YOUNGSTOWN — This year’s second annual Spring Arts Festival on Saturday focuses on Rotary International’s Operation Pollination initiative.

The effort is a collaborative project between the Youngstown City School District, Rotary Club of Youngstown, and SMARTS, Students Motivated by the Arts.

The goal of this initiative is to educate and inform the public about the decline of pollinating species around the globe while using the arts to reinforce curriculum standards.

SMARTS has received more than 100 pieces of artwork which will be on display at this year’s festival.

The general public and students and their families are invited to see the Spring Arts Festival Exhibit from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at SMARTS. There will be hands-on art activities for children of all ages at this public event.

SMARTS is located downtown at the Ohio One Building, 25 E. Boardman St., first floor. SMARTS is a stand-alone, 501c3 Community Art School that offers free classes in visual art, music, dance, theater, and creative writing to PK-12 students.

“The opportunity for them to see their art in a creative and professional setting will inspire them to see the world beyond their classroom and to see themselves represented positively in their community,” said Becky Keck, SMARTS president.

“The partnership with Youngstown City Schools and SMARTS is a natural fit. With SMARTS leading, Youngstown Rotary Club is able to assist in bringing the scholars of Youngstown city schools an artful experience that is second-to-none,” Samantha Turner, past president of the Rotary Club of Youngstown, said.

Bridget Lambright-Tommelleo, STEAM curriculum supervisor for Youngstown schools, described the importance of the Spring Arts Festival: “Last year’s festival was such an amazing opportunity for scholars to showcase their public speaking, designing, drawing, creative writing, and painting skills. Combining literacy and the arts is a widely recognized, research-based method that makes learning fun instead of cumbersome.”

SMARTS created a six-day STEAM unit for YCS English Language Arts teachers on pollinators that included lesson plans, slideshows and rubrics. This curriculum asks students to read a book about their pollinator (bees, butterflies, bats, and lemurs) and then conduct their own research to learn about the challenges their pollinator faces.

YCS students created art in all of SMARTS’ five arts disciplines — visual art, music, dance, theater, and creative writing — as individuals or in groups to demonstrate artistically what they learned about pollinators. Their art had to have an artistic message, inform the audience about pollinators, have developed ideas, and be presented clearly. Artwork could be on paper, video, or three-dimensional.