STAMP: Students At Museums in Philadelphia later this year, providing free admission for teenagers to visit museums in Philadelphia.
Art-Reach and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance have developed a transition plan to transfer the program to Art-Reach so that it can continue to operate.
Art-Reach, a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia, will relaunch the STAMP Teen program so that teenagers in Philadelphia will continue to receive free admission to dozens of museums. STAMP is supported in part by a Leadership Gift from the Virginia and Harvey Kimmel Family Education Fund at the Philadelphia Foundation. “My team and I are so excited to have an opportunity to continue STAMP with the support of the Kimmel Family,” shared John Orr, Executive Director of Art-Reach, adding, “In a year where arts funding in schools is reduced due to the pandemic, this will give Philadelphia high school students the opportunity to engage with the arts on their terms and without cost.” STAMP allows teenagers, including any high school student in Philadelphia, to visit all partner museums for free.
STAMP was originally developed by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA) in 2013 to increase museum access for teenagers in Philadelphia. The Cultural Alliance managed STAMP until June 2020. “While it was a difficult decision to sunset STAMP earlier this year, we are delighted that Art-Reach will build upon this program’s success and continue to provide young people access to arts and culture,” shared Priscilla Luce, Interim President & CEO of the Cultural Alliance.
While working to reestablish the program partnerships, Art-Reach is navigating a new reality in the arts sector post COVID-19. This fact is not lost on Orr, “This is a tricky time to reestablish the program given the pandemic. However, if we don’t do it now there is a very real possibility that the partnership could weaken and fall apart completely.” Luckily, Art-Reach has extensive experience managing large scale collaborative efforts in the arts. Art-Reach has run ACCESS Philly since 2015. In June 2020, STAMP had 24 partners and Art-Reach has already contacted all of them to confirm their continued participation. Art-Reach is hoping to have all partners in place for an official relaunch later in 2020. According to Orr, “Step one, is getting the word out and letting people know that we’re working to get this back up and running.” This relaunch is Art-Reach’s second program expansion in 2020, following their work in January to expand ACCESS Philly.
