PHC partners with PCA to co-sponsor arts and culture projects in four Pennsylvania communities

January 29, 2020

The Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) have partnered to co-sponsor arts and culture projects in Williamsport, Meadville, Carlisle, and Upper Chichester.

The grants provide $2,000 in matched funds to towns currently implementing Community Heart & Soul®, a humanities-based community and economic development program supported by PHC. The goal is to support resident engagement and uplift local creative assets.

The four projects are as follows:

Williamsport residents will share their stories and collaborate with Factory Works to create a two pillar public art mosaic at the entrance to Pajama Factory, an iconic local building recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Inspired by community ideas and drawings, the Art & Environment Initiative (A&EI) will work with the people of Meadville to create a vibrant relief mural on the Snodgrass Building, which provides housing for residents experiencing poverty.
Greater Carlisle Heart & Soul will implement a community-led, outdoor art installation to recognize the over 600 people buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Carlisle, raising awareness about the history of the site.
The Upper Chichester Heart & Soul team will host a series of creative intergenerational rock painting workshops for residents at township parks with the intent to engage a diversity of residents.

“We are excited that the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts has partnered with us to champion local creative assets through collaborative public art,” said Dawn Frisby Byers, PHC’s Senior Director of Content and Engagement. “These projects are so wonderfully attuned to the ideas and aspirations of residents because our Community Heart & Soul® towns have worked hard over the past few years to bring together a diversity of voices to unearth shared values.”

Projects are already underway and set to be completed in 2020.