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More than $300,000 in Ohio Arts Council grants are coming to Mahoning County.
Nineteen grants totaling $314,687, about $20,000 more than last year, will go to 19 recipients. They are among more than 1,000 grants totaling $23,196,364 the OAC announced Wednesday.
Seven of those grants will go to various locations in the Youngstown City School District. Harding, Martin Luther King Jr., Paul C. Bunn, Taft and Volney Rogers elementary schools and East and Rayen Early College middle schools each received TeachArtsOhio grants, which cover the cost for short-term artist residencies in the schools, between $4,200 and $8,400.
Other beneficiaries are: Ballet Western Reserve, $15,783; Butler Institute of American Art, $104,540; Etruscan Press, $4,464; Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium Association, $42,869; Lit Youngstown, $6,849; Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past, $6,458; McDonough Museum of Art, $12,418; Opera Western Reserve, $9,619; Stambaugh Chorus, $6,046; Students Motivated by the Arts-SMARTS, $32,151; Thrive Mahoning Valley, $17,214; and Youngstown Playhouse, $18,456.
All of those are sustainability grants, which can be used for general operating support, except first-time recipient Thrive Mahoning Valley, which was awarded an ArtsNEXT grant designed to support innovative and experimental projects.
Thrive Executive Director Christopher Colon said the money will be used to incorporate the arts into the farmers market, which takes place the second and fourth Thursday of each month at the main branch Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County on Wick Avenue.
"We're going to have some photography, some hands-on sessions with kids around food insecurity, seed-to-stomach and farm-to-table ideas that we're going to be doing over the next year at our market," Colon said. "It's engaging youth and community members through the arts on healthy eating and stuff like that.
"When we started our market back in late February, early March, one of the things that we wanted to do since the beginning was engage the youth, and the original funding didn't allow us to do that. We saw this grant and said, 'Hey, let's give it a try.' We didn't expect to even get it, but we got it."
The Millennial Theatre Company also is a first-time recipient, receiving a $3,429 ArtSTART grant, which provides funding for a specific purpose. While MTC frequently presents shows at the Playhouse and Hopewell Theatre in Youngstown, it is based in Girard, and its funding is included among five grants awarded to Trumbull County.
Trumbull will receive a total of $54,160. Other Trumbull awardees are: Lakeview Local School District, $42,000 (ArtSTART); School Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, $3,862 (ArtSTART); Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, $1,278 (sustainability); and Warren Symphony Society/Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, $3,591 (ArtSTART).
MTC's founder Joe Asente said the grant will enable the theater to hire musicians for its larger musical productions.
"It is clear that Youngstown audiences desire the use of live musicians, and with the help of this grant, we will continue to elevate our productions with live musicians whenever possible," Asente said. "We are thankful to the Ohio Arts Council for seeing the value in this project and for supporting our mission through this grant."
Dani Dier, chief business officer for the Stambaugh association, said the OAC money in recent years helped finance TubaChristmas and other free events, educational efforts such as the Stambaugh Youth Concert Band and bringing in national touring acts like the Glenn Miller Orchestra last December.
"We're able to utilize it across the board to really engage the community, all generations," Dier said.
McDonough Director Claudia Berlinski said the OAC money helps the museum provide honorariums and cover shipping costs for exhibiting artists and aids with advertising and promotional expenses.
"We're grateful every year because you just never know when the state budget will really lower the amount," Berlinski said. "I'm glad that they have been supportive of the arts."
Lit Youngstown co-founder Karen Schubert said many of her friends in other states complain that arts funding only goes to the largest cities. OAC awarded grants to organizations in all 88 Ohio counties.
"Lit Youngstown is honored to have the support of the OAC and proud to live in a state that protects public funding for the arts throughout Ohio, and not just in the biggest cities," Schubert said. "These operating funds will be used for salaries and overhead like insurance, behind-the-scenes costs that keep things humming."
Four Columbiana County groups received $21,383: East Liverpool Community Partnership for Revitalization, $8,341 (ArtsNEXT); Lepper Library, $5,507 (sustainability); Stage Left Players Inc., $6,500 (sustainability); and Salem Chamber of Commerce, $1.035 (sustainability).