After a year of restrictions caused by the pandemic, the city’s theaters, museums and concert halls have been closed, and Philadelphia is launching “Cultural and Art Renaissance Week” This July.

The week-long local arts festival aims to help local cultural institutions recover from the pandemic.

It started on July 5th and kicked off with a block party in North Philadelphia to celebrate Philadelphia’s ballroom community, gospel artists and more. The initiative is sponsored by the Forman Art Initiative and supported by the City Council’s Art and Culture Working Group.

Many activities of “Art and Culture Renaissance Week” are still being planned. From July 6th to 8th, an art park event will be held in collaboration with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and Philadelphia Mural Art.

On July 7, the city will host a youth open microphone in Vernon Park for dancers, singers, actors, comedians, poets, MCs and DJs. The theme of this event is love and unity.

City councillor Isaiah Thomas, who led the working group, discussed the restoration plan with local artists, and they proposed the idea of ??a week-long celebration.

The pandemic forced the closure of the city’s arts and cultural institutions, and the city cut its support during last year’s budget crisis.

“Everyone is still trying to figure out the budget, but we can now support artists in many ways,” Ci Lambert, the local emcee and co-chair of the PHL Art and Culture Working Group said.

This is after the city council Passed a decree Grants were allocated to arts and cultural institutions in the city.The decree was proposed by Congressmen Catherine Gilmore Richardson and Isaiah Thomas to provide a grant of US$1 million for “Light up art.”

Another US$200,000 will fund artists and cultural organizations that perform performances or events that were cancelled by OACCE’s Community Cultural Program due to the pandemic.