President Clinton has signed the FY2001 Interior Appropriations Bill with an increase of $7 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, the first increase for the agency in eight years. The increase brings the NEA budget to $105 million.
For the past five years, the arts endowment's funding has remained flat at just under $100 million. The NEA's budget peaked in 1992 at $176 million. New money for the NEA will fund community outreach and arts education projects as part of the federal agency's Challenge America initiative.
Teachers, artists and arts specialists will be trained to identify and develop curriculum for students who are gifted in the visual and performing arts. The students will learn skills that can be transferred to other areas of school performance.
Ohio's Javitz grant, one of six awarded nationally, was the only arts-related proposal and received the highest score. Children in Cleveland and Hamilton will be served during the project's initial phase; there are plans to expand the effort in 2003. Ohio Arts Council Arts in Education program artists will play a central role in the project.
OAC NAMES NEW PIO DIRECTOR
The Ohio Arts Council welcomes Gregg Dodd as its new Director of Public Information. Dodd will be the legislative contact for the Ohio Arts Council. He is a graduate of the University of Toledo with a bachelor's degree in communication. Dodd has worked at the University of Toledo, Wright State University in Dayton and Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. Most recently he was the special events coordinator and public relations representative for COSI Toledo. Dodd replaces Beth Fisher. Please update your mailing lists to reflect this change.
Participants in the Ohio Arts Council's Summer Media Institute study the basics of media arts. Sixty-one Ohio teachers from across the state attended the institute, July 23-29. The program provides professional and personal enrichment for teachers and school administrators. SMI is co-sponsored by Ohio University and is held on the Athens campus. The institute is a nationally recognized program that includes workshops in creative computer imaging, computer animation, photography and video.
