Honoring Thora Jacobson for her 33 year dedication to The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, her dedication to the arts and her commitment to making Philadelphia a model for an artistically rich community.

WHEREAS, Thora Jacobson has faithfully served The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, at 709 Catharine Street in South Philadelphia, for the past 33 years, and as its Executive Director since 1983; and

WHEREAS, The Fleisher Art Memorial is the country’s oldest and largest free- and low-tuition visual arts program for adults and children. Founded by Samuel S. Fleisher as the Graphic Sketch Club in 1898, this facility has been a vital educational resource in the community, offering instruction in the visual arts, exhibitions, concerts and interpretation of its historic buildings to all ages; and

WHEREAS, Since the death of Samuel Fleisher in 1945, the Art Memorial has been administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and

WHEREAS, Under her leadership and as the center’s creative visionary, the Art Memorial has enjoyed numerous accomplishments, including: the increased visibility and enrollment of the school, which has continually attracted students from throughout the Delaware Valley, as well as practicing artists who eagerly want to teach at Fleisher; the critically- and publicly-acclaimed Challenge Exhibitions, now more than 25 years old, giving local, emerging and unaffiliated visual artists a gallery to show their work; and, in 1982, she worked with the Fairmount Park Association to oversee the creation by Siah Armajani of the Louis Kahn Lecture Room, dedicated to the Philadelphia-born architect who received his early inspiration as an artist while taking classes at Fleisher. In recent years, Thora oversaw the opening of Fleisher’s Center for Works on Paper at 705 Christian Street, and major renovations of the Fleisher main building on Catharine Street; and

WHEREAS, Thora Jacobson launched and managed three successful capital campaigns at Fleisher; re-evaluated the center’s permanent collections; supervised its strategic planning; developed the staff’s skills; and collaborated with a number of area cultural organizations, including the Philadelphia Folklore Project, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Mural Arts Program, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and

WHEREAS, Despite her dedication to Fleisher, Thora has managed to be a free-lance curator, a juror for many art exhibitions and competitions, a panelist for several funding sources, and a member of several boards and commissions; and

WHEREAS, After so many years, Thora Jacobson is leaving her beloved Fleisher, but, happily, not the Philadelphia cultural community, as she becomes Chief Operating Officer of Philagrafika, an international festival celebrating the impact of the printed image, that will be inaugurated in 2010; now therefore

RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Honors Thora Jacobson for her 33 year dedication to The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, her dedication to the arts and her commitment to making Philadelphia a model for an artistically rich community.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That Engrossed copies of this resolution be presented to Thora Jacobson as evidence of the sentiments of this legislative body.

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