Celebrating Our Latest C.E.A.P Awardees

Thursday Mar 23rd, 2023

CEAP Awardees 2023 1200 630 px

In January, members of Erie Arts & Culture’s Programs Committee evaluated applications to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program, which provides entrepreneurs in the creative industries with free small business consulting services and funding up to $2,000. Erie Arts & Culture is proud to announce that 14 entrepreneurs were funded across 4 counties in Northwest Pennsylvania, with grant awards totaling $28,000.

 

Erie Arts & Culture is an official partner of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. As one of 14 statewide Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, Erie Arts & Culture regrants state funds to support a wide variety of artists, arts activities, and arts organizations across Erie, Crawford, Warren, Mercer, Venango, and Lawrence counties.

Erie Arts & Culture appreciates and recognizes our referral partners at Bridgeway Capital, Gannon University SBDC, PennWest Clarion SBDC, and Pennsylvania Wilds for meeting 1:1 with each applicant and offering strategic advice to help each entrepreneur grow their businesses, audiences, and revenues.

Interested in applying? The next application cycle opens October 1. Contact Casey Corritore, Program Officer of Capacity Building, with questions: [email protected]

Click here for the application and more information

The creative sector refers to a range of economic activities that are concerned with the generation or distribution of knowledge, information, creativity, and innovation, which is also often referred to as the creative industries.

Creative industries include:

  • Communication & marketing
  • Architecture
  • Visual arts & crafts
  • Design - product, interior, graphic & fashion
  • Digital and analog media - film, television, web & radio
  • Digital games
  • The performing arts & live entertainment
  • Publishing

A creative entrepreneur is an individual who is in the process of creating or has created a new business representing one or more of the creative industries.

Congratulations to the recipients!

Clarisse Amani
Clarisse Amani is one of the few sources for Congolese formalwear in the City of Erie. Clarisse offers clients the highest quality fabrics and most current fashions, which are variations on bold, colorful prints. Clients can choose from a wide array of products, including readymade articles of clothing, custom tailored items, and decorative fabric overlays.

Heather Fish - Hatch Hollow
Heather Fish opened the doors of Hatch Hollow in February of 2022 as a coworking space, art supply retail storefront, and art gallery in the downtown business district of Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Robert Daniels - RoMo Pics
RoMo Pics is a company that focuses on business branding photography in Erie Pennsylvania. We specialize in professional headshots, branding sessions, commercial product photography, and portraits. RoMo Pics provides fresh, professional, and unique photos that enrich a brand’s aesthetic and promote brand loyalty. We seek to represent a brand through photography as it appeals to a company’s’ target market. Creating images that reinforce the company’s clients desire to be connected and associated with the company’s brand for a lifetime.

Hannah Moran - North Coast Pennants
North Coast Pennants creates high-quality, hand-stitched pennants that celebrate the Great Lakes Region and beyond, for those who appreciate the nostalgia and aesthetic of vintage felt. The exceptional craftsmanship ensures customers will have an heirloom piece that will last Generations.

Barbara Pierce and CJ Hurley - Century Arts Design and Fine Art Studio
Century Arts is a small residential design and art business operated by husband and wife team, Barbara Pierce and CJ Hurley. We are dedicated to design for owners of historic and period inspired homes and buildings, and creating fine art for collectors, enthusiasts, boutique shops, and art museum stores.

Lisa Hansen - Hikes and Hose
Hikes and Hose is a customizable one-of-a-kind outdoor gear company. We provide our customers with sustainable handmade gear made with a variety of materials, including lightweight waterproof fabric and recycled firehose. Products include totes made from recycled firehose, bicycle stem bags, waterproof wallets, and dog toys.

Sarah Jacobs - Sarah Jacobs Art
Sarah Jacobs is a visual artist with a Master of Fine Arts degree specializing in painting and multimedia art on canvas. Sarah sells original artworks, reproductions, custom commissioned works on canvas, custom murals, and offers painting, drawing, and design workshops for adult and high-school aged students.

Danielle Knight - Handcraft Island
Handcraft Island is a unique collection of luxury candles and wax melts. Each candle is made by an independent artist. Every candle has a special twist to it by the scent and design.

Erica Whiting - Erica Whiting Photography
Erica Whiting Photography is a creative portrait photographer focusing on non-traditional, artistic portraits customized for everyone. She uses dramatic lighting, movement, and work with clients to help style them, prepare props, and create personalized concepts to evoke emotive and powerful portraits. I believe in promoting positive self-image, inclusion and creating an empowering, fun experience. My goal is not just to create portraits but to showcase each individuals as a work of art.

Mohamed Almorsy - Mo’s Design and Fab
Mo's Design and Fab is an immigrant-owned artisan company focused on the melding of design influenced from a childhood spent in the Middle East and modern technology. Mohamed is a mixed materials artisan who believes in the intrinsic beauty of natural materials that can be further highlighted with exquisite and unique art, design, and craftsmanship. Mo's Design and Fab is in the startup phase, and will produce decorative and functional home goods like custom designed cutting boards and signs, light boxes, "magic" book boxes, metal business cards, metal branding stamps, etched art work, ceramic tiles, and topographic maps.

Sean Carey - Sean Carey Music
Sean Carey Music specializes in offering quality lessons in guitar, piano, drums, bass, ukulele, clarinet, violin, and voice, as well as courses in songwriting and studio technology, including Zoom lessons for online students. ​We are ​dedicated to providing quality music lessons in Oil City, as well as guitar services and instrument repair, sound consultations, and more.

Amanda Rumball - MUAH
MUAH is a full-service freelance makeup studio specializing in bridal and commercial makeup application, customized cosmetic education, and personal shopping servicing the Erie area & beyond.

Debbie Penley - White Oak Creations
Debbie Penley is a multimedia artist with a recent concentration in fiber art. With a focus on nature and wildlife animals, her work ranges from the realistic and lifelike to the abstract and whimsical.

Barbara Yerace - Yerace Glass Studio
Barbara Thomas Yerace is an award-winning artist who has been using glass as her primary medium for over 40 years. Her work incorporates a diverse palette of techniques including, hot glass, flame working and glass beads. She currently runs and operates a glass studio where one of a kind glass art commissions and production glassware are created for several wholesale accounts.

Erie Arts & Culture

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