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Recognizing the achievements of the Village of Arts and Humanities as they continue their mission of building community through art in North Philadelphia.
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WHEREAS, In central North Philadelphia more than half of the population lives in poverty and a third of the labor force is unemployed. The majority of the children who participate in the Village’s programs come from single parent households, reside in public and/or substandard housing and have experienced and/or witnessed violent crime; and
WHEREAS, The Village of Arts and Humanities began in 1986 as a project to engage neighborhood children in building a community park that has grown into a major provider of arts-inspired programs. Over 10,000 primarily African American children, youth and adults in North Philadelphia are engaged in land transformation, construction and economic development, theater, health, and environmental education; and
WHEREAS, The Village has involved community residents in the physical transformation of over 120 vacant lots into community parks, gardens, and a two acre tree farm which is now incubating over 20,000 seedlings. Furthermore, the Village has greened and maintained an additional 100 acres; and
WHEREAS, The quality of the programming offered by the Village has been acknowledged and recognized by significant funding from both private and public sources. The Village has brought over $6 million of resources into its North Philadelphia community since it began in 1986; and
WHEREAS, The Village works in partnership with public schools, community organizations, public housing, arts organizations, and neighborhood block groups to increase its impact and share its innovative and effective methodology. The Village utilizes volunteers and interns to complement the work of paid staff, logging on more than 10,000 hours in volunteer time in 1999; and
WHEREAS, The Village Youth Theater has produced three original full-length theater pieces, “We Wear the Mask” (2000), “Time Montage” (1998), and “A Different Place in Time” (1997) two of which were performed at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. They have also performed original dramatic pieces at the Village, and at several arts conferences and events in Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Albequerque, and Peterborough, New Hampshire; and
WHEREAS, The unique approach and work of the Village has received local, national, and international multi-media coverage. Such coverage includes Indivisible, a documentary funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts which highlights twelve effective grassroots organizations across the nation. Other coverage includes the PBS documentary “An Angel in the Village,” and articles in Reader‘s Digest, Philadelphia Magazine, Metropolitan Homes, Art in America, Unity, and the book “Cultivating Sacred Space”; and
WHEREAS, Village has been recognized through both local and national honors and awards. The Village was selected among twelve grassroots initiatives to participate in Indivisible, a national documentary project celebrating diverse efforts to build and sustain strong communities across America. The Education Through the Arts program was selected among ten arts programs from across the nation to receive the “Coming Up Taller” award from the National Endowment for the Arts and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Furthermore, Executive Director Lily Yeh has received the 2000 Governor’s Award for the Arts, “Arts Leadership and Service” Award; now therefore
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Recognizes the achievements of the Village of Arts and Humanities and that an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Executive Director Lily Yeh and the Board of directors of the Village of Arts and Humanities, as an expression of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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