The Big Canvas Confab

Over 200 artisans, politicians, civic leaders and plain old citizens who love the arts, care about culture and worry about the economy turned out on a pristine Saturday afternoon in King of Prussia to craft an action plan to improve arts and culture throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The Big Canvas Confab, a creative way to feed back citizens’ voices on those subjects to Philadelphia City Council members and Pennsylvania arts and elected officials, was the culmination of more than a dozen rounds of forums held in the region during the past six months.

The civic engagement, moderated by Harris Sokoloff of the Penn Project for Civic Engagement and Chris Satullo of WHYY, was designed to get people talking about who uses arts and culture resources, what values the arts and culture bring to the community, what barriers there are to participating, and what should be prioritized.

The focus of Saturday’s roundtable discussions was four approaches to a regional arts plan, each of which was based on the discussions held during the summer. These were:

1. Extend the Arts Experience
2. Nurture Children’s Future
3. Build the Creative Economy
4. Foster Quality of Community

The Big Canvas team – that is you! – will continue pushing this conversation forward with regional stakeholders in the coming months.

Complete video coverage of the conference will be posted as soon as possible. For more information check out www.greatexpectationsnow.com