While some musicians inspire applause, others inspire poetry. When Anthony Webb went to a concert at First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, he did not anticipate jazz-vocalist Ruth Naomi Floyd would inspire him to write poems. But Floyd’s stylings transported Webb so much that he didn’t just create in response, he says, it also made him, he says, “feel like a star.”
Such reactions are the point of Artcinia, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit with a mission to bring live, professional performances to those who may not have otherwise had access to them. Artcinia combines “art” with the Italian word for neighborhood, “vicinia,” to realize the organization’s mission to implement high quality arts into neighborhoods that often go artistically unserved. Today, Artcinia has produced more than 150 concerts in more than 23 neighborhood locations since the organization’s inception, reaching over 6,000 audience members who have only to show up and pay $5 to $15 to experience high caliber live arts. What’s more, Artcinia pays its artists respectable fees for their performances, and plans to continue to do so as it grows.
“We want to model what we want to see in the world, which is a vibrant cultural life where artists can make a living wage performing in and for their communities, and people can access the performing arts and all of the benefits that we know that that brings,” says Jake Kelberman, the organization’s artistic co-director and director of operations.
Creating connection
A little over five years ago, when Covid banished most live performances to Zoom and closed music venues indefinitely, professional musicians were left in a lurch, scrambling to find alternate sources of income, and not knowing if or when life might go back to normal. Philadelphia chamber musician Anne Schoemaker realized her peers were “literally struggling to feed their families,” she says. Shoemaker and her colleague Luigi Mazzocchi took matters — as well as a tent and a couple of sun hats — into their own hands.
In June of 2021, Schoemaker and Mazzocchi teamed up with Partners for Sacred Places to host affordable outdoor performances in an assortment of Philadelphia neighborhoods. In their first five months, Artcinia put on 35 outdoor performances in the front lawns, parking lots, and sidewalks of partnering places of worship like Calvary St. Augustine in West Philadelphia and Church of St. James the Less in Fairhill. These performances were exclusively held outdoors until 2022, when pandemic restrictions waned, closed doors re-opened, and Artcinia concerts could move indoors at many of the same locations that hosted them outside.
By providing more informed programming and catering the types of musical performances to the audiences that will receive them, musicians like Ruth Naomi Floyd experience firsthand how intimately her music can touch people.
Without the resources for a marketing team, Artcinia largely promoted their concerts the old-fashioned way, by word of mouth. Leadership at their partnering churches helped spread the word within their communities face to face and via online worship bulletins, and as more curious first time concertgoers turned into repeat attendees, audiences and familiar faces grew with each performance. So far, their grassroots marketing method has been a success.
With the help of fundraising efforts and donor contributions, the infant organization managed to adequately pay a variety of collaborating Philadelphia musicians while keeping admission costs low — $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and $15 for families. For Schoemaker, compensating artists was a non-negotiable from the start, and for professional artists and Artcinia loyalists like jazz pianist Tim Brey, the nonprofit’s commitment to payment and professionalism is what sets them apart and keeps their relationships with performers evergreen.
According to Brey, musicians often gravitate to the same stable venues, like concert halls, clubs, and festivals, because they pay well and give them the agency to play the music they want to play. In contrast, less conventional DIY spaces lacking resources bank on the musician’s desire to play, rather than recognizing the time they have dedicated to their craft. In contrast, Artcinia pays each artist the same, competitive, union rate while providing opportunities to play for a range of diverse audiences in varied unconventional spaces.
Though Artcinia’s goal to get musicians paid during the era of social distancing was successful, as the pandemic waned, Schoemaker and Mazzocchi were at a crossroads. As jazz cafes opened their doors and performers returned to the stage, what was Artcinia’s future? From its inception, the nonprofit selected their neighborhood partners with intention. In addition to providing local musicians with paid performance opportunities, Artcinia shrunk the gap between many Philadelphians and the exceptional artistry coursing through their city.
Schoemaker and Mazzocchi recognized the inequities in accessing high quality live musical performances across Philadelphia, and continued their mission to connect Philadelphians with music in their neighborhood. Community engagement became a focal point for Artcinia, and from then on, their impact only grew.
Sharing music in a post-Covid city
“Instead of moving forward with the normal prescription for providing arts, which is to find a group, pick a place, and advertise it to try and convince people to come because it’s what they should hear, we had to flip the model on its head,” Schoemaker says. “Go to the communities first, and ask them what they wanted to hear.”
As community feedback became an integral part of their ethos, Artcinia had to expand their outreach efforts, and with that, the size of their team. They brought on professional trombonist and Artcinia performer Jasyn Brazoban to develop relationships with performance partners and foster a collaborative rapport with new and existing concertgoers. Brazoban was integral to their recently launched ambassador program, including dedicated patrons like Anthony Webb, which aims to empower community members to have a say in the programming, building a bridge between the organization and their audience. Though the Artcinia Ambassador program is still in its infancy, after surveying audiences, the nonprofit collected the names of more than 100 interested participants. For the ambassadors, their commitment to support Artcinia stems purely from their own appreciation. With no compensation aside from comped tickets and merchandise, the motive of an Artcinia Ambassador lies purely in their passion for the programming.
“We want to model what we want to see in the world, which is a vibrant cultural life where artists can make a living wage performing in and for their communities, and people can access the performing arts and all of the benefits that we know that that brings.” — Jake Kelberman
Frances Upshaw became an ambassador when the organization put on performances at her church in West Philadelphia. She fondly recalls a sunny day when stringed instruments played outside Cavalry Saint Augustine Episcopal Church. The experience was affordable, accessible — and mesmerizing.
“Where do you see that?” Upshaw says. “You’re in the hood, and it just kind of blew my mind that we could be sitting out there doing something so sophisticated in what could be known as a bad part of town. That was very impressive to me.”
Artcinia Ambassadors are not the only ones who recognize the nonprofit’s impact. By providing more informed programming and catering the types of musical performances to the audiences that will receive them, musicians like Ruth Naomi Floyd experience firsthand how intimately her music can touch people. She can easily remember moments she’s cherished, from the time she added an old-time gospel song to her set and watched older audience members rise to their feet, or connecting with audience members after a show who told her they’d last heard those same songs as children.
“There was one woman, an elderly woman, who sat on the side,” Floyd says. “I thought she was asleep. But she came up to me later and was talking about the songs, and I said to myself, oh no — she was reflecting with her eyes closed. She said it was healing for her. This is the powerful work that Artcinia does.”
Spaces like Calvary Saint Augustine, where the audience, Floyd describes as largely “human beings in the winter of their life,” keep her coming back to perform with them year after year. Though many of their existing performance partners are churches, Artcinia does not have any religious affiliation, and is looking to expand to include more secular spaces like libraries and rec centers while remaining faithful to their loyal, existing partners, Schoemaker says.
“I don’t want us to lose it,” Anthony Webb says. “So you have to get involved. If you don’t do anything, you lose it. So, why not me?”
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