Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Hires New Executive Director

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) announces the appointment of Karl Blischke as its new executive director. Blischke joins the PCA by way of Florida, where he served in several senior level positions within the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity and Governor’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.

From 2000-2009, Blischke worked for the PCA, ultimately overseeing the agency’s partnership programs, which annually provide services, programming, and more than 1,000 grants to organizations in all 67 counties in the commonwealth. “It is a pleasure to return to Pennsylvania where my previous work with the PCA’s many programs and initiatives taught me the business of state arts agencies,” said Blischke. “My family and I look forward to being Pennsylvanians, me for the second time and my family for the first.

Blischke replaces Philip Horn, who has served as the PCA’s Executive Director since being appointed in 1994. Prior to his arrival in Harrisburg he  was the first managing director of a community art school in Michigan and worked for the California Arts Council for eleven years. Under Horn’s tenure the PCA has made great strides in the arts.  The PCA was the first agency of Pennsylvania state government to deploy an electronic grant application. Through implementation of this streamlined grantmaking approach, the PCA doubled its number of grantees and expanded its service, while decreasing internal processing costs. The streamlining of the grants system enabled the PCA to realign its staff to work closely with new applicants, guide new partnerships and initiatives, and provide expanded services.

Read more about Philip Horn’s retirement here.

Read more about Karl Blischke’s appointment here.