Already low arts funding in PA is being threatened by new initiatives proposed by the PCA (Pennsylvania Council for the Arts.) These changes will most negatively affect arts communities in small towns and rural areas like ours. I attended Arts Advocacy Day at the State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday to get the scoop and learn what arts professionals are doing to push back.
Arts funding in PA has not been raised since 2015, which effectively means that it has decreased in its useful reach due to the significant inflation that occurred during that period. According to the Consumer Price Index we have experienced 37.87% inflation over the past eleven years which means that arts funding, to remain stagnant, would have had to have been brought to $1.37 per $1.00 spent.
Fiscal Year 2025 per capita state funding for the Arts: From the National Assembly of State Art Agencies 2025 Revenues Report
| State | Per Capita Funding |
|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | $0.91 |
| West Virginia | $1.56 |
| Ohio | $2.30 |
| New York | $4.45 |
| New Jersey | $4.45 |
| Maryland | $5.63 |
| Delaware | $6.62 |
Of course, Pennsylvania doesn’t even spend $1 per person. We spend only 91¢, in stark contrast to our neighboring states. Delaware spends a whopping $6.62 per person on the arts. We spend only 58 percent of what West Virginia, the next lowest-funded contiguous state, spends at $1.56.
What do we Pennsylvanians do with that 91¢ per person? Much of it goes to the larger arts centers of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to fund major museums and theatrical venues, but we in Adams County get a little! We must compete and apply for it, and we do.
Organizations like Waldo’s, the Gettysburg College Majestic, Alloway Creek Elementary, the Gettysburg Brass Band Festival, and others received funding from the state during the 2023/2024 fiscal year according to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Grants List (most recent data available). In total we brought in $96,025 that would have sat on the table if local orgs and individual artists hadn’t pursued it.
Waldo’s and Co. (which received $5,000 in 2023/24) is a nonprofit space in Gettysburg that includes low-cost studios, community arts resources, classroom space, an art gallery, music venue, and a coffee/soda bar. It is an essential third-space, creation, and learning center for artists. I serve on its board, and I moved here two years ago partly because of Waldo’s.
The Majestic Theater, which received $26,000 that year, brings arts enthusiasts from all over the region to Gettysburg to experience world class musical and theatrical productions. The parking revenue and restaurant visits generated on those nights brings significant money to town, especially in the cold seasons when historical tourism is low.
Arts in Education funds produce notably cute examples. These small grants pay artists to do projects with educational components, often in schools. See the attached photos of my recent mural completed with kindergarteners and 5th graders at Alloway Creek Elementary in Littletown. It was partially funded through Arts in Ed matching grants.
The Pa Council for the Arts is attempting to institute a new “Pennsylvania Creative Industries” framework in which, according to Kelley Gibson Director of the Cultural Alliance of York (which also includes Adams, Franklin, and Fulton Counties), it will stop distributing funds through their regional subsidiaries. Currently our arts organizations and individual artists can apply for funding directly through the Cultural Alliance. Instead, the PCA proposes streaming PA’s limited arts funding into larger organizations, including for-profit organizations, like movie production companies, that earn significant income.
This would be a loss for smaller counties like Adams who house smaller arts venues like Waldo’s and the Community Theater. Individual artists in our region would also be forced to compete with artists across the state including those in Philadelphia for larger grants instead of with regional artists for more modest support. This model would benefit already flourishing artists and venues in larger regions over more rural and small-town arts communities, like ours. These changes have not yet gone into effect and could still be stopped, but even now some of our Pennsylvania arts funding has been siphoned off for non-arts economic development purposes.
During Arts Advocacy Day at the PA state capital on Tuesday representatives from the current regional subsidiaries of the PCA from across the state met with state representatives and senators to encourage them to do the following: “Increase the state arts grants line item from $9.59 million to $12.9 million… Restore the $1.7 million redirected from arts grants to economic development programs… Establish Pennsylvania Creative Industries as a division within the PCA, supported by $2 million in new funding to advance creative sector economic development without diverting resources from arts grants… (and provide) strong legislative oversight of PCA grantmaking and funding decisions… (among other requests.)” – Patrick Fisher, CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
If you are interested in advocating reach out to our state representatives
