Skip to main content

An Arts Event from Another Planet?

One of the events in Philadelphia that I knew pretty well before arriving here in 2008 was the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia's annual awards luncheon. I had attended the event several times as the national CEO of the Arts & Business Council Inc., now part of Americans for the Arts. I can personally attest that there is no event like this in the entire country, bringing together so many arts leaders with so many business leaders, celebrating business support for the arts, business voluntarism, and the role the arts play in building a healthy community in which people want to live, work and play. The event attracts as many as 1,700 people. Most other cities - even cities much larger - are lucky if they can get 400 or 500 people at similar events.

The theme this year is "Planet Art" - every such event must have its theme, hence the title of this blog posting. I think this year is a time when perhaps more than ever we need opportunities to come together and celebrate these values. The thing I have always liked about the event is the way it brings together a broad cross-section of the arts sector - all disciplines, all sizes, so many different communities represented; as well as bringing together so many different types of business - small, medium, large. And not just the CEO's but the employees who are serving on boards, volunteering through VLA and BVA, etc.

I think if we want more businesses and business leaders to value the arts we need to recognize and celebrate those businesses and individuals that already get it, and use events like this as a vehicle for shoring up the support we have, and making new friends for the arts. 
Labels:

Comments

  1. David MalmuthMarch 14, 2010 at 11:00 PM

    Hi Gary -- Peter told me that you will be joining us for Art in the City in Sept? Rocco was here in SD yesterday and quoted from a Philidelphia study about the impact on the community of participation in the arts. Are you familiar with it? Thank, Dave

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Greatest Sacrifice Arts Workers Make for the Arts

With all the financial challenges arts workers are facing these days - struggling to balance the budgets of their organizations, or dealing with salary and benefit cuts on compensation that was modest to begin with - it is easy to view the sacrifices people make to work in this field as being entirely financial. Not to minimize the financial sacrifices - they ARE significant - but I would argue they are probably no more significant than a wide array of professions where people choose to devote themselves to the pursuit of "making the world a better place". This includes early childhood workers, teachers, social workers, the whole world of NGOs working in challenged communities, both domestically and abroad. And the sacrifices all these workers make are also not just financial. We all work long hours, and often under trying and unglamorous circumstances (though to outsiders arts work can seem glamorous). No, I think the more significant - and unique - sacrifice arts worke
27 comments
Read more

A Decade of Transformation - Reflections on my 10-year anniversary at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation

This reflection was created as part of my report to the Board of Directors at our recent quarterly board meeting. It seemed to me that it might be worth sharing more widely. So much has happened at the Foundation over the past ten years, it was a helpful exercise to try and capture those changes. I am sure I missed some! October 1, 2023, officially marked my ten-year anniversary at the Foundation. Inevitably with these milestones it is helpful to reflect on what has been accomplished, what has changed, and what remains to be done. Because this is an important and extensive story to tell, I hope you will indulge me as I share how the Foundation has transformed over these past ten years. Board/Governance I have worked with three (soon to be four) chairs in this time, starting, of course, with Lanny Martin, who led the search process that brought me to the Foundation. When I began it was a small board of five with no term limits and a Board that had not had a trustee of color in it
Post a Comment
Read more

UPDATED: A Guide to Arts and Culture Gift Shops in Philadelphia (Museum Shops and Beyond!)

Note: This was originally posted about six months ago, and with the holiday season upon us, I figured it was time to update and repost! The tourism web site UWISHUNU (from the Greater Philadelpia Tourism Marketing Corporation) has also recently published its guide to Philadelphia Museum gift shops, which is available here . Happy shopping! I have been a huge fan of museum and other arts organization gift shops for years. My work has given me the opportunity to explore lots of organizations, in NY, Philadelphia, and to some extent all across the country. Some are well known - others are hidden gems. The best ones have excellent buyers that find products relevant to the exhibitions, collections or presentations of the institution, but also stock unique artisinal creations by artists, craftspeople and designers that have a sense of place or direct connection to the organization's artistic focus. I am not talking about t-shirts and other logo-emblazoned merchandise, or touristy &quo
8 comments
Read more