A record appropriation for the Ohio Arts Council in the stateâs 2022-23 budget has paid off for Athens County arts organizations.
The OAC awarded a total of nearly $255,000 to 17 entities in Athens County â the highest amount and greatest number of recipients in recent years, if not ever.
The award total represents a 40% increase in funding over the 2020 grant cycle.
Of the 17 grants awarded, two went to organizations that have not received funding in recent grant cycles. The Federal Valley Resource Center in Stewart was awarded $4,184 for its âFrom Old Savannah to Tablertownâ event scheduled for Sept. 11. Ohio Universityâs Tantrum Theater received a total of $6,223 to sponsor a Middle School Drama Club in the county and to engage two teaching artists for a series of improvisation workshops at Passion Works Studio that will lead to a free public performance.
Tantrum Theater to receive $10,000 in grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Photo by Jason Hornick Playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton
Tantrum Theater, Ohio University’s professional theater, has been approved for a $10,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support a Tantrum Theater Community Commission.
This project supports the commission of a play to be written by playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton in collaboration with the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society and Tantrum Theater.
The work will center on the historical experience of living within the Black community of Athens in Southeastern Appalachian Ohio. Tantrum Theater’s project is among the more than 1,100 projects across America garnering support totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding. Tantrum Theater also received $2,300 in fundi