Whitney Hoffman, who was a citizen blogger for the Great Expectations Citizens Convention in December, returns to the project to weigh in on our third Big Canvas event. You can read her personal Web site at http://www.ldpodcast.com/. She writes:

On Thursday, July 24^th, I attended The Big Canvas forum on Arts and Culture held at Villanova University, as part of the Great Expectations project.  As previous bloggers, including Above Average Jane and Christine Cavalier have discussed the details of the project, I won’t reiterate all those details here.

Both Dr. Harris Sokoloff, from the University of Pennsylvania, and Chris Satullo from the Philadelphia Inquirer, co-directors of the Great Expectations project, were present and opened the evening.  Based on the Citizens Agenda for Philadelphia’s Future, the civic To-Do List produced by previous Great Expectations community forums, Great Expectations is returning to the regional community to discuss what we think and feel about the arts and culture in the Philadelphia region, and how to encourage people to take advantage of all the great opportunities available.  The ideas discussed in these forums will be used to help create a regional strategy to improve arts and culture in the five county, Southeastern PA region.

We had a relatively small group of about 25 people present at the forum, ranging from Bruce Melgary, from the Lenfest Foundation, one of the major sponsors of the Great Expectations project, to Andrew Douglas from the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, and others who worked in Arts and Cultural institutions in the area in paid or volunteer positions, to ordinary engaged citizens.  We split into two groups, to discuss how citizens used the arts, to what barriers prevented people from going to art and cultural events, to what we saw as fiscal priorities in funding and promoting Philly’s great art and cultural events.

In the first group, we had 12 people, with a moderator and recorder, and began discussing how people “consumed” arts and culture in the region.  I found it interesting how many people saw attending art and cultural events as a way to meet people with similar interests and grow new friendships and relationships.  Going to events like the Savoy Theater performances or the museums were pleasant escapes from day-to-day life.  Others really love the community nature of events like Second Saturday in Manayunk or Media, promoted as Art, Music and More events, where artists and musicians display their talent, local merchants stay open later, and in general, the center of town becomes a street festival that lets people experience the arts and culture in a less “institutional” setting, such as visiting a museum, going to a concert, or attending the theater.   The arts were seen as a way of bringing a much more diverse group of people together, attracting people of all ages and demographic groups, unlike, say, churches, where groups can be much more homogeneous.

Our group seemed really proud of all Philly had to offer and the commitment its made to the arts.  Between the mural project, that has such great pieces of art on display across the region, to the requirement that 1 percent of new development costs be dedicated to public arts projects, we live in a region where the arts contribute to a sense of what Philly is about.  One woman’s eyes just shone as she recalled a friend from Boston remarking on a visit that Philly was much more engaged in the arts than Boston, and you could see the civic pride just fill the room.

This being said, there are clearly barriers to accessing the great arts and cultural opportunities in the region.  Barriers such as costs and transportation were discussed, but I was much more intrigued by the barrier created by not always understanding the social rules of attending art and cultural events, such as “What do I wear to the Kimmel Center?”  Laura, from the Curtis Institute, said people regularly ask the box office about what they should wear to events, implying that sometimes the perceived formality of some of the city’s cultural institutions may in fact be working against them, as people just don’t know if they will “fit in.”

We then discussed what we thought were possible solutions to breaking these barriers.  One idea was to help make art and cultural events more friendly and accessible, such as doing “hands-on” days where there were more opportunities to participate – whether that’s a chance to go on stage and see what it looks like for families at a local theater, or a chance to make some art while visiting a museum - each of these opportunities makes a memory and allows people to feel that the “Arts and Culture” are more approachable and personally meaningful and accessible. 

Everyone felt that more arts education was important, whether it was making sure that schools had enough funding to have a dedicated arts program, or teaching artists about how to go present their art to students, or using local libraries as “cultural ambassadors” to help bring “samples” of art and culture right into the heart of the local community.

One of the other big problems is that there seems to be no central spot for information regarding regional art events.  For example, someone in Chester County may know what’s going on locally, but has no idea what’s happening in Manayunk or Bryn Mawr.  While there are some channels such as the Philly Fun Guide, I had never heard of some of the art treasures in the area until last night, and it was frustrating to know that the Mumm Puppet Theater had gone out of business before I even had a chance to really know about it or take my children.

In wandering into the next group, they were discussing priorities in funding.  How do we decide, or expect our political leaders to decide how to divvy up the tax dollars?  When making difficult choices between safety and the arts, or local transportation and infrastructure versus the arts, what is a bigger priority?  People actually got quite worked up when asked to make this either/or choice, because they view arts and culture as a vital part of things like regional economic development.  The group clearly felt that investment in arts and culture helps to address other problems, and you can’t draw a neat little ring around arts and culture as a “luxury” item. It was viewed as a very important part of the quality-of-life issues in the area.

While the attendance was not as large as some of the other forums held around the area, the passion for arts and culture was high in the group, and the ideas were wonderful.  I came away from the evening with lots of ideas of new experiences to explore with my family, as well as an appreciation for how barriers to access, even small things like feeling whether you’ll be accepted as part of the community if you attend an event for the first time, can keep people from taking advantages of the many opportunities already available.

 I know the Great Expectations project will help us all work together to reduce barrier to access, but the most important barrier is to get over any fear or hesitation you might have in going to a local art or cultural event.  Give it a try. It’s clear from the people I met last night that the local arts and culture “scene” is filled with friendly people, just waiting to meet you, just the way you are.