Local Arts Groups to Receive PPA Grants at Oct. 2 Ceremony

Philadelphia--On October 2, 2014, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance will distribute nearly $92,000 in Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PPA) Project Stream grants at an award ceremony to be held at PECO’s Energy Hall.
 
Project Stream grants are distributed by the Cultural Alliance and provide seed money to individual artists and organizations offering innovative, community-based arts projects in southeastern Pennsylvania. Funding for the grants is made possible through the PCA Partners in the Arts program with additional support provided by PECO. The program enables the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to reach a wider audience by increasing access to funds for organizations and artists across the state, thereby increasing statewide audience exposure to arts activities.
 
“The Cultural Alliance is proud to be a regional partner of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts,” said Michael Norris, Interim Executive Director of the Cultural Alliance. “Through programs like the PPA Project Stream, we can help local artists and organizations fund their creative projects and empower them to drive economic, cultural and social change in their communities. This year’s grantees have taken a really innovative approach to the ‘community-based’ aspect of Project Stream: We have artistic projects in churches, schools, community centers, parks and libraries.”
 
Project Stream provides grants of up to $2,500 to eligible organizations and individuals conducting arts projects in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. This year, 76 individual artists and nonprofit organizations from around the region will be funded, with an average award of over $1,000. Each organization will also receive an additional $197 funded by PECO.
 
2014 PPA Project Stream Grant award recipients include:
 

• Project Meanwhile, an experimental art collective that seeks to create a theatrical social experience in the form of a pop-up location that supplements traditional museum collections. Meanwhile...Behind the Shakespeare Forgeries will be Project Meanwhile's inaugural alternate museum experience in partnership with the Rosenbach Museum's Shakespeare forgeries collection.
• Art Goes to School of the Delaware Valley, Inc., which supplements elementary school curricula with additional exposure to fine arts for the 2014-2015 school year by partnering with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to place reproductions from their collection in the classrooms of 40 regional school districts.
• Philadelphia Youth Media Collaborative, a network of youth service organizations that use media arts to build leadership, foster self-expression and critical thinking. The Mashed Crew is a youth committee within PYMC that connects youth across programs and disciplines in Philadelphia. 
• Positive Aging in Lower Merion (PALM), which will provide a weaving class for older adults at their senior center. Classes will be taught by Barbara Parman and are held year-round on a weekly basis with 1-2 community demonstrations both on- and off-site.
• Arts Holding Hands and Hearts (AHHAH), which will present monthly expressive arts workshops for Coatesville middle and high school students, and feature activities led by a variety of teaching artists with the goal of community connection and engagement. 

 
For a full list of grant recipients broken down by county, click here. 
 
 
ABOUT THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL ALLIANCE

Established in 1972, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is the region’s leading arts and cultural advocacy, research and marketing organization. Our mission is to “lead, strengthen and give voice to a diverse cultural sector that is making Philadelphia a world-class region to live, work, and play.”  Our membership includes over 400 organizations ranging from museums and dance companies to community art centers, historic sites, music ensembles and zoos. Our members, as well as the cultural community as a whole, count on the Alliance for signature research reports on the health and growth of the sector; grantmaking in partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the arts; robust professional development and membership services; marketing and audience development through our signature consumer marketing programs, Phillyfunguide.com and Funsavers; and leadership in policy and community engagement through our GroundSwell advocacy initiative and STAMP teen program. For more information on the Cultural Alliance, please visit www.philaculture.org.