CELEBRATE AND ADVOCATE: The Future of the Arts in the Lehigh Valley

Posted on November 4, 2014by lvartscouncil

 The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts has launched a new website at http://www.arts.pa.gov and is tackling the social media landscape. Like every cultural and historic non-profit agency or organization in the 21^st Century, the PCA is looking for 21^st Century ways to serve and inform its constituents. As one of 13 state-wide agencies known as the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, the Lehigh Valley Arts Council is joining the campaign for celebrating, advocating, and funding creative arts activities in our region.

On October 14, members, friends, and PPA grant awardees gathered at one of our corporate sponsors – Capital Blue of the Lehigh Valley – and with the support of Embassy Bank and PPL, we launched our own version of “celebrate and advocate.” In a boisterous, eclectic crowd of 75-plus, we introduced artists, members, and friends to each other and offered them an evening of congratulations and encouragement, healthy refreshments and unexpected reunions, networking and exploring.

Arts Count is our annual recognition of the individuals, communities, and organizations who engage in the process of applying for PPA grants – collecting information, building relationships, setting expectations, navigating the grant application. The 2014-2015 Project Stream grant awards in Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton counties include 28 awards, but every one of the 40 applicants who embraced the journey gained insight, confidence, and colleagues along the way. Each is contributing talents and resources to the cultural landscape in our backyard. Visit http://www.lvartscouncil.org/programs for details on the PPA grant programs and link to our grant recipients for details about their work.

Behind the scenes, a successful PPA award process requires dedicated volunteers to serve on our grants panels each year.  The panelists’ expertise, integrity, and commitment to the arts in our community and willingness to prepare objectively for our panel reviews are essential to this regional grant-making process. Our hope is to reward artistic innovation, build creative community, and advocate for diversity.

For details on the PPA grant application process or interest in future consideration to serve as a grants review panelist, contact ppa@lvartscouncil.org.  And next year, join us to Celebrate and Advocate.

by Marilyn J. Roberts, PPA Coordinator