The Arts and Education Council announced today that 15 organizations have been awarded a total of $40,000 in PNC Program Grants today to help strengthen the region’s arts community. PNC Program Grants – underwritten by PNC Foundation – provide merit-based funding for arts and arts education programs that address community needs.

“The Arts and Education Council – in partnership with PNC Foundation – is proud to invest in these organizations as they present diverse performances, workshops and educational programming that will inspire, connect and enrich the lives of adults and children across our region through the arts,” said Cynthia A. Prost, Arts and Education Council president and CEO. 

“We recognize the important role that the arts play in the success, stability and growth of our local community,” said Michael Scully, PNC regional president for St. Louis. “The 15 organizations awarded with PNC Program Grants have developed innovative, creative programming to inspire people of all ages to experience and interact with the arts.”

Since 2012, the Arts and Education Council has awarded nearly 200 PNC Program Grants totaling more than $300,000 for arts programs in the bi-state region.

The organizations and programs (in alphabetical order) that have been awarded 2019-2020 PNC Program Grants are:

  • American Voices Music Across Borders is an annual residency series designed to encourage cultural understanding among people through music.
  • Artscope Camp Create Mural Program is a one-week program in which campers work with established artists to create public art in the Tower Grove community.
  • Bread and Roses Missouri The Workers' Theater Project aims to make theater more inclusive to workers and introduces workers’ rights to the theater-going community.
  • Bach Society of Saint Louis 2020 St. Louis Bach Festival Education Concerts entitled “How Music Heals” will display real-life examples of grief, trauma and healing in collaboration with the Maryville University Music Therapy Department.
  • Circus Harmony Peace Through Pyramids: Puerto Rico is a bridge-building program that uses circus arts to motivate social change. Circus Harmony will work with National Circus School of Puerto Rico to create and present free performances in the St. Louis area.
  • Civic Arts Company will present the play “RACE” by Jamie Pachino based on the Studs Terkel book, “RACE - How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession”. Each performance is followed by an audience discussion with the actors, who have been trained by the Anti-Defamation League.
  • Consuming Kinetics Dance Company Youth Summer Camp students will take dance and art classes and learn about the history and culture of dance.
  • Freedom Arts and Education Center Create Days and Summer Arts will provide quality and diverse arts education for students to work individually and collaboratively and attend art exposure trips.
  • Pianos for People Turn Up Your Talent-From Passion to Performance provides students an opportunity to conceive, write and produce a live musical production featuring original music, dance, spoken word and more.
  • Prison Performing Arts Learning Through the Arts offers year-round performing arts classes to youth and young adults, ages 12-24, who are currently in prison or detention facilities.
  • Sangeetha Indian Classical Music will showcase classical Indian musicians who have not performed in St. Louis for over a decade at 10 concerts in 2019 and 2020.
  • South Broadway Art Project TAP Teen Fashion Design Apprenticeships is a hands-on program where teens learn about all aspects of the fashion design industry from concept to creation while developing entrepreneurship skills.
  • St. Louis Classical Guitar Guitar Horizons: Juvenile Justice Program participants will learn to play guitar individually and as an ensemble at the Clayton Juvenile Detention Center. The program concludes with a concert featuring the ensemble.
  • Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis’s 2019 Tennessee Williams Festival highlights the works of the St. Louis native and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright through multidisciplinary arts events including cabaret-style performances and tours.
  • Upstream Theatre RE-VERB is an active, immersive event that combines theater, spoken word and music designed to excite audiences.

Applications were reviewed by a volunteer panel of the Arts and Education Council’s Grants and Programs Committee and representatives from the PNC Foundation.

The Arts and Education Council also announced today that Debbie Marshall, PNC senior vice president and director of client and community relations in St. Louis, was elected to the organization’s board of directors for a three-year term. Marshall has served on the Arts and Education Council’s selection committee for PNC Program Grants since 2013 and the stARTup Creative Competition panel since 2017. In 2016 she was named one of the Most Influential Business Women by the St. Louis Business Journal.

“I am pleased to welcome Debbie to the board of directors, as her leadership in corporate philanthropy and commitment to the arts in St. Louis has been transformational for our region,” said Brendan Johnson, Arts and Education Council board chair.

In addition to her new role on the Arts and Education Council board, Marshall serves on the board development committee for Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri. Previously, she served on the Regional Early Childhood Council governing committee, the University of Missouri–St. Louis Women’s Leadership Council, Go! St. Louis marketing committee, the Convention and Visitors Commission St. Louis Brand Leadership Taskforce, Family Resource Center governing board and the advisory board for Elite IT Services.