The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) is in the midst of its summer season, which includes concerts from national and local artists, weekly city-wide Multicultural festivals and holiday festivities. Meanwhile, DRWC continues to plan extensively for the ArtPlace funded program in the Penn’s Landing Marina in summer 2014.

While DRWC works to secure the services of an artistic director for this project, it is also in the process of assessing internal staff capacity to coordinate and manage elements of this event. DRWC has many in-house capacities including special event coordination, marketing, maintenance, security and project management, all of which will be tremendously helpful in executing the type of regular performance and event we’re expecting to produce through the ArtPlace grant. However, there may be a need to fill specific gaps for an event of this scale and significance, so we’re including in our scoping of the project a needs assessment for personnel skillsets.

In addition, as we expressed in our grant proposal, we are hoping to work with other organizations to leverage our collective efforts to increase visibility for the ArtPlace program and other exciting waterfront improvements. DRWC has been meeting with potential collaborators, including FringeArts and Philadelphia’s office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, both of which have grant-funded arts programming planned for the waterfront for Summer 2014.

As the event draws closer, DRWC will be looking at potential capital investments to the marina, which will not only be an integral part of the ArtPlace program, but also a permanent investment in the economic and cultural revival of Penn’s Landing. These improvements could include signature lighting and public art installations. In the longer term, DRWC continues a study with the landscape architecture firm Hargreaves and their sub-consultants to develop a plan for bridging the gap between Old City and the Delaware River (and over I-95 and Columbus Boulevard), as well as planning for long term development of the site, including around the marina. The Hargreaves team toured the area last month and is in the early stages of its engineering inquiry and site planning process. DRWC is excited by the possibility of engaging the public on both of these short and long term improvements and finding ways of incorporating civic input at all levels of the process.