Cultural Alliance and Partners Launch PhillySpaceFinder.com

January 10, 2011
Press Contacts:
Cari Feiler Bender, Relief Communications, LLC
cari@reliefcomm.com or 610-416-1216 or
Karim Olaechea, Cultural Alliance
215-399-3518
karimo@philaculture.org

PHILADELPHIA (January 10, 2011) – The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is partnering with the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, Dance/USA Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Music Project  to launch the new web resource, PhillySpaceFinder.com. The free website is an extensive resource of diverse cultural facilities and venues available for rent in the Greater Philadelphia region. Uses for the spaces vary from rehearsals, performances, and workshops to special events and meetings.  Promoters, creative folks, and planners looking for a unique space to host an event now have one central place to visit online when looking for creative spaces.

“PhillySpaceFinder.com is the result of a collaboration by four service organizations, creating a comprehensive resource for not just the cultural community, but for the region at large,” said Nancy DeLucia, Director of Community Engagement for the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, who is spearheading the project.  “PhillySpaceFinder.com is an economic development tool providing opportunity for arts groups as well as houses of worship, historical sites, and other unusual spaces to receive rental income and to support creative endeavors.”

For organizations that have spaces available, they can add them for free to the database. Only a couple of weeks after the public launch, there are over 140 sites listed on PhillySpaceFinder. Sites can post photos, show capacities, and describe special features of their space. The website also shows on a map where the location can be found. The individual listings for each space provide complete information such as rental rates, space dimensions, seating configurations, audio, visual and lighting equipment available, parking, accessibility, and much more. All information is provided by the individual venue. The information is searchable in many ways including by types of event, discipline (theater, music, or dance), or geography. Renters can also leave reviews after their event to provide insight to future users.

“It’s really an amazingly diverse collection,” said DeLucia. “Quaker Meeting houses, community art centers, the outdoor sculpture plaza at Philadelphia Magic Gardens…I think people will be surprised at how many beautiful and affordable spaces the community has to offer.”

Why PhillySpaceFinder.com?
When a small organization, musician, or performance group wants to find a creative performance space they can visit PhillySpaceFinder.com and find a comprehensive series of locations available. Perhaps a medium-size company wants to have a fundraiser but their own home is too small, and on the website they can locate larger facilities. From intimate spaces to outdoor parks to auditoriums to charming courtyards, PhillySpaceFinder.com has a wide variety of possibilities, all searchable for free to anyone from event planners to performance producers to brides-to-be, fulfilling a need in the Greater Philadelphia Region for one-stop shopping for information.

PhillySpaceFinder.com is the first extensive online resource for the Philadelphia region available for cultural activities as well as private and corporate events. It is modeled on a similar resource in New York City called NYC Performing Arts Spaces, a website created and maintained by Fractured Atlas, a non-profit organization that serves a national community of artists and arts organizations.

The Cultural Alliance is one of the Greater Philadelphia’s region’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing the cultural sector, serving as a vital resource to nearly 400 nonprofit member organizations as well as the broader cultural community.

The Cultural Alliance continues to be at the forefront of the region’s cultural sector advocacy efforts  and has produced major research on the region's cultural sector including Research Into Action: Pathways to New Opportunities, an analysis of key findings from two years of commissioned research on cultural engagement; the 2008 Portfolio, a comprehensive analysis of the scope and health of the cultural sector; and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia, a regional analysis of the economic impact of nonprofit cultural activity. Notable public programs include Phillyfunguide and Funsavers (a half price discount email program serving 85,000 subscribers), which provide consumers with comprehensive information on the region’s vibrant and diverse cultural sector.

The Cultural Alliance is committed to making Greater Philadelphia one of the foremost creative regions of the world. For additional information on the Cultural Alliance and its members, please visit www.philaculture.org.