Program seeks names of 'creative connectors'

What do Jane Golden, executive director of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and city native Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer for the Roots, have in common?

Aside from being artists, they are what Leadership Philadelphia president Liz Dow describes as important "creative connectors" in the nine-county region's cultural scene.

Dow counts them among those who use art, culture, and design to build community and economic vitality. She hopes to identify more such people through phase three of Leadership Philadelphia's Connector Project, which launches Sunday.

The public will be able to participate by visiting the nonprofit's website to nominate connector candidates.

The project is particularly important to Philadelphia, Dow said, because it's "going to affirm the fact that the arts are an economic engine." Documenting that "helps get support for the arts."

The result could encourage more people in the suburbs to visit the city to experience the arts, and help artists and designers collaborate, she said.

The notion of connectors is borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point, which used that term to describe people who know everyone and get things done. They're the glue holding the community together, and are often under the radar, according to Dow. She's not looking for just any artist. "We're looking for someone who pulls a community together."

The Mural Arts Program is a perfect example, Dow said.

"People think the Mural Arts Program is about murals, but it's a social-justice program and civic-engagement program. . . . The conversation that causes the mural, that's what connects a community."

Thompson stands out because he crosses sectors, said Patricia Washington, vice president of cultural tourism for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., a partner in the project.

"The Roots do so many things to represent Philly. . . . Enthusiasm and love for Philly is part of everything they do," Washington said.

The Roots, house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, will be the music directors of the July 4 Welcome America Festival. The band will also participate in the Great Chefs Event after-party June 14 at Amis in Center City to benefit the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.

In the first phase of the connector project, in 2006, Leadership Philadelphia collected nominations of the city's most trusted leaders and distilled the 4,300 submissions to a list of 101.