PA Partners in the Arts

The Cultural Alliance is the newest Pa Partner in the Arts - administering grant money for the PA Council on the Arts. With $22,500 to re-grant for the state, the Alliance was responsible for reaching 4 counties - York, Adams, Franklin, and Fulton Counties.

We met in Gettysburg in August with 7 allocation panel members from the 4 counties. We read and discussed 22 grant applications and scored them all. It was so exciting to bring grant funds to all the counties but especially YORK.

Anyway, below is a list of the grantees and their projects. They receive their money on October 24 at the Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg. We have invited all the legislators to come and see where the money was spent.

The grants will again be due in mid-June 2012. Please visit the PA Council on the Arts web site to apply on line.


PA Partners in the Arts

Program Stream Grant Recipients Total Grants = $22,793

Hanover Lancers York
For a brass and percussion concert with 7 alumni bands

PA Arts Experience York
Promote art through the Artist Trail

Performing Arts for Children York
Aid students in the fundamentals of reading and writing, kindergarten through 2nd grade, with books and a theatre experience

Reach York
A theatre experience that focuses on real student problems

Springettsbury Township York
Free summer concerts in a festive outdoor amphitheater environment

York Art Association York
Classes for African American secondary students based on Black History Themes

York County Heritage Trust York
For free Build it Days for students aged 10-18

Gettysburg Children’s Choir Adams
Gettysburg Children’s Choir Concerts

Gettysburg Community Concert Association Adams
Presentation of community concerts and student outreach

HACC Gettysburg Adams
A community celebration in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month

Chambersburg Ballet Theatre Franklin
The Firebird will be produced with outreach based on it.

Chambersburg Middle School Franklin
Residency focusing on historical dance

Franklin County Library System Franklin
Kick-off concerts for 2012 summer reading program

Freedom Valley Chorus Franklin
Presenting a show of barbershop music

Nicodemus Center for Ceramic Studies Franklin
To support the Cumberland Valley Pottery Festival

Summertrios Franklin
Adult, amateur musicians will be able to play, study, and perform classical music

Wilson College Franklin
Residency program for visual and performing artists

Central Fulton High School Fulton
A musical theatre experience open to students 7-12 grade

Forbes Road Middle School Fulton
A Historical Dance 10 day residency project for the 9th grade World History curriculum

Hope Moore Fulton
Musical theatre experience for students 4-7 grade

Southern Fulton High School Fulton
10 day residency for 10th grade literacy through Historical Dance

Creative Impact Awards

CREATIVE IMPACT AWARDS

Pilot Program

According to a survey by IBM, creativity is the number #1 attribute companies look for in new hires. Well, how do we encourage creativity in individuals? And how do we create a community that is lively with energized neighborhoods and inspired children? Yorkers challenged the Cultural Alliance to help answer that question – their voices came through loud and clear in our Community Cultural Plan. They asked the Cultural Alliance to not only fund its partners, but also fund the Creative Community – particularly anyone who has an IMPACT, helping York’s Creative Community attract tourists, business, and families.

After many meetings, the Cultural Alliance answered the most pressing goal - to “open its tent” and encourage creativity from across the county. We developed the CREATIVE IMPACT AWARDS to do just that. You can find the guidelines and application for the CREATIVE IMPACT AWARDS here. Remember, this is a PILOT PROGRAM this year, with many bumps to smooth, but this PILOT PROGRAM has $70,000 to grant in 2011/12. The deadline for applications is Monday, November 14, 2011 4:00 PM. CREATIVE IMPACT AWARD winners will be notified in the spring.

The Cultural Alliance will hold a workshop for anyone interested in learning more about the Awards. Please come October 14 at 9:00AM to the Cultural Alliance for more information. RSVP please!

The Cultural Alliance wants to fund the IMPACT of the creative sector, helping inspire children, energize neighborhoods and create community.

The Community Cultural Plan

Here are some updates on the efforts of the Community Cultural Plan. Stay tuned for some very exciting news at the end of the month.

Read some of what the Cultural Alliance is doing to make Creativity a part of all we do to Inspire children, Energize neighborhoods, and Create community.

• Sharing best practices – in March Pa Association of Non-Profit Organizations presented a full day workshop with education on how to be excellent in all aspects
• Public Art – with the support of the Women’s Giving Circle, the Cultural Alliance brought renowned public artist Ross Miller to York. We conducted a weekend workshop on Public Art, its incarnations and its inspirations. Neighborhoods and artists attended – more than 50 people helped discover and describe how and what Public Arts means in York.
• Asking for excellent operations from our current partners – For our partners, we redesigned our allocation application to concentrate on Financials and Audience Development and reward excellent practices
• Advocate for government passage of Arts Funding – Cultural Alliance has been present and involved in discussions which we hope leads to increased Bed Tax Funds for arts tourism products and programs in York
• Promote arts camps, classes, and program – The Cultural Alliance helped support the publication, Creative York, which is a listing of educational camps, programs, and teachers’ availability sent two times a year to schools, teachers, and the community
• Become more regional – Cultural Alliance and Startsomething (Arts in Education program) became regional partners with the PA Council on the Arts. We currently work in four counties – York, Adams, Franklin, and Fulton Counties.
• Create an arts/culture inventory – conducted a Local Arts Index with 12 indicators such as venues, number of seats, public Art, ethnic groups, arts education, festivals, etc. Will be published on our web site early November
• Create statewide public events – Governor’s Arts Awards, Flash Mob (500,000 hits). Being shown on German T.V.

We have been working hard and plan to work harder to make this plan continue to grow. If there is anything you want to do to keep moving it along, please call us - we’d love to have you.

Artists Needed to Help Document Ideas During the Workshop

No, no. We don't want works of art -- yet, anyway. BUT, Ross suggests that during the course of our conversations, folks might suggest ideas that are best captured with a sketch -- a creative scribble. Brenda Wintermyer agreed to be one of our Scribble Artists. I hope someone else volunteers. If the ideas are flyin' fast and furious, we need help capturing the visions. Words sometimes work; pictures might work better. Any recommendations???

You are invited to the neighborhood workshops

In response to the advice we got from the Loeb Fellows in the Fall (see "Why are we having neighborhood workshops" post): we first spoke with the Alliance of Neighborhood Association's leadership for their direction. We adopted their suggestions and have tried to design a workshop that should (we hope) allow you to identify our first project(s) and location. Ross Miller will return to York to facilitate the workshop.

If you'd like the Save The Date email for the workshop, let me know. We hope to have good representation from all the neighborhoods, from artists, and all interested people. The first day, Friday, June 24 will start at noon and we'll end about 5:00. This first day will probably include a "field trip" near the Codorus and/or the Rail Trail -- so bring an umbrella in case of rain. The second day, Saturday, June 25, will begin about 9 and we should wrap up about 2:00. Logos Academy will be our host. We are trying to design the workshop to be very interactive with as little of the usual "talking head" format as possible. If you are there, it will be more fun!

Got questions??? Please ask. Nothing is set in stone; we have much to learn from each other as we venture into this squishy endeavor of public art.

Why are we having neighborhood workshops about public art??

Good question. A little background first: Public art has long been considered a visible, credible way of defining a community, of creating a sense of place, of making a community attractive, and of attracting people to communities -- attracting people to a community contributes to the economic vitality of a community which in turn contributes to community pride. As examples, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Houston, Greensboro, and Portland (among many others) have successful public art processes and plans. For years, York has enjoyed disparate public art efforts -- from our historic statues, to our mural series, and now to the newest local effort -- the recycled art projects on Beaver Street.

Community leaders have come together recently and encouraged the Cultural Alliance to spearhead an effort to define a public art process in hopes of inspiring an integrated public art plan. That effort is being funded by the Women's Giving Circle (WGC) of the York County Community Foundation and is being coordinated by the Public Art Task Force. . . . a group of interested, innovative community members.

The first major step in developing this process was the Art for All public forum. Thanks the WGC, Foundry Plaza, Downtown Inc, and others, Genevieve Ray (a Loeb Fellow herself) invited four public art Harvard Loeb Fellows to York on behalf of the Task Force. These public art gurus formally kicked off our effort to understand how public art has evolved in different communities, how it can be funded, and, how projects evolve, and how processes can shift over time. Rosemary Noon, Kathleen Barrie, Donna Graves, and Ross Miller (Google them -- they are very impressive folks) spoke in the Capitol Theatre on September 30 and then led a series of workshops on October 1. As the Task Force hoped, we got good advice from public art professionals about how to proceed, how best to involve different people and constituents, how to get organized, and how to proceed.

The neighborhood workshops planned for June 24 and 25 are in response to "how to proceed".

Public Art for York

We are certainly busy here at the Alliance.

One of many exciting ventures is Public Art - through a grant from the Women's Giving Circle the Alliance is bringing in renowned public artist Ross Miller to assist us in finding a neighborhood in York to have public art on display.

We will hold workshops for all interested neighborhoods to talk about Public Art (what is it) and what projects might celebrate a neighborhood.

We are partnering with LOGOS ACADEMEY to present these workshops and must say, it is a pleasure having them as a partner. How wonderful to be working in the heart of York and by the Codorus. Thank you LOGOS!

If you have any questions, contact Gayle 812-9255 at our office.