Governor Strickland Approves Ohio Arts Council Biennium Budget for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 Ohio Arts Council Approves 469 Grants Totaling $8,754,618
by Jaclyn Reynolds

On July 1, Governor Strickland approved the 2008/2009 biennium budget. In addition to the 2.2 percent increase given to the OAC by the Governor in the executive version of the budget released in March, the House and the Senate each added $1 million to the OAC budget for the biennium for a total of $24,976,322. The result is an 11.1 percent increase from the FY06/07 biennial budget of $22,476,322.

At a public meeting on June 20 the Council Board approved grants for fiscal year 2008. The Ohio Arts Council will award 469 grants totaling $8,754,618 to support arts organizations and arts programs across Ohio. The Board reviewed 515 grant requests totaling $9,569,083. Recommendations to the Board were made by advisory panels that reviewed applications throughout the spring.

Organizations that receive OAC funds are required to match state tax dollars with additional public and private funds. In general, for every state tax dollar invested, $45 is raised in matching funds by recipient organizations.

For more information specific to this round of grant announcements, download the following PDF file: by-city list of grants awarded in this round.

Sustainability Program
The Sustainability Program provides two-year grants to organizations for annual arts programming or a recurring single project or activity. The program supports organizations that offer broad-based arts programming in any discipline (multiarts, performing arts, literature, traditional arts, visual arts) that is produced and presented by nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, other nonprofit or government entities, and colleges or universities that offer arts programming.

A total of $5,073,740 was awarded to 39 of Ohio’s major arts institutions with budgets of more than $1.5 million.

The Council Board approved 232 Sustainability grants for a total of $2,711,499 for organizations with budgets of less than $1.5 million.

Arts Access
Seventy-three (73) Arts Access grants were approved totaling $167,563. The Arts Access program provides funds for first-time applicants to the OAC, startup organizations, community-driven one-time projects and organizations with budgets under $25,000.

Arts Innovation
The Arts Innovation Program awarded nineteen (19) grants funding totaling $192,500. The program supports proposals from organizations that include special, one-time projects, development of new projects for new constituencies, experimental program designs and pioneering initiatives being offered for the first time.

Arts Learning—Arts Partnerships
Forty-seven (47) Arts Partnership grants were awarded totaling $464,331. The program provides one- or two-year grants to support activities that enhance the quality of and access to learning in the arts for learners of all ages, backgrounds, experience levels and abilities.

Arts Learning—Artist in Residence
The Artist in Residence Program (AIR) awarded forty-nine (49) grants for a total of $114,400. AIR places accomplished, professional artists in a variety of educational and community settings.

Individual Creativity—Artists in Communities
One (1) application was approved in the Artists and Communities Program for a total of $11,400. The program supports artist-initiated projects that are collaborative art-making experiences with a specific community and that result in the creation of new work.

Individual Creativity—Traditional Arts Apprenticeships
Nine (9) Traditional Arts Apprenticeships were approved totaling $19,185. The program provides support for a master artist and one or more apprentices to work together in an intensive individual study program that preserves traditional art forms of Ohio residents. Examples of traditional arts include, but are not limited to: Polish paper cutting, blues music, stone carving, Appalachian fiddling, embroidery, Laotian khene playing, icon painting, Irish step dancing, woodcarving, Chicano corridor singing, quilting, tamburitza music and polka.

2007 Grant Award Ratifications
Ratifications are the Board’s final approval of funds allocated in various program areas since its March 20, 2007 meeting. The Board ratified 36 grants from 2007 totaling $147,314. These awards have not been announced previously.

The 2007 ratifications included:

• Ten (10) Artists with Disabilities Access grants totaling $4,380
• One (1) Arts Learning/Arts Partnership grant for $5,000
• Seventeen (17) Capacity Building grants for $57,094
• One (1) International Partnerships grant for $3,000
• Seven (7) Special-Organization grants for $77,840

For information specific to these ratifications, download the following PDF file: List of 2007 Ratifications.

2008 grant information will be searchable on the Ohio Arts Council Web site at www.oac.state.oh.us/search/grants/SearchGrants.asp

Grant applications were reviewed last winter and spring by panels of arts experts and Ohio Arts Council staff. The Council Board, consisting of 15 gubernatorial appointees and four nonvoting members from the Ohio legislature, makes final decisions based on panel recommendations.

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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