Get Involved: Arts Forum
The arts can be a powerful tool for community revitalization. The Erie Canalway plays a supporting role in fostering initiatives that showcase the unique combination of arts, heritage, and landscape within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to boost community pride, attract new visitors, and stimulate the creative economy.
 
Current Projects

	Online Arts Guide: The Arts! Culture, Commerce and the Canal Learn about the canal's influence on the arts and find more than 60 arts venues using our online guide, completed in collaboration with the New York Folklore Society. more >
	Grants for Arts Projects Arts projects are eligible for our small grants program. In 2013, the Village of Canastota will unveil two new murals depicting the village's canal heritage. In 2012, The Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse prepared and exhibited 57 original pen and ink drawings for Erie Canal locks and other structures by Syracuse artist Ray Sax. The New York Folklore Society, in partnership with the Erie Canal Museum also presented a two-day symposium exploring traditional music influenced by the Erie Canal. The Albany Institute of History and Art received a grant to use art and artifacts from its collection to develop a lesson plan for students learning about the canal. more>
	Theatre on Main Street, Albion The National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks, awarded the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor a 2012 Impact Grant to support the launch of the Theatre on Main Street Project in Albion, in collaboration with the Albion Main Street Alliance and the Western Erie Canal Alliance.   Theatre on Main Street hosted a performance in downtown Albion in 2012 that engaged 700 attendees, performers, businesses and others. Proceeds from the event support the Pratt Opera House Preservation Fund and the Building Restoration Fund of the Western Erie Canal Alliance. By celebrating Albion’s artistic heritage, organizers aim to draw attention to the contribution of the arts and historic preservation in community revitalization. more >
Past Projects
	Sponsorships for Arts Events in 2011 Erie Canal Drama Theatre, Inc. and Tonawanda’s Gateway Harbor Corporation, Inc. were among recipients of our 2011 Event Sponsorships. Erie Canal Drama Theatre performed “Clinton’s Ditch,” an original outdoor drama at Buffalo’s Erie Canal Harbor. Tonawanda’s Gateway Harbor Corporation presented “Artisan’s Day” featuring early American craft exhibitors and demonstrations at the historic Long Homestead on the Erie Canal. more>