The office of the Pocono Arts Council will relocate to 701 Main St., Suite 400, Stroudsburg, effective April 1, 2019 for a period of one year. The new mailing address is Pocono Arts Council, P.O. Box 686, Stroudsburg, PA 18360. The phone number will remain the same: 570-476-4460.
According to Executive Director Sue Randall, “The reality of the situation is that the Pocono Arts Council is underfunded and our current level of income generation does not enable us to remain at our 18 N. 7th Street location in Stroudsburg.
In addition, we received news that the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA) re-granting program through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) has announced that Monroe County will fall under the Lehigh Valley region in FY 2020-21, including Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, and Monroe counties.
Simply put, if the Pocono Arts Council is no longer the entity to administer the PPA program, we lose relied-upon operating dollars from the state after 2019-20.” Building expenses and lack of funding has forced the organization to downsize and reorganize.
Thanks to a generous offer from Monroe County, affordable space has been made available in the county-owned office building at the southwest corner of 7th and Main Streets. The Pocono Arts Council intends to focus its efforts on establishing increased partnerships in the community to deliver services all over the region, rather than operating only in our central downtown Stroudsburg location.
In order to be good stewards of member donations and facilitators of state and local grant funds, the leadership and board of directors has determined that Pocono Arts Council will undergo the following changes beginning in April 2019:
Our mission will continue: “to build the community artistically and culturally by providing leadership, service, and education” and to promote the arts and artists of all genres in our area.
Follow the Pocono Arts Council on Facebook @poconoartscouncil, Instagram @poconoartscouncil, and Twitter @ArtsPocono.
