Provide access to arts and culture experiences that are intentionally designed to engage a community or audience.

When people take part in arts and culture experiences and programming that is designed especially for them – whether performances, exhibitions, or hands-on opportunities to make art – they feel more connected. This deeper connection leads to being inspired by the work, developing relationships with other participants, and a greater overall sense of community connection.

In order to help more Philadelphians connect to arts and culture, we are focusing on supporting high-quality arts and culture experiences intentionally designed to engage and benefit a specific community or audience.

We recognize that there are many ways that organizations and communities can contribute to advancing this objective and are looking for Philadelphians’ best ideas about how to accomplish this across the city. Possible efforts may include programming that can help arts organizations build community, relationships, and support greater opportunities of access and inclusion for communities of color, economically vulnerable communities, and other historically marginalized groups.

We seek advancements, such as:

• Increasing access to high-quality, inclusive, and relevant arts and culture experiences.
• Participant-reported benefits such as:
  • experiencing joy and beauty
  • affirming cultural or community identity
  • feeling a deeper sense of belonging in the region
  • a greater understanding of and appreciation for other cultural or community identities and experiences.