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Philadelphia

Local Partner: Pew Fellowships in the Arts

www.pewarts.org

Local Partner: Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation

www.bartol.org

 


Creative Communities Projects

Teaching Artists: Under the banner of LINC Philadelphia (www.artistlincphiladelphia.org), the Pew Fellowships in the Arts (PFA) and the Bartol Foundation designed this program to address professional development issues facing teaching artists. Through this network, teaching artists can contribute to the online forum or download Teaching Artist Files that offer information and resources to support and improve the practice of teaching in local community/school settings. Other activities within this initiative have included a one-day convening of 133 artists who shared their expertise and challenges as teaching artists, a series of professional development workshops, and a conversation with university and community arts organization representatives to discuss strategies for training art students for work in community-based programs.
 
Artists U: The Artists U program, led by Andrew Simonet, Artistic Director of Headlong Dance Theater, is an artist-run, two year professional development series offering approximately 16 performing artists a range of opportunities to improve their professional skills. Artists meet monthly as a group, and bi-weekly on a one-to-one basis with a consultant, to create personal and strategic plans alongside action steps, plan out financial and time management goals, and create a toolkit of web and print materials. Additionally, the artists are partnered with outside colleagues to pass on their learned practices.
 
 

Health Care/Insurance for Individual Artists: As in any other region, access to affordable health care is a pervasive issue for Philadelphia artists. In 2007, PFA and the Bartol Foundation contracted the Commonwealth Consulting Group to conduct a survey that enabled them to specifically identify key characteristics of the needs in the local artist community as well as to develop recommendations for strategies in addressing health care issues for Philadelphia. The survey results have been shared with leaders in the health care and cultural communities in an effort to inform legislation and reform proposals.

In  2008, LINC Philadelphia produced An Artist's Guide to Accessing Health Care and continues to share current data with the Artists Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC) through the Actors Fund.  Current health care information for local artists can also be found at PFA's Artist's Resource Guide (www.artistsresourceguide.org).

 

Access to Technology: The important role of technology in artists’ access to professional development became apparent to LINC Philadelphia. As a result, a website was created (www.artistlincphiladelphia.org) in 2007 to connect artists to information and to one another. LINC Philadelphia also partnered with The Hacktory, a technology initiative of the Nonprofit Technology Resources, to teach artists computer programming skills to create interactive art. Likewise, through a separate partnership with Arts and Business Council Tech Connectors, 100 artists have the opportunity to enroll in a free one-year membership to receive professional technical support for hardware and software systems by phone. The material support also included the distribution of twelve refurbished computers and free Internet access/wireless cards to artists identified by community partners.

 

About Pew Fellowships in the Arts

Pew Fellowships in the Arts (PFA) is founded on the belief that the vitality of the arts is dependent upon the ability of artists to create new work. PFA is a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage and was established by The Pew Charitable Trusts in 1991. It awards grants to artists working in a wide variety of performing, visual, and literary disciplines. The grants provide financial support directly to the artists so that they may have the opportunity to dedicate themselves to creative pursuits exclusively.

 

About Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation

The Bartol Foundation believes that arts and culture are essential parts of a vibrant community. It places value on the individual artists who are our cultural workers. As such, the foundation lends its expertise and resources to programs that advance the place of artists in the Philadelphia community.
 
Grantmaking Period and Focus
February 2005 – February 2009

Health Insurance, Training and Professional Development

 

Category: 
Philadelphia