New Chief Cultural Officer Talks Philadelphia’s Creative Future

With a new mayoral administration comes a new Chief Cultural Officer in the form of Kelly Lee, a 49-year-old Germantown native who previously served as CEO of now-defunct Innovation Philadelphia, communications director for the Pennsylvania Convention Center and director of economic development for PECO. Lee succeeds Helen Haynes in the position and joins an office that is essentially still in its infancy, re-established by Mayor Michael Nutter in 2008. Its official role is to promote the city’s cultural scene to the world, develop it as an economic engine, provide resources to artists and provide access to the greatest number of Philadelphians possible — though, its actual function is still in flux.