2022 was an incredible year for Philadelphia, and it’s going to continue to get better! The City is currently planning the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, which will be celebrated nationally with some events starting in 2024 and on through 2026. This year Philadelphia won the bid to become a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with support from so many partners in the city and of course our World Heritage City designation. While exciting events are developing in Philadelphia for the future, we at GPA are continuing our mission to spread awareness of global awareness and heritage throughout the City. In 2022, as in person events began to grow, we’ve succeeded in growing our organization through the help and support of our staff and the Philadelphia community both engaged in our SDG Public Art Project.

In 2022, GPA has transitioned between virtual and in person events throughout the year. Our May World Heritage Week celebration, dedicated to honoring and showcasing Philadelphia’s accomplishment as the nation’s first World Heritage City, 
featured six festivities, both online and in person. In addition, our NHL Program has grown increasingly with a number of Philadelphia’s historic landmarks joining our social media campaign to promote their events. We’ve also pieced together an NHL highlight video exploring various historic sites throughout Philadelphia.

Our Sustainable Development Goals Public Artwork Project has taken off this year. As we come to a close on 2022, we have unveiled five new pieces of public artwork around the city of Philadelphia that each tackle a Sustainable Development Goal such as Quality Education, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. GPA has begun its mission to translate each SDG goal through
commissioned artwork by renowned Philadelphia painters. Within the next few years, 17 neighborhood walls will be dancing in the light of an SDG goal. And for every SDG artwork, a local Philadelphia non-profit organization will receive a donation. Thus far, each of our sponsors have chosen an SDG goal that resonates with their global commitment to eradicate issues that exist right here in Philadelphia.

The goals of the SDG Mural Project are to raise public awareness of the SDGs with dynamic murals created by visionary artists, support local nonprofits working to address Sustainable Development Goals, and fund relevant research at Philadelphia’s outstanding academic institutions. We are grateful for all our sponsors who sponsored a public artwork this year as well as all our amazing artists who created a piece this year. 

In closing, our two major GPA events, the World Heritage City Celebration and the 2022 Globys, were held in person. The 7th Annual World Heritage City Celebration was presented on Solidarity Day of World Heritage Cities, or September 8th, 2022, at the Crystal Tea Ballroom. We are receiving wonderful feedback on the event and are enormously proud of what we have accomplished. With the help of our sponsors we have raised $12,238  for the World Heritage City of Lviv in Ukraine. The event was a true demonstration of Philadelphia’s ethos as a global City with local roots connecting us to partners in heritage in Ukraine. The 8th Annual 2022 Globy Awards was recently held in person at The Westin on December 12, 2022. We continued our tradition of recognizing Philadelphia’s premiere global citizens by presenting six awards to impactful leaders in the community. It is wonderful to shed the spotlight on leaders doing incredible work in our region with impact far beyond. One of the many reasons for Philadelphia to be proud of its engaged leadership!