Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia Niina Vajavaara

Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia Introduction Economic and ethnic segregation defines the image of the city Diversity is an important element of urbanism 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Beyond ”City Trenches” The location of arts and cultural organizations is not related to race or social class, they are concentrated in neighborhoods that are ethnically and economically diverse 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Beyond ”City Trenches” Arts and cultural institutions and cultural engagement identify diverse urban neighborhoods Community arts and cultural institutions are the most important and numerous organizations in these neighborhoods Diverse neighborhoods with high levels of cultural engagement usually help urban communities with their revitalization 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Geographic Distribution of Arts and Cultural Organizations There are approximately 1 200 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and informal associations The biggest concentration of organizations is in Philadelphia’s Center City 80 % of cultural organizations are outside of the Center City 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Geographic Distribution of Arts and Cultural Organizations Arts and cultural institutions make up a big part of all social organizations Arts and cultural organizations are usually located in the same neighborhoods that have also other types of social institutions 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Geographic Distribution of All Social Organizations All types of social organizations have a tendency to gather in certain parts of the metropolitan area There are over 14 000 community organizations of other types than arts and cultural organizations In majority of Philadelphia, over 25 % of all institutions are churches Most often churches are the majority of social institutions in the suburbs 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Neighborhood Socio-economic Characteristics In poor neighborhoods, there are more social organizations than in the wealthier ones Neighborhoods with higher amount of young adults, have more all kinds of institutions Arts and cultural organizations succeed in ethnically and economically diverse neighborhoods better than other social institutions 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Neighborhood Diversity The highest number of all types of social organizations are located in poor and African-American neighborhoods Almost 25 % of the residents of Philadelphia live in ethnically diverse block group 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Neighborhood Diversity 11 % of Philadelphians live in white/African-American neighborhoods 5 % live in Latino/African-American neighborhoods 4 % live in neighborhoods with a major Asian-American population 3 % live in other diverse neighborhoods 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Diversity and the Location of Social Organizations There are much more organizations in neighborhoods that have majority of African-Americans than in the ones that have majority of white residents, however neighborhoods with residents of many ethnic groups have the highest number of social organizations In neighborhoods that are both economically and ethnically diverse, the amount of cultural organizations is more than five times the average 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Patterns of Cultural Participation The mainstream pattern The most common pattern of cultural participation Identifies parts of the city with high levels of participation in the city’s largest cultural institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Arts and the Philadelphia Orchestra The Alternative pattern Identifies parts of the metropolitan area with high levels of participation in newer and more experimental cultural institutions 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Patterns of Cultural Participation Participation In these patterns differ mostly on their socio-economic features In mainstream pattern, economic status is a major factor in participation In alternative pattern, participation is strongest in more diverse neighborhoods 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

The Social Impact of the Arts More than one third of all the residents live in a block group that is either economically or ethnically diverse There are many different types of social organizations in the urban neighborhoods Arts and cultural institutions improve the quality of community life and also help revitalizing the neighborhood 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

The Social Impact of the Arts Social, special interest, professional and labor organizations are concentrated in neighborhoods with low poverty and only few ethnical groups Without cultural organizations, there would be only few connections between the rich and the poor and among different ethnic groups. It is important that cultural organizations draw people from local neighborhoods and from the wider region into some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia

Thank you for your attention! 27.4.2017 Re-presenting the City: Arts, Culture, and Diversity in Philadelphia