ARTS & HERITAGE PROGRAMS

Arts and cultural heritage in Pennsylvania today is shaped and shared within families, neighborhoods, and communities. Traditional arts--including crafts, music, dance and stories, as well as other practices and customs--are passed down from one generation to another and learned through on-going participation in community-based activities, and through observation or imitation of master practitioners. Traditional artists, through their creativity, excellence, and dedication, reflect each community’s history, practices, beliefs and values. Their work thrives because it is a powerful expression of their community's experience.

ICP promotes quality traditional arts programs throughout Pennsylvania as a partner to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA). We develop and administer PCA's statewide Folk & Traditional Arts Program, which supports art forms and practitioners that are part of a living tradition defined by shared ethnicity, religion, occupation, or region. Through outreach and grants to individuals and organizations, ICP supports high quality traditional arts programming and the conservation of the traditional arts found in the Commonwealth.

ICP also develops a state-wide Folk Arts Infrastructure Initiative which seeks to develop and expand the existing infrastructure for folk and traditional arts. Our strategy involves the creation of a network of Regional Folk Arts Support Centers that engages in documentation projects and programming initiatives in their own region. As part of this initiative, ICP provides Community Traditions Grants to organizations so that they may identify traditional artists, develop programs and resources, and create opportunities for collaboration and networking in their region.

ICP is committed to the creation of new resources that increase understanding of the arts and heritage of diverse populations, both in Central Pennsylvania and across the state. Designed for artists, educators, health and human service providers and the general public, our publications include printed, media and web-based resources on arts and heritage, diversity and intergroup relations, and refugee and immigrant communities. Our bibliographies and links pages seek to connect the public with a broad range of resouces on arts and heritage that our state and our nation possess.

Through partnerships with other organizations and institutions, ICP continues to develop new projects and opportunties that increase the public's awareness of the history, cultural traditions, practices, and experiences of diverse populations in Pennsylvania. We provide consultation and training services in the areas of oral history and cultural documentation, cultural diversity, and intergroup relations. We are also accredited by the PA Department of Education as a provider of Act 48 credit for continuing professional education programs.

To learn more about our programs and services, please contact Amy Skillman, Director for Arts & Heritage Programs.