Ohio Arts Council Receives Major Grant from U.S. Department of State
by Jami Goldstein

The Ohio Arts Council recently was awarded a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. The Ohio Arts Council project, titled The Andes Exchange: Animating Democracy through Arts and Culture, is designed to expand and strengthen Ohio’s international exchanges with Chile. The granting program, Arts Exchanges on International Issues, is a more than $1 million initiative of the Department of State to support exchanges and build relationships between U.S. non-profit arts, educational and cultural organizations and their counterparts overseas. The Ohio Arts Council is one of eight grant recipients and the only state arts agency in the nation to receive an award through the program.

“The intent of The Andes Exchange is to underscore the powerful role the arts play in the development, growth and guardianship of a democratic society,” said Wayne Lawson, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Council. “The international exchanges within The Andes Exchange will build knowledge, foster innovative ideas and creativity, and signal the United States’ and Ohio’s commitment to helping unify the world and its people through the arts and culture.”

The grant will be carried out with the assistance and support of Ohio artists and arts professionals and matching funds from the Ohio Arts Foundation, Inc. and partners in Chile. The grant contains three major project areas:

• Deepen and sustain the OAC’s work that began with the Andes Foundation in 2003 to strengthen the operating practices of three nationally significant Chilean arts education organizations—Balmaceda 1215, Fundacion Orquestas Juveniles, and Amigos del Arte;
• Continue to build the partnership between Passion Works Studio in Athens, and Colores del Alma, the arts workshop housed within Cruz del Sur, a rehabilitation center for children and young people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities in Punta Arenas, Chile; and
• Conduct a variety of activities in K-12 education in Chile, including: Professional development opportunities for Chilean K-12 educators in curriculum integration; Musical instrument repair workshops that will build sustainable skills among Chile’s music teachers to repair and maintain their own instruments; A three-week residency of Rapa Nui artists from Easter Island, working with students at Playhouse Square in Cleveland.

These projects will foster dialogue and enhance the understanding of and engagement in democratic processes through in-depth consultancies, workshops, artist residency exchanges, and the development of a collaborative website and educational materials.

“The significant research, programming development, evaluation and infrastructure made possible by the U. S. Department of Education through Going Global, a three-year $1.2 million grant with more than 30 projects in six countries, laid the foundation for the work in The Andes Exchange,” said Lawson.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) manages a wide range of academic, professional, and cultural exchanges that include approximately 30,000 participants annually with the goal of increasing mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Guided by the four strategic pillars of U.S. public diplomacy: engagement, exchanges, education and empowerment, ECA cultural programs reach out to selected foreign audiences to highlight the creativity, diversity, and dynamism of American society and its achievements, as well as to demonstrate the respect of the United States for the achievements of other cultures. For more information, visit www.exchanges.state.gov.

Established in 1988, the Ohio Arts Council’s International Program is designed to foster long-term involvement in international cultural exchange and encourage Ohio artists and arts organizations to form partnerships with arts professionals abroad. In addition to Germany, exchanges have occurred between Ohio artists, performers and administrators and their counterparts in Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel and Japan.

The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.

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