You can’t imagine how happy I was when I learned that the Festival would be permitted to have live audiences at performances this summer. After a year of presenting the Arts Festival and our winter event, A December to Remember, virtually,  I jump for joy even when taking a baby step back to pre-pandemic life. In case you missed the news, we’re presenting eleven musical groups at the State College Presbyterian Church, 132 W. Beaver Avenue, State College, from Thursday, July 8 through Saturday, July 10, 2021.  To answer the most frequently asked question: it’s the church by the post o ..read more

I’m not a big holiday decorator. I put some electric candles in the windows, and the Christmas cards I get go on the mantlepiece. Sometimes I set up a tiny Mexican creche on a little shelf in my bathroom. I figure after that long trip, Mary and Joseph are gonna want to use the john. If I’m feeling especially jolly, and someone asks me to buy a wreath from their service club’s fundraiser, I’ll put it on my front door. That’s it. So, as decorations go, that puts me someplace between Ebenezer Scrooge and a fashionable minimalist. In other words, bo-ring. Fortunately others don’t feel the same way ..read more

What exactly is a virtual arts festival anyway? I think there are probably as many answers to that question as there are arts festivals! Here at CPFA we tried to take our event, and with our staff and skills, and move that experience online. As we’ve said before, the Festival is the ultimate anti-social distancing event, and some of the quintessential Festival experiences just don’t translate to an online platform. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t create a virtual experience where you ran into someone from your dorm you hadn’t seen in twenty years. Fortunately, other things were a bit ..read more

While this summer’s Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts will be taking place in the virtual world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve kept the tradition of issuing a real world collectible Festival poster. If ever there was a year to remember, this is it. Fortunately, if anyone could do a Festival poster for a crazy year with no in-person Festival, it would be Lanny and Saige Sommese. I think you’ll agree with me that they – to use a sports metaphor even though we have no sports – hit the ball right out of the park. In a subtle nod to a summer without a traditional Festival, most of the ..read more

For as long as anyone can remember, boys and girls have sold (and bought) friendship bracelets at the Festival’s Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale. They’re inexpensive, easy to make, and each one is as unique as the person who made it. For many, they’re a fun reminder of the summer. If you’re old like me, they’re a reminder of simpler times: record stores that smelled like patchouli, cute surfer boys and girls at the Jersey Shore, and my college roommate the Grateful Dead devotee. Since I’ve been the Festival director, I make it a point to buy friendship bracelets from young artists in the Chil ..read more

Last week’s announcement that we were canceling the 2020 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts was like sharing the news that a well-loved friend had died. All at once, the news was everywhere: our announcement on Facebook was shared almost 600 times, reached over 73,000 people, and had almost 15,000 reactions and comments. Festival staff, board members, and key volunteers received more condolence messages than we could count. Had COVID-19 related social distancing measures not been in place, I’m sure my friends would have brought a ham, several casseroles, and beer to my house just as peo ..read more

With deep regret, the Board of Directors of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts announces the cancellation of its July 2020 event due to public health concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The board made the decision after consultation with officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Borough of State College, and Penn State. This is the first time in its 54-year history that the Festival will not take place in July.    Founded in 1967 by the State College Chamber of Commerce and Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, the Festival attracts approx ..read more

As I write this in late March, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts is caught between our core value that “the show must go on” and a public health crisis of staggering proportions. We’re continuing to plan for a great Festival this summer, while listening to daily updates from Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Working from home, social distancing, and washing our hands frequently doesn’t feel like much. But it’s what we can do to help stop the spread of coronavirus. As much as we want to gather with friends and family to enjoy art, music, and the summer in Happ ..read more

I spent some time this week delivering the 2019 Festival poster to our distribution outlets in the Centre Region and will take them to the Juniata River Valley Visitors’ Bureau in Lewistown later this week. While there’s no shortage of lifting and toting—trust me 1,750 posters are HEAVY—delivering posters is a fun way to spend a couple of hours. The men and women who work at the outlets are happy to know that the Festival is right around the corner. They’re also eager to see the poster and to pass them out to the students, townsfolk, locals and visitors who will soon be hanging them up in thei ..read more