Any mayoral hopeful who shows up for the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia “It’s About the Arts!” forum next month with a sample of his grade-school fingerpainting will get ... What's that? Oh, yeah, that part's made up.
Not the forum part, though.
In what should be a good chance to hear the candidates on key arts-funding issues, the alliance and arts arm of the business community will gather on April 15 from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM at the Academy of Natural Sciences on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
(Doors open at 1:30 PM. Register for the limited-seating event at www.philaculture.org/forum.)
From the presser:
We are very excited to co-host a mayoral forum with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance,” said Karen B. Davis, the president & CEO of the Arts & Business Council. “The impact of the arts goes far beyond quality of life issues. It makes us a better, richer city and the next mayor should build on the progress we have made over the last 15 years in growing and supporting the arts.More to the point, the candidates need to be checked on their taste in ideas on the best means to create a stable regional funding source for arts and cultrue. In the recent RAND report, “Arts and Culture in the Metropolis,” its pretty clear Philadelphia has a ways to go in supporting what is a vibrant sector that's key to providing jobs and building a visitor industry.
At Great Expectations forums around the city and region, we certainly heard people sing the praises of the region's cultural offerings often enough. Question is, will people cast their votes for mayor on this issue?
For some Philadelphians, it's a question of dollars and cents, as well as the arts. Cultural alliance folks note that "the cultural sector provides Philadelphia with 14,000 jobs and $562 million in direct spending and is the number one reason that Philadelphia is an “excellent” place to live according to a recent Keystone poll, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the city."
Look for Steve Highsmith, a political reporter at NBC10 and myphl17's Director of Community Relations, to moderate the event. Amng the panelists: Lorene Cary, Executive Director of Art Sanctuary and author, Dr. Happy Fernandez, president of the Moore College of Art & Design and Steve Wray, Executive Director of the Economy League.
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