Mile-High Musings on Arts, Culture, Creativity and Philanthropy

Every year Travel + Leisure magazine runs a poll as part of its "America's Favorite Cities" feature. Readers of the magazine and visitors to their Web site are invited to rate cities on a wide array of criteria, both their own city as well as other cities they visit. It is exciting news in Philadelphia that in 2011, this poll resulted in Philadelphia being named by visitors the #1 city in the nation for Culture. This is quite a coup, given the competition and how Philadelphia has ranked in the past. In 2010 we ranked #10 for culture. Here is the link to the 2011 results. Now, the survey is really not scientific, but it still is a great barometer of the growing stature and recognition of the cultural scene in Philadelphia, which encompasses both arts and heritage. There are four sub-categories in "Culture": Historical sites/monuments, where we ranked #1 (up from #6); Theatre/performing arts, where we ranked #5 (up from #18); Classical music, where we ranked