Several local agencies are among nearly 400 entities to receive funding in the latest round of grants from the COVID-19 ARPA PA Arts and Culture Recovery Program.
ARPA is the White House rescue plan providing direct relief to bolster the U.S. economy in the wake of the recent pandemic.
This round of grants, totaling some $15 million, was announced at Dec. 19 meeting of the Commonwealth Financing Authority, which oversees dispersal of the funds in Pennsylvania.
The largest local grant went to The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, spanning Cumberland, Dauphin, and Lebanon counties. It was one of 14 regional grants awarded, totaling $1,650,000. The Foundation for Enhancing Communities grant totaled $82,500.
According to documents provided by the Commonwealth Financing Authority, the funds will be distributed “to arts and culture professionals as the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts regranting organization” in the three-county region.
The three remaining grants went directly to arts organizations in the Mount Gretna area and are to be used toward operating expenses. The organizations and monetary awards are:
- Gretna Productions Inc., doing business as Gretna Theatre, in Mount Gretna Borough, $26,648.
- Music at Gretna Inc. in Mount Gretna Borough, $17,084.
- Mount Gretna School of Art in West Cornwall Township, $10,036.
The three local groups were among 380 organizations to receive funding throughout the state in this round of grant awards. Monetary disbursements to organizations totaled $13,350,000.
According to the website for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, the COVID-19 ARPA PA Arts and Culture Recovery Program was created to provide grants to nonprofit arts and culture organizations, local arts and culture districts and arts and culture professionals in Pennsylvania to ensure the stability and recovery of the commonwealth’s arts and culture sector from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grants were available to museums, accredited zoos, planetariums, orchestras, public gardens, and other arts and culture organizations, as well as nonprofit, tax-exempt corporations or foundations, units of government and school districts that serve as local regranting organizations for the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
The maximum grant is 25 percent of the operating budget for the most recently completed fiscal year or $500,000, whichever is less, per eligible applicant, the DCED website noted. The minimum grant is $25,000 per eligible applicant.
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