The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia co-hosted a March 23 presentation of research that measured the “intrinsic impact” of theater performances on audiences. Alan Brown of WolfBrown and Clayton Lord of Theatre Bay Area presented the findings, which were published in a book called Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art. After this event, we asked several of the arts professionals who attended to write about their responses to the research.

This post will be the first in a series in which attendees from many cultural disciplines weigh in on the benefits and highlights of the intrinsic impact measurement tools. In the first edition of this series, after the jump, we hear from Lois Welk, Director of Dance/USA Philadelphia; Matt Braun, Executive Director of the Fleisher Art Memorial; and Arin Sullivan of the Cultural Data Project.

On Friday the 23rd of March The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage hosted Alan Brown of WolfBrown, and Brad Erickson and Clayton Lord of Theatre Bay Area for an event that brought together 150 arts leaders from all over Philadelphia. Alan and Clayton presented the findings of an important national study on the intrinsic impact and value of the arts. The study took place over the course of two years and focused on 18 theaters around the country, including Philadelphia-area theaters Bristol Riverside Theatre, the Arden Theatre, and People's Light & Theatre Company. The study resulted in the publication, Counting New Beans: intrinsic impact and the value of art.

The research conducted at theaters within the Philadelphia region received support from the Center through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative and the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative. Additional support for the study came from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources.

Parker Posey in The House of Yes, a Wendy McLeod play that was adapted for the screen

Last week The Arden Theatre Company announced that the renowned Wendy MacLeod will be the first playwright to take up residence in The Writer's Room, a new program at the Arden that is supported by the Center through PCMI. MacLeod will begin her residency in April 2012 and, after four months at the theatre, will produce a new, original play that will premiere at the Arden in July.

The Catalyst Grant for the Writer's Room was awarded by PCMI because of the unique, behind-the-scenes access it will provide to audiences, who will be able to view firsthand the creative process behind a theater production. The Arden is not using this program simply as a way to bring in a playwright to produce original work; it is also using the residency as a way to build engagement opportunities for audiences that exist outside of viewing the performance of the play.

Mandy and Todd planting one of 37 fruit trees in the new Bartram Orchard, with help from Philadelphia Orchard Project volunteers. 

One of last year’s most unusual PCMI Catalyst Grants went to a project submitted by Bartram’s Garden. Bartram’s wanted to build a nursery, where they could propagate native plants. By doing so, they would be able to connect visitors to their history in stronger ways than one might achieve by just touring the property. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Bartram family is the work they did studying the native plants of North America, then propagating them and sending them all over the world. John Bartram in particular was famous for sending seeds and cuttings of American plants to Europe to be studied and grown. 

Bartram’s Garden thought that every visitor to their site should be able to take a plant home with them—vision that brought with it a new line of operations and programming for the organization that was a perfect return to their origin. The grant from PCMI supports the hiring of a Nursery Manager, and the tools for propagating seedlings, as well as resources for training volunteers and creating new interpretive programs and an expanded website.

Last week PCMI hosted a group of arts administrators in Philadelphia for its latest Reading Group, the focus of which was "Practically Radical: not-so-crazy ways to transform your company, shake up your industry, and challenge yourself" by William C. Taylor, the co-founder of Fast Company magazine. The book takes case studies of successful businesses and organizations in all fields and uses them as the basis for a discussion of how others should use those examples and think outside the box to create positive change within a company.