Pennsylvania Claims Cuts to Arts Bureaucracy, Artists Lose Funding Instead
Rural areas suffer funding losses to flush metropolitan sectors
Bureaucracy Disguised as a Rebrand
Pennsylvania's state arts council is undergoing a complete transformation. In October, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts quietly rebranded as Pennsylvania Creative Industries. At the same time, it announced sweeping changes to grant programs and plans to dismantle its partnership network.
For nearly three decades, the agency divided the Commonwealth into 14 regions and worked with local partner organizations to administer its programs: Arts in Education, Folk and Traditional Arts, and Partners in the Arts (its grantmaking arm). This model ensured that all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties received state arts funding.
The agency says that centralizing its operations and changing grant programs will cut bureaucracy and direct more funding to artists, but we're already seeing the opposite: more competition, fewer artists funded, and a hastily-created system that concentrates resources in Pennsylvania's largest cities.
The Decentralized Partnership Model: Infrastructure for Equity and Accountability
Forty eight of Pennsylvania's 67 counties are rural, and it's common to see arts organizations with annual revenues below $100,000. Representatives from Erie Arts and Culture's rural, grassroots, and volunteer-led organizations have expressed concerns about entering the same competitive grant programs as well-resourced organizations in Philadelphia County and Allegheny County.
Early advocacy efforts worked: the agency's plan to cut funding for organizations with annual revenues under $100,000 was reversed this March. However, the partnership model has not been reinstated.
Rose Baker is the director of the Downtown Edinboro Art and Music Festival, a volunteer-led organization that brings over 10,000 visitors to Edinboro annually. The festival is 23 years old, has approximately $90,000 in annual revenue, and has received support from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for over a decade.
The Downtown Edinboro Art and Music Festival also has a decades-long relationship with their partner organization, Erie Arts and Culture. According to Baker, "The partnership model lets us build real relationships. It spreads resources in a way that feels personal and flexible, so smaller, grassroots events like ours could actually access support." Moving all operations to Harrisburg may isolate small organizations and rural communities, even beyond arts programming.
"Events like this don't just showcase art and music, they bring people into town, support local businesses, and give the community something to feel proud of," Baker continues. "In rural areas, that kind of energy and visibility really matters. Without arts funding, you risk losing not just events, but the sense of identity and momentum that keeps a place like Edinboro feeling alive and connected." Without regional partners and guidelines to ensure equitable distribution of funds, small and rural organizations are at imminent risk: they're left to navigate a more competitive system with fewer resources.
For instance, during its December 2025 and March 2026 meetings, the Council approved $155,166.50 in grants. More than half (53.5 percent) went to Philadelphia County. Only three rural organizations received funding, accounting for just 16 percent of the total. One of those rural grantees was Penn State University, an educational institution with $5 billion in annual revenue. This is bureaucracy — exactly what happens when equity guidelines are removed.
Previously, the agency's programs had built-in equity guidelines. Combined with outreach from partner organizations, it ensured public funding reached every community in Pennsylvania. Now, the new grant programs place traditional art disciplines in direct competition with commercial industries like film, gaming, and architecture, already concentrated in Pennsylvania's biggest cities. Those industries have a pathway to state-level funding through the Department of Community and Economic Development, which receives $2 billion annually. The state arts council receives just $9.59 million each year.
Is it ethical to invite industries to compete with small non-profits for scarce arts funding?
More Direct Funding for Artists… Right?
The PCA's restructuring means that less funding will go to artists. The PCA has not announced a grant for individual artists, and has cut the very programs that offered paid work to over 300 artists statewide: Folk and Traditional Arts and Arts in Education.
The loss of the Arts in Education program is already being felt by artists across the state. Ja'Leesa Williams (40 Under 40 Class of 2024) is the owner of Sew Royalty and a rostered teaching artist with Erie Arts and Culture, whose publicly funded residencies teach students sewing and embroidery skills. "My role as a teaching artist is a significant part of both my income and professional growth," says Williams. "If the program does not return, teaching artists lose a primary pathway to consistent, meaningful community work." She continues, "Without this support, schools are less likely to bring in teaching artists. Without [teaching artists], [students] lose access to creative outlets, skill building, and representation from artists who come from their own communities."
Fortunately, Creative Pennsylvania's "Stand Up for the Arts" Campaign is showing that the agency is not an immovable force. With an early win that restored grants for small arts organizations, there is an opportunity to continue to push back on these changes. As Erie Arts and Culture Executive Director Susannah Faulkner (40 Under 40 Class of 2023) asserts, "We must ensure we do not lose the Folk and Traditional Arts and Arts in Education partnerships. It is nearly impossible to restore government programs once they are cut. Pennsylvania's budget deadline is June 30th, and we need our community stakeholders to use these coming weeks to make their voices heard by our elected officials in Harrisburg."
Who Asked for This?
The agency claims that its strategic plan and new approach were informed by the community. In a strategic planning survey, the arts and culture sector shared its top priorities: support for Pennsylvania's diverse cultures, accessibility for audiences, and cultural planning assistance – particularly for rural populations.
There were nine public planning sessions, and arts leaders were not invited. The majority of the sessions had fewer than a dozen attendees and were held in non-arts spaces. The Pennsylvania Creative Industries strategic plan wasn't shaped by the arts community; it was shaped by staff and reinforced by voices from outside the sector.
The "And" Approach
Infrastructure to support creative industries is the next step for Pennsylvania. We don't have to choose between supporting artists and building creative industries, we can do both.
Erie Arts and Culture is joined by a statewide cohort of artists and organizations advocating to reinstate the partnership model and increase the state arts budget by $3M to support artists and grassroots arts organizations and $2M to build new creative industries programs. This is the "and" approach to crafting a vibrant arts sector, and we urge the PCA to join our advocacy efforts.
Take Action
If you value public arts programming, summer festivals, and arts education, now is the time to speak up. Join Erie Arts and Culture's advocacy efforts: erieartsandculture.org/arts-advocacy.
Casey Corritore (40 Under 40 Class of 2023) has served as Capacity Building Lead at Erie Arts and Culture since 2022. She is a cellist, entrepreneur, and advocate.
