Harrisburg – Today, Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), announced the launch of the Pennsylvania Creative Districts program, a statewide initiative to support communities that want to elevate their creative assets and strengthen local economies through strategies that leverage a downtown’s unique local assets, culture, and physical characteristics to enhance livability, improve public spaces, and promote visitation. Officially designated Creative Districts receive up to $50,000 in PCA grant funding per year to support district management, programming, public art, community engagement, and creative business development.
Creative District designation is awarded for a five-year period, after which communities may reapply to maintain their status and continue participating in the program. Program features include the provision of technical assistance designed to help communities map, plan, and implement their Creative District, access to peer learning opportunities, the ability to use official Creative Districts branding in tourism promotions, and resources to develop a measurable, five-year action plan.
“Emphasizing a community’s creative assets through the new Creative Districts program provides a framework and tools to recognize and elevate people, places and assets that make them unique,” said PCA Chair Susan S. Cohen. “This initiative supports local leaders as they build stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive places where creativity can flourish.”
Features of the Creative District Program
Creative Districts are designed to strengthen local economies through creative‑sector development, support artists, makers, and creative entrepreneurs, enhance community identity and pride, and foster partnerships between local government, businesses, and creative, arts cultural organizations and assets.
- Access to Grant Funding: Creative Districts will have access to grants that support district management, planning, programming, public art, community engagement, and creative business development. Communities that receive designation will have access to up to $50,000 per year for the five-year period.
- Ability to Participate in Statewide Promotion: PCA will leverage relevant relationships with local and statewide tourism groups, heritage regions, and others to elevate designated Creative Districts’ visibility, brand, and identity.
- Access to Technical Assistance, Planning & Sustainability Support: Built into the application process is provision of more than 80 pages of materials—including a step-by-step workbook and checklist--that walk interested communities through program planning activities, including exploring district feasibility, developing a community asset mapping project, guidance on geographic mapping of the district, and development of a five-year action plan to guide the district.
- Learn from Creative Peers Across Pennsylvania: Networking opportunities to connect with and learn from other districts.
PCA’s Creative Districts program is also designed to complement existing, demonstrated, community development programs, including Main Streets Matters, which works to strengthen downtown planning, drive local engagement and visitation, as well as economic vitality, design, promotion and organization.
Eligible applicants must be Pennsylvania‑based 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) organizations, or units of local government. Nonprofit applicants must be registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State and current on all required annual filings. Fiscal agents and fiscal sponsors are not eligible.
Pennsylvania communities interested in pursuing Creative District designation must first submit a Letter of Intent to Apply (LOI) by June 12, 2026, at 5:00 PM EST. Following the LOI, applicants will complete a series of required planning activities before submitting a full application by January 15, 2027, at 5:00 PM.
Full program guidelines and required planning tools can be found here. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to review all materials in detail to fully understand the required application activities and steps, and to reach out to Sarah Merritt, PCA’s Senior Director of Community Development.
About Pennsylvania Creative Industries
The mission of Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), is to empower, connect, and amplify creatives and creative industries and their contributions to Pennsylvania’s communities, economy, and workforce. The agency invests in creative sector asset development, workforce development, community development, visibility, and policy with the long-term goal to help Pennsylvania become the national leader among states for creative communities, talent, and industries.
The creative industries contribute more than $30 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy and support nearly 190,000 jobs. Globally, creative industries contribute $4 trillion to global GDP and generate nearly 50 million jobs. Learn more at pa.gov/creative-industries.
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