About Us

LINC Philadelphia is one of ten LINC cities nationwide. It is managed locally by Melissa Franklin of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts and Beth Feldman Brandt of the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, who are giving their time and resources to the project.

LINC (the acronym for Leveraging Investments in Creativity) is a ten-year national initiative to improve conditions for artists in all disciplines, so that artists can more readily do their creative work and contribute to community life.

 

Artists are essential to the cultural life of the United States. They make artworks that help us interpret our past, define our present and imagine our future. Artists contribute in important ways to the creativity and dynamism of our communities, and to the well-being of a tolerant, diverse society. They embody the freedom and independence that we treasure as a nation, and they provoke both the reflection and the innovative thinking that are important to our democracy.

Artists are a growing part of the U.S. workforce, representing more than 2 million working adults in 2001 (up from 730,000 in 1970). And artists contribute to community life in numerous, varied ways, as creators, entrepreneurs, educators and citizens. But artists are typically underpaid in relation to their education and skills, and their talents are under-valued and under-used by most sectors of our society.

LINC believes, along with thousands of others, that we can improve conditions surrounding artists and thereby enhance their creative output, and enable them to make greater and more meaningful contributions to our communities and our society. LINC's goal is to make meaningful improvements in the environment for artists' work over the next ten years by collaborating with like-minded partners on a set of strategic objectives.

Click here to find out more about LINC National.