Region 13 - Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana & Jefferson Counties

About the Creative Sector Flex Fund

The grant activity period is January 1, 2026 - December 31, 2026

Download the guidelines for the Creative Sector Flex Fund (PDF)

The Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts (PCA) introduced a new grant program, the Creative Sector Flex Fund (CSFF), in 2023-2024, and continues to offer the program annually. The CSFF is designed to address the changing needs of dynamic PA arts organizations with average annual revenue between $10,000 - $200,000.

This grant program incorporates the current needs of the field by offering grantees the flexibility to use $5,000 grants in ways that ensure the most significant impact for their organizations and communities.

Eligible uses of funds are flexible, including the support of applicants’ administrative, programmatic, and project-related expenses.

Please note: The Pennsylvania Creative Industries has retired Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts’ (PPA) Entry to Program Stream, and Program Stream grant programs. The decision to retire these programs resulted from the Pennsylvania Creative Industries’ consideration of conversations, feedback, observations, insights, research, and data review with state and industry leaders, panelists, grantees, and community members. The goal of this retirement is to enable the Pennsylvania Creative Industries to provide a funding avenue that better aligns with industry trends and the goals of our strategic plan.

If your organization is not eligible for the Creative Sector Flex Fund, please visit the Pennsylvania Creative Industries' Apply for a Grant page, for additional information on opportunities that may suit the needs of your organization.

Questions? For general questions regarding the Creative Sector Flex Fund, contact, United Way of Clarion County, Ann Harting - Grants Administrator, Arts Programs at (814) 226-8760 (Monday, 9am-noon) or arts@uwclarionco.org.

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* 1. I confirm that the applicant's physical address is located in the Pennsylvania Council on the Art's Region 13 - Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, or Jefferson

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* 2. I confirm that the applicant is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation OR unit of local government.

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* 3. I confirm that the applicant is registered to conduct business within the state of Pennsylvania.

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* 4. Please upload your Certificate of Registration issued by the Department of State Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations.

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* 5. I confirm that the applicant has conducted least two years of consistent arts programming within Pennsylvania.

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* 6. I confirm that the applicant has an annual arts revenue of at least $10,000 but not more than $200,000.

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* 7. If you answered NO to any of the above questions, please contact Ann Harting at United Way of Clarion County at arts@uwclarionco.org to discuss your eligibility.

If you answered YES to all of the above, please proceed to the next question.

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* 8. Are you applying as a Fiscally Sponsored Organization?

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* 9. Fiscal Sponsored Organization Information (If applicable)

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* 10. Applicant Name

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* 11. Contact Information

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* 12. FEIN (9 digits, no spaces or hyphens) *if you encounter an error message, please submit your grant without the FEIN and email your number to arts@uwclarionco.org*

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* 13. Mailing Address

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* 14. County

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* 15. Website URL

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* 16. PA House District

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* 17. PA Senate District

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* 18. I am applying as an:

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* 19. Total revenue for your most recently completed fiscal year as reported on your IRS Form 990 line 12 (revenue means all contributed and earned cash income, and realized income from investments, as applicable. Do not include in kind). If your revenue is below $50,000 and you submit a postcard 990 OR you are a non-arts organization with an arts program, you MUST attach Board/Committee financial statements for your most recently completed TWO fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses.

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* 20. Job Information: Current Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs, where FTE is calculated as a minimum of 35 hours per week. As applicable, include contractors or leased employees providing consistent services under your organization’s direct supervision. For non-arts organizations, provide the number of FTEs working within your arts program.

To the extent that your FTE count varies during the year due to seasonality of programming or operational needs, provide your anticipated high mark of FTE jobs through the end of the grant period. As applicable, include contractors or leased employees providing consistent services under your organization’s direct supervision.

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* 21. Provide your mission statement. If you represent an arts program within a larger non-arts organization that does not have an arts-specific mission, provide an artistic statement and the goals of your arts program.

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* 22. Briefly describe the community you serve and why.

Community Value: (What are you doing as an organization that provides value to your community?)

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* 23. Artistic offerings and/or services that strengthen its community culturally, educationally, and/or economically:

Over the past year, how did your artistic offerings and/or services support your community culturally, educationally, and/or economically? (Your response may include a description of the value provided to your community, whether adding to its cultural landscape, educational opportunities, or economic opportunities promoted directly or indirectly within your community).

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* 24. Artists and artistic offerings and/or services involve and are meaningful to the community being served:

Over the past year, describe how artistic decisions were made and by whom. How did you know your artistic products and/or services were meaningful to your community?

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* 25. Relevant arts learning opportunities for community members:

Over the past year, describe how you defined and determined the impact of your arts learning initiatives within your community.

Participation and Engagement Value: (Based upon your value above, how are you engaging your audiences to increase participation?)

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* 26. Apart from being audience members or beneficiaries, community members are central to the design of the applicant’s work:

Over the past year, describe your community’s involvement in your work and its feedback related to your artistic products and/or services.

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* 27. Plans and action-oriented practices toward increasing community participation in artistic offerings, including reaching new audiences:

Over the past year, describe your organization's plans and work to advance community participation, including efforts to reach new audiences.

Stewardship Value: (How does your organization appropriately manage activities and funds?)

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* 28. Planning processes appropriate to the organization, mission, and goals:

Describe your most recently completed planning process, including who was involved. Describe the key findings and goals that followed this planning process, and how you track and measure progress.

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* 29. Capacity to carry out programs and projects as planned:

Over the past year, how did you ensure that you were able to carry about your programs or projects? To what degree were you able to carry out programs as planned?

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* 30. Appropriate financial planning and oversight practices:

Describe your financial planning and oversight practices, including who participates in and is accountable for financial management and organizational oversight. Describe the financial condition of your organization and key actions taken to ensure adequate resources are available to carry out your mission or arts program.

Required Attachments (if any of these are not submitted, the application will not be considered for funding):

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* 31. Required Attachment: IRS Determination Letter confirming nonprofit 501(c) status (does not apply to Local Governments)

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* 32. Required Attachment, for arts organizations:
Attach your TWO most recently submitted form of 990 (or 990-N or 990-EZ) IRS tax filings.

If your revenue is below $50,000 and you submit a postcard 990, you MUST attach Board/Committee financial statement for your most recently completed TWO fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses. Attach Year #1 here.

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* 33. Required Attachment, for arts organizations:
Attach your TWO most recently submitted form of 990 (or 990-N or 990-EZ) IRS tax filings.

If your revenue is below $50,000 and you submit a postcard 990, you MUST attach Board/Committee financial statement for your most recently completed TWO fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses. Attach Year #2 here.

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* 34. Required Attachment, for non-arts organizations:
Attach a Board/Committee approved arts-specific program financial statement for your most recently completed TWO fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses. In-kind is not included. Attach Year #1 here.

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* 35. Required Attachment, for non-arts organizations:
Attach a Board/Committee approved arts-specific program financial statement for your most recently completed TWO fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses. In-kind is not included. Attach Year #2 here.

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* 36. Required Attachment, for those applicants being fiscally sponsored:

Attach the fiscally sponsored entities’ arts-specific program financial statement for your TWO most recently completed fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses. Attach Year #1 here.

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* 37. Required Attachment, for those applicants being fiscally sponsored:

Attach the fiscally sponsored entities’ arts-specific program financial statement for your TWO most recently completed fiscal years. The program financial statement must include program revenue, including contributed and earned income and income realized from investments, as applicable, and expenses. Attach Year #2 here.

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* 38. Required Attachment, for those applicants being fiscally sponsored:

Attach the Sponsorship Agreement between the fiscal sponsor and the entity being sponsored. This must include:

✓ duties and responsibilities of each party,
✓ the term of the agreement,
✓ termination provisions,
✓ ownership of intellectual property,
✓ dispute and indemnification clauses,
✓ and the method of the holding and distribution of funds.

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* 39. Required Attachment:  LLCs MUST submit its’ Certificate of Organization-Domestic Limited Liability Company filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organization’s-At least three organizers must be listed in the Certificate of Organization.

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* 40. Required Attachment:  Provide a succinct (no more than one page) list of arts activities (for example: 3 concerts; 2 workshops; 5 exhibitions)-THIS WILL BE SHARED WITH THE PANEL. You may submit up to three links to artistic content or programmatic highlights you generated during the previous two years. (Note: links can be to file sharing sites (Google Drive, DropBox, etc.), YouTube, Vimeo, websites, Instagram accounts, etc. Please be sure to grant proper access, as applicable.

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Representations and Warranties:

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* 41. The Applicant makes the following representations and warranties to PPA Partner, United Way Clarion County. Effective as of the submission of this Application, the Applicant hereby represents and warrants to the best of its knowledge and belief that:

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* 42. Submitted by:

Questions? For general questions regarding the Creative Sector Flex Fund, contact, United Way of Clarion County, Ann Harting - Grants Administrator, Arts Programs at (814) 226-8760 (Monday, 9am-noon) or arts@uwclarionco.org.

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