Last year, Mayor Cherelle Parker initially proposed $3.5 million for the arts. Landau and the arts and culture community requested that it be increased to $5 million, and they got it.
This year, the mayor’s proposal returned arts funding to $3.5 million. Landau is now lobbying for $6 million.
“Artists are workers. They are small-business owners, educators and cultural bearers. They power our creative economy and they strengthen our neighborhoods,” Landau said. “That’s exactly what we need to showcase this summer when we have visitors looking at Philly with fresh eyes.”
The Trump administration’s rescission of National Endowment for the Arts funds has squeezed federal support for artists. In Pennsylvania, the restructuring of commonwealth funds could further hurt creative workers through new requirements that could eliminate eligibility for many potential artists and arts organizations.
Landau said some of that slack needs to be picked up at the local level.
“When the federal and state government steps back, we step up,” she said. “We cannot say we value creativity while underfunding the people and organizations that make it possible.”