From the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance… It’s hard to believe that a little over a month ago, Senate Bill 850 appeared on our radar with the threat of losing all arts and culture funding in Pennsylvania. Since then, advocates in Greater Philadelphia and all across the state have taken serious action – tens of thousands [...]

Today, the Pennsylvania Senate is calling for ZERO funding for arts and culture in the FY 09-10 state budget. If the Senate version (SB 850) prevails, there will be no arts and culture grants in the state of Pennsylvania starting on July 1 of this year. Please write your representatives and senators today. If you [...]

From the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance… In February, Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell presented his proposed budget. The allocation for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ Grants for the Arts (the line item that includes familiar programs such as AOAP, Preserving Diverse Cultures, Program Stream, and Project Stream) has been proposed at an 8% cut for [...]

from the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Thursday, March 19th,  Mayor Nutter took to the podium in a lively City Council meeting to address his five year plan for dealing with the city budget in the face of a mounting deficit. Tough decisions were made, including two important plans that will depend on authorization from Harrisburg: legislation [...]

Seeds Of Hope By Andrea K. Hammer, For The Bulletin To dig each other out of the current economic morass, a fundamental integration of the arts and business worlds is urgently needed. Instead of segregating each into right- and left-brain domains relegated to work versus leisure time, these two equally important elements must finally be [...]

Mayor Nutter announced last month, the city of Philadelphia is facing a projected $2 billion shortfall over the next five years. In order to fulfill an “unprecedented level of public engagement in the budget process,” a series of four community forums are being held. Mayor Nutter has repeatedly shown his support – most notably through [...]

The nation’s 100,000 nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences generate $166.2 billion annually in U.S. economic activity. They support 5.7 million jobs and provide nearly $30 billion in government revenue. We applaud the arts community in Philadelphia for speaking up, writing letters and making their voices heard in Washington as the final version of the [...]

Early this morning, Congress unveiled the Conference Report of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and this afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the final version of the bill by a vote of 246-183. The Senate is expected to vote on the final version of the bill later tonight. What’s [...]

This past Friday, February 6, the Senate passed Senator Coburn’s Amendment 309, which prohibits funding for museums, theaters, art centers, zoos, and aquariums in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. To the dismay of many, the amendment passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, including support from Pennsylvania Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey. [...]

Report from The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Today, in the face of a mounting budget crisis across the United States, Governor Ed Rendell presented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Executive Budget to a joint session of the General Assembly. As announced in the Governor’s morning address, the state of Pennsylvania is facing a $2.3 billion deficit. [...]