The PA Council on the Arts' Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program is designed to pair creative entrepreneurs with access to free small business consulting services and $2000 grants to support the growth and development of their for-profit businesses. 

The PA Council on the Arts seeks to use this program to help creative entrepreneurs to grow their business, audience, and revenue. The Program advances the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ overarching value of diversity, equity, and inclusion by prioritizing investments to creative entrepreneurs who identify Black, Indigenous, or people of color ("BIPOC") and those who are located in low-income communities, according to the CDFI Fund New Markets Tax Credit (<80% AMI) map.

Application Deadline

Applications will be accepted from October 1 - December 31 at 11:59pm. 

All applicants must meet with a designated referral coordinator to be eligible for funding. Please plan accordingly. Find your referral partner under "Referral Process" on the CEA webpage. 

Note: Applicants using the Gannon SBDC as a referral partner must submit the Request for Consulting application by December 1st to be considered.

Applicants will be notified of funding decisions on March 31.

Grant Amounts
Grants are $2,000. Grantees have 12 months to use the funds. 

Eligibility
Creative entrepreneurs, if funded, are eligible to reapply for the Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program once every three years.

      Applicants must:
      1. Be at least 18 years of age and a current resident of Pennsylvania for at least one year.
      2. Have a business with gross revenue less than $200,000.
      3. Be a creative entrepreneur intending to form a business or operating a business in Pennsylvania within one or more of the following creative industry areas:

• Marketing – Advertising and marketing agencies & professionals
• Architecture – Architecture firms & architects
• Visual Arts & Crafts – Galleries, artists, artisans & makers
• Design – Product, interior, graphic, and fashion design firms and designers
• Film & Media – Film, video, animation, TV & Radio businesses
• Digital Games – Companies, programmers & individuals producing games.
• Music & Entertainment –Producers, venues, musicians & performers
• Publishing  – Print or electronic businesses & content creators, editors & writers

Eligible Uses of Funds
Funds must support business formation or development. Eligible uses of grant funds include:

• Professional fees for workshops, consultants, and career coaching.
• Participation in events, trade shows, festivals, etc. that offer access to audience and revenue generation potential.
• Business development fees for courses or seminars for business skills.
• Research and development.
• Marketing and promotion.
• Development or upgrades to technology related to business practices.
• Studio/rehearsal/retail space rent.
• Reasonable fees for supporting/collaborating artists.
• Purchase of supplies and equipment.

Grants funds cannot be used for the following:

• Activities outside the grant period.
• Activities that have a religious purpose.
• Payments to lobbyists.
• Activities for which academic credit is given.
• Offsets to regular business operating costs, including regular salary or wages.
• Hospitality, food, or beverages.

Step 1:

Before applying, all applicants must first have a consultation with a Referral Coordinator. The Referral Coordinator assists with the logistics of starting a business including the development of a business plan and continued growth strategies.

Step 2:

Upon receiving a referral form from a designated Referral Coordinator, applicants may submit application materials through Erie Arts & Culture. Submissions must include the creative entrepreneur’s application form, business plan, 12 month budget projection, referral form, and description of the intended use of funds. 

Tips: 

• Be specific about how you intend to use the grant funds. Include exact items to be purchased, prices, quotes, etc. 
• Communicate the impact of this investment: why are you choosing to use the funds in this way, and what will change for your business as a result of the grant funding? 
• If you include relevant 12 month business goals in your application, also include your present position. This helps contextualize your proposal.       
  
  
  

Questions? Contact Casey Corritore, Program Officer of Arts, Culture, and Creative Entrepreneurship: casey@erieartsandculture.org | 814-452-3427 x 108

Non-profit arts organizations in Erie County that present music performances are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 from the Clarence E. Beyers Fund for partial project and program funding. Requests that support innovative projects and/or audience development initiatives are especially competitive.


Erie Arts & Culture intends to fund projects of all musical genres that exemplify one of more of the following principles of artistic "quality":

• Commitment - the creative process and result demonstrate conviction to a cause championed by the work
• Cultural Integrity - the work demonstrates ethical use of material with specific cultural origins and context
• Communal Meaning - the work facilitates collective meaning that transcends individual perspective and experience
• Emotional and Sensory Experience - the work evokes an emotional experience and/or includes vivid sensations that deepen the audience’s experience
• Openness - the vision and intent of the work is open to interpretation and encourages questioning
• Coherence - vision and intent of the work is strong and/or explicitly stated
• Disruption and Risk-Taking - the work challenges convention by subverting dominant narratives, aesthetics, or standards

Funding Criteria
The Beyers Fund strictly supports music performance projects in Erie County. This means grant funds should not be requested in support of recurring programs or capital improvement projects. Projects seeking funding shall meet the following requirements explicitly:

• Project deliverables must be intended to provide an artistic or social benefit to stakeholders of Erie County.
• Any events or activities supported through this grant program must be open to the public. 
• Open to the public does not necessarily mean free to the public. 
• No activities supported through this grant program may have a religious or political purpose.
• This grant program is not designed to provide financial support as reimbursements for expenses incurred outside of the grant activity period.
•  No awards will be made to individuals or in support of capital expenditures

Erie Arts & Culture will only consider applications and projects that are grounded in commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA).

Applications will be accepted from October 1 - December 15. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions on April 1.

Questions? Contact Casey Corritore, Erie Arts & Culture's Program Officer of Arts, Culture, and Creative Entrepreneurship: casey@erieartsandculture.org | 814-452-3427 x 108.

Erie Arts & Culture seeks grant review panelists to help create panels to review applications submitted to the organization for funding consideration throughout the year, including grants for individual artists as well as those for arts organizations. Panels are integral to the grantmaking process, providing a critical review, comments, and scores of all applications to a particular grant program.

We work hard to balance the composition of these panels by artistic discipline, race/ethnicity, ability, arts experience, and gender expression. Panels are composed of individuals who represent a broad range of artistic and cultural viewpoints and geographic and ethnic diversity. We welcome you to apply to share your expertise and talent as a grant panelist.

As a panelist, you will have the opportunity to develop connections with peers who share your passion for art and culture while supporting your community. Panelists are a vital force in the decision-making process, get an up-close look at the grantmaking process and learn about the many ways artists and art organizations make a difference across the community.

Panelist Responsibilities

• Attend an orientation meeting to get familiar with the grant program, review process, scoring criteria, and Submittable platform.
• Read and rate each grant application according to the review criteria. Reading the grant applications must be done in advance of the panel meeting on your own time. You should expect to spend several hours reading, reviewing, and scoring the applications.
• Attend the panel session. The panel meeting is typically 1-2 hours and is a one-time commitment where you will discuss the applications and make a funding recommendation with your fellow panelists.