To many people the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (the Festival, or CPFA) is something that “just happens” each summer. School lets out for the summer, and in what seems like the blink of an eye, the Festival is upon us. Landscapers, stage hands, musicians, artists, and volunteers all appear – and in their wake both State College and the Penn State campus are alive with visitors.
Of course, the Festival, doesn’t “just happen”. It’s the result of a lot of hard work by more than a few people.
Founded in 1967 by the State College Chamber of Commerce and Penn State University’s College of Arts and Architecture in an effort to bring the arts and commerce to the area, the CPFA is an independent, not-for-profit corporation.
In the years since the first festival, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts has become one of the top-ranked juried art fairs in the country, the highlight of the State College summer, one of the biggest non-football alumni weekends for Penn Staters, the summer’s economic anchor for downtown State College businesses, and the place to be for art, music, and fun the week after Independence Day.
For many of the 125,000+ visitors and hundreds of volunteers each year, the Arts Festival is an enduring tradition, experienced with friends and family, and not to be missed.
Highlights of the Arts Festival include more than 300 of the nation’s finest artists in our juried Sidewalk Sale & Exhibition; 60+ performances by regionally-touring and local bands; our signature water dumping buckets; street painting artists-in-action; an annual banner competition and exhibition; a month-long juried art exhibition featuring Pennsylvania artists; local craft beverage tastings by the Central PA Tasting Trail; a 5K and 10-mile race with the Nittany Valley Running Club, Schlow Library’s BookFest, and a dedicated Children & Youth Day to kick off the five-day Festival.
A volunteer Board of Directors of representatives of the State College and Penn State communities establishes Festival policy. There are three full-time professional staff members. More than 600 volunteers help make the Festival a reality each year.
CPFA also produces First Night State College, an arts-centric, family oriented, alcohol-free celebration of the New Year’s holiday. First Night State College features one of Pennsylvania’s largest displays of ice carving, performances in downtown churches, theaters, and public buildings, resolution sculptures, a giant puppet procession, children’s activities, and the First Night 5K Resolution Run.
CPFA receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional funding is provided through a grant made by possible by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau and the Centre County Commissioners.