First and foremost, I write today to say unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. In the past two weeks, and even in the years since the beginning of this movement, individual artists have created some of the most powerful and affecting imagery that has both memorialized the people whom police have murdered or harmed--helping to supplant the constantly replayed visuals of black deaths and reminding us of what these fallen folks looked like and did in life--as well as imprinting these literal words and their message on viewers.

Amid the recent array of direct public actions in municipalities large to small all across the Commonwealth, I feel it's important to speak for a moment about why PCA grants are an important tool for addressing historic disparities along racial lines in access to the arts and art education. By no means are they a silver bullet; but they make a big impact proportional to the amount of funds allocated to them. Furthermore, I want to point out that it is inaccurate and misleading for any PA legislator to say that their stopgap budget for the first five months of the 2020-21 fiscal year "flat-funds" education, as I will explain below.

In FY18-19, PCA disbursed more than $1.5 million in Arts in Education (AIE) Partnership grants, making it the agency's second biggest grant track after the AOAP general operating grants. These AIE grants were awarded in all of PA's 67 counties. They fund teaching artist residencies in public schools. For the full description of the program, please visit: https://www.arts.pa.gov/WHAT%20WE%20DO/FUNDING/apply-for-a-grant/AIE-Residencies/Pages/default.aspx

As we are all painfully aware, poorer school districts have all but eliminated many, if not most of their arts programs. While better-funded school districts have not experienced the same level of cuts, or they are able to rely on the capacity within their community to subsidize school art programs. AIE Partnership grants enable important access to the arts for students in schools which otherwise could not afford them. If you'd like to see the full list of AIE Partnership grantee schools in FY18-19, please visit: https://www.arts.pa.gov/Documents/PCA_18-19_Full_Grants_List.pdf

Finally, as referenced above, do not believe the assertion that the stopgap FY20-21 budget recently passed in Harrisburg "flat-funds" legislation. Yes, this budget covers only the first five months of the fiscal year. That said, their allocation of $3,996,000 for PCA grants does NOT correspond to a "flat" amount if scaled to a five month period of PCA's 2019-20 funding (which should be around $4,364,166). That's about an 8.5% decrease. This means less funds for Arts in Education Partnership grants, hence, less money spent in schools educating children. And who is to say that Governor Wolf won't freeze these funds again if revenue streams remain weak?

I hope you will remain vigilant in this fight, as we continue to ask the Governor and the legislature to release funds so that organizations can get the FY19-20 grants owed to them. But also in the fight for arts funding in the impending fiscal year.