Our Town Halls created space for artists, arts organizations, and community members across Northwestern Pennsylvania to stay informed about changes impacting the creative sector. These conversations provided updates on arts funding, advocacy efforts, and emerging challenges while giving our community the opportunity to ask questions, share concerns, and make their voices heard. By keeping the conversation open, we were able to better understand what our region needed and advocate together for a stronger future for the arts.

Erie Arts & Culture staff recently joined arts and culture advocates from across the Commonwealth for Stand UP for the Arts: Arts Advocacy Day 2026 at the Pennsylvania Capitol. At a time of major changes to state and federal arts funding, it was an important opportunity to make sure lawmakers heard directly why sustained investment in the arts matters. Proposed changes could put nearly 70% of arts organizations at risk, affect more than 500 jobs, and shift critical resources away from the arts and culture sector.

In Erie and across Northwest Pennsylvania, that support helps power arts education, community programming, cultural connection, and creative opportunity. Programs like Arts in Education, Folk and Traditional Arts, and Preserving Diverse Cultures are essential to expanding access, supporting artists and organizations of all sizes, and strengthening communities through creativity and culture. We were proud to stand with partners from across the state, meet directly with lawmakers, and advocate for a strong future for the arts in our region and throughout Pennsylvania.

We helped our community turn advocacy into action by making it easier to connect directly with elected officials. We collected postcards sharing personal stories about why supporting the arts matters and provided contact lists and call scripts to help advocates confidently reach out to their Senators and Representatives. Together, these efforts helped ensure that voices from across Northwestern Pennsylvania were heard in Harrisburg.

Thanks to 250+ NWPA advocates, Pennsylvania arts funding increased by $1M for the first time in 16 years—a major win for our creative community.

Read more on our blog post HERE!