Strategic Goals

Connecting audiences and artists in cross-cultural programming to encourage empathy and understanding in our world.

Key Strategies

1. We will anchor our artistic work in our dual mission of serving both the Penn community and the broader public, positioning Penn Live Arts as a bridge between campus and the regional and national performing arts landscape through programming, partnerships, and engagement.

2. We will establish Penn Live Arts as a leading incubator and accelerator of new work, especially in music and dance, through strategic investment in commissioning, producing, and sustaining selected artists and projects. Such work to advance the field will be carried out in alignment with Penn’s commitment to innovation.

3. We will deepen partnerships and collaboration across campus and with community and arts organizations to support cross-disciplinary work, expand curatorial perspectives, and enhance our artistic reputation.

4. We will elevate storytelling and brand visibility, documenting and curating our artistic legacy and innovation to build a cohesive narrative that strengthens recognition at the campus, regional, and national levels.

5. We will invest in the infrastructure and resources needed to sustain artistic leadership and strategic growth, including dedicated staffing and financial support for commissions, artist fees, outreach and engagement efforts, as well as high standards of care.

Creating arts experiences that incubate the next generation of arts creators and inspire supporters, cultivating a pipeline from Penn to the world.

Key Strategies

1. We will be the “home for the performing arts” at Penn through venue integration on campus and the investment in and management of capital assets. We will align with the Vice Provost for the Arts’ strategic plan and connect meaningfully with other university-wide initiatives like Penn Forward to proactively serve as the on-campus convener that brings the university population together for multi-faceted experiences of the performing arts.

2. We will more deeply integrate into campus life through curricular partnerships, career mentoring programs, fellowships, and broader faculty and staff engagement. This connection could be further leveraged by using Penn’s scholarly assets to make audience engagement more accessible and diverse.

3. Our integration with the university community will be centered on engaging students, faculty, and staff – current, past and future – as well as address administrative integration with other relevant units on campus.

4. We will augment and diversify internal infrastructure and build cohesive external messaging to on-campus stakeholders to facilitate this integration.

Leveraging artistic vision, spaces, and partnerships to elevate Greater Philadelphia’s arts ecosystem and generate meaningful cultural, educational, and civic impact.

Key Strategies

1. We will elevate the Philadelphia arts ecosystem to benefit the organization, the university, and the community.

• Offer venues to presentations that align with our artistic vision but do not have another home in Philadelphia.
• Fully establish innovation and incubation as key components of our artistic playbook. Incubation will be formalized as a defined program.
• Leverage our new spaces to extend our reach and deepen our relationship to Philadelphia to strengthen the bridge between the community and the University.
• Contribute meaningfully to meeting Philadelphia’s needs, addressing broader social issues such as cross-cultural understanding, arts education, and civic engagement through the arts.

2. We will leverage our resources to build long-term, revenue-generating, mutually-beneficial partnerships to help advance our other strategic goals.

Ensure efficiency, innovation, and resilience by enhancing internal capacity and diversifying funding sources.

Key Strategies

1. We will invest in organizational capacity balanced with financial sustainability to ensure we have the resources and systems in place to achieve our goals. Additional staff and Advisory Board members, as well as a scalable organizational structure, will be required.

2. We will seek more ticketing, rental, and contributed income resources to act nimbly and with greater security.

3. We will continue to assess our evolving needs and consistently reevaluate the allocation of resources.

4. We will build an endowment to support our aspirations and enhanced operations.