“No one thought this miracle was possible in the middle of a pandemic, “says ArtsinStark CEO Robb Hankins, “but this amazing community has just done the impossible for the 15th year in a row!” Those were the words Hankins shared with the socially-distanced Victory Lunch crowd outdoors at the Cultural Center for the Arts. “I am so proud of all our volunteers, said Bob Belden, Chairman and CEO of Belden Brick, who led the campaign. “They kept right on working right up to the last minute and never gave up.” The $1,660,000 raised goes into every single community in Stark county. It’s used to support more than 100 arts organizations and artists, arts programs in virtually every school system, downtown revitalization projects like “First Fridays” and “Umbrella Alley,” and the Cultural Center for the Arts. “The arts feed the creative soul of our community,” says ArtsinStark Board Chair Brian Zimmerman, “The arts inspire us and give us hope — which is exactly what this nation needs right now.” The campaign theme this year was Art Changes Lives. More at www.artsinstark.com/donate or 330-453-1075.
ArtsinStark uses the arts to create smarter kids, new jobs, and healthier communities. It is the 50-year-old private, non-profit organization that gives out grants, owns and manages the Cultural Center, and runs the Annual Arts Campaign — and much more (Canton Arts District, First Fridays, SmArts Program, the Genius Project, 20/20 Vision, the ELEVEN, and the Canton Music Block). Its annual budget is $3 million. What it doesn’t earn, it raises each spring through the Annual Arts Campaign. As of today it has raised $1.66 million for the 2020 Annual Arts Campaign —- and become the only united arts fund drive in America to ever make goal for 15 years in a row.
