Phila. arts groups win $3.7 million in grants
At a time when contributions are increasingly scarce, two broad grant programs, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Pew Cultural Management Initiative, have announced nearly $3.7 million in awards to local arts groups. The funds are for operations, the hardest dollars to raise, even in the best of times.
At a time when contributions are increasingly scarce, two broad grant programs, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Pew Cultural Management Initiative, have announced nearly $3.7 million in awards to local arts groups. The funds are for operations, the hardest dollars to raise, even in the best of times.
Pew awarded $905,000 to nine cultural organizations. The grants, ranging from $85,000 to $120,000, will be used for everything from upgrading software and computer systems to adding key staff positions and implementing plans to build audiences.
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund (which disburses funds from the city but is not a city agency) awarded $2.78 million to 228 groups. The grants range from about $1,000 to $20,000, are unrestricted and may be used for anything from paying the electrician to staff salaries.
Settlement Music School received an award of $20,053 and was also named recipient of the David Cohen Award, which acknowledges an organization's community commitment. The school also received a Pew grant for $120,000 to help in the search for a new executive director to replace the retiring Robert Capanna.
Capanna said, "Donors are feeling very constrained. . . . It is very important to get this kind funding in this kind of climate."
The city's cultural fund reaches into organizations engaged in all the arts and based in every part of the city. This year, 15 organizations became first-time recipients: the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Bowerbird Inc., the Curtis Institute of Music, Dolce Suono Chamber Music Concert Series, FLUXspace, Foundation for Self-Taught American Artists, Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, KYL Dancers, Inc. (also known as Kun-Yang Lin Dancers), Partners for Sacred Places, Pink Hair Affair, Portside Arts Center, Stagecrafters, Studio Incamminati, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Woodland Trusts for Historic Preservation at the Woodlands.
In addition to Settlement, the Pew grantees were: the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia ($120,000), the Academy of Natural Sciences ($85,000), Bristol Riverside Theatre ($85,000), the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance ($120,000), Lantern Theater Company ($85,000), People's Light & Theatre Company ($120,000), the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe ($85,000), and Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates ($85,000).
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