Fort Hayes student Alesa Craddock works on the Burkhart mural

The once-controversial 13-by-70-foot painting Music by the late Columbus artist Emerson C. Burkhart will be permanently displayed at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Music was painted on 7 canvases in 1934 for the Columbus Board of Education, with funding from the US Works Progress Administration. Originally installed above the proscenium arch in the auditorium of Central High School, the mural depicts men and women in evening dress, dancing, singing and playing musical instruments. Four years after Burkhart finished it, Central's principal had the mural whitewashed because he considered the subject matter inappropriate for high school students.

Now the painting is being restored by students at Fort Hayes Career Center. In 1998, a task force organized by Mayor Michael Coleman, then president of Columbus City Council, worked to raise money and organize restoration efforts. The mural was moved from Central - set to become the new home of COSI - and taken to Fort Hayes where student volunteers have played a major role in its restoration.

Each student does a small part of the cleaning, giving them (CON'T PAGE 2)

In 1997, the Ohio Arts Council initiated a research project, the State of the Arts Report 2000. Often small arts organizations such as watercolor societies, chamber music ensembles and quilting groups go uncounted or underrepresented. The Ohio Arts Council made a concerted effort to locate small organizations and include them in the SOAR 2000. Angie Herbert and Keith Lee, consultants contracted by the OAC, had the arduous task of combing Ohio newspapers for listings of small organizations.

Last June the OAC conducted focus groups to gather information for the report. Three of the 22 focus groups included representatives of small arts and cultural organizations. The focus groups presented a true sense of the role those organizations play in their communities. Whether they are dance companies or community theatres, small arts groups operate with their communities in mind and are cohesive forces in their locales.

Along with the information collected from the focus groups, The State of the Arts Report 2000 will include a comprehensive directory of small arts (CON'T PAGE 3)