A $50,000 grant from Akron Community Foundation will go toward the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival, which will enable free dance performances in Akron parks.
Akron Community Foundation’s board of directors recently approved grants totaling nearly $3.6 million, including $3 million in grants from 154 designated, donor-advised, agency endowment and scholarship funds, and more than $500,000 in competitive arts and culture grants chosen by the organization’s Community Investment Committee.
With a $20,000 grant, the community foundation joins nearly $300,000 in initial funding for an arts and culture engagement initiative that was created in response to the recent Arts & Culture Assessment for Summit County, called ArtsNow. The goal of the initiative is to elevate the work of the local arts and culture sector among residents and businesses, and to provide a centralized online clearinghouse for local events.
“Akron has always had an exciting, diverse arts community,” said Steve Strayer, chairman of the Community Investment Committee. “This initiative will be focused on helping those organizations collaboratively and strategically market themselves to the public.”
An additional $51,500 in arts and culture grants was recommended by the Charles E. and Mary K. Booth Family Fund, Marilyn Meyers Buckey Family Fund, and an anonymous donor-advised fund through the community foundation’s grant co-investment program.
Their funding joins that of the following field-of-interest and unrestricted funds, which were created by charitable residents to support emerging needs in our community: Adam Fund, V.E. (Tom) Atkins Fund, Decker Endowment Fund for Families, Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Fund, GAR Foundation Fund for Dance in Summit County, C. Colmery Gibson Polsky Fund, Lucille Scott Harris Fund, Arthur Kelly Fund, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fund for Dance, William C. Krisher Fund, James G. Robertson Fund, Roush Memorial Fund, Shaw Foundation Fund, George Stevens Fund, Jean P. Stevens Fund and the Community Fund.
Their grants will support the following 39 arts and culture programs:
Actors Summit, to support seven plays during the 2015-16 season, ranging from classic American dramas to contemporary comedies to musicals, $5,000
Akron Area Arts Alliance, to implement improvements identified in the recent countywide arts assessment, including upgrading gallery and event spaces, promoting wider community use of the Summit Artspace building, and offering relevant programming to a greater range of ages and ethnicities, $15,000
Akron Art Museum, to provide operating support for the museum and its enhanced programming, including free school tours for young children, film premieres, lectures, artist gallery talks and concerts, $50,000
Akron Civic Theatre, to support the 2015-16 season of community-based and in-house programming, and for the All Access Program, which provides 5,000 free tickets for social service agencies to give to economically disadvantaged individuals and families, $30,000
Akron Public Schools – Project RISE, for the Performing Arts Can Teach (PACT) program, which gives children and families who are experiencing homelessness access to musicals, plays and dance performances, $9,000
Akron Symphony, for a summer music camp, youth orchestra coaching, Concerts for Kids series, and the annual Gospel Meets Symphony production at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, $37,000
Akron Woman’s City Club/Coach House Theatre, to support 2015-16 programming, including free Elder Theatre productions for Akron-area senior citizens, $2,500
Apollo’s Fire, to support the 2015-16 season of baroque and crossover programming in Summit County, including an opera, Italian street theater music, and young artist concerts, $12,000
Art Sparks, to expand a dance-focused kindergarten readiness program in Summit County Head Start locations, $7,000
Arts in Stark, to bring to Akron the Northeast Ohio Genius Project, which uses creative art and science competitions to improve student test scores and revitalize local neighborhoods, $11,000
Ballet Theatre of Ohio, for “Take Me Out to the Ballet,” a partnership with Akron Public Schools that brings grade school students to an in-theater performance of “The Nutcracker,” $5,000
Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture, for performances, workshops and educational activities during the Balch Street Theatre’s 2015-16 season, $2,500
Central Summit County Choral Society, to support the Summit Children’s Choir, a vocal and musical education program for students in first through 12th grade, and for Masterworks Chorale, a multi-generational singing ensemble, $8,000
Children’s Concert Society, for the In-School Concert Series, which introduces more than 30,000 students to diverse types of live fine music, $10,000
City of Akron, for the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival, which offers free dance performances in Akron parks, $50,000
The Cleveland Orchestra, to support the 2015 Blossom Music Festival and the Sound for the Centennial Campaign, $35,000
Community Hall Foundation, for the ArtsNow arts and culture engagement initiative in Summit County that aims to build relationships between local arts groups and businesses, as well as create a clearinghouse for arts and culture event information, $20,000
DANCECleveland, to bring the world-renowned Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal to Akron for a public performance and community residency that will feature company members in master and college classes, receptions, open rehearsals and more, $10,000
Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio, for a ballroom dancing program for fifth- and eighth-grade students that teaches teamwork, self-confidence and respect, $5,000
Friends of 91.3, to increase organizational sustainability through brand expansion, enhanced membership and fundraising initiatives, and ongoing technology investments, $12,500
GroundWorks DanceTheater, for Summit County performances at the Akron-Summit County Public Library and the Stage Door Series at E.J. Thomas Hall; educational programs for children; master classes; and other outreach activities, $10,000
The Illusion Factory, to support free theater productions in Akron-area schools, $10,000
Keepers of the Art Inc., for the 2015 Keepers of the Art Music Concert Series at the Akron Art Museum, $10,000
Magical Theatre Company, to engage young people in theater through community-wide performances, student script writing, after-school and summer workshops, and interactive study guides, $20,000
Master Singers Inc., for the all-volunteer, non-audition chorale’s 2015-16 concert season, $5,000
Neos Dance Theatre, for two new performances at Akron Civic Theatre that will creatively incorporate video and animation into the choreography, $5,000
The Nightlight, to renovate an exhibition space in the theater that will increase audience capacity by 80 percent, $5,000
Ohio Shakespeare Festival, for outdoor productions of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Henry V” at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, $5,000
RED Company real.edge.dance, for general operating support for the modern dance company’s fifth season of performances and the development of its educational dance center in Akron, $2,500
Rubber City Shakespeare Company, to engage local residents in classical theater through acting workshops and touring productions, $2,500
Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, for general operations, and for restoration projects as part of the 100th anniversary capital campaign, $55,000
Summit County Historical Society of Akron, Ohio, to support the organization’s work in preserving and interpreting the history of Summit County and Akron, $23,000
Tuesday Musical Association, to support the opening-night concert featuring the Escher String Quartet, $10,000
Urban Visions Ministry, to expand its free after-school ballet program to include at-risk girls in the North Hill neighborhood, $2,500
Verb Ballets, for a special tribute performance celebrating the 90th birthday of famed choreographer Heinz Poll, $5,000
Weathervane Community Playhouse, for the 2015-16 season of plays, musicals and young actor productions, $10,000
Western Reserve Historical Society, to support educational programming at Hale Farm & Village, $10,000
Western Reserve Public Media, to support cultural arts and performance programming such as American Masters, Great Performances, Masterpiece and PBS Arts Showcase, $15,000
Youth Excellence Performing Arts Workshop, to introduce minority youth to the arts through after-school, weekend and summer enrichment programs, $15,000
About Akron Community Foundation
Celebrating 60 years of building community philanthropy, Akron Community Foundation embraces and enhances the work of charitable people who make a permanent commitment to the good of the community. In 1955, a $1 million bequest from the estate of Edwin Shaw established the community foundation. Today, it is a philanthropic endowment of more than $191 million with a growing family of nearly 500 funds established by charitable people and organizations from all walks of life. The community foundation and its funds welcome gifts of all kinds, including cash, bequests, stock, real estate, life insurance and retirement assets, just to name a few. To date, the community foundation’s funds have awarded more than $124 million in grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. For more information about Akron Community Foundation or to learn more about creating your own charitable fund, call (330) 376-8522 or visit www.akroncf.org.
