LIMA — Several area organizations dedicated to the arts were among the recipients of more than $12 million in grants from the Ohio Arts Council for fiscal year 2017.
This year’s 630 recipients will receive an increase of $1.1 million overall compared to last year thanks to a budget increase, according to the OAC.
“The Ohio Legislature’s strong investment in arts and culture allows the OAC to continue to support jobs in the creative sector, education in the arts, and cultural endeavors for all Ohioans,” according to OAC Executive Director Donna Collins.
The Lima winners were ArtSpace/Lima, the Lima Symphony Orchestra, and the Council for the Arts of Greater Lima, which received a $5,900 grant for operating expenses along with a $7,500 grant to help fund the 50th Concert in the Park celebration Labor Day weekend. For council member Bart Mills, the grant not only helps with administrative costs, but it also lends credence to the council’s work.
“They sort of legitimize us,” he said. “The requirements for these grants let people know that you are, as an organization, doing everything you need to do to be a solid, well-managed nonprofit.”
Ohio Northern University also received a $7,800 grant for the music department to hold master classes and concerts to help introduce both area students and the general public to traditional Chinese percussion.
“For the last four years, I’ve had a student from Beijing named Chang Tong and he’s a percussionist and his father in Beijing is actually a professional musician,” music professor Sarah Waters said. “Tong’s father has come to Ohio Northern a couple of times to do some lectures and demonstrations of these instruments, so I got the idea that it would be great for him to bring some of his fellow musicians with him to perform as an ensemble.”
