Staff photo / R. Michael Semple A $4.1 million restoration project for Stambaugh Auditorium’s monumental staircase and exterior facade has begun. The project should be completed by November or December. GPD Group of Akron is overseeing the project. DeSalvo Construction is the general contractor. The project includes replacing the staircase and promenade, adding handicapped accessibility from the promenade to the Stambaugh Garden, cleaning the exterior of the building and adding exterior lighting. Jim Allanson, a bricklayer for Bricklayers Local 8 of Youngstown, working for Tervo Masonry of New Wilmington, Pa., surveys the progress of the removal of the sandstone steps Friday.

Ten organizations in a three-county area will receive more than $150,000 in grants from the Ohio Arts Council.

Nearly two-thirds of that money will go to the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, which will receive a $100,919 sustainability grant.

Executive Director Louis A. Zona said the money is helpful with the high overhead costs of operating a museum the size of the Butler.

“Utilities eat us up, especially in this hot, hot summer we’re experiencing,” Zona said. “This will help with all of the costs we worry about every year, like insurance bills. When you have a collection of masterpieces like we have at the Butler, insurance bills can be quite costly.”

Some grants, like the one received by the Butler, provide operating support for institutions. Others finance specific projects.

Other Mahoning County organizations receiving grants are:

• Stambaugh Chorus, Youngstown — $3,547

• Lit Youngstown, Youngstown — $3,942

• Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium Association, Youngstown — $3,102

• Opera Western Reserve, Youngstown — $8,369

• McDonough Museum of Art / Youngstown State University — $11,339

• Ballet Western Reserve, Youngstown — $14,525

• Etruscan Press, Youngstown — $3,829

Claudia Berlinski, museum director of the McDonough, said the grant money helps the museum make its exhibitions and special programming free and available to the public, and she thanked Gov. Mike DeWine and the state legislators who approved the arts council funding.

“We’re thankful that they’re here and fighting for the arts and that they see us,” Berlinksi said.

In Trumbull County, the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center, now known as BRITE Energy Innovators, received $2,767 for the lighting project in David Grohl Alley in downtown Warren.

Rick Stockburger, president and CEO of BRITE, said, “We wanted to put something out there that linked interactive technology and renewable energy with Dave Grohl Alley. It’s an opportunity to get the community together, do something unique from a national perspective and show why we’re so proud to be located in downtown Warren.”

In Columbiana County, Stage Left Players in Lisbon received $4,500 in operating support through the OAC’s sustainability grants.

Statewide the OAC approved $18,479,247 in grants, the largest amount in the agency’s history. The Ohio General Assembly approved a $40-million appropriation over two years for arts funding in the state budget.

In the news release announcing the grants, OAC Executive Director Donna S. Collins said, “Throughout the past year and a half, we have been reminded time and time again that the arts are better when we work together. These grants will support the restoration of arts programming in communities across Ohio, the hiring and rehiring of arts professionals, and the renewed work and livelihoods of artists and arts educators.”