For more than 25 years, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia has pioneered innovative programs and initiatives by bringing together business and arts communities.

1981    The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (GPCC) and the national Arts & Business Council Inc.^® establish the Arts & Culture Council. It is dedicated to leveraging new funds, funneling new resources and cultivating new leadership from the business community to support nonprofit arts and cultural institutions in the Greater Philadelphia Region. Business Volunteers for the Arts^® (BVA) is the Council’s first program.

1982    The Council generates more than $100,000 in donated time and resources from business executives to area arts organizations and recruits 19 businesses to support Council programs, including the newly established Resources Bank. It facilitates ways for businesses to donate office furniture and equipment to arts organizations.

1983    A BVA volunteer secures an Urban Development Action Grant of $178,000—the first one ever awarded to a Philadelphia cultural institution. These funds help launch the expansion of the Please Touch Museum.

1984    Cumulative total of donated resources to the arts provided by Council programs surpasses $1 million.

1985    First Business/Arts Awards Luncheon celebrates exemplary partnerships between businesses and arts organizations; 300 arts and business leaders attend.

1987    GPCC names Karen B. Davis vice president for cultural affairs of the Chamber and executive director of the Arts & Culture Council.

1990    Davis is one of four arts leaders to help craft the first City of Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which provides operational funding to the region’s arts and cultural institutions.

1991    A decade after its founding, the Council celebrates its success in building business/arts partnerships, which have resulted in more than 36,000 hours of volunteer management consulting and $6 million in contributed business services to 200 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations throughout the region.

1992   Arts & Culture Council is renamed the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia.

1994    Council launches the Business On Call^® program; 230 employees register. The Council is awarded the national Exemplary Program Award from Alamo for Business On Call's work to “provide innovative new services to the arts community.”

1995    The cumulative value of the Council’s contributed goods and services provided to the region's arts and cultural institutions since 1981 surpasses $10 million.

1996    Council launches the Business On Board^® program, which provides specialized training in nonprofit board governance for business executives; 16 executives graduate from first session and are placed on arts boards.

1998    Council receives the 1998 Governor's Award for Leadership and Service to the Arts, the first time an organization has ever received the award.

1999    Partnering with GPCC, the Council spearheads and launches the Regional Arts & Culture Economic Initiative, the first comprehensive study produced by the regional business community to measure the impact and economic competitiveness of the arts organizations in the region.

2002    Council launches the Technology Connectors™ program, an initiative dedicated to improving the technology capacity of the region’s arts organizations. The first Avatar Award for Artistic Excellence is bestowed on Maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch at annual Awards Luncheon, which now attracts 1,700 people.

2003    Council's programs and services now contribute more than $1 million to more than 300 arts and organizations annually, with a cumulative impact of $22 million of support to arts and culture.

2004    Council launches the first-of-its-kind TechConnection for the Arts Help Desk service. The Council partners with GPCC and Innovation Philadelphia, establishing a Creative Community Cluster Hot Team to develop the region's creative industries.

2005    The national Arts & Business Council Inc. merges operations with Americans for the Arts, creating the largest-ever advocacy group for the arts in America.

2006    Council is honored by Tierney Communications for “Distinguished Service to the Arts.” To date, 2,000 business executives have participated in Council programs in support of arts and cultural organizations.

2007    Council issues The Value of Partnership , an impact report on arts and culture volunteerism based on the Council's ranks of active volunteers, which confirms that arts and cultural volunteerism increases philanthropy, arts participation, and even builds key business skills. A new partnership with Towers Perrin is launched, Corporate Creativity , to focus attention on defining and measuring creativity and innovation in the workplace – the first of its kind in the region.

2008     Council brings the Philadelphia Volunteers Lawyers for the Arts program , a legal referral and assistance service under its banner.