Most Philly mayoral candidates want to create a dedicated revenue stream for arts and culture funding

The candidates running for mayor of Philadelphia bring a range of talents to the table, but they’re not a particularly musical bunch.

At a bipartisan candidates forum on arts and culture issues at the Kimmel Center on Thursday night, nine mayoral hopefuls were asked if they play or have played a musical instrument.

Derek Green used to play the clarinet and tenor sax, Rebecca Rhynhart was a childhood pianist, and Jeff Brown said he played drums as a kid. David Oh, the lone Republican in the race, has three guitars that he says he can’t play. Maria Quiñones Sánchez said she has “no artistic ability” — unless you count dancing. And Allan Domb said he was “identified as having perfect pitch” in third grade, and used to play several instruments.

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Only former City Councilmember Helen Gym, who plays piano, indicated that she still maintains a musical pastime.

“I play the piano so I don’t have to sing,” Gym said.

The candidates in the Philly mayor’s race are participating in numerous forums and debates put on by neighborhood organizations and interest groups, such as Thursday’s event hosted by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Kimmel Center.

Arts and cultural activities contribute $3.6 billion to the Philadelphia economy. City funding for creative organizations became a major issue in 2020 when Mayor Jim Kenney proposed dramatic funding cuts when coronavirus-related shutdowns crippled the city budget a year before significant federal pandemic aid arrived.

Arts and culture funding has largely been restored as the economy rebounded, but the candidates on Thursday weighed in on whether they would support a dedicated funding stream for cultural organizations. That would be more reliable than the current system of various line items lumped into the city budget’s general fund, which leaves them subject to the whims of mayors and lawmakers.

All candidates at the forum, which included eight Democrats and Oh, said they would be vocal cheerleaders for the creative economy, but they differed on how they would use city government to boost it.

Green, a former Council member, called for an independent agency modeled after the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in Washington.

Rhynhart, former city controller, said the arts should have dedicated funding, but she opposes creating a new tax for it.

“The arts need to be prioritized so it’s not discussed every year, ‘Where do we get the money from?’ ” she said.

Domb said he would double the city’s current level of funding because arts and cultural institutions are economic engines for the city, bringing back $5 in commercial activity for every $1 spent, he said.

Quiñones Sánchez, another former Council member, said she would convene a meeting of leaders in “tourism, the restaurant industry, all of the creative economy, so that together we can create a common vision.”

» READ MORE: Six takeaways from Mayor Jim Kenney’s final budget proposal

Cherelle Parker, a former state representative and Council majority leader, said she would work with state government to bring additional arts funding to the city.

Brown, a grocer, said he would appoint a “deputy mayor of arts, culture, and fun,” and raise the hotel tax to create an arts funding stream.

Gym said she would look at the amusement tax and raising the hotel tax as potential avenues for a dedicated funding stream, but emphasized that the next mayor should lean on the corporate and nonprofit sectors for support as well.

Former Municipal Court Judge James DeLeon said he would use the towing tax as a dedicated funding source.

Oh noted that he fought for a dedicated funding stream while he was on Council, including a proposal to use $40 million of federal funding for a Creative Arts Recovery Fund.

He added that Philadelphia also needs to “have a reputation for being a safe city” for its arts and tourism sectors to flourish.

The primary is May 16.