The Ohio Arts Council awarded more than $250,000 in grants to Mahoning County arts and education organizations.
Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties received a combined total of $264,851 from $22.7 million passed by the OAC’s board, approved by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in July for the 2025 fiscal year.
The three-county area received $256,545 last year.
About 40% of that money will go to the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, which received a $107,551 sustainability grant.
“It’s incredibly important,” Butler Executive Director Louis A. Zona said.
“The thing that makes it so significant is there are no ties to the money (with a sustainability grant). It’s open-ended for general operations. There are not many granting agencies interested in general operations. The arts council realizes we need day-to-day money to pay the electric bill, etc.”
Other Mahoning County organizations that received Ohio Arts Council grants, the amount they received and the type of grant or grants awarded are:
• Ballet Western Reserve — $14,806, sustainability.
• Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium Association — $5,182, Arts Partnership.
• LitYoungstown — $6,586 sustainability.
• Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past — $17,469, ArtsNEXT and $3,373 ArtSTART.
• McDonough Museum of Art / Youngstown State University — $12,200 Sustainability.
• Opera Western Reserve — $8,833 sustainability.
• SMARTS: Students Motivated by the Arts — $15,226, Arts Partnership and $4,022, ArtSTART.
• Stambaugh Chorus — $5,203, sustainability.
• Youngstown Playhouse — $8,261, ArtsNEXT.
Arts Partnership grants address the needs of individual learners and their communities. ArtsNEXT provides funding for innovative and experimental projects. ArtSTART grants fund short-term projects, in many cases by new or emerging organizations.
John Cox, president of the Youngstown Playhouse board, said the ArtsNEXT grant will fund playwriting and acting workshops that will be followed by a playwriting contest that will culminate with a Juneteenth Festival of New Works to conclude the Playhouse’s centennial season in June 2025. He credited board member Lundeana M. Thomas for the idea.
“The grant we received will help support a major purpose in the Playhouse’s strategic plan — to adopt proactive EDI policies to educate our leadership, inform our storytelling and to advocate for our diverse community of artists and audiences,” he said.
Danielle Perrotta, executive and artistic director of Ballet Western Reserve, said the funding gives its students access to unique opportunities and experiences. Claudia Berlinski, director of the McDonough, said the money supports programs like its Emerging Artist Series and its artist talks and helps the museum continue to be free and open to the public.
In addition to those organizations, nine Youngstown City School District schools were awarded TeachArtsOhio grants, which fund in-school residencies for teaching artists. Chaney, East and Rayen Early College middle schools each received $5,250. Harding, Kirkmere, Martin Luther King Jr., Paul C. Bunn, Taft and Volney Rogers elementary schools each received $4,550.
Three Columbiana entities received funding: Lepper Library in Lisbon, $3,943, ArtSTART; Stage Left Players in Lisbon, $6,772, Sustainability; Salem Chamber of Commerce, $1,050, ArtSTART.
Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, which received a $1,304 sustainability grant, was the lone Trumbull County recipient, although some of the money will benefit Liberty schools.
According to SMARTS President and Founder Becky Keck, “Their support through Arts Partnership of $15,266 will support SMARTS’ continued work in arts integration at Liberty Local School District. This will include classroom teacher professional development, teaching collaborations between SMARTS teachers and classroom teachers, adaption of arts-integrated instructional approach, guided lesson planning and program evaluation. We will customize our work for Liberty Schools to meet their arts education needs.”
The ArtSMART grant that SMARTS received supports Songwriter Girl, a daylong songwriting and empowerment camp for women and young girls ages 13 and older that will conclude with a community songwriter roundtable.
“These grants require one-to-one cash matches and are reimbursements, so we will have double the funding in place to start,” Keck said. “Receiving these and past OAC support has also made us eligible for OAC sustainability funding for the future, so they also affect our long-term funding needs.”
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