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Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia:
America's oldest and most-subscribed
theater (photo by G. Widman for GPTMC)

Value of the Arts
in Today's World

By Andrea K. Hammer
For The Philadelphia Bulletin

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural
Alliance (GPCA) recently launched
Engage 2020, a $6.3 million initiative
to double cultural participation during
the next 12 years. A $5 million
four-year lead grant from The Pew
Charitable Trusts, with additional
support by The Wallace Foundation
and The Philadelphia Foundation, will
fund research on emerging trends in
cultural participation and provide
marketing support to organizations for
innovative planning.

"Engage 2020 will provide a better
understanding of what it means to
participate in arts and culture in
contemporary society," said Marian
Godfrey, managing director of Pew's
Culture and Civic Initiatives. "It will
give organizations valuable insight
into the public's level of cultural
involvement, buying patterns and
other trends, and help them make
use of that knowledge to engage and
expand their audiences."

During the last year, several of the
region's cultural leaders have
commented on engaging their
audiences, and why the arts remain
relevant in today's world.

"One of the most important things for
the future of our theater and all theater
in this country - and around the world -
is that we introduce children to it, so
theater becomes an important
integral part of their lives," says
Bernard Havard, producing artistic
director of the Walnut Street Theatre.
"If it isn't and they don't care about us,
then we will be struggling to survive
because we will not have built an
audience who will appreciate what we
do or understand what we do - or who
are intimidated by the idea of going to
the theater."

Mr. Havard, who stresses the
importance of avoiding elitism,
dismisses the frequent claim that only
the wealthy can afford a theater ticket
today.

"You can get into the Walnut Street
Theatre for the price of going to a
movie," he says. "There is a social
interaction that occurs at the theater
that goes back to the very birthplace of
mankind. We have always been
social animals. If you sit in front of a
computer for 8 or 10 hours a day and
have no human contact, you are
depriving yourself and are probably
going to become depressed. We
need, as social animals, to be able to
relate to one another. We relate to the
stories on stage. When the caveman
was out there, he would come back
and tell the story of his hunt around a
campfire. We are a storytelling
people. We tell stories to one another
all the time. But the theater provides
us with a context for doing that."

Sara Garonzik, producing artistic
director of the Philadelphia Theatre
Company (PTC), selects work to
create a diverse season, "not just
racially but thematically, so it's a real
journey and diverse in all ways," she
says. "I search for a depth of theme
that you rarely find in plays - that are
topical and political and go soul deep
to the human heart and what it will
do." ...

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Planting Seeds for an
Enduring Love of the Arts

By Andrea K. Hammer
For the Philadelphia Bulletin

When I was 6 years old, the
youngest and only girl of four
children, my mom started to
take me out for lunch every
Saturday. Then, after riding the
train into town from our old
suburban neighborhood -
close to where I now live - we
often went to an art exhibit,
movie or show. More than 42
years, 2,000-plus lunches and
innumerable performances
later, our tradition has
continued each week,
exploring every corner of the
city.

From the earliest age, my
mother deliberately planted
seeds for my lifelong love of
the arts, which became an
enduring salvation. Because
of her own passion for culture,
she was compelled to pass
these interests along to me.

During one recent
conversation, I asked her why
- a recurring question that she
has patiently and thoughtfully
answered on different
subjects throughout the years.

"As a mother, I wanted to offer
a broad education in
everything: what it is to be
responsible and
compassionate, along with an
appreciation for music, the
beauty of dance, knowledge
and understanding of art - so
many wonderful things to give
you a broader sense of what
life has to offer," she said. "I
wanted to serve you different
'food' and give you a big
appetite, so you could enjoy
different flavors and follow
your tastes. Maybe you would
love reading, dance or all of
the arts. I wanted to open the
door, so you could go in and
look."

My mom recalled that, when
she read to me as a child, I
always wanted another story.
"So I thought, 'Let's see about
dance and piano,'" she said,
as I remembered her
determination to finance these
extra lessons.

"Then, I took you to the
antiques show," my mom
added. "Now, you watch
'Antiques Road Show.'
Exposure gives you a taste of
everything."

When I graduated from
college more than 25 years
ago, my mom decided to
move from the suburbs into an
apartment near the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway, relishing the
landscaping along with Center
City's cultural activities. I later
found an apartment near
Washington Square Park,
gallivanting joyfully around
town from galleries to
theaters. Now, I'm back in the
suburbs, but we have
continued to meet for our
weekly lunch-and-arts fix in
town at least once a week. ...

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