Moore College in Phila. - Group Five

The Big Canvas - Oct. 5, 2008

Group Five was an engaged gathering of six women and one man, most in or around their 40s, with one woman in late middle age. Five were white, one Asian, one African American. Most of the participants came from neighborhoods near to Moore College (Rittenhouse Square, Fairmount, West Philadelphia). Several were parents, and all participants sparked to the idea of reaching out to children through the arts.

All participants were energized by the concept of a regional approach. One woman cited the Philadelphia Flower Show as an outstanding success for a regional approach, drawing all sorts of people of all ages from across the region. That same person later suggested expanding youth sports programs to allow meets between young people who did not normally play in tournaments together. That brought out a dissenting opinion from another participant who felt that sports programs already got too much money and attention, and that it was time for the creative arts to get balancing attention. Both women agreed that they wanted to bring children of the region together in new and nurturing ways.

This universal concern for involving children in the arts did not translate into choosing Option #2.  Instead it was the Creative Economy, Option #3, that made the most sense to them, and they wanted children's activities as a major focus in that option. In considering Option #4 (building from the grassroots up), one man noted that there are neighborhoods where leaders are not available, and in those cases, it would be beneficial to build such leadership, perhaps through an association of rec centers that could represent the interests of the arts for children (and all people) in such neighborhoods. Any school efforts should include all types of schools -- public, private and parochial throughout the region.

Common ground:

• A regional clearinghouse for both those who make art and those who observe/enjoy/listen. For the artists, there should be clear information about sources of money for their work and how to access these funds, as well as possible venues for events and shows. For the observer/listener, there should be clear listings of events (when, where, how much), with additional focus on transportation information (transit, parking, maps) and activities suitable for children and teens.  The clearinghouse should be searchable, arranged by area, and linked to offers of discount tickets. A print version should be made available as well.

• Oversight is needed. Both the bureaucracy overseeing any general funds for artists and the actual expenditures made by all programs should be subject to vetting so that the regional effort would be broadbased, integrated, and accountable. The vetting process should represent the diversity of the region's schools of art and music, and the vetting of art projects should be done by artists, and not by politicians.

• Criteria for vetting should be both qualitative and quantitative, with qualitative concerns getting first consideration.

• Money should go to individual artists as well as to organizations.

• Synergy was the aim for the creative economy, not the zero/sum competition for scattered, scarce resources that describes the current situation. Build better links between good efforts already in place, encourage new activity that springs from the diversity across all of the region, and make it available through a central clearinghouse.

Moderators: Beth Perry and Harris Sokoloff