Since 2000, ArtsPath at Ä¢¹½tv has been one of 14 regional arts-in-education partners in the state that partner with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, providing AIE services to Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and Jefferson counties.
The 2024–25 academic year will be the last year for ArtsPath at Ä¢¹½tv as one of the 14 organizations in the state that partner with the in providing arts-in-education services, primarily artist residencies, to our assigned counties.
This summer, the university elected to no longer receive the Arts-in-Education Grant from the PCA, a grant that it has accepted each year for the past 25 years.
This was a very challenging and difficult decision. Throughout the program’s history, ArtsPath and its roster of professional teaching artists have provided amazing, engaging, and wonderfully creative arts experiences through hundreds of residencies to literally tens of thousands of individuals throughout its assigned region of Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and Jefferson counties.
Unfortunately, and as it has for so many arts programs, funding challenges become too much overcome. Also unfortunately, those same challenges are being experienced—and are oftentimes magnified—at our institutions of higher education. For funding reasons, the program has simply become unsustainable.
The final ArtsPath residency will take place in August 2025, as fiber artist Sandy Trimble—one of the original ArtsPath teaching artists—works with seniors at the Chestnut Hill Social Center in Blairsville, PA. The final ArtsPath day will officially be August 31, 2025.
Going forward, because the PCA is treating the upcoming 2025–26 GY as a one-year extension of the previously held five-year grant (in order to align the next five-year grant cycle with their new strategic plan, which begins in 2026–27), they have elected to not support the five ArtsPath counties with state-provided AIE funding this next year.
However, for those interested in bringing in an artist to work with the population at your organization, whether a school, senior center, etc., that can still happen—you will just need to fund the full cost of the residency instead of sharing it on a percentage basis with the state dollars previously provided by the PCA through ArtsPath.
To find an artist for your residency experience, you have three choices.
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Contact any artist whom you would like to have come into your organization. When not utilizing an AIE partner and their state-provided AIE funds, you’re not limited to artists who have applied and been selected by an AIE partner for inclusion on the roster of state teaching artists. There are likely a number of excellent artists in your area.
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Look through the ArtsPath Directory showing ArtsPath teaching artists who are remaining active and available, and contact them directly.
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Browse the artist directories in the five surrounding AIE partners. They are:
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If you would like to look at the artist rosters of the other AIE partners located in the central and eastern part of the state, you can find a list of those partners on the by clicking the blue Arts in Education Partners button. Just be aware that bringing artists from longer distances can result in increased residency costs for mileage and lodging.
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While none of these AIE partners can use any of their state-provided AIE funds to support a residency in this region, you can be assured that you’re looking at a list of highly qualified and vetted professional artists who are familiar with the residency model.
If you have any questions, the person to contact is Jamie Dunlap, chief of Creative Catalysts and Lifelong Learning, at the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (jadunlap@pa.gov). She will point you in the right direction for your arts/residency needs.
For the program, earlier this year, the PCA selected one organization to deliver the POL program to the state. If you would like to participate in POL 2026, the two people to email at the PCA are Jaime Dunlap (email above) and Amanda Lovell (alovell@pa.gov). They will put you in touch with the individual and organization that is facilitating POL 2026. You can also find additional POL information in Pennsylvania on the .
It has been an honor and privilege to have worked with the many terrific employees at Ä¢¹½tv and, more importantly, the Ä¢¹½tv Research Institute, but also with so many organizations throughout this region in bringing meaningful Arts experiences to so many students of all ages.
Wishing everyone the best and a future filled with the arts!
Jeff Wacker
Coordinator, AIE Services
The Lively Arts / ArtsPath
Ä¢¹½tv Community Music School