By Peter Crimmins for WHYY | April 3, 2023
Starting today, Gabriela Serena Sanchez is the new executive director of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, overseeing the distribution of city funding as arts grants.
She starts the job in a time of transition in the city leadership, with a mayoral election upcoming, much of City Council leaving to campaign for that position, and a new council president on the way.
I want a mayor who values the power and necessity of the arts and culture sector in my beloved city,” Sanchez said. “We need an increase of significant and consistent funds that keep our arts and culture sector healthy and thriving. Let us use the arts to help revitalize our city.”
Unlike past directors of the Fund who came from the world of philanthropy and foundational giving, Sanchez is a theater artist. Ten years ago, she co-founded the community-based company Power Street Theatre.
“I didn’t go to school for grant writing. I went to school to be an actor,” she said. “I was planning to go on Broadway. That was my dream.”
Like her sister, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, Sanchez’s work in theater is informed by her experience growing up Puerto Rican in Philadelphia.
“I quickly realized the power of community and how I wanted to be dedicated to Philadelphia,” Sanchez said. “I didn’t want to leave home. I wanted to find myself in my body and in my language on stages here.”