Lackawanna County distributes arts grants; director says county uses tax dollars to back cultural projects

Lackawanna County officials on Tuesday distributed arts and culture grants to a range of local projects and nonprofit programs, and reiterated the county’s financial support for the arts.

Maureen McGuigan, director of arts and culture for Lackawanna County, opened the ceremony at the county’s cultural center and said the county received more than 60 project-grant applications this year. “Arts, humanities, culture is the why. It's the why we exist,” McGuigan said, adding that the county provides tax-dollar support for local arts programs.

The awards were presented in two streams. McGuigan said project grants — open to individuals and small projects — have a cap of $3,000, while program grants are reserved for established 501(c)(3) organizations. Commissioners Christopher Schirmack and Bill Gaughan joined McGuigan to congratulate recipients and to emphasize the county’s view that arts investment supports community and economic life.

“Arts and culture are not extras. They are not luxuries. They are necessities for a thriving society,” Commissioner Bill Gaughan said, praising county staff and the applicants.

Selected recipients announced at the ceremony included public-art and community projects such as Eric Bussert’s elephant mural on Lackawanna Avenue and the Archbold Veterans Monument Park sculpture series; festival and performance grants including the Good Things Are Happening Festival at the Iron Furnaces and the Scranton Jazz Festival; and community-access programs such as Camp Create, a summer arts camp for children with special needs, and St. Joseph Center’s summer arts program for adults with intellectual disabilities.

The county also highlighted a multi-department “birdhouse” public-art project: the county will distribute free birdhouses for residents to decorate; completed pieces will be displayed at the Everhart Museum in a fall exhibit, McGuigan said. NeighborWorks and other partners were cited as collaborators on that community-wide piece of programming.

McGuigan described two different review processes used by the department: volunteer panels for project grants and a separate panel for program grants. She thanked county staff, the Arts, Culture and Education Council and local media partner Electric City Television for their role in promoting local cultural work.

The county’s list of awardees at the event also included community theater groups, music ensembles, galleries, and civic festivals across Lackawanna County. McGuigan noted that some projects funded by the county had already taken place earlier in the year because the ceremony had been scheduled later in the season.

The event ended with recipients receiving checks and an invitation to the public to volunteer as grant-review panelists or to contact the Arts & Culture office about future projects. McGuigan encouraged attendees to follow the department’s Facebook page for updates on upcoming events and calls for participation.

Sources: Remarks and grant announcements by Maureen McGuigan, director of arts and culture for Lackawanna County; remarks by Commissioner Christopher Schirmack and Commissioner Bill Gaughan at the awards ceremony.