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The Medina County Arts Council Board of Trustees will celebrate the Council’s 27th anniversary at their Awards Dinner and Annual Meeting on Wednesday evening, February 17, 2010. Honored at the meeting will be Donna Bica, Stage Left Theatre Company, and Ricky Williams, recipients of the Council’s 2009 Awards for Service to the Arts.
This year’s Individual Award recipient is Donna Bica for her work in directing “A Walk with Spirits of the Past” in Medina since its beginning and serving as a trustee and president of Medina Show Biz Company. The Organizational Award goes to Stage Left Theatre Company. for their work in presenting Shakespeare in the Park and other productions at the Drake Center. Ricky Williams will be honored with a special Award of Recognition for Service to the Arts for his work in guiding and designing art work for the original membership campaign and establishment of The Medina County Arts Council.
The event will be held at The Oaks Lodge in Chippewa Lake, beginning with a social hour at 6:30 p.m. followed by the dinner, entertainment, a short business meeting, and the presentation of the awards.
During the meeting, Dan Hostetler, Arts Council President, will recognize retiring trustees, Roger Smalley, Marlene Jividen, and Bonnie Nelson, and give a report on 2009 activities and plans for the future. Treasurer Julie Boyle will present the financial report, and new trustees will be elected.
The Awards Dinner Committee members are Jim Gilder and Judith Parish. The dinner is open to the public as well as Arts Council members, but advance reservations are necessary by February 3. Reservations are $25 per person. Call 330-723-4611 by January 28 to have a reservation form mailed to you.
The Medina County Arts Council, established in 1983, is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote and build community excellence through the arts in Medina County. The Council serves and assists artists and arts organizations throughout the county. The organization may be reached by mail at P.O. Box 532, Medina, OH 44258, or by e-mail at medinaco.artscouncil@zoominternet.net.
For more information: Nancy Sprowls at 330-725-6443 or Judith Parish at 330-723-4611
Applications for next year’s 2010-2011 Medina County Arts Council grants may be filed in the period between December 1 of 2009, and February 28, 2010. Applications may be printed out from the Web site: www.medinacountyartscouncil.org or they may also be secured by calling 330-725-6443 and requesting that a copy be mailed to you.
All grants will be reviewed in March by a committee of trustees and voted on by the Board later in the spring. Those submitting applications will be notified by May 15 if they have received a grant.
Guidelines for submitting applications are posted here on the web site. The requesting nonprofit organization must have 501(c) status. Profits from any event or special project of the requesting organization must be used to promote the arts.
The Medina County Arts Council has just received confirmation of an Ohio Arts Council “Arts Access Grant” to help support the programs and concerts in this past summer’s Arts Week celebration. The County Board and its Arts Week Committee had worked since early spring to schedule evening concerts and noon children’s programs in Medina and Brunswick and to expand the programs to Firestone Park in Spencer and Mill Stream Park in Valley City. The programs, running from July 13 through July 17, 2009 were organized by the Arts Week Committee headed by Roger Smalley and including Barb McGreer, Jim Gilder, Judith Parish, Tom Sigel, Chris Nespeca, and Julie Zabkar, who represented Brunswick Art Works. Parish was Chair of the Grant Committee which submitted the grant request for funding to the Ohio Arts Council.
According to Parish, “After attending the April OAC review of the grants submitted and hearing the favorable responses of the review panelists to our proposal, I felt very encouraged that we would receive funding. However, the delays in the state budget process and the huge cuts to the OAC budget, made it seem probable that we would not receive any help. The $500 we are to receive is extremely helpful and in light of the current economic conditions, a confirmation of the value of our Arts Week efforts.”
Arts Week has a 20 year history. Medina County has many arts activities presented by local arts organizations during the summer months, but this one week in July is especially full of events. Medina County’s Annual Arts Week, supported and promoted by The Medina County Arts Council, traditionally has focused on being a lead-up to the ending event - Sunday’s Art-in-the-Park, the well-known event sponsored by The Medina County Art League. As in the past, the Arts Council arranged and funded Arts Week performances and programs by local artists and entertainers for children and adults on Medina’s Public Square and in Brunswick at the Community Recreation Center outdoor stage. The free lunchtime performances were designed to provide entertainment and learning in the arts for children. The free evening concerts in Brunswick and Medina focused on adult and family audiences.
This year, additional concerts were arranged and scheduled in Valley City and Spencer - an expansion of the free outdoor concerts to areas of the county where they had not been held previously. On Wednesday, July 15, The Medina County Arts Council, in cooperation with Barbara Mack and the Liverpool Township Trustees, presented a concert by Ryan Beke, Acoustic Guitarist, at the Mill Stream Park in Valley City. Beke is a local guitar teacher who plays in several music groups as well as performing solo. He recently was accepted to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. On Thursday, July 16, Beke also performed in Spencer at Firestone Park. This was also sponsored by The Medina County Arts Council in cooperation with Dan Derossett and the Spencer Village Council.
Presenters and performers in both Brunswick and Medina this year included: Jim Gill, Tony Rump, Anthony Taddeo, Jeff Wolfe, and Nate ”The Great” Nawalaniec. In Medina, additional evening concerts were presented by the duo of Dan Polk and Dave Parsons, and by Bud Preston. April Kotar and David Henterly appeared in Brunswick in noontime programs. At noon in Medina, Kelly Parks’ dancers appeared and Karen Duchoslav provided a storytelling program.
A special program in Brunswick, arranged by Barb McGreer and band director Jay Wardeska, was a performance in the high school stadium by the Brunswick Community Band and guests - The Capital Drum and Bugle Corp. An estimated 1000 people were present for the show which was introduced by retiring Superintendent Jim Hayas. This crowd sent the attendance figures for the whole week to an approximate 2000.
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