Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

CultureWire | February 2025

 

This year, Cultural Alliance member Performance Garage is celebrating its 25th anniversary! Performance Garage nurtures dance artists and builds a broader audience for dance. You can support the artists, educators, and community members who have made Performance Garage a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s dynamic dance scene by joining their Annual Gala on April 5. Learn more. Pictured: Dancers Meredith Rainey and Chandra Moss-Thorne. Photo by Joe Labolito.  

Arts & Culture in the News 

  • “Make no mistake — organizations that provide diverse and inclusive programming and receive federal support should brace for imminent policy changes, including rescinded funding.” Philadelphia-area art groups are bracing themselves for possible funding cuts under Trump. Read more in The Philadelphia Inquirer. To help defend arts and culture initiatives against future threats, the Cultural Alliance is asking you to share the impact of federal funding on your organization with this survey.
  • A survey launched by Councilmember Rue Landau in the wake of the University of the Arts closure shows that Philadelphia artists share concerns about finding work, space, and funding. Read more from WHYY.
  • What will ease Milwaukee’s arts funding crisis? Collaboration, leaders say. "Finding answers to troubling funding challenges facing arts groups in Milwaukee and throughout the state will require collaboration between business and community stakeholders, key industry leaders stressed." Read more in Milwaukee Magazine.
  • The City of Philadelphia is up for 'Best City for Street Art' in this year's USA Today Readers' Choice Awards and you can vote to support the city's colorful public art culture. Learn more and vote! 
  • Calder Gardens is on schedule to open on the Parkway in September 2025, read more from WHYY. 
  • Recent changes to Philly's arts and culture leadership: Larry Kaiser joins the Mütter Museum and College of Physicians as CEO, Reggie Shuford has been appointed President and CEO of The Independence Foundation, and Pia Agrawal has been named the incoming Executive Director at the Leeway Foundation.

 

Updates from the Cultural Alliance

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While shifting announcements from Washington have made the future of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS), and other federal agencies unclear, the creative sector must be prepared for the strong likelihood of future threats. To help defend arts and culture initiatives, we are asking you to share the impact of federal funding on your organization. Take the survey.

 

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Applications for the Cultural Alliance's Bloomberg Arts Internship summer 2025 program are open now through February 28! The Bloomberg Arts Internship (BAI) is a national program for rising high school seniors facilitated by the Cultural Alliance in Philadelphia and other partner organizations in New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Boston, Detroit and San Francisco. Interns are paired with local arts and culture organizations to gain paid, real-world work experience while participating in professional development sessions, cultural immersion activities, and post-secondary readiness workshops. In 2024, the Cultural Alliance placed 80 interns at 39 cultural sites across the city. Learn more about participating in BAI and read interviews with past interns on our website. 

Interested students, parents, caregivers, teachers, and counselors are invited to join an upcoming virtual Information Session on Wednesday, February 12 at 5:30 p.m. Join with this link. 

2024 BAI Interns Kaddy and Aviva at the Ministry of Awe. 

 

 

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Following the Cultural Dynamics: Co-Creating a Vision for Philadelphia convening organized by the Cultural Alliance in November 2024, we're proud to announce the accompanying Community Conversations series in partnership with PA Humanities and Creative Philadelphia. The Community Conversations will bring together a diverse group of cultural leaders, storytellers, artists, community members, business and government leaders, and local stakeholders to co-create a vision for a thriving, culturally rich future for the city. This series is designed to inform and shape a Cultural Plan for the city of Philadelphia with a focus on input from the arts, culture, and humanities community. 

Save the date! Registration opening soon. Additional dates to be announced. 

  • Saturday, March 1 at 11:30 a.m. at the Kimmel Center
  • Saturday, March 8 at 11:30 a.m. at the Institute of Contemporary Art

 

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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 from February 24 to March 21, 2025. Learn more.

Additionally, the Cultural Alliance is a regional partner of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and distributes the Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator (CEA) grant - a program that provides creative entrepreneurs who aspire to start their own for-profit business, or who operate an existing for-profit micro business, with access to existing small business consulting services and financial resources. The 2025 CEA grant opens on March 3, 2025. Learn more. 

Individuals may be eligible for both the PACR and CEA grants. To learn more about both programs, join one of our virtual Information Sessions on Tuesday, February 18 at 1:00 p.m. (register) or Wednesday, February 19 at 6:30 p.m. (register). 

 

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Just announced: 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. 

 

 

Arts & Culture by the Numbers

The Cultural Alliance is proud to represent 400+ member organizations from across the region. Our members include community art centers, historic sites, libraries and archives, museums, performing arts venues, horticultural sites and gardens, zoos, theaters, and much more. This map plots our member sites across Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties. 

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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.

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.