January 2014 Press Highlights 10/20/2013 – 12/6/2013
Press Release, “Razoo Announces #Giving Tuesday Competition Winners” Reuters, 12/4/2013 Editor, “The Donetsk Ballet of Ukraine presents ‘The Nutcracker’” Main Line Times, 12/24/2013 Editor, “The Donetsk Ballet of Ukraine presents ‘The Nutcracker’” Main Line Suburban Life, 12/24/2013 Fox. Levi, “Learning About the Past in the Future: Local, National, and International Trends for Museum Education” Jersey Shore Public History (blog), 11/20/2013 Norris, Michael, “With support, tapping the power of art” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/17/2013 Seasholtz, Amy, “Opinion: Arts in Region Have Even Greater Potential by Michael Norris” Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia (blog), 11/17/2013 Rimel, Rebecca, “Many ways to help” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/8/2013 Stearns, David Patrick, “Phila.’s Barrymore Awards resurrected” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/5/2013 Booker, Bobbi, “STAMP opens museum doors for Philly teens” The Philadelphia Tribune, 11/1/2013 Editor, “Museums now free for Philly high schoolers” The Philadelphia Tribune, 10/29/2013 Rachel, “ICYMI: Where we’ve been this fall, and where we’re going” Canary Promotion (blog), 10/23/2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/04/ca-razoo-idUSnBw046391a+100+BSW20131204
Razoo Announces #GivingTuesday Competition Winners Press Release 12/4/2013
Razoo.com, the fastest-growing crowdfunding site for causes, today proudly announces the winners of its national day of giving competition in conjunction with #GivingTuesday™, the online movement of generosity that took place on Dec. 3. More than 600 fundraisers from across the country participated in the Razoo giving competition to raise a total of $1,141,097 in donations. The competition winners will receive prizes totaling $103,000 from the Razoo Foundation. “The spike in giving to Razoo campaigns, as part of #GivingTuesday, is a testament to the amazing power of social, online movements of generosity,” said Lesley Mansford, CEO of Razoo. “It is an honor to help all the participating nonprofits reach their yearly goals through the help of our platform and the inaugural Razoo National Giving Competition. We know giving does not end with #GivingTuesday, and Razoo will continue sparking everyday philanthropy all year long.” Two leaderboards tracked the top performing #GivingTuesday fundraisers and top performing nonprofits on the Razoo platform, while Power Hour Golden Tickets were awarded to organizations that received the most numbers of donors for at the end of the preceding hour throughout the day. In addition, nonprofits had a chance to submit online videos about their chosen fundraiser for a chance to win the video challenge. Top fundraisers from the Razoo #GivingTuesday competition include: Top #GivingTuesday Fundraisers • • •
Grand Prize, $15,000: Karam Foundation’s “Shave a Mustache, Keep a Syrian Child Warm” project that is dedicated to distributing humanitarian and medical aid in Syria to protect them from the harsh, cold conditions. Second Place, $10,000: Homeless Animals Rescue Team (HART) organization’s “Got Hart?” project, which funds the no-kill animal rescue and support group. Third Place, $2,500: Covenant Life School’s “Bleachers, Boards and Books for our School” project that raised money to purchase bleachers, SMART boards and other classroom resources.
Top #GivingTuesday Nonprofit Organizations • First Place, $5,000: Karam Foundation
• •
Second Place, $2,500: Trinity Services, Inc., a nonprofit that offers a wide range of programs and services for children and adults with developmental disabilities and/or behavioral health needs. Third Place, $1,500: Homeless Animals Rescue Team (HART)
Golden Tickets • Power Hour Golden Tickets worth $1,000 each were awarded to the following fundraisers: • Winner at 6 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.: Karam Foundation’s “Shave a Mustache, Keep a Syrian Child Warm” project. • Winner at 8 a.m.: Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s “Give STAMP” project gives access to museums and cultural activities free to Philadelphia’s 68,000 teens. • Winner at 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.: Covenant Life School’s “Bleachers, Boards and Books for our School” project. • Winner at 6 p.m.: A-SPAN’s fundraiser by Sarah Morse provides funds to support life-sustaining services for the Arlington, Va. homeless population. Video Challenge • Video Grand Prize Winner, $2,000: The Global Heart Network is raising funds through the “Save Hearts Campaign” to cover patient expenditures to travel and get access to the cardiac care they need. Ten children have initially been identified from Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, who will travel to the General Hospital of Yaoundé in Cameroon in April 2014 for open-heart surgery. • A full list of winners can be found on the Razoo blog. For more information on how to start or donate to a fundraising campaign, please visit www.razoo.com. About Razoo Razoo is crowdfunding for causes. Named for an Australian coin of little value on its own, until combined with many, Razoo powers small acts of giving that together change the world. From multimillion-dollar, community-led Giving Days to individuals collecting donations on behalf of the nonprofits or personal causes they support, Razoo has helped raise more than $195 million online – one small donation at a time. Razoo has offices in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and is seed funded by the Legatum Group. See how we're creating a new generation of everyday philanthropists at www.razoo.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Razoo, or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/razoogiving.
http://jerseyshorepublichistory.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/learning-about-the-past-in-the-future-localnational-and-international-trends-for-museum-education/
Learning About the Past in the Future: Local, National, and International Trends for Museum Education Levi Fox 11/20/2013
While it is impossible to know what the next two decades hold for museum goers around the world, it seems clear that several key trends will likely continue to impact greatly cultural institutions on the local, national, and international levels. On the local level recent reports produced by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance indicate that the recession has had a significant impact on museum goers (with higher attendance), patrons (with donations down), staff (with more volunteers than full time paid employees). The most interesting part of these reports is given away by the title of one: “Arts, Culture, and Economic Prosperity.” These reports go to great lengths to document the revenue streams that cultural institutions bring into the city of Philadelphia by detailing the hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that benefit from overnight visitors, day-trippers, and residents (to use the categories of the report) to the tune of over 500 million dollars annually. The report also compares the economic impact and public sector arts investment in Philadelphia to other cities that rely a great deal on cultural tourist dollars such as San Francisco, Washington DC, and (who knew) Houston while also suggesting that the majority of tourist dollars are spent seeing a few science sites such as the Franklin Institute and the Zoo. On the national level the 2011 report “Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service” explores the future of the NPS through the lens of its institutional history, noting the expanding role of historical interpretation (the cultural side) in comparison to emphasis on wilderness (the natural side) as well as the focus of the agency since the 1960s on bureaucratic matters relating to historic preservation rather than on educational issues of interpretation. Indeed, many of the reports major recommendations revolve around trying to downplay the distinctions between nature and history while simultaneously attempting to better integrate academic history (and public history practice) into the work of the NPS. These include recommendations to highlight the role of people on the natural environment, to embrace interdisciplinary collaboration, and to share authority with the public. Yet more than anything else these recommendations suggest that one of the most important things that the NPS can do is accept the subjectivity of history by welcoming contested understandings of our heritage, acknowledging that history is dynamic, and forthrightly addressing conflict over the meaning of the past.
On the international level the future of museums increasingly will rely on telling the stories of many diverse cultures within institutions in more developed countries while partnering with groups in developing nations to expand educational offerings across the globe. The 2009 report “Coming Soon: The Future, The Shape of Museums to Come� also offers some further speculations on what museums may look like two decades from now. Predictions for 2034 include an increased role for museums as community meeting places, as economic engines for post-industrial cities, and in presenting information virtually as well as a drive to further include the visitor in their own experience and appeal to all groups.
http://www.philanthropynetwork.org/news/146875/Opinion-Arts-in-region-have-even-greater-potential-byMichael-Norris.htm
OPINION: ARTS IN REGION HAVE EVEN GREATER POTENTIAL BY MICHAEL NORRIS Amy Seasholtz 11.17.2013
Philadelphia is exceptionally fertile ground for arts and culture. Even during the worst years of the recession, cultural attendance, ticket revenue, subscriptions and memberships, and individual donations all increased. Arts and culture are a billion-dollar sector that generates tens of thousands of jobs and more than $169 million in state and local tax dollars. Despite that growth, some high-profile capital projects were affected by the recession and in some cases by overly optimistic assumptions on fund-raising. However, many other projects were both well-planned and successful, including the Arden Theatre's new Hamilton Family Arts Center and the Michener Museum's Edgar N. Putman Pavilion. These projects benefited from a region that has a strong philanthropic tradition. The funders critical to the cultural sector are part of a larger ecosystem of philanthropic investment, including corporate funders like PNC Arts Alive and Peco, and national foundations such as the Knight Foundation. Imagine all that we could achieve if we unleashed the full potential of a sector that has driven so much of our region's renaissance. Arts and culture would be an even greater boon to our economy, and cultural organizations could dedicate more of their talents toward improving the lives of our region's residents. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society could convert more abandoned lots into community gardens. The Philadelphia Orchestra could expand its community programming and school partnerships. Cultural organizations such as Fleisher Art Memorial, the Franklin Institute, Portside Arts Center, Taller Puertorrique単o, Abington Art Center, and Art Sanctuary could hire more teachers and increase the number of children they serve. Musicopia could bring more musical instruments into the public schools of Philadelphia and Chester Upland. Art for Justice could intervene in the lives of more at-risk youths. That type of community impact is at the heart of the cultural sector's mission and is something we need to make more people aware of. That's why the Cultural Alliance started GroundSwell (www.groundswellpa.org), a community-engagement initiative that
highlights the impact of culture and encourages residents to help organizations achieve these impacts. It is also why we launched Students at Museums in Philly (STAMP), which provides free access to a dozen museums for city high school students. In just one month, more than 5,000 students have registered. Philanthropy can't do it all. The arts community needs a dedicated regional fund that is insulated from market fluctuations, the vagaries of the political budget process, and the churn of election turnover. Mayor Nutter has pledged to establish a regional fund, and we have begun a dialogue with the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia and the Center on Regional Politics at Temple University to ensure that the long-term sustainability of our cultural assets receives the civic attention it deserves. City, county, and state leaders should support these efforts. Now is the time to embrace one of our most valued assets, one that makes us stand apart as one of the great cities and regions of the world. Let's do it together. Michael Norris is the interim executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance michaeln@philaculture.org
http://www.canarypromo.com/birdfeed/icymi-where-weve-been-fall-and-where-were-going
ICYMI: Where we’ve been this fall, and where we’re going” Rachel 10/23/2013
With the city’s annual surge of arts programming taking over September comes a great opportunity to examine where the Philadelphia cultural industry is and where it’s going. Canary was at the 2013 Annual Member Meeting of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA) to connect with the arts and culture community and hear a presentation from the GPCA’s interim executive director, Michael Norris (catch the event highlights online). And Inquirer classical music critic Peter Dobrin sparked further conversation on the growth of Philadelphia’s arts and culture organizations and the struggles of accommodating for a shifting donor base in a three-part series (here, here and here). Here’s what the Canary staff has been up to this fall, from making sure our clients are part of these important cultural moments to taking part in them ourselves: • The Lantern Theater Company welcomed Jane Austen fans and fanatics by starting off its 20th anniversary season with a fanciful production of Emma, complete with the accompanying Regency and Revelry: The Jane Austen Festival that brought the Austen experience beyond the stage with discussions, book readings, wine pairings — and Canary staffer Rose Mineo couldn’t resist a Saturday afternoon of Regency dance! • An Inquirer story on Asian Arts Initiative’s community block party to kick off Pearl Street revitalization and “turn dilapidation into destination” was picked up by the Associated Press and published across the country. • A site-specific installation from husband-and-wife artists Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen that’s taken over the Philadelphia Art Alliance garnered a thoughtful review from Philadelphia Inquirer fine arts critic Edith Newhall, who called the show’s presence in the Art Alliance a “curious matchup that works wonderfully.” • Mrs. Susan Corbett welcomed the press into her home in September to announce Pennsylvania’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts, a crowdfunding campaign from the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts aimed at helping conserve historical treasures from across the state. Check out our recap of the day on the Birdfeed.