The Asian Arts Initiative will use its $450,000 for two projects. One will allow AAI to renovate its Vine Street building to add more artists studios.
The other project is under the title of the Social Practice Lab, which will hire five to eight artists to immerse themselves in Chinatown and engage its residents in workshops or town halls to create a piece that reflects the concerns of the community.
Although no artist has been officially selected, executive director Gayle Isa said that some proposals involved working with the Reading Viaduct and documenting and reinterpreting stories from community.
The University City District has researched the Porch, a public space outside of 30th Street Station. Prema Katari Gupta, the director of planning and urban development for the UCD, believes it could be one of the great public spaces in Philadelphia, akin to the Race Street Pier or even Rittenhouse Square.
They'll use the $375,000 from ArtPlace to create a permanent public art installation that will be part of a redesign of the Porch.
"I don't know what [the artist's contribution will be] yet," Gupta said.
"Maybe it's a cool place to sit or an interesting shade structure. This grant allows us to implement [the artist's work] of as part of the design process."
ArtPlace is a collaboration among 11 foundations, six financial institutions and the National Endowment for the Arts.
These three organizations were chosen from 2, 200 applicants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. n
Contact Molly Eichel at 215-854-5909 or eichelm@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @mollyeichel. Read her blog posts at www.philly.com/entertainment.
