Arts & the Civic Agenda
A Case Study of Innovation
Monday, October 30, 10:00am – 11:30am
Organized by Michael Norris, Vice President of External Relations, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.
Moderated by Maud Lyon, President, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Presented by Hugh McStravick, Vice President, Community Relations, PNC; and Romona Riscoe Benson, Director of Corporate Relations, PECO Energy.
As the leading arts advocacy organization in southeastern Pennsylvania, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has been successful in getting elected officials and civic leaders to understand the economic impact of arts and culture. But it has struggled to educate people about the many social and community impacts the arts also have. In this session, attendees will learn about a new initiative that the Alliance and two of Philadelphia's leading corporate arts funders have launched to better align Philadelphia's cultural sector with the city's civic agenda by highlighting the importance of the arts in early childhood education. Building on the Alliance's advocacy mantra of “Data + Stories = Proof,” the report AGENDA: Pre-K summarized research on the positive impact of the arts on young children. The report was supplemented by an array of online resources, a comprehensive communications campaign, a deep network of community partnerships, and a special grant program for cultural organizations and pre-K providers. Together these efforts resulted in an advocacy model that can be used with any aspect of cultural impact and replicated in other places.