Orchestra, chorale to get arts stimulus grants
8/10/2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has provided money to two local organizations: The Toledo Symphony will receive $25,000, and the Masterworks Chorale will benefit from $10,000.
Both groups will use the money to educate and extend their musical reach to youth and under-served audiences.
The latest grants make for a total of $285,000 that will be given to Toledo-area nonprofit arts groups in the coming month or two, and they are expected to be the last stimulus money designated for art.
In July, the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo received a stimulus grant of $250,000, which it will redistribute in sums ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. Groups have until Friday to submit applications. The arts commission was one of 12 Ohio groups to share $700,000 in awards announced in July.
Bob Bell, president and chief executive officer of the Toledo Symphony, said the orchestra has two fewer positions and a $5.7 million budget that's down $500,000 from last year. He's grateful for the $25,000, but noted that the orchestra had requested $50,000 from the Ohio Arts Council, which disbursed the money according to council staff and a panel's recommendations.
Ohio's arts will receive nearly $1.1 million in stimulus money from the $50 million disbursed by the National Endowment for the Arts, said Jami Goldstein, spokesman for the Ohio Arts Council.
For the latest round of awards, dozens of nonprofit organizations, including the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Ballet Association, and the Henry County Arts Council were quick to put in requests totalling $2.4 million.
The Ohio Arts Council received $395,000 and was able to fund 16 percent of those pleas, Ms. Goldstein said.
Funding for the arts from public as well as private sources has dropped in the last year.
Contact Tahree Lane at:
tlane@theblade.com
or 419-724-6075.