Please meet the Arts + Business Council’s 2023 Awards honorees: Black Music City, the Philadelphia Fellowship for Black Artists, and the Preservation Trades Center.

One project centers Black artistic agency across a range of mediums by supporting artists influenced by Philadelphia Black music history. Another project elevates emerging Black artists who show an interest in socially engaged art. And finally, another project expands the notion of arts and culture by looking at the skilled trades industry through a creative lens.

What do these projects have in common? They demonstrate the impact achieved through meaningful collaboration between the arts and business sectors. These projects are making a difference in our region by building sustainable career pipelines into preservation masonry, offering paid opportunities to creatives, educating artists through professional development training and mentorship, and expanding access to new networks, communities, and resources.

Please join me in recognizing this amazing work at the Arts + Business Council’s 38th Annual Awards Celebration. On Tuesday, May 23rd at 4 PM, make your way to Moore College of Art & Design to hear from this year’s honorees and businesses advancing the arts, appreciate live performances, and enjoy an evening filled with drinks, light fare, and mingling with the Arts + Business Council’s community, including creative and business leaders, advocates, and artists from throughout the region. You can register and purchase program book ads here. Interested in sponsoring? Connect with us!

Before we celebrate, join us for an experiential, introspective, and interactive journey on belonging and how it manifests in leadership. We have just a few seats left for Designing Leadership! And sign up for our final Digital Drawingboard workshops of the season before they sell out: (5/3) The Other Side of Social and (6/1) Video Creation, Content and Strategy.

This is the season for growth. Whether its celebrating projects advancing the creative economy, reflecting on your professional journey or building new skill sets, I invite you to move with the change this season brings. 

Elizabeth (Liz) Thompson
Executive Director
Arts + Business Council