Philip Horn

Watch my interview with Mark here.

I spent 25 years serving as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the state arts agency for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. My work focused on strengthening public support for artists and arts organisations, expanding access to funding, and helping communities across the state build sustainable cultural ecosystems.

My journey began in theatre. I studied acting through high school, college and graduate school at Michigan State University before moving into public service. At the California Arts Council, I worked directly with touring and teaching artists — an experience that grounded my understanding of the realities artists face and shaped the way I approached leadership thereafter.

Throughout my career, I’ve been particularly interested in how people engage with the arts. I’ve long believed that you can’t “market the arts” as if they are a single product. Instead, we must communicate the experience — the feeling of belonging, connection and shared enjoyment. Influenced by behavioural science and decision-making theory, I’m fascinated by how emotion, identity and welcome influence whether someone chooses to participate.

Even in retirement, I remain deeply engaged in conversations about audience development, arts education and the long-term health of our cultural sector. I continue to support independent, artist-centred communities such as The Arts & Culture Network, and I’m always curious about how we build the arts equivalent of “Little League” — getting more young people involved in making work so they become lifelong champions of culture.