Arts and Activities Alliance of Boyertown Awarded

Grant from Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts

            Paula Stackonis and Jane Stahl, coordinators of Boyertown’s newly-created Arts and Activities Alliance, a committee of Building a Better Boyertown, accepted a check recently at a ceremony held at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts to fund assorted arts-related activities from September 2007-August 2008.

The check ceremony was presented by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts regional partner, the Berks Arts Council, which serves Berks, Schuylkill, Lancaster and Lebanon Counties.

Berks Arts Council is one of 15 Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts that annually evaluates grants for individual projects and on-going programs within a four-county region. These grants fund a variety of dance, theater, music and visual arts projects.

Boyertown’s Arts and Activities Alliance submitted a calendar of exhibits, field trips to artists’ studios, workshops, seminars, literary circles, and activities focusing on enhancing creativity, integrating the mind/body/spirit connection and promoting the community’s health and wellness through participation in the visual and literary arts.

Connie Leinbach, executive direction of the Berks Arts Council welcomed representatives of over 30 art-related projects from Berks and Schuylkill Counties to introduce themselves and share descriptions of their projects.

Applications from 35 programs were accepted for funding out of a total of 49 submissions. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is a state agency established in 1966 by the State Legislature as an executive Office of the Office of the Governor and charged the “the encouragement and development of the various arts” in the Commonwealth.

Leinbach encouraged recipients to be sure to thank their legislators for ensuring the state budget includes money for the awards. Noting that the arts provide a social service, she encouraged support for the lobbying organizations directed toward the arts.

Dignitaries in attendance included Senator Mike O’Pake,  State Representative David Kessler, and Reading Mayor Tom McMahon.

Berks County awards and recipients: African American Coalition of Reading, Albright College Concert Series, Art Plus Gallery, Berks Ballet Theatre, Berks Bards, Berks Classical Children’s Chorus, Berks County Senior Citizens Council, Inc., Builiding a Better Boyertown, Camp Fire USA Adahi Council, Eckhaus, Greater Berks Food Bank, Hamburg Area Arts Alliance of Our Town Foundation, Historical Society of Berks County, Kutztown Folk Music Society, Meet the Artist Series at RACC, Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Association, Mifflin Community Library, Muhlenberg Arts Board, New Arts Program, Inc., Olivet Boys and Girls club, Pennsylvania State University, Reading Choral Society, Reading Pops Orchestra, Reading Theater Project, RiverPlace Development Corporation, Shillington Park Concert Series and Soul Cabaret.

            Visit Pennsylvania Council on the Arts at www.pacouncilonthearts.org, Berks Arts Council www.berksarts.org.

Upcoming events with the Berks Arts Council include Dave Koz and Friends Christmas Show at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, West Reading, PA, on November 28; Pagoda Awards at Miller Theater, Reading Area Community College, December 6, 2007; 2008 VF Outlet Berks JazzFest, Reading, PA, March 28-April 6, 2008; and Fridays in July, 2008, City Park Bandshell Series, held at City Park Bandshell, Reading, PA.