Bucks, Montco art centers receive coronavirus pandemic relief

The James A. Michener Art Museum leads a list of more than a dozen Bucks and Montgomery County art and cultural centers that will receive federal grant funding to offset the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

The museum in Doylestown Borough will be one of 36 organizations in Pennsylvania to receive $50,000 as part of a $1.8 million pot distributed by the National Endowment for the Arts through the federal CARES Act, the Wolf administration announced this week.

The grant will be used to help support staff salaries, fees for artists or contractual personnel and facilities costs, officials said.

Along with the $50,000 grant, the museum is among 273 groups in the state to receive a $1,930 grant as part of $527,000 distributed by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through the CARES Act.

Other awardees in Bucks include Bristol Riverside Theater in Borough Borough, Bucks County Community College as well as the Bucks County Historical Society, Bucks County Symphony Society, Community Conservatory Of Music and County Theater, all of which are in Doylestown.

In Montgomery, recipients included the Abington Art Center, Act II Playhouse in Ambler, Ambler Theater, Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Community Music School Of Collegeville, Hiway Theatre in Jenkintown, Montgomery County Community College Cultural Affairs Office, Montgomery Theatre in Montgomery Township, Ursinus College Philip & Muriel Berman Museum Of Art in Collegeville and the Wolf Performing Arts Center in Bryn Mawr.

“Arts organizations are an important part of their communities and contribute to the economic health of our state,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for many organizations, including the arts. The National Endowment for the Arts recognized the role of the arts in Pennsylvania and the need to help artists and the organizations that support them to inspire creativity and vitality in our commonwealth.”

In 2017, arts and cultural economic activity accounted for 4.5% of gross domestic product or $877.8 billion when adjusted for inflation, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In Pennsylvania, the industry contributed $25.8 billion to the state’s economy and employed 176,000 workers, state officials said.

The federal funding is essential to the arts and culture sector in Pennsylvania, which have been severely impacted by the pandemic, said Karl Blischke, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts executive director.

“Pre-pandemic, Pennsylvania’s creative economy was critical to the vitality and livability of our communities and to development of our commonwealth’s talent pipeline,” Blischke said. “Support for these organizations today helps to ensure that they are positioned to play a key role in the recovery of Pennsylvania’s cities and towns going forward.”