Resources

The mission of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance is to promote and develop the arts in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. To further our mission we have compiled a number of resources to help arts organizations grow and thrive.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit our country hard. The world as we know it has changed, with businesses closed, people practicing social distancing, and arts events and activities postponed or being rescheduled. Everyone has tried hard to figure out how to manage as this national emergency continues.

Arts organizations especially have had a difficult time. Many of them are staffed by small numbers of people and rely greatly on volunteers. Working remotely presents challenges due to lack of resources to set up home offices. Cancelling events presents many challenges, and the loss of revenue is tremendous. It has been a stressful time!

Now that restrictions are easing and life is starting to get back to some form of normal, there is still a need to proceed cautiously in regards to the virus pandemic.

Here is a list of resources that could be helpful to arts organizations and artists. Brief descriptions and links are included. This list will be updated as new resources are available.

Marketing is a process, a way to examine the world in which you operate, and how that relates to your customers, your competition and what you have to offer. Defining your organization’s goals and objectives allow you to provide programming that is aligned with them. Knowing your audience makes it possible to develop strategies to reach those individuals. Knowing who you would like your audience to be allows you to reach other groups of people.

After defining what your organization is all about there are many tools available to allow you to reach them. This page includes a number of helpful resources to aid you in your marketing efforts.

“To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.” – George Washington

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso

“Art is a nation’s most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish.” – Lyndon Johnson, on signing into existence the National Endowment on the Arts

These quotes all say something very important about the creative arts. Without art our world would be a very different place. Arts advocacy or support for the arts is something that everyone can do in some way. Click the link for resources to help you.

There are many organizations that connect the arts together, provide grant funding, and a great deal of information. Click the link to learn more.

The Arts Coalition of the Alleghenies is a regional group of 23 arts organizations in Cambria, Somerset, Bedford and Indiana Counties. This group works together to schedule, market and advocate for the arts community in the Allegheny region.