The 2023 fiscal budget, which passed the City Council on Thursday and came into force on July 1, contains mostly good news for the arts and crafts sector. city culture, heavily battered by the pandemic-related decline of the past two years.
At the very least, there is no bad news of a drastic reduction in operating subsidies.
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the main source of support for arts organizations across the city by allocating peer-reviewed competitive grants, has seen its budget increase to $ 3.5 million for fiscal 2023, ‘ away from the first pandemic budget that initially sought to eradicate zero. the fund and eventually settled for $ 1 million.
The 2022 Fiscal Culture Fund budget rose to $ 2.5 million. The 2023 budget will increase the allocation of the Cultural Fund again, this time slightly higher than the last pre-pandemic level.
The Mural Arts Program has been budgeted at $ 3.28 million, about $ 600,000 from the current budget. The Philadelphia Museum of Art will receive a grant of just over $ 2 million – the same as in 2022. (The city has an art museum building.)
About $ 800,000 has been budgeted for the African American Museum in Philadelphia, up from $ 500,000 last year, and acknowledging that the museum needs extra help in its efforts to move from its current building on Seventh Street. the Ark. The museum building, built during the Bicentennial in 1976, is uncomfortable and uncomfortably designed, officials say.
Council member Isaiah Thomas, a supporter of extended public support for the arts, called the Philadelphia arts sector an “economic engine and job creator” and more than worthy of greater government support. “When I light up the art – we bring people, dollars and culture to Philly,” Thomas said.
His colleague, council member Katherine Gilmore Richardson, pushed in particular for more funding for the African American Museum and Mural Arts.
She noted that the arts and culture sector has an “estimated $ 4 billion impact” on the city’s economy each year. “Ensuring that funding for arts and culture remains one of my top priorities as a member of the City Council,” she said.
