Politics & Government
Here's How Philly's Mayoral Hopefuls Would Support City's Creative And Cultural Economy
The candidates made their pitches during a debate last week at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
March 7, 2023
PHILADELPHIA — Nine candidates vying to be Philadelphia’s 100th mayor painted a picture of their visions for the arts and cultural economy during City & State’s forum on Thursday, March 2.
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The mayoral hopefuls shared their ideas for bolstering the city’s arts and culture institutions and weighed in on how the arts can improve initiatives ranging from school programming to violence prevention.
Eight Democrats – Jeff Brown, Allan Domb, Derek Green, Helen Gym, Rebecca Rhynhart, James DeLeon, Cherelle Parker, and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez – and Republican David Oh were among the candidates at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
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Jenny DeHuff, City & State PA editor-in-chief, and Ari Mittleman, host of the Pennsylvania Kitchen Table Politics Podcast, moderated the panel. State Rep. Amen Brown and Pastor Warren Bloom Sr. were not in attendance.
Philadelphia’s arts and culture economy generates $3.6 billion for the city annually, Domb, a real estate magnate and former at-large City Council member, said to kick off his opening remarks.
“Every dollar the city invests in arts, culture and creative economy, we get a return of $5 on our salaries and wages,” Domb said. “And it’s not just the benefits that we’re getting from the investment. It’s all the other benefits of the hospitality (industry), restaurants, hotels and people who come to stay here.”
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