As Lanie Franklin is preparing to enter her senior year at PennWest Edinboro and is currently doing freelance work for ARTS Oil City, she finds herself discovering a side of the community she didn’t fully see growing up.
Franklin, who is studying illustration and animation, grew up about 30 minutes down the road in Emlenton, PA. Although she spent much of her childhood around the area and attended local events such as the Oil Heritage Festival, she did not understand the full landscape of all the creative opportunities Venango County has to offer.
“As I started to get older, I noticed that there was a larger community here that I didn’t know about when I was younger,” Franklin said.
After serving as an intern with ARTS Oil City from the summer of 2025 through the winter, she transitioned into a freelance role. Her time with the organization has continuously opened doors, allowing her to learn more about her career path while also connecting with the people and organizations that help shape the local arts community.
When reflecting on her experience, she mentioned how much finding an art-related internship close to home meant to her. In fields like animation and illustration, she said many opportunities often require people to move away or work remotely.
Once she found an opportunity in a community she had grown up around, she knew it was something special.
“It was not only art related, but it was also related to a community that I had pretty much grown up in,” Franklin said.
Through her work, Franklin has seen how creativity can bring people together. She said one of the most valuable parts of being in a creative environment is learning from peers, sharing ideas, and seeing how different perspectives can make a final project stronger.
Like most PennWest Edinboro students including myself, Lanie is looking forward to taking two capstone courses in the Fall. These classes have her working on two major semester-long projects, including a short film and a possible graphic novel or children’s book. The way she described her book project was a Sci-Fi story that focuses a lot on themes such as leaving your comfort zone, meeting new people, and discovering what the world has to offer.
All themes of which she relates to Oil City.
While many people in our age group talk about leaving Venango County, Lanie describes this area as interconnected, creative, and full of opportunity .
“I have been seeing that there are such great opportunities here,” Franklin said. “It’s a beautiful area, and it is a great community full of very supportive, kind, and creative people.”
For Ms. Lanie Franklin and many others in her situation, Oil City and Venango County are not places to escape. Instead, they are places where you can connect, grow, create, and be.
