"World-class museums, cutting-edge galleries, and ubiquitous street murals make this city a trove of creative riches." – New York Magazine
Philadelphia is one of the United States' most historic cities. Home to over 26 museums and countless historical landmarks, it is a cultural center of gravity that only seems insignificant in comparison to New York City in whose close proximity Philadelphia nonetheless thrives.
It has an incredibly vibrant arts district on South Broad street, expanding arts areas in its sprawling suburbs such as, Norristown, and Doylestown. Active theaters, music venues, comedy clubs, art galleries, street murals, concert halls, film festivals, and outdoor craft shows can all be found within and surrounding the city itself. There are open air shopping experiences such as those in Peddler's Village in Bucks County, and even a seasonal Christmas Village that pops up in Center City every winter.
Many treat the Philadelphia art and entertainment scene as a staging ground for entrance into New York's more prominent one, and to some extent this is true. Comedians workshop here, artists find residencies here, and hip hop artists from DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince to Meek Mill consider Philadelphia to be their point of origin, if not their home. It's a simmering stew of cultural and artistic influences from around the world, creating a unique crucible for creation of one's art and one's reputation.
Rules and System
Status in Arts & Entertainment can reflect numerous occupations and influences. Perhaps you are an artist trying to make a name for yourself, a documentarian trying to shine light on a social ill. Or maybe you're a gallery owner profiting off of the artistry in others that you have always lacked, or one of Philadelphia's moneyed elite snatching up artwork for your mansion on the Main Line. You could be a performer, a musician, a show promoter, or a club owner. A stage manager for a local theater, or an actor in local commercials. Your status in Arts & Entertainment is less about your fame as it is about your influence, and influence can be entirely incongruous with talent and fame.
Status 1: Starving Artist, Battle of the Bands Hopeful, Open Mic Night Comic
Status 2: Gallery Owner, Play Director, Theater Owner
Status 3: Producer, Artist in Residence, Museum Curator, Foundation Fundraiser
Status 4: Board of Directors of an Arts Charity, Influential Artist
Status 5: Cultural Icon and Trend Setter
Joining the Sphere
There are no particular requirements necessary to enter play with Arts & Entertainment status, though you should give consideration in your background to how and why they acquired what influence they have. And especially how they maintain it. Earning it in play is as simple as either entering the space as an artist, providing space for artists to enter, or funding such artists or their spaces.
This facet of society is as much about what you can make happen as what you can make, and those who consistently deliver find themselves called upon to keep on delivering. Those who slow down soon find themselves passed by and forgotten.
Theme and Society
Philadelphia is home to collections from Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, and O'Keefe. It is also home to a thriving "folk art" movement. The tension between those who consider European art to be "fine art" and those who consider Afrotrends or the art of Latin America to be "folk art" cannot by stressed enough. As with most aspects of Philadelphia's civil society, there is a profound racial and class divide that is patently visible to any who spend much time involved in the space. Even the paternalistic patronage of a wealthy white philanthropist in "elevating folk art", however well intentioned, could be construed by many as evidence of this cancer within Philadelphia's cultural corpus.
Galleries vie for visibility and limited oxygen, venues rise and fall with the fickle tastes of the public. Philadelphia's vox populi has never shied away from rendering harsh and summary verdicts. Praise can be hard to come by, and criticism falls like rain on the heads of the worthy and wanting alike.
Lots of people have talent. Some have the drive. And a very few have luck on their side, besides.
