GREENVILLE — Darke County Endowment for the Arts recently granted funds to applicants who submitted requests for financial assistance for arts-related projects. The Endowment enriches the community by assisting organizations and individuals in achieving their artistic goals, ultimately benefitting all citizens of Darke County. Funds were granted to Ansonia High School Art Club and Art Department, Arcanum-Butler Middle School, Bradford High School, Mississinawa Valley School Art Department, Versailles ElementarySchool K-4 Music, Annie Oakley Committee, Arcanum Public Library, Arcanum Preservation Society, Final Bow, Greenville Public Library, Illumination Ministries, Main Street Greenville, Main Street Greenville Mural Committee, Towne and Country Players, and Versailles Area Community Band. According to a spokesperson for DCEA, all of the applications are incredibly worthy of support, and will provide enjoyment of and participation in the arts by a broad range of people, reaching across our community to enhance not only the present but also providing future benefit.
Ansonia High School Art Department and Art Club received funding for necessary art supplies as well as enriching field trips and other activities. Arcanum-Butler Middle School students will learn to play the guitar on instruments furnished by the Endowment. Bradford students will enjoy a glass-fusing class using equipment purchased with Endowment funds. Students from Mississinawa Valley will see their clay creations glazed and fired in a field trip, as well as create LED light paintings from materials purchased with moneys provided by the Endowment. Versailles kindergarteners through fourth-graders will use adjustable risers in their music classrooms as well as for performances with financial assistance from DCEA.
DCEA funding will help provide the Annie Oakley Festival Committee with artists’ fees for their highly popular summer event; Arcanum Public Library will offer local students after-school painting classes with supplies purchased with assistance from the Endowment. Arcanum Preservation Society is restoring the village’s Town Hall/Opera House; DCEA will provide assistance with purchase of a vintage door maintaining the historic integrity of the treasured building.
When Final Bow presents Disney’s The Lion King Junior this fall, the production will have received assistance from Darke County Endowment for the Arts. Greenville Public Library’s upgrade to their third floor will include art work from a local artist purchased with moneys provided by DCEA. The Endowment will also provide funds for artists fees at this year’s edition of the Illumination Festival at the Darke County Fairgrounds.
Prize money for artisans exhibiting their work at Main Street Greenville’s August Artisan Stroll will be provided through the Endowment; a new Mural Project intending to enhance downtown Greenville also received assistance from DCEA. Versailles’ Towne and Country Players’ received monies to assist with their upcoming presentation of Newsies, while the Versailles Area Community Band will be able to purchase music providing material for its members to play at concerts.
DCEA is a non-profit organization that receives and manages charitable gifts that are invested to produce income benefitting the arts in Darke County. In addition to the General Fund from which grant monies are allotted, the Endowment maintains other funds, one specifically dedicated to assisting Darke County Center for the Arts in its mission to culturally enrich our community, and the Memorial Hall Fund to help preserve and maintain historic Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall. For more information about how you can become involved in keeping the arts alive in our community, visit www.SupportDCEA.org, or contact DCEA at P.O. Box 155, Greenville, OH 45331. Current DCEA trustees are Ted Abney, Antonia Baker, Ryan Dynes, Becky Hartnagle, Andrea Jordan, Gail Overholser, and Kent Zechar. Nicole Gillespie serves as DCEA treasurer.
