READING, Pa. – The arts in Berks County experienced a hard hit today.
After 55 years, the Berks Arts Council, known more recently as Berks Arts, says the funding challenges proved to be too great to overcome.
“It’s been a difficult decision to make for the organization, for the board. We have been trying different avenues to stay open, but the truth is we don’t have the funding,” said Executive Director Tish Davis.
Berks Arts is the group behind JazzFest, BluesFest, the Summer Concert Series, education, outreach, and so much more.
“We rely on sponsorships and donations to continue all the programs that we do, and with the way the economy is, we, as an organization, are seeing less and less dollars come in in the form of sponsorships and donations,” Davis said.
The company says it is trying to keep some of its programming alive.
“We’ve reached out to the other arts organizations, possibly the GoggleWorks, to continue with our summer festival since that’s once a year. We are looking forward to hearing from Levi if the GoggleWorks and the County will continue sponsorship,” Davis said.
But, some good news for a music staple in Berks County.
“The Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest will continue, but it will be continued under another organization,” Davis said.
Countless volunteers worked tirelessly over the decades to make so many events a reality, and Berks Arts wants to thank them.
“For the next 2 weeks, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., we are going to be selling off our assets,” Davis said.
We have a lot of merchandise, so customers can go through our stuff and see what they want to keep as a memento,” she added.