Blog

Join us on May 31 at 9 AM at the gardens of Blossom McBrier.

Erie Arts & Culture’s Leading Ladies, an affinity group passionate about arts in education, are looking for new members. We invite you to join us at our annual meeting on Memorial Day to find out more about our group. The meeting will be held outdoors at the gardens of Blossom McBrier and will include a Philharmonic quartet and a tour of Blossom’s renowned gardens.

The Coffee & Croissant gathering will be an informational session and start at 9 am. There will be various horticultural demonstrations during the day and the Erie Philharmonic will perform at noon. All are encouraged to bring a picnic to enjoy on the lawn.

On May 8, 2021, Erie Arts & Culture welcomes our fifth visiting artist of 2021, Padma Rajendran.

Padma was born in Klang, Malaysia and now lives in Catskill, NY. Utilizing fabric of different hierarchies, Padma experiments with the clash and combination of patterning and structure. The composition and content indicate duality that centers around multi-facetted definitions of Other and universal heritage. Encoding cloth with these adornments, inks, symbols, and scenes is a way to honor these stories, traditions, and strains. Her work addresses observations and contradictory understanding of home, homecoming, and homeland.

While in residence, Padma will work with professor Doug Eberhardt to utilize the printmaking facilities at Edinboro University. Padma plans to work on a series of screen prints on both fabric and paper.

Erie Arts & Culture partnered with the Erie Downtown Partnership to produce two “Stay Home Jam Together” sessions live-streamed during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is observed every year but follows a lunar calendar, so it is celebrated around 10 days earlier than the previous year. This year Ramadan started April 13 and ends on the evening of May 12. For 30 days Muslims fast from all food and water from sunrise to sundown. Ramadan is a time for reflection, giving to charity, and spending time with family. Erie has a sizeable Muslim community, many of them former refugees from Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq, and Syria.

Erie Arts & Culture, in collaboration with the CHROMA Guild, hosted the first annual Arts + Agency Week, during April 11-17, 2021. During this week, artists, cultural organizations, and advocacy groups explored the ways the arts are being leveraged to raise awareness of systemic issues, amplify under-represented voices, and generate creative solutions to societal challenges. EAC hosted a total of 14 virtual presentations.

Thank you to all who streamed on Zoom and Facebook! Below you will find all of the recordings from the 14 presenters. Included under each video are key takeaways submitted by community members and EAC staff. Next year’s Arts and Agency week will take place April 2-9, 2022. 

Teaching artists are critical to much of the mission of Erie Arts & Culture. Many of our programs rely on the unique expertise of teaching artists. Both those with extensive classroom and community teaching experience as well as artists who are interested in learning how to incorporate teaching into their practice are eligible to become a teaching artist. We invite individuals from across the teacher-artist spectrum to learn more and to apply below. The deadline to apply is May 28, 2021. Panel interviews occur in June and new teaching artist orientation and training is held in July and August.

We invite you to read and share our 2021 Q1 Impact Report!  Download the pdf to learn about our most recent programs, services, and impact on the community.

We're taking a slightly different approach with our Impact Reports this year. By drastically reducing the text density found in our previous reports, we strive to say more with less. We use data and pictures to tell stories and communicate our outcomes and impacts. 

The expERIEnce Children’s Museum partnered with six New American families and a family from Puerto Rico to create a video series titled “expERIEnce My Home.” Each video welcomes the viewer to learn about a specific culture, from a child’s eye view. The viewer is invited to learn about the Bosnian pastry called pita, a traditional Syrian wedding dance, the celebration of Diwali, how Congolese carry a baby on their back, traditional Puerto Rican attire, and ancestral drumming from Nepal. Children share greetings in Swahili, Spanish, Arabic, Bosnian, and Tamang.

For many of us throughout the last year, we’ve had to learn to quickly adapt and shift our plans and expectations. This situation was no different for rostered teaching artist, Marquis Wallace, who recently completed a residency at the Booker T. Washington Center Development and Education Center.  Marquis Wallace is a dancer, visual artist, and writer based in Erie.  Marquis collaborated with filmmaker and photographer Alex Staley, dancer, instructor, and choreographer Mariah Johnson, and certified Yoga instructor Katie Adiutor to develop a series of programming for senior citizens. With these partners, Marquis created a set of 10 different fun and relatable videos that challenged participants in a positive, healthy manner.

Two new American Rescue Plan grant programs will provide emergency relief to humanities organizations and professionals affected by the pandemic.

Please join us for our next PRO Network webinar entitled "Connected Narratives: A Presentation and Conversation with Kedgar Volta" on April 29 at 6 PM.
Kedgar Volta will host a conversation centered around three pieces of seemingly different works that have a common underlying foundation. The first piece dates back to 2013 and the most recent one is still in the works. Kedgar will explore the process behind each piece and their evolution as they progress to completion.

Harrisburg, PA – The State Museum of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation invite artists and craftspeople to submit applications to exhibit their work in the annual Art of the State. Now in its 54th year, this acclaimed juried exhibition boasts a tradition of presenting highly creative art by Pennsylvanians, chosen by a distinguished panel of jurors.

Art of the State is scheduled to open to the public on-site at The State Museum on Sunday, September 26, 2021, and will close January 2, 2022.

On April 1, 2021, Erie Arts & Culture welcomes our fourth visiting artist of 2021, Carl Joe Williams. 

Carl Joe Williams is a contemporary African American artist known for his multimedia paintings, sculpture, installations, and interdisciplinary works. He creates paintings and painted sculptures from found objects. Carl Joe describes his works as “symphonies of colors” that present a powerful visual experience. 

Erie Arts and Culture is deeply saddened by the recent murders in Atlanta, GA that targeted the Asian community. Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this tragic and senseless event. We denounce all forms of racism, misogyny, and violence. 

In tandem with our friends and colleagues at the Erie Asian Pacific American Association, we encourage our community to join us in supporting those grieving or living in fear by exploring the included resource list.

Erie Arts & Culture, in collaboration with the CHROMA Guild, is pleased to announce the first annual Arts + Agency Week, slated for April 11-17, 2021 in Erie County, Pennsylvania. During this week, artists, cultural organizations, and advocacy groups will be aligned to explore the ways the arts are being leveraged to raise awareness of systemic issues, amplify under-represented voices, and generate creative solutions to societal challenges.