help Pennsylvania artists struggling financially due to the pandemic. Read more about the Cultural Alliance's distribution of the PA Arts and Culture Recovery Program on Billy Penn and on our website.

• Philadelphia has been voted the best city in America for street art by USA Today! Read more on Visit Philadelphia's website about where to find the city's best.

• The development and design company behind the redevelopment of the Bok Building in South Philadelphia has won the bid for Hamilton Hall, the University of the Arts’ iconic building on South Broad Street. Read more in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

• The MacArthur Foundation will increase giving for two years in response to federal funding ‘crisis.’ . 

Updates from the Cultural Alliance

The Cultural Alliance President and CEO Patricia Wilson Aden was in Washington, D.C. this week for the Americans for the Arts (AFTA) March 2025 Legislative Fly-In. She joined arts leaders from seven states: Idaho, Kansas/Missouri, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Ohio. Participants spearheaded 20+ congressional meetings to advocate for legislative issues impacting the arts in America, including funding the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, arts education, charitable tax reform, and more. Learn more on AFTA's website. Make sure you stay up-to-date on all Cultural Alliance advocacy updates by subscribing to our Advocacy Alerts.

Applications for the Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator program (CEAP) are now open! A program from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, CEAP provides creative entrepreneurs who aspire to start their own for-profit business, or who operate an existing for-profit micro business, with access to small business consulting services and financial resources. Visit our website to learn more.

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is the regranting partner for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) PA Arts and Culture Recovery Program (PACR) Pandemic Payments to Art and Culture Professionals Component. Pandemic payments will be distributed to individual arts professionals in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties who suffered financial losses due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Applications are open now through March 21, 2025. Learn more.
 

The Cultural Alliance held the first Community Conversations meeting this past Saturday at the Kimmel Center. In partnership with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, 150 people registered to attend and help shape a Cultural Plan for the city of Philadelphia.

If you missed the first meeting, you can join an upcoming session. Limited tickets remaining! 

• Saturday, March 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania. Register. 
• Thursday, March 20 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University. Register. 
• Monday March 31 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at FringeArts. Register.

Photo from the March 1 session at the Kimmel Center. 

This spring, the Cultural Alliance is hosting two Member Mixers for our members to gather, hear thought-provoking discussions on different themes, and share resources with one another. These events are FREE for staff from any Cultural Alliance member organization.

• Community Engagement led by Nadia Malik (Mural Arts Philadelphia) on Thursday, March 27 at REC Philly. Register. 
• Marketing and Storytelling led by Sarah Maiellano (Broad Street Communications) on Thursday, April 10 at Glen Foerd. Register. 

Student applications for the Bloomberg Arts Internship are closed, but organizations can apply to be a worksite through March 31! Non-profit arts and culture organizations have the opportunity to engage with eager students with the support of BAI staff and receive a generous stipend for their participation. In addition to worksite partnerships, the Cultural Alliance also works with a diverse group of organizations to provide in-person cultural immersion experiences. A cultural immersion might include tours, workshops, or performances, as well as staff and artist Q&As with the intern cohort. Organizations that host a cultural immersion may receive up to $2,500. Apply now. 

BAI 2024 interns participating in a Cultural Immersion experience at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. 

Arts & Culture by the Numbers

As uncertainty remains about federal funding, the Cultural Alliance is proactively gathering data about the effects the potential loss of federal funding would have to prepare to advocate in a rapid and informed manner if and when that becomes necessary. Submit the Arts and Culture Organization Federal Funding Survey by Friday, March 7.

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.

• Visitor Experience Assistant at the Please Touch Museum

• Development Database Administrator at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia

• Summer Art Camp Assistant at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

• Creative Communities Teaching Artist at Drexel University (Writers Room and Second Story Collective)

• Conservation Technician at the Fairmount Park Conservancy

• Executive Director at the Asian Arts Initiative

• Director of Development & Marketing at the Montgomery Theater

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

This month, InLiquid hosts their annual fundraiser auction March for Art. For 15 days, over 300 works of fine art are curated in one room, where InLiquid hosts a variety of events to connect the area’s artists and arts professionals with the general public. Events include March for Art: UNITE on Thursday, March 13 from 4:00-6:00 p.m., a Philadelphia cultural workers procession down north American Street. Learn more.

Philadelphia-based craft non-profit CraftNOW, membership-based makerspace NextFab, and retail store LaserPhilly, partner to present the fourth annual Tools of the Trades, a three-day hybrid conference (March 19-21) focused on connecting artisans to business resources in Philadelphia and beyond. Learn more.