The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) board approved $23,340,516 in grants to support Ohio artists, nonprofits, arts and cultural organizations, students and educators and public arts programming at its July 30 meeting. This marks the largest single round of grant awards distributed to OAC funding applicants in the agency’s history.
The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. It has directly funded arts programming in all 88 Ohio counties for the last ten fiscal years.
The 965 grants approved at the meeting, including five in Perrysburg, constitute the OAC’s first and broadest funding round for state fiscal year 2026. These grants stem from the state’s 2026-2027 operating budget, which included a record-high state appropriation of nearly $53.5 million for the OAC over the two-year period.
“This year, the Ohio Arts Council honors sixty years of public investment thanks to the long-term vision shared by many governors and legislative leaders,” said OAC Executive Director Donna Collins. “Through today’s meaningful, impactful investment, we are proud to increase access to the arts in communities across Ohio to the benefit of Ohio residents and visitors.”
Grant funding was awarded in the following areas:
•Sustainability: Supports ongoing arts and cultural activities in all genres. Includes 558 grants totaling $18,119,370.
•Statewide Arts Service Organizations (SASO): Qualifying organizations that provide statewide professional services to arts and cultural organizations. Includes five grants totaling $299,226.
•ArtSTART: Provides flexible, accessible funding to help organizations complete short-term projects addressing a wide variety of goals and objectives. Includes 124 grants totaling $437,640 .
•ArtsNEXT: Provides competitive funding for innovative and experimental projects. Includes 43 grants totaling $700,000.
•Ohio Artists on Tour: Enables Ohio organizations to tap into the creative potential of artists to enrich their programming and the vitality of their communities. Includes 34 grants totaling $191,263.
•Arts Partnership: Supports arts education projects that address the needs of individual learners and their communities. Includes 80 grants totaling $972,066.
•TeachArtsOhio: Brings schools together with teaching artists to share engaging, personal, high-quality arts learning experiences. Includes 102 grants totaling $2,556,400.
•Traditional Arts Apprenticeships: Provide support for mentor artists to work with apprentices to build understanding and proficiency in folk and traditional art forms. Includes 19 grants totaling $64,551.
The five grants awarded in Perrysburg include:
•$2,368 ArtSTART grant awarded to the Center for Fine and Performing Arts/ Owens Community College Foundation.
•$667 Ohio Artists on Tour grant awarded to the Center for Fine and Performing Arts/ Owens Community College Foundation.
•$1,625 Sustainability grant awarded to EVAC Project, Inc.
•$5,374 Sustainability grant awarded to Perrysburg Symphony Association.
•$10,500 TeachArtsOhio grant awarded to West Side Montessori—Perrysburg Campus.
“The arts directly contribute to making our state a place of innovation, vitality, and cultural importance,” said Collins. “On behalf of our board, we thank Governor Mike DeWine and members of the Ohio General Assembly for their enduring and unwavering support of Ohio’s arts and cultural sector.”
