Civil Society/Arts & Entertainment/Theme

 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.