Written by Kay Bouyack
The Scioto Foundation has announced grant awards to ten recipients in the total amount of $116,595.95 for the third quarter of 2022. The grants will assist local organizations with projects in fields such as education, arts and culture, community development, social services, civic benefit and economic development.
Cirque d’Art Theatre, which started its third decade of operation in September, received an award of $30,000 from the Edward J. Kricker Unrestricted Fund in support of an expanded performance production schedule including two autumn Halloween shows at the Southern Ohio Museum, as well as an elaborate holiday show and June’s season finale at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts. Several new productions to be staged at the Cirque studio have also been added to its season in 2022 – 2023 along with thirty weekly classes from September through the spring.
The Fourteenth Street Community Center was awarded $6,674.95 from the Kathleen Battle Fund to help with the creation of a Kathleen Battle Studio project. The project will see the establishment of a studio suitable for community music production, podcasting, internet radio, performing arts and spoken history. The proposed facility will also include a classroom to enable learning about studio and music production. The grant funds will be used for studio supplies.
A $15,900 grant from the Duncan & Ruth Baxter Fund, the William & Mary Ann Burke Fund and the Calvin & Martha Johnson Fund will assist the Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery with their goal to complete restoration of the iconic Soldier’s Circle. Funds will go toward repairing the base at the center of the circle, as well as restoration work on the soldier statue which was dedicated in 1884.
The Friends of Scioto Casa (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) will receive a grant of $8,000 from the Jenkins Benevolent Fund to support the needs of children in foster care. The funds will go toward three goals including training and providing professional development for current CASAS, fulfilling children’s needs in care by allotting a birthday fund to each child in care and providing tutoring if needed, and retention and recruiting of qualified CASAS.
A grant of $2,910 from the Stella Quinn Fund was awarded to the Lucasville Historical Society for its “Finding the Lucas in Lucasville” project. The money will cover partial costs for an educational project created by the LAHS educational committee. The project will center around four original texts about the history of Lucaville’s founding in a teaching unit that will develop vocabulary, research skills and map skills and provide creative follow-up to deepen third and fourth grade students’ understanding of the community.
The Portsmouth Wind Symphony will receive a grant of $5,000 from the James & Tabitha Pugh Fund for partial support of its “Thirtieth Anniversary Season” of providing Portsmouth and the surrounding area a wide variety of outstanding classical and light classical musical programs performed by area residents. In its 2022 – 2023 season, the PWS will perform three concerts in the main theatre of Shawnee State University’s Vern Riffe Center for the Arts and its traditional Independence Day concert in Tracy Park.
“Potter’s House Ministries DoorDash Food Program” was given a grant of $4,000 from the Edmund J. Kricker Advisory Fund to assist its efforts to address the rising costs of food and transportation that it offers to local residents who suffer from food insecurity. The food program will apply the grant funds to the delivery of pantry orders and senior boxes directly to its expanding client base by qualified DoorDash drivers.
With its project, “Draping History for a New Beginning,” The South Central Ohio Education Service Center will use a $5,781 grant from the Ed & Helen Bannon Fund for the replacement of 50 year-old back and side stage curtains which are in extremely poor condition in its theatre facility. In the building, which was originally Glenwood High School, the auditorium space is currently used for presentations, meetings, graduation ceremonies, teacher in-service meetings and student events. The space is the only original school auditorium still in existence in Scioto County.
A grant of $26,300 for the Southern Ohio Museum’s Edmund J. Kricker Performing Arts from the Edmund J. Kricker Unrestricted Fund will underwrite the 2022 – 2023 season of educational and entertaining presentations by local, regional, state and national professional artists and arts educators. The new season will focus on classical, jazz and popular concert series designed specifically to illustrate the interconnectivity of imagery, movement, sight and sound existing between the visual and performing arts.
A $12,000 grant from the Edmund J. Kricker Advisory Fund will go to the St. Francis Catholic Outreach & Charitable Giving organization to purchase food for distribution to Scioto County residents. In 2023 the St. Francis Food Pantry projects that it will serve 3,600 households (10,000 individuals) for a total of 90,000 meals. Food will be distributed through bi-monthly scheduled food pantry distributions, as well as emergency assistance distribution.
The Scioto Foundation annually awards grants on a quarterly basis in categories of the arts, education, community development, social services, healthcare and others. Application deadlines are March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31.
SF grant applications and guidelines may be found on the Scioto Foundation’s website, www.sciotofoundation.org.