Nutter names arts advisory panel

Prior to a meeting to discuss the city's cultural agenda in the face of severe budget constraints, Mayor Nutter announced yesterday that a group of more than four dozen arts and cultural leaders will sit on an advisory panel focused on cultural issues.

Formation of the Mayor's Cultural Advisory Council was first announced in July. Gary Steuer, head of the city's Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, will work directly with the group. Joseph Kluger, former president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association and now associate principal at the arts consulting firm WolfBrown, will be council chair.

Nutter also announced that Julie Hawkins, policy director at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, will join the board of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which allocates funds to local organizations.

The fund's 2009 budget has been cut by 23.8 percent to $3.2 million. Other significant arts-related cuts include $600,000 in city funding for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 20 percent of annual city support.

Subsidies for the Atwater Kent Museum and the African American Museum of Philadelphia will be cut 20 percent to $256,000 and $240,000 respectively. The Mural Arts Program will receive a $500,000 cut.

Members of the Cultural Advisory Council, which will meet quarterly, will be:

Amy Adams, Peggy Amsterdam, Jesse Bermudez, Lorene Cary, Jennifer Childs, Mark Christman, Ian Cross, Diane Dalto, Karen Davis, David Devan, Vikram Dewan, Anne Ewers, Carmen Febo-San Miguel, Happy Fernandez, Dawn Frisby Byers, Kumani Gantt, Marian Godfrey, Tanya Hall, Beverly Harper, Gail Harrity, Matty Hart, James Haskins, Gayle Isa, Hilary Jay, Harvey Kimmel, Joseph H. Kluger, Nancy Kolb, Sueyun Locks, Martin McNamara, Leslie Anne Miller, Olive Mosier, Joan Myers Brown, Hal Real, Romona Riscoe Benson, Kim Sajet, Margie Salvante, Carole Shanis, Susan Sherman, Nick Stuccio, Ed Tettemer, James Timberlake and Thomas Woodward.

Ex-officio members include:

Penny Balkin Bach, Fairmount Park Art Association; Moe Brooker, Art Commission; Jane Golden, Mural Arts Program; Meryl Levitz, Greater Philadelphia Tourism & Marketing Corp.; Karen Lewis, Avenue of the Arts Inc.; Cheryl McClenney-Brooker, Philadelphia Cultural Fund; Sharon Pinkenson, Greater Philadelphia Film Office; Siobhan Reardon, Free Library of Philadelphia; Vicki Sand, Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia.

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