Arts and Culture in the Metropolis

RAND compares Philadelphia to 10 other regions and makes recommendations to ensure the continued vitality of arts and culture organizations and their benefits for the region.

In a study with broad national implications, RAND researchers studied systems of support for the arts in Philadelphia and 10 other metropolitan areas to identify strategies for sustaining Philadelphia's arts sector.

The other metropolitan regions studied are:

• Baltimore
• Boston
• Charlotte
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Denver
• Detroit
• Minneapolis-St.Paul
• Phoenix
• Pittsburgh

The report recommended that the arts sector in Philadelphia would benefit greatly from a strong local agency to coordinate cultural activities and help make arts an integral part of each community. The report also found that while the national nonprofit arts sector flourished in the last decade, the challenges of rising costs, shifting funding patterns, and a public increasingly skeptical of government growth or increased taxes necessitate new strategic approaches.

“Investing in the arts, a key recommendation of Arts and Culture in the Metropolis, is something we all must get behind. A community rich with arts attracts businesses, employees, families and tourists, who together, inject tremendous energy and resources into our communities.”

- Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, President, Bank of America Pennsylvania

Metropolis was made possible by the William Penn Foundation.