YOUNGSTOWN SHOWS ITS SMARTS 

The Kids Club Opera Company and teachers take a bow at Youngstown State University's Ford Theater.

WALLACE-READER'S DIGEST FUND HELPS OHIO SOAR

In the fall of 2001, the Ohio Arts Council will unveil the results of the State of the Arts Report (SOAR), a three-year study addressing how people participate in the arts and what arts and cultural opportunities exist for Ohioans. The groundbreaking study is the most extensive research effort ever conducted by the OAC.
   SOAR was launched in April 1998 in an effort to refocus the OAC's mission toward strengthening the cultural life of Ohio¹s communities. SOAR will provide comprehensive, realistic and user-friendly information about the arts and cultural environment in Ohio. An interactive CD-ROM with links to an accompanying website will be available to provide easy access to the SOAR findings. The CD-ROM and website also will provide the legislature with the necessary  (CONT'D Page 3)

In 1997, a group of 45 individuals in Youngstown, recognizing the importance of the arts in education, came together with the dream of transforming their community through children and the arts. The result was Students Motivated by the Arts (SMARTS), an arts education partnership with Youngstown State University, the Youngstown City Schools, Youngstown Area Arts Council and the other Youngstown arts organizations. SMARTS, funded in part by the Ohio Arts Council, works to give children access to experiences in the arts they would not otherwise have.
   

The organization involves the community in cooperative projects designed to enrich the school environment and to encourage achievement through the arts. Projects have included a children's illustrated book, a literary and art magazine, a photo documentary and a dance performance for minority health month. Recently, SMARTS ambitiously created an opera with third- and fourth-grade students at Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School. The children created their own opera company, the Kids Club Opera Company, and wrote, produced and performed an original opera.
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