The Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) announced in June that Boyer College of Music and Dance’s Music Preparatory Division and Tyler School of Art and Architecture’s Temple Contemporary gallery were two of 262 Philadelphia arts and culture organizations to receive its Art & Culture Grant. Music Prep and Temple Contemporary were each awarded $17,000 for support of general operating expenses.
“Temple Music Prep serves a vital purpose in providing educational opportunities for people of all ages in the City of Philadelphia, and young people most critically,” said Robert Stroker, dean of Boyer College of Music and Dance and the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts. “The ongoing support from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and so many others, allows us to support more than 600 students each year with high-quality arts experiences.”
The PCF grant recognizes Music Prep and Temple Contemporary’s contributions to Philadelphia’s arts community. Established in 1994, PCF provides general operating support for small and mid-sized Philadelphia-based organizations and promotes arts and culture as engines of social, educational and economic development. Funding for the grants comes from the City of Philadelphia’s 2025 budget allocation of $4.2 million.
“The Philadelphia Cultural Fund provides indispensable support and shows Philadelphia’s unwavering commitment to the arts,” said Susan E. Cahan, dean of Tyler School of Art and Architecture. “This support will allow Temple Contemporary to serve this city through unique and groundbreaking programs.”
Boyer’s Music Prep program provides high-quality and affordable music instruction for people of all ages and skill levels in Philadelphia.
“Support for administrative and operating costs is so important because it allows us to carry out our work to make music instruction and performance opportunities more accessible and useful to our students,” said Mark Huxsoll, director of Music Prep.
Programs housed within Music Prep include the Philadelphia String Project, which provides instruction for young string students at the beginner level, and The Center for Gifted Young Musicians, which provides training and performance opportunities for gifted young string musicians. Also notable is The Community Music Scholars Program, which has offered individual lessons, music theory classes, performing ensembles, mentorship, and networking to K–12 students in nearly 60 public, charter, and parochial schools, as well as homeschooled students, since 1968.
Music Prep has received funding from PCF, in varying amounts, consistently since 2008. A portion of Music Prep’s funding comes from Temple while remaining funding is supplied by participant fees, gifts and grants.
Temple Contemporary, located inside the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, is the university’s only professional art gallery and a hub of art and culture in North Philadelphia. The grant comes shortly after the newly appointed Director of Exhibitions and Public Programming Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta has taken the helm with a commitment to strengthening partnerships between the university and the surrounding community.
“The fact that we continue to receive this grant is a demonstration of the standard of excellence and care and trust that we’ve built with the city,” said Kenyatta.
Temple Contemporary has received the PCF grant multiple times since its opening in 2009.
“It’s an honor to be a repeated recipient of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund grant. It’s a lifeblood for us in terms of ‘final mile funding,” said Keia D. Carter Simmons, associate director of Temple Contemporary.
In fall 2025, Temple Contemporary will open an exhibition on the Pyramid Club, a cornerstone of Black artistic and intellectual life in North Philadelphia from 1937 until 1963. The gallery is also finalizing a new program called Joy Rides, in which community members will be able to tour the studios of Philadelphia-based artists, including Tyler alumni.
“It’s poetic to me that that we are receiving these funds from the city as we look to expand our work in the community,” said Kenyatta.