Honoring The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival for its commitment to producing excellent Shakespeare productions and education programming and making both accessible to all.

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival was founded as The Red Heel Theatre in 1989, initially focusing on classic works of English theatre; and

WHEREAS, In 1993, Carmen Khan became the Artistic Director of Red Heel and in 1996 focused the company's efforts on the works of Shakespeare, renaming it The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival; and

WHEREAS, Since that time, the Festival has produced 30 plays, reached nearly 30,000 high school students and nearly 70,000 adult audience members and is considered one of Philadelphia's great cultural institutions; and

WHEREAS, Since its conception in 2000, the Festival’s

Open Door Project

has reached nearly 30,000 students from Philadelphia, the greater Delaware Valley and New Jersey-- from semi-rural communities outside of Philadelphia to troubled inner-city neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, For eight years, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival’s

Open Door Project

has welcomed thousands of students through its

Student Matinee Series

where each season, the Festival entertains 3,000 students with approximately 30 daytime performances which consistently sell out; and

WHEREAS, The

Artist-in-Residence Program

component of the

Open Door Project

invites students to study Shakespeare through performance where, Teaching Artists collaborate with the classroom teacher to lead students in hands-on activities that address both the literary and performance aspects of the plays; and

WHEREAS, Through a partnership with the renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival hosts special all-day training workshops for teachers under its

Shakespeare Set Free Teacher Training

; and

WHEREAS, In the 2007/2008 Season the Festival welcomed 4,107 students with matinees and in-classroom residencies; 17 teachers for

Shakespeare Set Free

training and 30 classrooms from 16 schools in residencies, 9 of which participated

free of charge; and

WHEREAS, The students and teachers served by the Festival represent every religious and ethnic group from the Philadelphia Region’s diverse communities; and

WHEREAS, The Festival is the only arts-in-education provider in the region that is dedicated exclusively to Shakespeare-focused education programs which have been developed by working closely with classroom teachers and experts in the Office of Curriculum and Instruction (OCI) of the School District of Philadelphia (SDP); and

WHEREAS, The Festival actively targets and serves those schools that currently have little or no theatre arts programming and seeks to provide every student, especially the underserved, with the opportunity to attend professional performances of exceptional artistic quality and to participate in stimulating educational activities that will deepen their understanding of Shakespeare’s language, his stories, themselves and their world in order to promote lifelong learning; now therefore, be it

RESOLVED, THAT THE CITY COUNCIL OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby honors The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival for its commitment to

producing excellent Shakespeare productions and education programming and making both accessible to all; and

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival as a sincere expression of this Council’s acknowledgment and gratitude for the Festival’s contribution to the cultural life of Philadelphia and the education of the City’s youth.

End