COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Butler Institute of American Art has received a $104,000 grant from the Ohio Arts Council.
It’s the largest single grant to a Mahoning Valley entity in the state agency’s latest round of funding.
In total, the OAC has approved $23.3 million in grants to support artists, nonprofits, arts and cultural organizations, students and educators and public arts programming.
It is the largest single round of grant awards in the agency’s history. Most of the grants, including the Butler’s, are for operations. Grants to schools are for arts education.
The 965 grants approved at the OAC board’s July 30 meeting constitute the council’s first and broadest funding round for fiscal year 2026. The grants stem from the state’s 2026-27 operating budget, which included a record-high appropriation of nearly $53.5 million for the OAC over the two-year period.
Here’s a breakdown of OAC grants to Mahoning Valley entities:
Mahoning County
- Hola Fest Youngstown, $4,489.
- Ballet Western Reserve, $16,852.
- Butler Institute of American Art, $103,939.
- Etruscan Press, $4,464.
- Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium, $44,493.
- Lit Youngstown, $6,500.
- Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past, $6,458.
- McDonough Museum of Art at YSU, $12,640.
- Opera Western Reserve, $9,261.
- Stambaugh Chorus, $6,046.
- Students Motivated by the Arts, $32,447.
- Youngstown Playhouse, $17,806.
- The following Youngstown city schools each received $3,500: Chaney Middle School, East Middle School, Harding Elementary School, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Paul C. Bunn Elementary School, Rayen Early College Middle School, Taft Elementary School and Volney Rogers Elementary School.
Trumbull County
- Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, $26,718.
- Warren Symphony Society, $3,409.
- Foundation Medici (Medici Museum of Art), $14,281.
- Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, $1,278.
Columbiana County
- Lepper Library, $5,507.
- Stage Left Players, $7,769.
- Burchfield Homestead, $1,035.
- Salem Chamber of Commerce, $1,035.