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Advocacy Toolkit: #FundPHLArts
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#FundTheArts Rally on May 11
On May 11, we rallied artists, creative entrepreneurs, arts educators, organizational leaders, and arts and culture allies at Philadelphia’s City Hall to call for greater and necessary public investment in the City’s creative economy, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The #FundPHLArts Rally highlighted the city’s vibrant and diverse arts and culture industry. We are calling for the City of Philadelphia to increase its total budget support for arts and culture in FY2023 by $6.2 million, which would bring total City support for the industry to $14.7 million or .26 percent of the proposed $5.61 billion budget. Watch the Rally:
PERFORMERS & ARTISTS
- Cambodian American Girls Empowering (CAGE)
- Circadium
- Poet Denice Frohman
- DJ C-Rob
- The Franklin Institute
- KyoDaiko taiko drummers
- Mural Arts Philadelphia
- Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts
- Universal Dance Ensemble stilt walker and drummer
SPEAKERS
- Patricia Wilson Aden, President & CEO, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
- David Acosta, Artistic Director, Casa de Duende; Philadelphia Cultural Fund Grant Recipient
- Laila Islam, Curatorial Studies Major, Moore College of Art & Design; Second-year Mellon Fellow, Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Nasheli Juliana Ortiz-González, Executive Director & CEO, Taller Puertorriqueño
- Eric Pryor, President & CEO, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
- Akeil Robertson, Mural Arts Philadelphia Guild Coordinator & Staff Photographer
- Paul Steinke, Executive Director, Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
- Ami Yares, Executive Director, Buildabridge International; Illuminate the Arts Grantee
Action Steps
Be part of the call for change! With three straight City Budgets in which the Creative Economy has been relegated to a mere afterthought, it’s time to send a clear message about the essential power and impact of Philadelphia’s cultural industry.
Your actions will make a difference! Here are four action steps you can take right now:
- Take action! Use our Action Center to email City Council today and tell them to #FundPHLArts.
- Sign up for arts advocacy alerts for regular updates from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s advocacy team.
- Spread the word about #FundPHLArts and share information about the Rally on social media. Check out the toolkit below for suggested language.
- Donate to support our advocacy efforts with a monthly or one-time donation.
Your support is critical in the coming weeks as City Council continues to hold hearings about the FY23 budget. Please stay tuned for updates as the budget process and our response to it evolve. We’ll soon have ways to email, call and tweet your City Council representatives directly.
The Arts & Culture “Ask” of the City of Philadelphia’s FY23 Budget: $14.7 million
This reflects a request of $6.2 million in total additional funding above the proposed budget:
- + $1.0M: Allocate $3.5 million total to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) to maintain its FY22 budget from the Mayor’s Budget ($2.5 million) and City Council allocation ($1 million).
- + $4.0M: Live up to the responsibility of supporting City of Philadelphia-owned Arts and Cultural Institutions and Programs, especially those that reside in and serve Black and Brown communities ($10 million total; Operational Not Capital Expenses)
- + $1.2M: Invest $1.2 million total in established Arts & Culture projects/programs that align with the City of Philadelphia's critical priorities: Violence Prevention, Entrepreneurship in Black and Brown communities, and Workforce Development.
- Expand Anti-Violence Community Grants to award more to arts-based organizations
- Enhance the Business Security Camera Program to include community-based cultural assets
- Supplement successful Commonwealth of Pennsylvania arts and culture grant programs
What’s at stake?
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted organizations in Philadelphia and our region, and they’ve still not returned to normal operations. As of November 2021, the sector was still down by 8,400 jobs, organizational revenue was down by 26 percent, and 81 percent of all organizations were only working at a reduced or modified capacity. (Source: Fall 2021 COVID-19 Impact Study (December 2021).)
These impacts have a rippling effect on the region’s economy--the total economic loss from COVID-19’s impact on the arts and culture sector in the 5-county Philadelphia region -- inclusive of direct and indirect economic impact in one year is $2.33 billion. Jobs have been gravely affected, too -- 29,000 full-time jobs (FTEs) are missing from Philadelphia’s regional economy as a result of the pandemic. (Source: COVID-19 Impact on the Arts and Culture Sector in Greater Philadelphia)
In the News
- WHYY, May 11, 2022: Arts groups call on Philly to help out with pandemic relief funds
- KYW Newsradio, May 11, 2022: Arts, cultural community use City Hall protest to demand more funding
- Broad Street Review, May 11, 2022: A Pulitzer for Philly playwright James Ijames spotlights our arts funding crisis
- CBS Philly, May 11, 2022: Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Holds Rally Outside City Hall Calling On More Funding For Arts
#FundPHLArts Social Media Toolkit
Join the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance in posting on social media about the need for City Council to #FundPHLArts -- it can be a video, photo or something else! Get creative -- highlight your or your organization’s work or download one of our graphics below!
Download email graphics on Google Drive
Find email invite language in our marketing toolkit
Download these graphics to show your support for the campaign:
Posts for urging City Council to include $14.7 Million in the FY23 Budget:
- Twitter: @PHLCouncil -- It’s time to #fundPHLArts! I’m joining @philculture in asking City Council for $14.7 Million in funding for our city’s creative economy!
- Instagram: It’s time for the City of Philadelphia and @PHLCouncil to #FundPHLArts! For three straight city budgets, the Creative Economy has been relegated to a mere afterthought. It’s time to send a clear message about the essential power and impact of Philadelphia’s cultural industry. I’m joining @philaculture and the Philadelphia arts and culture community to provide $14.7 Million in funding for arts and culture in the FY23 City of Philadelphia Budget -- including $3.5 Million for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.