January 2016 Press Highlights October 26, 2015 ­ December 11, 2015

“People on the Move”

Philadelphia Business Journal, 12/11/2015 Baker, Brandon, “Power House Ink forms to teach struggling artists financial literacy”

PhillyVoice, 12/4/2015 “National Arts & Culture Sector Recovering from Recession Despite Declines in Contributed Income”

Grantmakers in the Arts, 11/30/2015 Friedman, Stacia, “Philadelphia Game Lab connects technology to art”

Newsworks.org, 11/25/2015 Hrywna, Mark, “Earned Income Jumps For Nonprofits”

The NonProfit Times, 11/24/2015 Scutari, Mike, “Big Data Delivers: Accessing the ‘Cultural Ecology’ Across 11 U.S. Metro Areas”

Inside Philanthropy, 11/23/2015 Cunniffe, Eileen, “A Tale of 11 Cities: New Data­Driven Assessment of the Nonprofit Arts Sector”

Nonprofit Quarterly, 11/2/2015 Salisbury, Stephan, “Museums explore combining culture”

Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/29/2015 Suttell, Scott, “Clevelanders Are Proud and Generous Arts Patrons, Study Shows”

Crain’s Cleveland Business, 10/28/2015 Salisbury, Stephan, “Woodmere, Philadelphia History Museum mull a merger”

Philly.com, 10/28/2015 Kurzius, Rachel, “Report: Arts Foundation Funding in D.C. Dropped 48 Percent Over a Three Year Period”

DCist, 10/28/2015 Mabaso, Alaina, “Ben Franklin’s Pennies Meet the 21st Century with a TechniCulture Residency”

Flying Kite, 10/27/2015 Ritzel, Rebecca, “Round House Theatre can thank Google for its set design”

Washington Post, 10/27/2015 Panaritis, Maria, “Coming to streets: 600 new bus shelters”

Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/27/2015 Salisbury, Stephan, “The ebb, flow of arts economics”

Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/26/2015 Salisbury, Stephan, “Ups and downs on the national art front”

Philly.com, 10/26/2015 Panaritis, Maria, “First of 600 new digital bus shelters en route to Philly”

Philly.com, 10/26/2015 “Bucks County Performing Arts Center receives grant awards; next performance will feature 1807 & Friends“

Bucks Local News, 10/26/2015 “Preservation group receives arts grant”

Garnet Valley Press, 10/21/2015

http://www.phillyvoice.com/power­house­ink­forms­financial­literacy­art/

Power House Ink forms to teach struggling artists financial literacy 11/30/2015 owing up in North Philadelphia, Laquanda McCoullum lived and breathed the arts: she wrote and performed skits at church, starred in plays at school and choreographed dance numbers on a whim. But as time went on and she struggled with "not fitting the mold" of the average Hollywood actress, she said, her burning passion for art dimmed to a flicker. “Years passed and I just involved myself with other things: work, I got married and had a daughter, and I kind of let art take a back­burner role," McCoullum, 37, told PhillyVoice. "But I was still really passionate about it, and over time that passion manifested itself and I had to get back to being involved with art again." So, she began directing plays, lending a helping hand backstage for local productions and, after talking to actors in those shows about their starving­artist lifestyles, began offering herself up as a financial advisor. Eventually, she decided to combine all of those efforts into a service organization: Power House Ink. "Eventually, the passion just took over and I stopped feeling inadequate and said, ‘OK, I may not be able to run [an art career] because I’m married and have a daughter, but I have to do something to release this passion,'" she said. "Something that will give me that same feeling as if I am out there on that stage. This gives me that same feeling." Power House Ink, recently registered as a nonprofit and consisting of five board members, will launch in March as an artist resource center at a to­be­determined location, likely in North Philadelphia. McCoullum is scouting for a 2,000­square­foot space to offer a low­cost performance and gallery venue capable of seating about 100 people. The nonprofit will sustain itself through the rented space, McCoullum explained. Additionally, the site will offer free financial literacy workshops for artists, in partnership with local financial consultancies and career development companies like the Center City­based Michelle Snow Company. "One of our goals is to help sustain the artistic community within the Philadelphia area, and we will do that by informing actors and different artists about the importance of having life insurance and how they can become businesses on their own," McCoullum, who is licensed in life and health insurance advising, said. She called the lack of financial literacy among many artists a "societal dilemma," one that universities alone can't be expected to fix. Miriam DeChant, director of legal services at the Arts + Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, has locally served about 200 artists per year with tax­ and business­related legal advice as part of Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. DeChant told PhillyVoice there has been an increase in the outcry for legal and financial assistance in the past 10 years as the budgets of aid programs get slashed and artists operate with especially light wallets. According to a 2015 report from the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, cultural nonprofits in Philadelphia are increasingly spread thin, as government funding of cultural groups in Philadelphia decreased by 37 percent from 2009­12, corporate funding fell by about 23 percent and individual donations decreased by around 13 percent. Foundation funding saw a modest increase of about 6 percent in that same period. Furthermore, DeChant said, changing financial rules boosts demand for financial advice even further. "The need for better initiative and planning only increases as regulation and reporting requirements on all levels of business increase," DeChant told PhillyVoice. "The more reliable resources that are available to creative thinkers in our region, the better off we'll all be for their willingness to take risks and endure personal hardships to push us forward." The ultimate point being this: Every little bit helps.

McCoullum, who added that she hopes to foster community as much as bolster financial stability among artists, continues to seek more partners "who care about sustaining the artistic community in Philadelphia." She also hopes to raise an estimated $20,000 in funding for the nonprofit's resource center leading up to the organization's March rollout.

http://www.giarts.org/blog/steve/national­nonprofit­arts­culture­sector­recovering­recession­despite­declines­contributed

National Nonprofit Arts & Culture Sector Recovering from Recession Despite Declines in Contributed Income 11/30/2015 Cultural groups continue to recover from the Great Recession, with revenue increasing 7% and attendance up 3% from 2009 to 2012. This is despite significant drops in most sources of contributed support, according to 2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities, a new eleven­city report on the cultural sector released today by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news­articles/27406/

Earned Income Jumps For Nonprofits Mark Hrywna 11/24/2015 Revenue increased 7 percent and attendance was up 3 percent for cultural groups in nearly a dozen metropolitan areas from 2009 to 2012, despite a decline in most sources of contributed support, including individual giving. Total revenue, attendance, net assets and endowments all increased from 2009 to 2012, according to 2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities. The report is an 11­city snapshot by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance that paints a picture of recovery since the Great Recession for most nonprofit arts and culture organizations, rebuilding savings, investments and endowments. Individual giving was down almost 10 percent and all sources of government income dropped an aggregate 28 percent, along with a 7 percent dip in corporate funding. Nonprofit arts and culture groups saw an increase of 25.4 percent in earned income, 7.6 percent in net assets and 13.7 percent in endowments. Admission, ticket sales and tuition increased by 5 percent but subscription sales revenue dropped by 13 percent. Contributed income declined 3.5 percent while board giving was up 20 percent and foundation giving 9.2 percent. Overall spending was flat, with a 1.6 percent drop in and six of the 10 metro regions, and seven of the 11 disciplines, reported reducing spending. Almost 19 percent of organizations had deficits of more than 10 percent and about 42 percent did not report a surplus. “This finding was consistent across every community and every discipline,” according to the study’s authors. “Despite strong gains in aggregate, many groups struggled to balance budgets, reducing spending and shifting labor to part­time positions.” The report covered more than 5,500 organizations in 11 regions: the san Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minn., and Washington, D.C. Collectively, these areas have a combined 906,000 paid and volunteers positions and spend $13 billion annually, with a collective population of more than 75 million – nearly a quarter of the nation. The report relied on the most fiscal year data (2012) from the Cultural Data Project and is supported by a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Only three regions saw increases in contributed funding: Bay Area, Boston, and Pittsburgh. The report came up with four key implications for the future: * Individuals are key since they constitute 45 percent of all revenue as well as employees and volunteers. “Engaging and engaging the next generation of cultural consumers, audiences and professionals will be key in reversing the trends of decline.” * Cultural organizations must “embrace new strategies and do a better job of communicating the social significance and impact of their work” because of declines in arts education and a lack of exposure to the arts. * Groups must think about audience development and engagement as a collective issue. Participation “is just a likely to occur online an in an informal setting as it is in traditional venues” and the cultural sector has struggled to respond to these shifts in behavior. * Data collection, strong analysis and information­driven decisions can help organization adapt to changes Among specific regions in the report: The Bay Area had the highest increase in contributed revenue among 11 metros, at almost 40 percent, but individual giving dropped by 21 percent. It had the highest per­capital individual giving and attendance.

The highest increase in earned revenue was found in the Boston region, at 52 percent. Los Angeles had the largest increase in attendance, almost 19 percent. Chicago has the highest proportion of theaters of any other metro. Cleveland has the highest proportion of revenue from earned income, at 59 percent, thanks to investments. It also had the largest increase in paid employment, almost 9 percent, but also the largest decline in spending, 7.4 percent. Cleveland had the fewer organizations in deficit, less than 35 percent. The largest of any of the metros, New York generated almost 42 percent of the study’s total spending, represented almost 28 percent of the total organizations in the report, and had the highest attendance, at 69 million. It also had the highest percentage of organizations reporting a deficit – almost 46 percent. Spending per capital and government contributed income per capital were highest in the study. Twin Cities has the highest proportion of corporate funding, at 5.5 percent, and had the highest percentage of state funding, almost 13 percent. Washington, D.C. would have been second only to New York in total attendance, if the Smithsonian were included in its total but the nation’s capital has a the largest federally run cultural sector, which was not part of report. Most federally run institutions don’t participate in the Cultural Data Project.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/essayworks/88493­philadelphia­game­lab­connects­technology­to­art

Philadelphia Game Lab connects technology to art Stacia Friedman 11/25/2015 Nathan Solomon isn't interested in creating the next "Angry Birds" or "Candy Crush." As president of Philadelphia Game Lab (PGL), a nonprofit that serves as a pipeline connecting technically talented students to jobs, Solomon looks beyond entertainment games to the intersection of technology and art. "We do research and design on technically difficult, creative projects," he said. "We don't develop games as much as the underlying technology." He asked a team member to demonstrate a current project. A 3­D image of a robot appeared on a computer screen. When the team member stood up and waved his arms, the robot mimicked his movements. "We're working with a client on an installation that will take up an entire hallway. As people walk by, their movements will appear alongside them in 3­D," said Solomon. Games as art A Port Richmond resident, Solomon's only involvement in the world of entertainment games came in 1999 when he was vice president of business development at Electronics Boutique in West Chester, Pennsylvania. "In six years, we were the largest game retailer in the world until Game Stop bought us," he said. The kind of games that excite Solomon these days are ones that address an artistic, theatrical or educational application. The company collaborates with clients and universities to create programs that advance medical and social sciences, as well as working with individual artists and theater groups. At the suggestion the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, PGL is now collaborating with Tiny Dynamite, a local theater group, on an interactive performance to be held next year in England. Solomon is also working with Marjan Moghaddam, a pioneering, New York­based artist, on a 3­D integrated animation to be exhibited at Main Line Art Center. "PGL is about to run our first three­month artist residency and we hope, with continued funding, to make this ongoing," he said. It's no coincidence that Solomon chose to move PGL into the same building as Vox Populi on North 11th Street. "This space works for us because all the other tenants are art galleries," he said. Keeping it Philly Solomon sees PGL as a dam against Philly's "brain drain." His team comes directly from Penn and Drexel. "Penn has a really strong culture and brilliant professors with whom I collaborate on a wide range of subjects," said Solomon. In 2012, Solomon sponsored the first annual Grassroots Game Conference in Philadelphia in which a panel session focused on games as an art form, including speakers from the Smithsonian Institute and the National Endowment of the Arts. The Game Conference ran for two years, but Solomon is no longer hosting it. "We have been too busy, more than I expected, and we want to refine the format before sponsoring another conference," said Solomon. Solomon's efforts to keep talented university grads in Philly resulted in a $340,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community Economic Development. "We matched that figure with client work during 2014, our first year of active development," he said. "We've employed students from Drexel, UArts, Philadelphia University, Temple, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore, Harrisburg University and Carnegie Mellon. But we get more from Penn than all the other universities," said Solomon.

However, he doesn't envision Philadelphia becoming another Silicon Valley. "The tech community here isn't significant outside of our universities," Solomon says. "Comcast brings very smart people here, but it isn't clear if they are going to develop their own companies or leave town when they outgrow their positions at Comcast." In addition to creating jobs, PGL has generated two for­profit companies owned by several of Solomon's staff. "Art + Alchemy, Ltd. focuses on immersive experiences (virtual reality, theatrical work, projected interfaces) and Adaptive Engines Corporation does commercial client work in game development and research," said Solomon. "We want to provide an option for those students who would like to stay for an extra moment or be usefully engaged while in university," said Solomon. "I believe that Philadelphia will retain increasing numbers of talented students, but we're a minuscule element in that ecosystem."

http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/arts­education/2015/11/23/big­data­delivers­assessing­the­cultural­ecology­across­11­u.html

Big Data Delivers: Assessing the “Cultural Ecology” Across 11 U.S. Metro Areas Mike Scutari 11/23/2015 Another day, another in­depth study exploring the health of the arts in major U.S. cities. This most recent installment, called 2015 Portfolio, comes to us from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Not content with simply examining the Philly's arts scene, it broadened its scope to look at the "cultural ecology" of 11 U.S. metropolitan regions, including the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, the Twin Cities, and Washington, D.C. All told, the alliance harvested financial, programmatic, audience, and administrative data from 5,502 cultural nonprofit institutions, generating a broad snapshot of organizational health that enables stakeholders to benchmark their performance against their peers. The study's authors pulled this data from the Cultural Data Project, which we looked at a few weeks after its launch. Needless to say, the project is bearing fruit. With thousands of organizations inputting key performance data, groups such as the alliance can now harvest key metrics to create reports like 2015 Portfolio. (Expect a lot more of this.) The study aimed to address these key questions:

What are the underlying trends running across all metro regions and disciplines? Are communities recovering from the Great Recession? Where are the pressure points for the sector? What are the challenges and opportunities for specific disciplines? What trends are impacting the long­term health of all cultural nonprofits?

We encourage you to read the whole report here, but for brevity's sake, we'll take a quick look at some of the most intriguing high­level findings. For example, the nonprofit cultural sector does seem to be recovering from the Great Recession. Having crunched the financial data from approximately 3,000 organizations, the study found that organization revenue was up 7.0 percent while the sector increased Net Assets 7.6 percent, and endowments rose 13.7 percent. An arguably even more optimistic metric involved a sector­wide boost in attendance. The study found total attendance jumped 3 percent, totaling 210 million in 2012 across the 11 metro regions. So, what drove this recovery? A 25.4 percent jump in earned income from 2009 to 2012. We're talking about things like admissions, tickets, and tuition, which collectively represent the largest source of income across both Earned and Contributed Income categories—which accounts for individual, corporate, and foundation sources. The only decrease in Earned Income was from subscriptions, where revenue dropped 13.1 percent. In short, more people are showing up. That's good news. As for Contributed Income, foundation and Board giving went up—9.2 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively—while all other sources, like individual and corporate funding, declined—9.7 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively. Now for the not­so­good news. Research found that while many organizations have "recovered" from the Great Recession, "recovery" is a relative term. These aggregate numbers don't necessarily reflect the experience of each individual organization. For example, 42 percent of individual groups reported deficits in the most recent fiscal year (one in five reported deficits over 10 percent). This trend held across each discipline.

Ultimately, the authors encourage organizations to do the things they probably already know they should be doing (then again, maybe not). This includes broadening the donor base, reversing the decline in individual giving, making cultural experiences "technically sophisticated" and "socially relevant," and sharing best practices. Ultimately, it's a mixed bag of information. For instance, while board and foundation giving increased, federal, state, and local funding all decreased. We expect many more reports and data to come out of this project, so stay tuned...

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2015/11/02/a­tale­of­11­cities­new­data­driven­assessment­of­the­nonprofit­arts­sector/

A Tale of 11 Cities: New Data­Driven Assessment of the Nonprofit Arts Sector Eileen Cunniffe 11/2/2015 In 2006, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance published its first Portfolio report, an assessment of the region’s cultural sector based on data from the then­fledgling Cultural Data Project (CDP), which launched in Pennsylvania in 2004. Subsequent Portfolio reports in 2008, 2011, and 2014 helped the Philadelphia region track its cultural sector through the Great Recession, gave arts leaders powerful benchmarking tools and equipped advocates with data to make the case for continued support. Meanwhile, CDP has expanded into 11 additional states and the District of Columbia, allowing for standardization in data collection and analysis across nonprofit arts groups. Last week, the Cultural Alliance released 2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities, An Eleven­City Snapshot—a data­driven assessment of the nonprofit arts sector with particular attention to post­recession recovery and persistent fiscal challenges. Culture Across Communities includes data from 5,502 arts organizations in eleven metropolitan areas, which collectively serve more than 75 million residents (nearly a quarter of the U.S. population) and spend $13 billion annually. The cities represented in the report include: Bay Area (San Francisco and San Jose), Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Twin Cities and Washington, D.C. Trend data from 2009–2012 was available for 2,974 organizations from all metro areas except the Twin Cities, providing important insights into how the sector has fared in the wake of the Great Recession. Among the key findings nationally are these:

The sector is showing signs of recovery from the recession, with revenue, net assets and endowments all increasing; positive profit margins in aggregate; and increasing attendance.

Importantly, gains in earned income have been driving the recovery, with an increase of 25.4 percent from 2009–2012. Growth in admissions/tickets/tuitions fueled the recovery, with this category of income accounting for the largest single source of earned or contributed revenue across all budget sizes in the study.

While aggregate margins were positive, many arts organizations continue to struggle financially. In the most recent fiscal year, 42 percent of organizations reported deficits, and 18.7 percent of those deficits exceeded 10 percent. Overall spending was flat, full­time employment was virtually flat, and overall paid positions increased by only 1.4 percent. Collectively, the study organizations reported a total of 906,000 positions, more than half of which are filled by volunteers and only 6 percent of which represent full­time paid positions.

Contributed income, which accounts for nearly half of all revenue in the sector, declined by 3.5 percent, with steep drops in government funding, and troublesome decreases in both corporate and individual giving, across most metro areas. Board and foundation giving both increased.

Culture Across Communities also offers data analyses by metro area and by arts discipline, and often with reference to budget size. While some findings are consistent across the sector, discipline­specific trends or local strengths and weaknesses may prove instructive for the sector as a whole. For example, how did Cleveland manage to increase corporate support by nearly 40 percent at such a challenging time? Why is attendance growing at museums but declining for performing arts groups? What is propelling membership growth in Philadelphia and overall attendance growth in Los Angeles and Boston? The report itself is presented as a “snapshot.” But the data behind the report is rich, and the beauty of CDP (which in 2016 will be renamed DataArts) is that a wealth of benchmarking data is readily available to participating arts organizations around the country.

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20151028/BLOGS03/151029787/clevelanders­are­proud­and­generous­art­patrons­study­shows

Clevelanders Are Proud and Generous Art Patrons, Study Shows Scott Suttell 10/28/2015 A study released this week by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance confirms something most of us have long known: Clevelanders are proud and generous patrons of the art. The study, “Culture Across Communities” includes comprehensive financial and attendance data from arts groups in Philadelphia, Cleveland and nine other major metropolitan areas: the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland; Boston; Chicago; Los Angeles; New York; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Washington D.C. The report reveals that, overall, major cultural regions across the country are on the road to recovery from the Great Recession, with revenue, attendance and net assets all increasing from 2009­2012. Nonprofit arts and culture organizations also were able to rebuild savings and investments, increasing net assets 7.6% and endowments 13.7%. Among the cities studied, the report found Cleveland “has the highest proportion of revenue generated from earned income (59.3%), primarily driven by strong investments.” (The report looked at 173 arts and cultural organizations in the Cleveland area.) Cleveland also has the largest increase in paid employment, 8.8%, even though its total spending declined 7.4%, the steepest spending decline of any of the metro regions. Cleveland was also notable for strong gains in individual giving (+64.1%) and corporate funding (+38.2%), and for having the fewest organizations in deficit (34.7%). In this story from The Washington Post, Maud Lyon, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, says Cleveland and Washington, D.C., which were Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in increases in individual giving, benefited from several major capital campaigns in the 2009­2012 time period of the study. Lyon, in a statement, said art organizations’ collective progress “is fragile,” and that to “remain relevant and viable, it is clear we need to engage the next generation of donors and audiences.” You can go here for snapshots of Cleveland and all the cities included in the study.

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20151029_Woodmere__Philadelphia_History_Museum_mull_a_merger.html

Woodmere, Philadelphia History Museum mull a merger Stephan Salisbury 10/28/2015 The Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent and the Woodmere Art Museum are exploring a partnership that could produce a merged institution devoted to exhibiting more than three centuries' worth of the region's entire range of art and artifacts, according to officials at both institutions. The exploration process, funded by William Penn Foundation grants of $867,075 to each institution, will initially lead to a joint public exhibition opening in about a year at both, tentatively titled "A More Perfect Union." Officials are weighing how their collections interact, how staffs and boards operate together, what new visitors will see their collections, and what might attract new donors and board members to a venture of such scope. The Philadelphia History Museum, mandated by the City Charter as the official repository of Philadelphia's material culture, is housed in a neoclassical building on South Seventh Street. The original home of the Franklin Institute, it was donated by radio manufacturer Atwater Kent to create a public history repository. The collection is owned by a private nonprofit for the public benefit. Woodmere, in Chestnut Hill on the estate of the museum's founder ­ oil man, politician, and collector Charles Knox Smith ­ has a collection of about 5,000 works, with particular strength in the region's 19th­ and 20th­century art. Smith left the estate and collection to the public; it has been owned and operated as a private nonprofit since 1940. The History Museum, which contains art and artifacts from its own collection as well as those it acquired in a 1999 agreement with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, has more than 100,000 items, including the formidable desk used by George Washington during his presidency, and artworks by Thomas Sully, the Peale family, and many others. "We both have collections of Philadelphia­centric stories," said Charles Croce, director and chief executive of the History Museum. Woodmere's "is more contemporary than ours. Ours is more object­based; theirs is two­dimensional­art­based. The idea is to put these two collections together to tell the story of Philadelphia." The exploration process is expected to run at least a year and a half. "We're asking a lot of questions right now," said William Valerio, Woodmere's director and chief executive. "We're setting up the ["More Perfect Union"] exhibition in a way that will give some answers and some sense of what is it in the past of Philadelphia that's relevant . . . today. That's ultimately the goal, to employ our collections toward this question of how does the past matter to the present. "Our sense, Charles and myself, our staffs, our boards ­ we have a sense that by bringing art and history together we can explore culture in a broader sense and in a way that isn't being done currently with any collection in Philadelphia." Croce and Valerio said each institution would remain where it is. Neither believes institutional charters and conditions of bequest will present legal obstacles to a partnership ­ or even a merger, if that ultimately happens. News of a possible merger comes at a time when there have been high­profile unions in the city ­ the Academy of Natural Sciences merged with Drexel University, and the Rosenbach Museum and Library with the Free Library of Philadelphia. The History Museum­Woodmere partnership is somewhat different. Neither is a behemoth, and both have had financial and operational struggles in the near past. Woodmere abandoned an ambitious expansion plan several years ago and operated for a time without a director or other key staff positions filled. Since Valerio arrived in September 2010, the museum has put together a string of balanced budgets, built up its endowment, and this year raised $1.5 million for replacing drives, lighting, and other amenities. Its

annual operating budget this year is up to $2.4 million, and endowments stand at $10.6 million. Annual attendance is about 40,000. The Philadelphia History Museum completed a lengthy $6 million building overhaul three years ago and has paid down a $2.5 million construction debt to $250,000. Its staff is lean, and fund­raising is an ongoing issue. The city provided a $293,000 subsidy this fiscal year; total annual operating budget is $1.6 million, with the endowment at about $1 million. Attendance hovers around 25,000 annually. It is no secret that history museums are struggling nationwide. A study released Monday by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance showed 30.3 percent of history organizations across 11 metro regions, including Philadelphia, operating with deficits greater than 10 percent of their budgets in 2012, the most recent year with complete data. That compares to 24.8 percent with deficits in the more amorphous category of museums, galleries, and visual arts. The History Museum and Woodmere are operating with balanced budgets. That said, area foundations for years have urged local history organizations to consider consolidation. Shawn McCaney, program director of William Penn's Creative Communities grant center, said the History Museum and Woodmere approached the foundation for support in exploring the partnership possibilities. It agreed, hoping for greater "financial strength, audience, and visibility" for both. "That's our main interest," he said. Helen Haynes, the city's cultural officer, characterized the move as a positive development for the History Museum. Her concern, she said, was that its collection "remain an asset to the city." "I applaud them for taking this step in a thoughtful manner," she added.

http://dcist.com/2015/10/when_it_comes_to_arts_funding_indiv.php

Report: Arts Foundation Funding in D.C. Dropped 48 Percent Over a Three Year Period Rachel Kurzius 10/28/2015 Congratulations, art lovers! At a time when government and foundation funding is majorly on the decline in D.C., you folks are singlehandedly buoying the cultural ecology of our fine city. "Culture Across Communities: An Eleven­City Snapshot" compares data from more than 5,000 cultural nonprofit organizations in nearly a dozen cities, including Washington D.C. The report from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance seeks out the health of the arts following the financial downturn, from 2009 to 2012. “There are clear signs that the arts, museums, and the broad spectrum of cultural nonprofits have been able to navigate past the recession,” said Maud Lyon, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. “But progress is fragile." D.C. was one of three cities, along with Boston and Cleveland, that actually saw an increase in individual giving during the timespan, boasting a 42 percent change in revenue. Along with Boston, the District is the only area that coupled that bump with an increase in Board giving. A less positive bucking of the trend was the change in foundation funding. While most cities saw a boost, D.C. dealt with the second­largest decline—a nearly 48 percent decrease. All of the cities included saw less government funding, including the District. (It's also important to note that the study did not include the Smithsonian Institution in its data, because it's federally funded rather than a nonprofit.) Earned income for cultural organizations still grew by 3 percent in the city. This is thanks to the strongest ticket revenue increase in the report. And in the one calculation that did include the Smithsonian—total attendance—D.C. was second only to New York City. But while attendance is up, those working these cultural events are in trouble. D.C. has a 3.1 percent drop in paid employment, the largest of any examined region.

http://www.flyingkitemedia.com/innovationnews/benfranklinsgrave102715.aspx

Ben Franklin’s Pennies Meet the 21st Century with a TechniCulture Residency Alaina Mabaso 10/27/2015 When it comes to funding, Christ Church Preservation Trust has a unique problem. According to Executive Director Barbara Hogue, about a million people visit Ben Franklin's grave every year. Somewhere in the early­to­mid 20th century, it became customary to toss a penny onto the Founding Father’s resting place in honor of Franklin' adage, "a penny saved is a penny earned." The custom isn’t limited to Americans ­­ last year the Trust counted currency from 30 different countries on the grave. Currently, the coins the Trust collects amount to about $3,500 per year ­­ not an insignificant source of revenue when preservation and maintenance on the two­acre historic Christ Church Burial Ground (founded in 1723 at Fifth and Arch Streets) costs $50,000 annually. The trouble is that all those donated coins are damaging the limestone of Franklin’s grave, eroding the very landmark visitors are trying to honor. In June, the Trust received $38,000 in the form of a Keystone Heritage Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for the conservation of Franklin’s grave. They worked with the firm Materials Conservation to develop the grant. Conservators insisted that the problems went beyond water­induced deterioration of the grave's limestone tablet and marble base. The Trust hopes to solve the issue without losing its income stream or halting a beloved custom. This summer, Flying Kite took a look at the call for the Cultural Alliance’s inaugural TechniCulture Innovation Residency Award program applications, and this month, three winners were announced, including Christ Church Preservation Trust. "What we really need to do is get people to stop throwing pennies on his grave, because it’s really hurting the limestone," insists Hogue. That’s where the TechniCulture application came in. "How can we encourage people to give a penny, or encourage the social custom, without damaging the grave?" Enter Davis Shaver, the digital products and solutions lead for Philadelphia Media Network. For three months starting this October, Shaver will partner with the Trust to develop ideas for capturing this revenue stream for the essential historic site ­­ also boasting the graves of luminaries like Benjamin Rush, five other Signers besides Franklin, and many Revolutionary War heroes ­­ without cutting out the fun of honoring Ben Franklin with a small on­site donation. "Maybe it’s an app, maybe it’s a texting opportunity," she says of the possibilities of the residency. It could be “some really simple way for people to donate small amounts of money" that could develop into a fun campaign to engage graveyard visitors, and keep the grounds safe and accessible to the public. Early next year, all three winners of the TechniCulture Innovation Residency will present the findings of their residencies, and the Cultural Alliance will further reward one of them with funds toward implementation of the ideas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/round­house­theatre­can­thank­google­for­its­set­design/2015/10/27/3914dfbe­7cc9­11e5­afce­2afd1d3eb896_story.html

Round House Theatre can thank Google for its set design Rebecca Ritzel 10/26/2015 Many theater companies in the Washington area boast strong ties to the venerable dramatic traditions of Ireland. Round House is not one of those theaters. Round House is not one of those theaters. The Kennedy Center has hosted tours of several Irish classics — including plays by John Millington Synge and Tom Murphy as presented by Druid Theatre Company — and next spring will unspool a festival of Emerald Isle arts and culture. The Keegan Theatre tours Ireland almost every year and is now premiering its fourth play by Belfast­born playwright Rosemary Jenkinson. Studio Theatre’s continued commitment to contemporary Irish drama includes its 2016 staging of Deirdre Kinahan’s “Moment,” and helming that drama is Ethan McSweeny, a D.C. native who directs a show each season at Dublin’s Gate Theatre. But Round House? When it comes to Ireland, the Internet — and the Guinness available at intermission — are the theater’s best resources. Director Ryan Rilette, lighting designer Colin K. Bills and set designer Meghan Raham have never been to Ireland. When they met to discuss staging “The Night Alive,” Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s latest drama, they realized they were at a disadvantage. Raham kept repeating in her head McPherson’s explanation line for the setting: “An Edwardian house near the Phoenix Park in Dublin.” Katie deBuys (Aimee) and Edward Gero (Tommy) in Round House Theatre’s production of “The Night Alive.” ( Cheyenne Michaels) “That would be the equivalent of saying the play was set in a garden apartment in a Federal­style building in Georgetown,” Raham said. “For McPherson, it was a kind of shorthand.” A shorthand that meant little to the design team, until Bills said, “Let’s try Google Street View.” With a computer, a projector and a huge screen at hand, they proceeded to spend the next hour or so cyberspying on dozens of Dublin homes. “We kept looking and zooming in until we found ones that had Edwardian architecture and backed up to the park,” Raham said. Later that night, Bills e­mailed a link to the photo of the home that would become their model. “It was just sort of the perfect house,” Raham said. “I just looked at it and thought, ‘I just want to take out that section of wall and open it up,’ and that’s what I ended up doing.” Her early models showed a sliver of the home’s facade through a window. Although that’s not how her final rendition turned out, Raham said that as a designer, knowing about the physical world where the play is set is crucial, even if audiences never see the exterior she saw on Google Street View. “It told us something about how nice that house once was, although it’s not anymore,” she said. Perhaps the Irish tourism board — which is marketing “genealogy trips” to Irish Americans interested in their ancestral lands — should consider pushing Google Street View. After spending so many hours on the site looking at Dublin’s brick­lined streets and bridges, Raham said, “We all want to go.” D.C. theater, by the numbers Woolly Mammoth Theatre will be the site of some serious number­crunching Thursday, when arts leaders gather to discuss a new report that reveals mostly bad news for Washington’s cultural sector.

“Culture Across Communities,” a study released Monday by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, includes comprehensive financial and attendance data from arts groups in Washington, Philadelphia and nine other major metropolitan areas. The good news for Washington: Arts attendance increased 5.4 percent from 2009 to 2012. The Smithsonian was not included in the study, but if it were, Washington would boast the highest arts attendance in the nation outside of New York. D.C. arts organizations also had the highest increase in endowment levels, a sign that those funds are rebounding after the recession. To analyze trend data for the Washington area, the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance had access to Cultural Data Project numbers from 106 organizations in the District and Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland. (Virginia does not participate in the Cultural Data Project, a national clearinghouse for arts data.) The local data reflects two key national trends: A decline in government and corporate support is persuading arts organizations to rethink their revenue streams, and a decline in subscription sales is prompting some performing­arts groups to reimagine their business models. But looking closely at other numbers reveals some D.C. statistics that are dubious distinctions, puzzling anomalies and causes for concern. Among the study’s findings: D.C. is a theater town. Of the 329 area groups reporting to the Cultural Data Project (more than 200 organizations began reporting since 2009, as more and more funders require it), 21 percent are theaters. Seventeen percent are groups primarily devoted to arts education. D.C. tickets aren’t cheap. Ticket revenue in Washington increased 29.2 percent, the highest gain in the nation, but, as noted, attendance is up only about 5 percent. Looking at the data from all 329 groups, admissions, tickets and tuition were the largest revenue sources in Washington, at 24 percent, representing the nation’s highest reliance on such revenue. Many arts groups actually lowered ticket prices in response to the recession, said Maud Lyon, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Individual Washingtonians are still giving money to the arts. Individual donations are up 42.1 percent, second only to Cleveland. Seven cities reported a decrease in individual giving. Lyon pointed out that a handful of capital campaigns, undertaken between 2009 and 2012, could be the reasons for major bumps in Washington and Cleveland. Foundations are giving far less. Locally, support from foundations decreased by 47.5 percent, the second­highest cut in the nation. Endowments are on the rise, with a 56.4 percent increase in Washington; net assets, however, are down 15.4 percent. Both of those swings were the highest in the nation, Lyon said. She could not comment on the endowment bumps, but one organization offloading a $11 million building could have affected the drop in assets. Arts organizations have been cutting staff and salaries. Employment spending is down 3.1 percent, the largest decrease in the nation. Overall, most regions recorded gains in the number of employees, especially part­time staffers. Larger arts groups are more likely to run large deficits. The average deficit, for a Washington arts group with a budget of $10 million or more, was 2.4 percent. Smaller organizations had an average surplus of 1.8 percent. Both of those figures, however, are worse than the national average. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance released the report at its annual meeting and is sending staffers out across the country to share the data with other cities, with Washington up first. John McInerney, the alliance’s vice president of marketing and communication, will be the guest speaker at Thursday’s meeting, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Although held at Woolly, the meeting was organized by Cultural Capital, an alliance of Washington­area arts groups. he highest in the nation, Lyon said. She could not comment on the endowment bumps, but one organization offloading a $11 million building could have affected the drop in assets. Arts organizations have been cutting staff and salaries. Employment spending is down 3.1 percent, the largest decrease in the nation. Overall, most regions recorded gains in the number of employees, especially part­time staffers. Larger arts groups are more likely to run large deficits. The average deficit, for a Washington arts group with a budget of $10 million or more, was 2.4 percent. Smaller organizations had an average surplus of 1.8 percent. Both of those figures, however, are worse than the national average. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance released the report at its annual meeting and is sending staffers out across the country to share the data with other cities, with Washington up first. John McInerney, the alliance’s vice president of marketing and communication, will be the guest speaker at Thursday’s meeting,

which starts at 9:30 a.m. Although held at Woolly, the meeting was organized by Cultural Capital, an alliance of Washington­area arts groups.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20151026_Ups_and_downs_on_the_national_arts_front.html

Ups and downs on the national art front Stephan Salisbury 10/28/2015 More than 5,000 arts and cultural organizations from 11 metropolitan regions spend about $13 billion annually, are staffed by 900,000­plus employees and volunteers, and serve a combined population of about 75 million people. Yet despite those big numbers, and despite overall revenue gains of 7 percent from 2009 to 2012, attendance gains of about 3 percent, and earned income gains of more than 25 percent, nearly half the organizations (42 percent) reported deficits in 2012, the most recent year analyzed, with 18.7 percent of the deficits greater than 10 percent. "That's true of every metropolitan area," said Maud Lyon, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, which compiled the report, "2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities." "It's true of every discipline. And it's also true of every Portfolio we've done on Philadelphia," she said of the reports GPCA has produced over the last decade. Sometimes deficits go up, sometimes down, she said, but they can appear virtually anywhere with any arts organization, whether it's a museum or a performing arts group. "The difference between a positive year and a negative year is a thin margin," she said. In the past, Portfolio has delivered increasingly detailed biennial analyses of the Philadelphia region's cultural economy. The most recent, issued last year, is based on data from 2012. The new nationwide analysis presents the same kind of data, from 2009 to 2012, compiled by the Cultural Data Project, a Philadelphia­based organization that gathers information from more than 14,000 groups in 12 states and the District of Columbia. For the 2015 Portfolio, the cultural alliance used data from the Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Washington; Pittsburgh; Cleveland; Chicago; Minneapolis­St. Paul; Phoenix; Los Angeles; and San Francisco Bay regions. New York is so big, and the concentration of arts organizations there so great, that the city generates 41.5 percent of sector spending nationwide and is home to 27.8 percent of the total organizations in the report. That said, groups in the New York region suffered the same kinds of declines in contributed income (down 12.9 percent from 2009 to 2012) and increases in total revenues (4.6 percent) that are seen across the country. And despite its huge total audiences, New York did not show the highest per capita attendance rate. That honor goes to Washington,when the free Washington Mall institutions are included in the mix, and to the San Francisco region when the Mall is excluded. (Philadelphia is in the middle, behind Pittsburgh, but ahead of Minneapolis­St. Paul and Chicago.) While the cultural sector nationally is slowly recovering from the fiscal crisis of 2008 and subsequent recession, contributed income has declined 3.5 percent. This comes even though giving from foundations has grown, as their endowments have recovered from the recession, and board giving is up. The major factor in declining contributions income is a sharp drop in giving from individuals and corporations and the continued decline in government support. Because contributed income constitutes 46.9 percent of total revenue in the sector, any decline in contributions is alarming.

According to Portfolio, individual giving declined 9.7 percent nationally from 2009 to 2012, and corporate giving dropped 7 percent. Board and foundation giving rose 20.3 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. Government support at the local, state, and federal levels declined nationally from 2009 to 2012; city contributions dropped 29.7 percent, state support plummeted 35.6 percent, federal support fell 12.6 percent. In this difficult environment, organizations managed to significantly increase earned income ­ funds raised through ticket and merchandise sales, rentals, and similar ventures ­ by 25.4 percent. Ticket revenues rose 2.6 percent, admissions rose 9.1 percent, tuition increased 5.9 percent, and rental income spiked up 26.8 percent. Subscriptions, largely used by performing arts groups to lock in season­long attendance, dropped 13.1 percent. Comparatively, Philadelphia is basically in "the middle of the pack," Lyon said. "We have challenges. The drop in individual giving is greater here than the national average. But, on the other side, the increase in board giving is greater." "One big take away," she continued, "is the importance of the individual." Focus on the individual builds audiences and builds revenues and contributions. Besides, Lyon said, "that's who we do it for."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20151027_Hundreds_of_Center_City_digital_bus_shelters_en_route.html

First of 600 new digital bus shelters en route to Philly Maria Panaritis 10/26/2015 A few weeks from now, Philadelphians will see the beginnings of 600 new bus shelters, a project that will transform sidewalks and double the number of places where riders can escape the elements. Over the next five years, 318 shelters will be replaced and 282 new ones will sprout. Instead of posters, each will be built to potentially display digital advertising. Glass­paneled walls, wood benches, and a lattice design supporting flat tinted roofs will give the new structures a digital­age feel. A 20­year contract authorizes the Intersection advertising firm to pay to build and maintain them, while sharing up to $100 million in ad revenue with the city. While meant to be easy on the eye, none will display up­to­the­minute updates of when the next SEPTA bus will roll by. "We're building state­of­the­art shelters," groused Center City Residents Association president Charles Goodwin, "for 2005." That limitation is one of a few concerns expressed about the otherwise welcome project. Arts and culture groups will no longer have exclusive access to low­cost advertising on bus stops along Walnut Street under the contract approved by City Council and Mayor Nutter. This privilege, which dates to a 1983 agreement struck by the city, has been revoked to help the ad firms capitalize on what has become one of the most lucrative avenues in Center City. In addition to the 600 shelters, 100 freestanding advertising kiosks will be added, raising concerns about overcrowding. Art Commission members approved four shelter design sizes in September and this month approved the first 12 proposed locations, all of which should be built by year's end. A prototype at Broad and Arch Streets gives a preview. "It's a fantastic opportunity for the city to get new, fresh infrastructure at zero cost to the city and to the taxpayers," said Jon Roche, vice president and general manager for Intersection in Philadelphia. The city has used private advertisers to build or manage its bus shelters since 1979. The contract replaces one that expired in 2001 but was renewed each year, said Denise Goren, director of the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities. Respective mayoral administrations struggled to secure new contracts. One reason: The global economic crisis scared away ad firms for years, said Andrew Stober, who was chief of staff at MOTU before launching a City Council run this year. As architect of the current contract, Stober described the city's goal in practical terms. "What we were really trying to do was to both earn the city more revenue but also to really increase the number of shelters we have in Philadelphia," Stober said. The Art Commission expressed interest in having the shelters show real­time bus data, said chairman Emmanuel Kelly, as did some residents.

But "SEPTA's development of systems are not that up­to­date," Kelly said. "There is a potential to accommodate that in the future." SEPTA uses a 20­year­old radio system that won't work on the new shelters, said William Zebrowski, its chief information officer. A new cellular system could be up and running within three years to fix that, Zebrowski said. But adding infromation to shelters is not automatic. "There would be additional costs," Roche said. Intersection will spend at least $12.4 million to install the shelters, just shy of $21,000 per site. The project also calls for the installation of 100 two­sided "arts information kiosks" for arts and cultural institutions no longer able to claim permanent spots on Walnut between Seventh and 23d Streets. No decisions have yet been made on where the kiosks may be located. "Our priority is the bus shelters," said Angela Dixon, who is overseeing the project for the city. She encouraged residents to suggest locations for new bus shelters early next week, when a city website will go live for that sole purpose at http://www.phillytransitshelters.com. "If they fulfill what they've committed to do, it should be an acceptable option," said John McInerney, vice president of marketing and communications for the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. "The goal here is that that does happen." But what will those ad kiosks do to walkable Center City? Nancy A. Goldenberg, an official at Center City District, expressed concerns in a letter to the Art Commission in July. "Given all the other street furniture and fixtures on our sidewalks," Goldenberg said, "we doubt that there are sufficient acceptable locations for new free­standing kiosks."

http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2015/10/26/entertainment/music/doc562e81994209d899943125.txt

Bucks County Performing Arts Center receives grant awards; next performance will feature 1807 & Friends 10/26/2015 The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, through its Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts regional partnership with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, has awarded the Bucks County Performing Arts Center (BCPAC) a Project Stream grant in the amount of $1,582 to support two of their programs. In addition, $153 was awarded to BCPAC by PECO in conjunction with the Project Stream grant, bringing the total amount to $1,735. On November 7, a group known as 1807 & Friends will perform for the local Bucks County community at large in the Yardley Community Centre, 64 S. Main Street in Yardley. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. 1807 & Friends consists of former members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and other outstanding musicians. The purpose of the program is to increase access to world­class classical chamber music programs within the Bucks County community. For ticket information, visit www.bcpac.org or call 215­493­3010. In addition, an educational program titled, Sounds of the Strings, will be presented in assembly format to students attending Eleanor Roosevelt and Manor elementary schools in the Pennsbury School District. These appearances, scheduled for March, 2016, will include the same artists who will perform with 1807 & Friends. The professional musicians will introduce students to the string section of the orchestra to help them enjoy and appreciate the sounds of the strings and chamber music. The featured artists for these performances are: Nancy Bean, on violin and Pellegrina viola. Ms. Bean was Assistant Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra until her 2009 retirement. Now fully immersed in chamber music, she is Artistic Director of 1807 & Friends and is an avid participant in numerous chamber ensembles. She is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and besides her Philadelphia Orchestra affiliation she has been in the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Philharmonic, the Wheeling Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony and Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia. Lloyd Smith, cellist, was a long­standing Philadelphia Orchestra member until his 2003 retirement to devote himself to chamber music and composing. A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, he also is an avid participant in numerous chamber ensembles. Michael Chaffin, bass, is a graduate of the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Performance. He has performed with the Haverford College Orchestra, the Philadelphia Sinfonia, and toured China with the Philadelphia National Symphony. He is bassist of 1807 & Friends ensemble which performs Sounds of the Strings interactive educational presentations, and its Young Composers Project presentations in the Philadelphia School District. Harpist Anne Sullivan began her career as a concert harpist at age twelve when she appeared twice as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra. A Curtis Institute of Music undergrad (where she is now a faculty member), she has had a long association with the Delaware Symphony and Orchestra of the Pennsylvania Ballet. Nancy Bean, Lloyd Smith and Anne Sullivan have graced the Bucks County Performing Arts Center stage many times through the years as part of the Wister Quartet and Trio Montage. Guest artist Joan Sparks, flutist, holds music degrees from the University of Delaware and Temple University and is affiliated with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, and Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, to name a few. Ms. Sparks has a decades’ long duo effort with 1807 & Friends’ harpist Anne Sullivan under the name of ‘SPARX’ and she is an avid educator.