The Lackawanna County Commissioners Patrick M. O’Malley, Jerry Notarianni and Laureen A. Cummings announced the 2017 arts & culture organizations and individuals who have received grant support for their various community projects, events and activities.

Financial assistance was awarded in two forms: program stream grants and community project grants.

The program stream grants are larger awards to arts and cultural non-profits who receive a yearly allocation from the Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department.  Their operations are reviewed every other year to gauge need, their projects and general growth.

Community project grants are one-time disbursements for a specific activity administered by an organization or individual.  Applicants may reapply every October for this form of funding.

The applications for both revenue streams are reviewed and scored by a panel to help determine if the programs, projects or activities should be funded. Both grant programs are modeled after the process that The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts utilizes.

The financial resources for the grants come from the Arts, Education & Culture tax, which is assessed annually at a rate of approximately 1.0 mill.

The County’s Arts and Culture Department and the Pocono Arts Council has also  recognized the Pennsylvania Arts Council’s “Partners in the Arts” Project Stream Award recipients from our region.

The amount awarded for 32 program grants this year was $214,200.  The total for 22 project grants was $50,000.

Local anchor institutions, The Everhart Museum and The Scranton Cultural Center, received their annual education/arts & culture allocation of $240,000 each. The Lackawanna County Library System received $60,000 to operate the County Law Library, with $180,000 being held for emergency capital expenses/improvements.

The 2017 program stream grant recipients are:  Abington Business & Professional Association (Ice Festival) – $4,000; Actor’s Circle – $6,000; Anthracite Heritage Museum & Iron Furnaces – $7,000; Arcadia Chorale – $3,000; Artists for Art Gallery – $6,000; Ballet Theatre of Scranton – $7,000; Boys and Girls Clubs of NEPA – $5,000; and Broadway Theatre League – $15,000.

Also, Catholic Choral Society – $3,000; Choral Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania – $3,500;

City of Carbondale – Pioneer Heritage Festival – $4,000; Classical Guitar Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania – $1,200; Electric City Television – $30,000; First Friday Scranton – $6,000; La Festa Italiana – $7,000; and Lackawanna All County High School Band – $1,000.

Also, Lackawanna Historical Society – $20,000; Lackawanna River Corridor Association River Fest – $3,000; Lackawanna Heritage Valley – Heritage Explorer & Santa Train – $1,000; Lyric Consort – $3,000; Mostly Opera – $1,500; N.E.I.U. #19 – Poetry Out Loud Program – $1,000; North Pocono Cultural Society – $3,500; and Scranton Civic Ballet – $7,000.

Also, Scranton Jazz Festival – $10,000; Scranton Music Association – $3,000; Scranton Public Theatre – $3,500; Scranton Shakespeare Festival – $6,000; St. Patrick’s Day Parade Association – $6,000; St. Ubaldo Festival – $6,000; The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic – $16,000; and United Neighborhood Centers of NEPA Illumination Arts After School Program and Arts projects at Project Hope – $15,000.

The individuals and organizations receiving 2017 community projects are: Scranton Fringe Festival – $2,900;

Ghostlight Productions – $2,800; Doug Smith – $2,800; Lisa Cassella – $2,700; Marylou Chibirka – $2,700; Julie Esty – $2,600; Rosemary Hay – $2,600; and Michaela Moore & My Colley – $2,600.

Also, First Presbyterian Church – $1,900; Waverly Community House – $2,500; Ihor Shablovsky – $2,350; Covenant Public Concerts – $2,350; Friends of the ARC Auxiliary – $2,300; Shannon Keith – $2,200; St. Joseph’s Center – $2,100; and Margo Azzarelli – $1,100.

Also, Marywood University – $2,000; Leela Baikadi – $2,000; Matthew Rupcich – $1,800; Sujata Nair-Mulloth – $1,900; West Scranton Hyde Park Neighborhood Watch, Inc. – $1,900; Mark Dennebaum – $1,900.