Partners for Sacred Places Launches New Initiative to Preserve Historic Organs in Philadelphia

The Playing and Preserving Initiative Will Foster Community and Generate Public Support for Preservation 

A groundbreaking initiative from Partners for Sacred Places was announced in early October in an effort to embrace new and creative approaches to generate public support for the preservation and the active use of Philadelphia’s organ heritage.

The initiative—called PLAYING AND PRESERVING: Saving and Activating Philadelphia’s Historic Pipe Organs to Advance Music and Community—will take aim at building relationships between congregations, music lovers, artists, organ builders, and the broader public in order to preserve and support the active use of Philadelphia’s organs. 

The venture is led by Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with several interdisciplinary partners, such as the Curtis Institute of Music, Bowerbird, Astral, Play On Philly, and more. 

Philadelphia’s organs—and the sacred, historical places that contain them—are some of the city’s most prized treasures; however, the ever-changing cultural, musical, technological, and religious landscapes in Philadelphia over the last two-to-three decades leave the historic organs at risk.

In fact, a recent estimate from a Philadelphia organist estimated that it’s likely that over 50 percent of the instruments featured in the Organ Historical Society’s 1996 national convention in Philadelphia could be partially destroyed, dormant, or unplayable. 

“Our project will turn this problem into an advantage, by leveraging the organ and amplify one of the most important but typically unappreciated characteristics of sacred places — their auditory and aural qualities — to provide a rich, multi-sensory context for individuals, families, and artists to experience historic places in a powerful way,” said Bob Jaeger, president of Partners for Sacred Places. 

“This experience will be supported by, among other strategies, place-based storytelling, and interactive conversations around what place means to each of us and how it defines our sense of identity and community, as well as engaging history through art.”

Playing and Preserving aims on identifying the key, historic organs that are currently at risk in sacred places throughout Philadelphia, activate these instruments through technical assistance and attention, support the congregations that steward these historic pieces, and work with several of the project partners and artists to curate and develop concerts that will emphasize the importance of these instruments. 

Part of that partnership will include working with organ performance students from the Curtis Institute of Music to conduct a survey of about 50 historic organs—including those at risk in places outside of the urban core of Philadelphia. 

Through this program, data on individual construction, condition, age, and more will be collected. Further, this information will be made publicly available through collaboration with the Organ Historical Society and will act as a database that is available for artists to use as a resource for practice. 

As a key feature of this project, Partners for Sacred Places has partnered with Astral Artists to organize a series of performances and events that are focused on highlighting historical organs in a way that contrasts, combines genres, and engages the community in the preservation of these historical pieces. 

Each of these concerts—which are scheduled for October 25, 2019; November 22, 2019; and December 21, 2019—are free and open to the public and will take place at St. Mary’s Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA.

“Pipe organs are an important part of our nation’s fabric and its congregations and musicians. Without this initiative and the model it offers, many of these culturally significant civic treasures will succumb to the effects of age and disrepair and ultimately disappear from our lives,” said Jaeger.

“This initiative will allow Partners for Sacred Places and its collaborators to advance their work by bringing the performing arts into preservation as a new way to offer sensory experiences that increase the appreciation of historic architecture, and create a model for other regions to follow.”

Learn more about this groundbreaking project.