This year's Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts will feature the same quality acts, but they'll come at a price.

Events in Schwab Auditorium and Memorial Field -- next to the Central Parklet -- will carry a $2 admission charge in the form of a button, said Philip Walz, executive director of the festival.

The button concept began last year, when festival visitors could voluntarily purchase buttons for $1, Walz said. Proceeds from the 16,000 buttons sold went to supporting all festival programs.

Commonwealth and Mellon banks will cover the costs of manufacturing this year's buttons, and Walz said festival organizers aim to sell 25,000.

Cuts in grants contributed to the need for the buttons, Walz said. The Pennsylvania Council of the Arts reduced its contribution, and the Bell of Pennsylvania Yellow Pages reduced its grant as well, Walz said.

George Hornbein, the secretary/treasurer for the Documentary Resource Center, said he understands the admission charges. The center sponsors the "Slice of Life" film festival, which plays in Schwab.

"It goes against our original philosophy," Hornbein said. "But the reality is the government isn't funding the arts."

The moderate admission charge will have little effect on the attendance for "Slice of Life," Hornbein added.

Walz said $2 for a quality performer remains small enough to attract people.

"One of the performers at Memorial Field -- Peter Ostroushko -- we feel if you were to go see him you'd pay $10 or $15," he said.

Festival organizers announced other headliners for the 26th annual festival.

-- Leland Faulkner & Company will perform twice during the festival. The theater group focuses on culturally diverse stories through mime and shadowgraphy and will perform at 4 and 7 p.m. July 8 in Schwab.

-- Pat Cannon's Foot and Fiddle Company brings their program "From Hillbilly to Rockabilly" to the festival. The group of four musicians and four dancers will stomp diverse dance steps, including Appalachian clogging, Texas two-step and Western Swing, at 8 p.m. July 9 at the Festival Shell.

-- If you can' get enough of the mandolin in an R.E.M. song, catch renowned mandolinist and fiddler Peter Ostroushko as he joins guitarist Dean Magraw at 8 p.m. July 10 at the Memorial Field Stage.

-- Legendary blues musician Booker T. Laury, known as the "King of Blues" in Paris, will bring his soulful songs to festival at 7 p.m. July 11 at the Festival Shell.

-- The South Hills Taburitzans and the Rankin Junior Tamburitzans will perform songs and dances from Croatia and other Slavic countries.