YOUNGSTOWN — As classical music filled the air, members of the Polish Arts Club of Youngstown gathered Sunday for their annual arts and tea reception to kick off the group’s 90th year of promoting Polish culture in the Mahoning Valley.

Sunday’s program at the Butler Institute of American Art’s North Annex on Wick Avenue featured a poetry reading, an overview of the club’s history, a presentation of scholarships and a musical performance by area harpist Kirk Kupensky, whose selections included a piece by Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin.

In line with the organization’s longtime support for the mission of the Butler Institute of American Art, the club presented a check to the museum’s executive director, Lou Zona, who thanked them for their generosity.

After opening remarks by the organization’s president, Mary Ann Mlynarski, club member Agata Khoury recited “By the Peonies,” a poem by Polish American poet and prose writer Czeslaw Milosz. Khoury, who delivered the poem in Polish and English, expressed gratitude to her parents for encouraging her to attain fluency in her ancestral language.

Khoury was followed by Lisa Lotze, the club’s secretary, who pointed out that the program’s venue was especially fitting. She noted that the Polish Arts Club’s establishment owed much to the friendship between group organizer Florence Turowski and Joseph G. Butler III, grandson of the museum’s founder and its director for almost 50 years.

Lotze noted that the two were introduced in 1933 by Eric P. Kelly, a well-known writer and academic who had been Butler’s literature professor at Dartmouth College. Turowski met Kelly, an influential advocate of Poland, when she was studying Polish in Warsaw, the nation’s capital.

“Kelly was a remarkable American who is best known today for his award-winning children’s book, The Trumpeter of Krakow,” Lotze explained. “The insight that really helped galvanize the Polish Arts Club was Kelly’s observation that ethnic arts — whether in music, fine arts or dance — served as ‘the substance that enriched American art forms.’ The club, out of its love for American and Polish culture, has continued to embrace that concept.”

Lotze added that during his conversation with Turowski, Kelly expressed his desire to exhibit his collection of Polish arts and crafts at the Butler Institute of American Art. Kelly stressed, however, that he needed a Polish American group to sponsor it — one along the lines of the Polish Arts Club of Chicago.

Turowski, an educator and civic leader, took Kelly’s proposal to Butler, who readily agreed to support it. In 1935, Turowski established the Polish Arts Club of Youngstown, and in 1936, a showing of Kelly’s collection opened with a tea that featured Polish culinary art.

Ultimately, Joseph Butler and his mother, Mrs. Henry Butler, were so impressed with the event that they invited the club to hold an arts exhibition at the museum on an annual basis.

Apart from its longtime promotion of Polish arts, the club has traditionally awarded scholarships. This year’s recipients were Isabella Lyda Khoury, a student at The Ohio State University, and Lucas John Mazur, a student at Youngstown State University. In their acceptance speeches, both recipients described ways in which their Polish American identity has enriched their lives.

“Polish heritage has been a treasured part of my family’s traditions,” said Khoury, who described the importance of the traditional Christmas Eve dinner known as Wigilia (“Vigil”). She indicated the tradition has strengthened her relationship with her family and deepened her religious faith.

Meanwhile, Mazur noted that his family’s Polish traditions have molded him into the person he is today. Mazur referenced traditional Polish holidays like St. Nicholas Day, Wigilia and Dyngus Day.

“In many ways, our annual celebration of St. Nicholas Day, on December 6, is a much more intimate holiday than Christmas,” he said.

Notably, Kirk Kupensky, the harpist who performed at the event, was a recipient of a Polish Arts Club scholarship in the early 1980s. Kupensky, a graduate of Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, expressed gratitude to an organization that “supported a Polish kid who loved the arts.”

Attendees at Sunday’s program wrapped up the afternoon with tea and a variety of traditional Polish cookies and pastries.

The only traditional element missing from the arts and tea reception was the month long art exhibition, which the organization hopes to revive. Mlynarski, a niece of Florence Turowski, acknowledged that the group is challenged by declining membership, a common issue among contemporary organizations.

“Back in the day, this reception was a major event that drew up to 600 people,” Mlynarski said. “At the time, though, our club had more than 100 members. Today, we’re lucky to get 30.”

Mlynarski stressed that the Polish Arts Club continues to maintain visibility in the Mahoning Valley, as a consistent participant in the Canfield Fair, Simply Slavic and the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts. She noted, however, that reintroducing the month long exhibition with a featured artist could enhance the organization’s profile and attract new members.

“We’ve made it to 90 years,” she said. “I’d like to see this club make it to 100.”