Crane Arts: Financing Artists’ Workspaces

This brief tells the story of Crane Arts, the conversion of Crane Plumbing Company’s 1905 factory and warehouse in Philadelphia\u27s Old Kensington, to affordable artist studio and gallery space. In spring 2004 two artists and a developer--Crane Arts LLC—purchased the property and began the challenge of rehabilitation of a century-old factory in a former manufacturing district. Along the way, they heard about TRF’s lending activities, including commercial real estate in urban neighborhoods. The Crane Arts project was a perfect fit for TRF, which views the arts as critical to the health of a community and invests in projects that have the potential to catalyze revitalization in Philadelphia neighborhoods. The success of Crane Arts has encouraged TRF to finance other artist centers in Philadelphia

Culture\u27s Contribution to Social Wellbeing

This brief presents the research team’s rationale for the measurement of social wellbeing and its approach to documenting the cultural ecology and assessing the vitality of Philadelphia neighborhoods

Culture\u27s Contribution to Social Wellbeing & Neighborhood Vitality

In the fall of 2014, building on their work in Philadelphia, Penn\u27s Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) and Reinvestment Fund began to develop a policy tool to assess how culture contributes to social wellbeing in New York City neighborhoods. This brief is a summary of the project rationale--that is, why and how to measure social wellbeing--and its potential to guide policy toward more equitable and livable communities

Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City: Highlights of a Two-Year Research Project

Understanding the social value of the arts and culture in New York City neighborhoods was the goal of the research undertaken between 2014 and 2017 by Penn\u27s Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) in collaboration with Reinvestment Fund. This brief is a summary of the conceptual framework, data and methodology, findings and implications of the research discussed in the full report--The Social Wellbeing of New York City\u27s Neighborhoods: The Contributions of Culture and the Arts (March 2017)