By 1808Delaware, Ohio Arts Council
The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) board approved $18,479,247 in grants to support Ohio artists, arts and cultural organizations, students, educators, and public arts programming when it met on July 21 for its summer board meeting. This marks the largest amount of grant dollars distributed to constituents applying to OAC funding programs in the agency’s history.
Nine of those grants are for Delaware County projects.
The 746 grants approved at the meeting constitute the initial and major state fiscal year 2022 funding round for the OAC.
OAC Executive Director Donna S. Collins said these grants are a significant step toward the fulfillment of the agency’s ongoing commitment to directly fund arts programming in all 88 Ohio counties, something it has been able to do for the last six fiscal years.
She added that the OAC’s commitment to providing statewide support of the arts has renewed importance following the announcement of a record-setting state appropriation of $40 million for the OAC’s 2022-23 operating budget.
“We are very grateful to Governor Mike DeWine, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, and members of the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate for their continued support of public funding for the arts,” she said. “This investment will fuel the spirit of innovative resilience that defines Ohio’s arts and cultural sector.”
Collins said the grants will have an especially substantial impact this year as many artists and arts organizations work to recover from the devastating financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Throughout the past year and a half, we have been reminded time and time again that the arts are better when we work together,” she said. “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.”
The Delaware County grants are:
Spotlight Columbus, Inc. in Lewis Center — $3,999 to sponsor the South Asian Theater Festival to be composed of a multi-month workshop in collaboration with Epic Actors’ Workshop and Tarun Chatterjee, an online theatre festival in August, and a two-day in-person annual theatre festival in November at the Shedd Theater in Columbus.
Central Ohio Symphony, Inc. — $5,220 to support Play It Again, three curated performances of significant works by underrepresented composers and guest-artist composers that will be performed uniquely for a second or third time.
Central Ohio Symphony, Inc. — $2,867 to present Kristen Basore, Brandon Scott Russell, Keyona Willis, and Michael Young. Council funds will be exclusively for artists’ fees.
Central Ohio Symphony, Inc. — $15,907 to continue to program arts activities
Boardman Arts Park, Inc. — $11,873 to transform a neglected basketball court into the Imagination Project, an interactive art play space in a community-park setting featuring hands-on art pieces, among other amenities.
Ross Art Museum/Ohio Wesleyan University — $11,426 to continue to program arts activities
The Arts Castle — $16,751 to continue to program arts activities
David Smith Elementary School/Delaware City Schools — $24,000 to sponsor an 80-day residency in the visual arts with Wendy Kendrick.
Maya Kulkarni in Powell — $3,726 — The master will undertake an apprenticeship in traditional Indian dance in the expressive Abhinaya style with apprentice Shalini Basu. The two will meet weekly to create three pieces exploring facial expressions, gestural language, and embodied acting, with two community performances scheduled for the apprentice.
