Stout, Reps Announce Art Grants

HARRISBURG, November 20, 2009 - - State Sen. J. Barry Stout and state Reps. Tim Solobay, Jesse White, and Peter Daley today announced that the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts has awarded over $8,000 in state grants for three Washington County projects.

Intermediate Unit I in Coal Center was awarded $5,361 for the support of an arts in education regional multi-residency; while Old Schoolhouse Players in Hickory and the Washington Community Arts and Cultural Center were awarded $1,029 and $2,279, respectively, to advance their programs.

“While it was frustrating to see the Council on the Arts suffer such devastating budget cuts due to the economy, their willingness to still provide grants to worthwhile organizations is great news,” Stout said. “These three Washington County arts centers are great assets to our community and these grants are essential to their continued development.”

The recently enacted state budget decreased overall funding for grants to the arts by about 24 percent. In order to maintain support for arts organizations and arts programs throughout the state, the Council was able to keep reductions to these grants below that level by cutting back, eliminating or suspending other programs.

Over the past five years, the number of grantees the Council supports has increased from about 400 to over 600.

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