Pennsylvania state budget increases arts funding for the first time since 2009

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Pennsylvania’s new $50.8 billion state budget allocated more money toward the arts, adding an additional $1 million to what has been a line item of $9.54 million since 2009.

The allotment for the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, also known as Pennsylvania Creative Industries, is earmarked for grants to “historically underserved communities, to strengthen organizational capacity, community engagement, artist development and long-term sustainability.”

Arts advocates across the state say the increase is a win, despite having asked for a $5 million increase to stagnant arts funds.

“That was really what would get us back to where we were if you count the cost of living over those 16 years,” said Kelley Gibson, board president of the arts advocacy organization Creative Pennsylvania. “Even though it doesn’t feel like a million dollars is a lot, it’s a huge increase for the cultural community across the state.”

The Pennsylvania arts sector has been pushing back against Harrisburg since last fall when the Council of the Arts rebranded itself as Creative Industries and began eliminating grant programs to streamline its operations. Among the programs lost were those focused on folklore arts and Preserving Diverse Cultures. Applicants in those fields must now file paperwork with general funding categories such as Creative Assets and Spotlight.

The language for the new $1 million increase mimics the language of the previous Preserving Diverse Cultures program.

Eric César Morales, of the Latino arts advocacy group Movimiento Administradores de Arte en Pensilvania, said he worked with elected officials to help write the language for the allotment, which serves the same goals as Preserving Diverse Cultures while avoiding words like “diverse.” The term has increasingly drawn the ire of conservatives, with the Trump administration threatening to cut funding from so-called “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” programs.

“What Preserving Diverse Cultures was doing was recognizing that there are amazing cultures all throughout the commonwealth that aren’t being represented, that need support and development,” Morales said. “Those populations can be anything, as long as they’re underserved.”

Arts organizations across the commonwealth have routinely pressed elected officials during budget season to consider arts funding, holding an annual “Arts Advocacy Day” at the capital every spring.

But this year was different, according to President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Patricia Wilson Aden. Hundreds of groups were motivated to organize and mobilize their collective political efforts.

“The genesis of this concerted effort was the fact that the decision by PA Creative Industries to terminate long-standing legacy programs, and to change their granting criteria, was felt in every district and every ZIP code across the state,” Wilson said. “We were all shaken by these decisions, so we decided to come together to shape our advocacy agenda, to reach out to our partners in the House and the Senate, and to propose alternatives.”