EAC Awards $111,000 in Grants to Support Artists and Organizations

Written By Kimberleigh Haslett

At Erie Arts & Culture, we believe that investing in creativity strengthens communities. This year, we’re proud to announce $111,000 in grant funding awarded to support artists, arts organizations, and arts programming across Northwest Pennsylvania—fueling new ideas, sustaining vital programs, and helping our region’s creative sector thrive.

These grants reflect Erie Arts & Culture’s commitment to ensuring that artists and cultural organizations have access to meaningful resources—whether that support helps launch a new project, deepen artistic practice, build capacity, or simply make the work possible.

Honoring the 2026 Lydia McCain Artist Fellows

Tess Carletta (left), Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal (middle), and EAC Executive Director Susannah Faulkner (right)

Erie Arts and Culture is proud to announce its 2026 Lydia McCain Artist Fellows.

The McCain Fellowship provides unrestricted funding to artists living and working in Erie County, supporting one artist at each career stage—Emerging, Mid-Career, and Established. This year’s Fellowship centered Literary and Performing Artists, and we invite you to celebrate these remarkable creatives at our January 13th Creative Crowd.

Emerging Artist Fellow – Tess Carletta

Tessa Sayre (she/her) is an independent author based in North East, PA whose work features diverse characters in magical worlds with an emphasis on queer joy and the human condition. Tess writes, "A good book is one you can escape into. A great book is one that, when you return from that escape, you see the real world through a lens that is wider, wiser, and kinder... [My] published and in-progress works are a call to action to chase wholeheartedly after a meaningful existence."


Learn more: www.tesscarletta.com

Mid-Career Artist Fellow – Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal

Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal (they/them) writes queer, working-class stories, essays, and poems, with work published in journals such as Story, Third Coast, and The Masters Review. Clayton writes, "I became a writer out of necessity... it was literature that saved me and showed me hope for the future. There was no other space for me outside of books, and I... felt a need to etch my name into the world."


Learn more: www.writerclaytonbradshaw.com

Established Artist Fellow – Preach Freedom

Ronald “Preach Freedom” Williams is a musician, composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator who uses music as a tool for connection, resistance, and healing. Preach shared, "My entire practice can be summarized as 'each one, teach one'. With One World Tribe, we didn’t write for major labels, we wrote to impact our communities... 'We Are One' wasn’t just a song; it was a call: Think globally, act locally.

Music is both a mirror and a movement. It’s how I see the world, and it’s the legacy I leave. Preach Freedom is more than my name; it’s my call to action."

Creative Sector Flex Fund: Strengthening Arts Organizations and Programs Across NWPA

In addition to supporting individual artists, Erie Arts & Culture awarded $100,000 to 20 grantees through the Creative Sector Flex Fund (CSFF). This program is a grant initiative of Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), and provides $5,000 flexible-use grants to support artistic programming and/or arts services in Northwest Pennsylvania.

The Creative Sector Flex Fund helps strengthen the region’s cultural infrastructure by supporting organizations as they grow, adapt, and continue serving their communities. This year’s grantees represent arts programs and organizations across Erie, Crawford, Warren, Venango, and Lawrence Counties.

2026 Creative Sector Flex Fund Grantees

Celebrating at Creative Crowd

These grant recipients were celebrated at Erie Arts & Culture’s Creative Crowd networking event, hosted at The Shop on 19th—an evening full of connection, conversation, and creative energy.

Creative Crowd exists to do exactly what this funding supports: bring creatives together, celebrate their work, and strengthen relationships across the region.

Join Us at the Next Creative Crowds

Our next Creative Crowd is:
April 14 | 5:30–7:30 PM
Hosted by the Erie Philharmonic and the Erie Playhouse

Whether you’re an artist, arts supporter, partner organization, educator, or creative entrepreneur—Creative Crowd is for you. Come connect, learn what’s happening across the region, and celebrate the creative heartbeat of Northwest Pennsylvania.

Kimberleigh Haslett
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From the Director’s Seat: Beginning 2026 With Hope and Momentum