$3 million grant means art for parks’ sake in Philly

The Philadelphia park system has won a $3 million grant to integrate more arts into the city’s parks. 

The Fairmount Park Conservancy is one of six organizations nationally to receive a grant from ArtPlace America with a goal of incorporating arts and cultural strategies into its core work, said Kathryn Ott Lovell of the conservancy.

“What I hope this funding will do will really help us be more creative in our work and to enlist local artists and arts organizations to help us think about how the arts can create a real role in lifting up Philadelphia’s park system,” Lovell said Monday.

The group doesn’t yet have any concrete plan for how the money will be spent over the next three years.

“Once you are selected, the beauty of the program is that you can spend time thoughtfully on how you can incorporate arts into the way you do work, which is really why they were targeting nonarts organizations,” she said.

The group will now solicit input on how to spend the money.