Earlier today, Marisa asked for our reasons for choosing Philadelphia as a home. I might respond in the comments thread with other reasons—or do a free-standing post with a fuller list—but her question does seque nicely into an Inky column from July 6th that I spotted this morning on the Pew Charitable Trusts website.

(Which makes sense since the columnist in question, Marian Godfrey, works for the Trust.)

Let’s also revel in the ways in which daily art experiences enrich our lives. According to a 2002 survey for the Knight Foundation, about two-thirds of Philadelphia-area residents regularly attend arts and cultural events. (We visit the top eight cultural institutions at a rate equal to three-and-a-half Dali exhibits a day.)

Like bricks of a building, each orchestra concert, each neighborhood performance, each mural, gallery opening, music recital and theater premiere steadily builds Philadelphia into a strong, well-constructed home for arts and heritage. As a result, Philadelphia enjoys an extremely vibrant and adventurous artistic community, with exciting work being done in music, theater, dance, visual arts, performance art, heritage preservation and more. Some of these organizations are based on the Avenue of the Arts (soon to be joined by the Philadelphia Theatre Co.), in the suburbs and in the city’s neediest neighborhoods. Each venue helps enrich and revitalize its community.

Supporting local arts and heritage is important. But there is also the matter of filling galleries and seats. Not every cultural organization can count on a Dali-sized marketing budget. The community-wide marketing efforts of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s Campaign for Culture have generated, in three short years, tens of thousands of new audience members and hundreds of thousands of dollars in new ticket revenues. Through its Web site (PhillyFunGuide.com) and the weekly FunSavers e-mail, the Cultural Alliance helps spread the word.

For example, Piffaro is a local ensemble that performs music of the late medieval and Renaissance periods. The Campaign for Culture’s weekly FunSavers gives the ensemble a sales boost and attracts new, younger audience members to Renaissance music in Philadelphia.

According to Walter Beck, of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Cultural Alliance’s collaborative marketing programs have become “remarkably useful tools in promoting Curtis to thousands of people who don’t know about the institute, except to say, ‘Oh, that’s the place near Rittenhouse Square where you hear pretty music coming out of the windows.’ ”

So chalk that up as one of my reasons for loving Philly. Jazz at the Kimmel. Headlong Dance Theater. The painters, drummers, and dancers I’ve seen enlivening Rittenhouse Square. ComedySportz on Sansom Street…..

Hmm, guess that’s actually more than one reason to make a home here.

Related posts:

1. Obama for Pop Culture Icon!
2. Philly’s 3rd Gift to the World: Cultural Institutions, City Traditions
3. Sixth
4. Lights out in Rittenhouse Square
5. Studio 34 Grand Opening Week