Pew Charitable Trusts Announces $9.5 Million to Support the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage

The Pew Charitable Trusts announced today $9.5 million to support the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage and its programs, including Dance Advance, the Heritage Philadelphia Program, Pew Fellowships in the Arts, Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, Philadelphia Music Project and the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. Over the next year, these initiatives will award approximately 200 grants to support artistic and heritage programs, as well as historic preservation projects, and professional development for individual artists and organizations.  

Since the inception of the first program in 1989, the six initiatives have supported a combined total of more than 1,100 projects and provided more than $48 million in funding for the Philadelphia region's arts and heritage institutions and artists.

The Pew funding represents increased support for each of the initiatives and for the Center's core operating costs. The Center will continue to act as a resource for the arts and cultural community, convening educational and informational seminars, workshops and lectures. Additionally, the initiatives will begin research and development of new major publications, including a guide on organizing successful history exhibitions.

Other details include:

• The Pew Fellowships in the Arts (PFA) awards will increase from $50,000 to $60,000. Each year, PFA awards up to 12 fellowships to Philadelphia-area artists who are selected on the basis of both the quality of their work and the degree to which the timing of the support is likely to have the greatest impact on their long-term professional development. 
• The Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative (PEI), which provides funding for public art exhibitions and publications, will support up to 13 programs with grants of up to $250,000 for exhibition implementation and up to $25,000 for planning. PEI will offer a number of professional development activities, as well, and has expanded its guidelines to encourage increased collaboration with independent curators and visual arts organizations from outside the region and bring major touring exhibitions to Philadelphia.
• The Heritage Philadelphia Program (HPP) will award up to nine grants, ranging from $15,000 to $200,000 each, to assist organizations in the region to preserve and interpret historic sites and collections that relate to the nation's founding and history. HPP will also assist history organizations and museums through professional development activities designed to increase technical, financial and management capacity.
• The Philadelphia Music Project (PMP) will support up to 25 projects to enhance Philadelphia-area artists' creation and presentation of music activities. The grants will range in size from $20,000 for one year to up to $170,000 over two years. Additionally, PMP will continue to provide grants of up to $25,000 to help organizations create high quality recordings of new compositions through the Premiere Recording Assistance Program, co-funded by the Presser Foundation. 
• To respond to the increasing level of activity in the dance community, Dance Advance will support up to 27 projects with grants of up to $20,000 for choreographers and up to $80,000 for dance companies. 
• The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative (PTI), a program for the creation and presentation of theater activities in the region, will offer support for up to 16 projects. Grants will range from $10,000 over one year to up to $160,000 over two years. In addition, PTI will offer professional development programs for up to 80 participants.

In the past year alone, these initiatives funded almost 700 individual exhibitions, heritage programs, preservation projects and musical, dance and theatrical performances. The Center also organized 125 professional development activities and events for individual arts and heritage professionals from across the cultural community.

A June grant of $2.7 million to the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative (PCMI) brings Pew funding for the Center's programs to over $12 million for 2007. PCMI complements the other six initiatives by providing resources to strengthen the management and operations of cultural organizations in the region.

The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today's most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. We partner with a diverse range of donors, public and private organizations and concerned citizens who share our commitment to fact-based solutions and goal-driven investments to improve society.

The Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage (PCAH) houses seven initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trusts that are dedicated to assisting cultural organizations in the five-county Southeastern Pennsylvania region develop high-quality public programs and effective management practices. PCAH is the home of Dance Advance, Heritage Philadelphia Program, Pew Fellowships in the Arts, the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, Philadelphia Music Project and Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. Each year these programs support dozens of performances, exhibitions and other public programs. They also seek to encourage high levels of artistic and management capacity through seminars, publications, and other activities designed to develop and sustain a rich array of world-class cultural programs for audiences in the Philadelphia region.