Regional Folklife Centers in Pennsylvania

A network of agencies across the state of Pennsylvania can offer information and help with projects in folk arts in their areas:

Erie Art Museum [Northwestern PA]
411 State Street
Erie, PA 16501
Contact: Kelly Armor
Phone: 814.459.5477
Email: folkart@eriemuseum.org
Web: www.erieartmuseum.org
Description: The Regional Folk Arts Support Center work of the Erie Arts Museum includes identifying traditional artists in the greater Erie community and linking them with existing local arts programming and grant opportunities. Special projects have included a project on "Old Songs, New Opportunities." The website includes profiles of regional folk artists. Technical Assistance is provided to Crawford, Erie, and Warren County.

Institute for Cultural Partnerships [South Central PA]
3211 N. Front Street, #104
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone: 717.238.1770
Contact: Amy Skillman and Lisa Rathje
Email: skillman@culturalpartnerships.org
Web: www.cultural partnerships.org
Description: The Institute for Cultural Partnerships (ICP) facilitates opportunities for understanding among diverse cultures and communities. ICP focuses on helping people understand their own culture, understand others, develop positive inter-group relations, and build strong communities. ICP manages the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Folk Arts Fellowship and Apprenticeship programs, with August 1st deadlines annually. They also provide direct Regional Folk Arts Support Center services for South Central Pennsylvania (Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon, Lancaster, Perry, and York counties).

Northern Tier Cultural Alliance [North Central PA]
One Washington Street, Suite A
Towanda, PA 18848.
Contact: Jennifer L. Swain, Ruth Tonachel
Phone: 570.265.7455
Email: info@ntculturalalliance.org
Web: www.ntculturalalliance.org
Description: As a Regional Folk Arts Support Center, NTCA engages in fieldwork, provides technical assistance, and develops programming and grant opportunities for traditional artists and organizations in nine counties: Bradford, Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming. See their website for grants opportunities and workshop schedules, and for information about their programs, including conferences, an annual Artist Gathering, an annual exhibition, the North Country Artisan Center and Store, the Route 6 Artisan Trail, and more.

Philadelphia Folklore Project [Southeastern Pennsylvania]
735 S. 50th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Phone: 215.726.1106
Contacts: Roko Kawai, Debora Kodish, Toni Shapiro-Phim
Email: pfp@folkloreproject.org
Web: www.folkloreproject.org
Description: PFP provides technical assistance in southeastern Pennsylvania to people working in folk arts and cultural heritage; much of the material on our website can be helpful to people who live outside this region. We offer free monthly workshops (usually September - June) on project planning, grant writing, developing work samples, building budgets, writing artist bios and project narratives, and other subjects, for folk and traditional artists and grassroots groups. (Many handouts from those workshops are available here on the website). Our website also provides a range of information for people developing projects in the folk arts; information about some significant traditional artists in our region, resources on folk arts and education, and a sample of our 20 years of programs and publications are available for free, right here.

Rivers of Steel Heritage Area [Southwestern PA]
623 East 8th Avenue
Homestead, PA 15120
Phone: 412.464.4020, ext. 43
Contact: Doris Dyen, Julie A. Throckmorton-Meunier
Email: ddyen@riversofsteel.com
Web: www.riversofsteel.org
Description: The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area identifies, conserves, interprets, promotes, and manages the historic, cultural, natural, and recreational resources of steel and its related industries in southwestern Pennsylvania. Coordinated by the non-profit Steel Industry Heritage Corporation, its mission is to use these resources to encourage community revitalization through cultural tourism and related economic development. Rivers of Steel serves as the Regional Folklife Center for southwestern Pennsylvania. Programs include folklife education (classroom programs, field trips, hands-on activities and tours), referrals, assistance to traditional artists and organizations, and maintenance of a reference collection. The agency serves nine southwestern Pennsylvania counties (Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland).

Who offers what kind of help? This table will give you some quick links to the services of the groups listed above. While a group may provide some direct services primarily within their own region, they may offer other services or information that are more widely useful.