Erie Arts and Culture awards over $100,000 to support artists and arts programming in Northwest Pennsylvania.

Annually, Erie Arts and Culture administers the McCain Artist Fellowship, which provides an unrestricted cash grant to three artists from Erie County, helping them sustain or enhance their creative process and advance their careers in the arts. The Fellowship supports one artist for each career level: Emerging, Mid-Career, and Established.

Check out work by the artists.

Fredy Human Mallqi creates art that explores the nuances of organic forms, inspired by the natural environment, identity, and society's rituality. His work has been shown internationally in Austria, Germany, Peru, and the United States. In 2021, Fredy was selected to create a series of public art in the new Pittsburgh International Airport. The works will be installed later this year.

Alexa Potter

Fredy Mallqui Huaman

Rachel May

Motivated by trash collected on daily walks along Lake Erie's shores, Alexa Potter creates art from found objects, using locally manufactured, bespoke Perspex boxes to present her work. Between 2017 and 2020, Potter curated an annual exhibition of international found object artists. She is now anticipating two solo exhibitions of her work. 

Crawford County

  • Titusville Council on the Arts Incorporated

  • The Arc of Crawford County, Inc

  • Meadville Community Theater

  • French Creek Community Theater

Venango County

  • Oil Region Ballet

Lawrence County

  • PennOhio Clay Guild, Inc

Established - Fredy Mallqui Huaman (left)

Mid-Career - Alexa Potter (middle)

Emerging - Rachel Maly (right)

Rachel Maly uses sculpture and installation to question man's dominion over animals. Employing elements of strangeness, beauty, and mystery, Maly creates experiences for viewers to consider animals in their own right, and explore new narratives that privilege animals’ agency and perspectives.

Through the Pennsylvania Partner in the Arts’ Creative Sector Flex Fund program, Erie Arts and Culture awarded $100,000 in flexible-use grants to 20 dynamic arts organizations and arts programs across 6 counties of Northwest Pennsylvania:

Erie County

  • Erie Contemporary Ballet Theatre

  • Main Street Art Center

  • The Pennsylvania State University

  • Erie ClaySpace Artists Association

  • North East Arts Council

  • The Downtown Edinboro Arts & Music Festival

  • Young Artists Debut Orchestra (YADO)

  • Erie Art Company

Warren County

  • Crary Art Gallery

  • Warren County Summer Music School

  • Family Services of Warren County, Inc.

Mercer County

  • Shenango Valley Chorale

  • Hope Center for Arts and Technology, Inc. (HopeCAT)

  • George Junior Republic