The PNC Foundation - the philanthropic arm of the financial services corporation - is to announce Tuesday $1 million for 26 organizations in the third year of its five-year PNC Arts Alive program.
"The Knight Arts Challenge has been critical in our realizing a live simulcast on Independence Mall," said David B. Devan, general director of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, which will receive $150,000 to present a giant video display of the company's opening-night production of Bizet's Carmen on Sept. 30. Such a production, he said, "has been a thought of ours for a while."
Devan conjured an image of upwards of 7,000 viewers for the event. "It's the perfect iconic location for this kind of civic event," he said. "And the best part, it's free."
Matthew Braun, executive director of the Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia, said PNC's grant of $35,000 will help establish a mobile community program, ColorWheels.
"It's really important for us to go where the people are in their communities," Braun said. Fleisher, a community-based art organization, will acquire a van, staff it with artists and art-making materials and equipment, and then head out into neighborhoods.
"It will roll up to a soccer field or a neighborhood center or a local park and pitch a tent and put out a table," said Braun. "We're going to be experimenting with the possibilities of art-making in communities."
