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The Big Canvas is Back!

The first round of The Big Canvas forums is complete, and we're ready for the second act.

Register now to attend one of the fall forums coming to a neighborhood near you. (Please note that the Plymouth Meeting event has moved to Oct. 21.)

You'll have a chance to talk through four strategies for a regional arts fund and to vote for your favorites. Read our Big Canvas Issue Guide to get an advance look at what citizens will be talking about. The goal is to create a regional cultural strategy that citizens will support. Results will be presented to political leaders at a Dec. 6 Big Canvas Confab.

You can see what people have been talking about this round by looking at the group reports. Also, take a look back at what attendees thought about the summer forums and read what our citizen bloggers had to say about the fall and summer forums. (Illustration by Tim Ogline)

A City That Works

Mayor Nutter and his top aides have promised to use input from A City That Works forums to help shape performance standards and customer-service expectations. You can read Chris Satullo's column on the topic, see what attendees were talking about, and check out what our citizen bloggers had to say.

A new home for the GE blog

The Great Expectations blog has moved to a new address:
www.philly.com/philly/blogs/greatexpectations

So, update your online bookmarks so that you can continue to join in the discussion. All entries prior to June 19 will continue to be located at our former blog site.

Great Expectations illustrator wins Graphis Gold Award

Tim Ogline has received the Graphis Gold Award for a selection of pieces that were part of the Great Expectations Citizens Agenda. His entry included his work for the following topics: arts and culture, city services, crime, the environment, and ethics. You can see all of his contributions to the Citizens Agenda here.

A full list of winners can be found at the Design Annual Web site.

People are talking ... 

Find out what people ranging from the Philadelphia mayor to the chairman of the Parks Department have to say about the Great Expectations project.  

You can weigh in on the project and its activities by becoming a member of the Great Expectations Web site and leaving a comment for us.

On the blog

In the last year, the blog has featured entries on issues and events ranging from the elections to the forum for civic leaders to the Citizens Convention. Take a look back through the archives to see what you might have missed, or what comments have been added since you last looked. Then, add to the dialogue with your own.