CITY GOES ALL OUT FOR ARTS & CULTURE

AS A PASSIONATE advocate for arts and culture, and a longtime Philadelphia booster, I was disheartened by your editorial

"Stop Dodging the Arts,"

which didn't give credit to the extraordinary achievements of Mayor Street in the area of arts and culture in Philadelphia.

The Daily News, as well as other media outlets that wrote on the Rand Corp. study of the city's arts and culture sector, painted a bleak picture of city support that is both inaccurate and unfair.

No other mayor has designated a level of funding for arts and culture that matches Mayor Street's. His $150 million Cultural and Commercial Corridors program, enacted with strong support from City Council, is a groundbreaking achievement, dedicating $65 million for grants to cultural organizations for much needed facility renovation and expansion projects.

This money will allow for support of organizations as diverse as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Please Touch Museum, Freedom Theater, Independence Mall and the new home for the Philadelphia Theater Company.

Of this amount, $5 million is reserved for a capital-grants fund targeted at small and midsized organizations because the mayor realizes that it is often the smaller organizations that have the most difficult time raising capital. This is the first time anything like this has been done in Philadelphia.

And let's not forget the mayor's critical leadership in resolving the orchestra labor negotiations, his commitment to providing a new home for the Barnes Foundation on the Parkway, and his early and generous support of the Free Library expansion. Plus the more than 200 grants each year from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, a new sound stage for the Film Office, grants for festivals like the Philadelphia Film Festival, Odunde and the Fringe Festival, as well as programs like Art in City Hall and the Mural Arts Program.

And the once-in-a-lifetime experience of hosting the U.S. site for Live 8, followed by the fabulous Elton John July 4th concert!

We at the Commerce Department work hard on a large number of economic-development initiatives, with the goal of making Philadelphia more attractive to businesses, visitors and residents. Arts and culture has, for the first time, under this mayor, become a central part of that economic development strategy.

"Stop Dodging the Arts" and its proposed solution to simply reinstate the Office of Arts and Culture ignores the fact that it was Mayor Street who raised the level of administration commitment to the arts to a cabinet-level position, and thus ensured a direct line of communication with the cultural community, and aligned the arts with economic development strategies.

Over the last few years, Philadelphia has received much national and international attention for being hip and cool (or is it hot?), and this is such an about-face for a city formerly thought of by outsiders - and often by ourselves - as staid.

Much of this recognition comes from the respect for and admiration of the great variety and diversity of our arts and cultural amenities. I am so proud of our strides in making Philadelphia the "Next Great City" and especially how arts and culture have played a prominent role in this designation.

I'm afraid that the Rand report and the coverage of it has muddled the real issue, which is that the arts and culture stakeholders, including the public and private sectors, must find a way to work together to nurture that tremendous success we have experienced, and to sustain this growth with increased support and resources in the coming years.

I also recognize that as arts and culture champions, we must be forward-looking, striving for the best and always trying to reach that pinnacle. But in the process, let us not discount the Mayor's role in the many achievements that have gotten us to where we are today. *

Stephanie Naidoff is the city's commerce director.