Talking culture with Helen Haynes

Helen Haynes, named the city's chief cultural officer in May, was a key advocate for creation of a Philadelphia Cultural Fund in the early 1990s. At the time, she headed the Coalition of African American Organizations, which aimed to amplify the voices of groups often overlooked in the press of city business.

Since its inception, the cultural fund has provided operating support for hundreds of organizations. This year, City Council increased its allocation by $1.3 million, making about $2.9 million available for grants next year. The increase comes at a time when more than 40 percent of the region's arts organizations are operating with deficits. Haynes, who ran the Clef Club for several years in the 1990s, is concerned.

Q. What happens when a recession comes along, or a large foundation changes focus, wreaking havoc on arts funding?

A. We are trying to take a look at the issue of sustainability. Everybody won't be saved, but we have to try and preserve as much diversity, as much of the cultural ecology, as we can. I think what's becoming more and more apparent is we can't have a healthy cultural arts environment unless all strata of that ecology is supported. . . . Even the large institutions, who generally have deep-pocket donors, many of them are suffering [because of] declining involvement from the community. They're not getting the audience that they want or that they need. . . . The future audience is built on the ability of us to provide opportunities for people to encounter culture close to home. Being exposed to culture close to home, they'll have a tendency to patronize those large institutions.

What does that mean - close to home?

Oh, in their neighborhoods. We're talking about . . . the dance schools, the community culture centers, the community theaters, those types of organizations. The music schools. Philadelphia has a great music history and background, and it's been very influential.

So the virtual disappearance of arts education in city schools is a problem for all arts organizations?

Absolutely. A major issue. The cultural ecology is a major issue for us in making sure that our citizens have a chance to encounter art in their communities across the board. We're having a town hall on this on Nov. 12 [at the Clef Club, Broad and Fitzwater, 5:30 p.m.]. We're going to feature a research paper exploring . . . why it's important that we have these organizations in communities. In addition, we're going to have a panel on sustaining that legacy of communities.

Funding goes a long way toward sustaining legacy, doesn't it?

One of the things that we're going to champion over the next year is what I'm calling a community cultural legacy initiative. It's a challenge, really, to the bigger foundations, both locally and nationally, to take a look at this growing chasm between the very large institutions and everybody else. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. . . . A lot of multicultural and African American and Latino organizations have just fallen out of the funding stream altogether.

Why?

Because they have deficits or infrastructure issues - but they're not getting any better by being starved. So we're trying to find a role where we can mitigate that situation, where foundations might not be able to fund them directly but they might fund an initiative that would help community organizations restore some of their artistic mission. What has suffered is the fact that they're not able to fulfill their artistic aspirations because they don't have the money to underwrite the type of commissioning or producing that they would like to do.

Philadelphia Museum of Art for After Five programs and exhibitions.

The Painted Bride for world music.

Philadelphia Clef Club and Ars Nova Jazz Concerts "I'm a big jazz fan."

Center City Jazz Festival and BlackStar Film Festival "Great independently curated festivals."

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