Arts Roundtable

Local artists, entrepreneurs, organizations, educators, and community members that are passionate about the Arts in Medina County come together for Medina County Arts Council (MCAC) Arts Roundtable.


Past Arts Roundtables

November 2, 2023 Arts Roundtable - A.I. Root Candle Company, Community Room
Meet and greet for local artist, organizations, educators, entrepreneurs in Medina County.

September 7, 2023 Arts Roundtable - A.I. Root Candle Company, Community Room
Focusing on grant writing for artists and small art organizations - grant preparation techniques, grant writing tips, and resources for finding grants
Guest Speaker: Brian Reitz, Agency Endowment & Engagement Officer at Akron Community Foundation

June 1, 2023 Arts Roundtable - A.I. Root Candle Company, Community Room
Focusing on identifying target markets and marketing channels as well as branding and testing.
Guest Speaker: Bryan Bowser, Associate Professor and Program Director for the Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at Baldwin Wallace University
in addition to the Arts Roundtable discussion being informative, attendees were asked to bring business cards and literature about themselves and/or their organizations to share with others.

March 2, 2023 Arts Roundtable - The Common Ground
Ohio Arts Council; helping artists and arts organizations (Guest Speaker - Patrick Roehrenbeck, Organizational Programs Coordinator at OAC
Thank you to all that attended our March Arts Roundtable. We were thrilled to have brought together such a great group of artists, educators, and organizations to learn how the Ohio Arts Council can help fund the arts in Medina County. We hope you enjoyed the event and that you felt like it was a worthwhile investment of your time.
Thank you to Patrick Roerenbeck from the Ohio Arts Council for helping make the event possible. He presented information on the various funding opportunities available from the Ohio Arts Council - hopefully attendees found it helpful. Learn more about the Ohio Arts Council here.

Ice Breaker Project

Laurie Jendre, Medina artist, provided this “ice breaker” activity asking each table to collaborate on creating a representation of warmer days ahead made from minimal art supplies. Here are the 3D masterpieces they presented!

THANK YOU TO THESE PARTICIPANTS IN OUR FIRST ROUNDTABLE EVENT:

Access the Arts - Sharon: David Allin, Jane Back, Janet George, Chris Demlow, Emily Buckingham, Stephanie Serna, and Joan Zacharias (Valley City)

ORMACO Thomas Sigel (Homerville)

Medina Co. Arts League - Carol Klingel (Medina)

Medina Chorus - Liz Blanch, Gary Hayen

Art in Motion Dance - Jessica Franklin (Granger/Wadsworth)

Highland HS Visual Art Teachers - Bonnie Kubilus (Wadsworth), Patricia Wise (Medina)

Visual Artists - Jean Bayer, Annetherese Biesiada, Sharon, Laurie Jendre (Medina). Crystal Kaple (Seville), Elaine Lamb, Potter (Medina)

Woodsy’s Music - Joe Leaman, Musician (Medina)

MCAC - Linda Loveless (Medina), Sheila Noel (Medina), Barbara Ortiz (Brunswick), Marsha Pappalardo (Brunswick), Kelly Parks (Medina Centre Dance Art, Medina), George Sam, Medina, Dan Hostetler (MC Visitors Medina County), Abigail Sweigert (Brush Tips Studio, Wadsworth).

November 2022 Arts Roundtable - Monarca Cantina
Local artists, arts entrepreneurs, arts organizations, and arts educators in Medina County were invited to attend the 2nd Medina County Arts Council (MCAC) Arts Roundtable on November 10, 2022 at Monarca Cantina in Medina. We had an enjoyable evening that turned out successful and want to thank everyone who attended.
After introductions, the roundtable discussion included MCAC’s mission and vision and MCAC’s focus of areas for 2023. There was a great conversation on curated strorefronts and how to transform Medina County through the Arts. We concluded the evening what is next; what the are the roles for the Roundtables, bringing in speakers and workshops to future Roundtable events and when the next meeting will be.
Thank you to those who participated in the November 2022 Roundtable event.

2022 ARTS ROUNDTABLE #1

Local artists and arts organizations gathered for a frank discussion on the “state of the arts” in Medina County on February 10, at Pickle Mama's in Seville. The group representing a variety of arts genres, concluded that these items are considered their top priorities:

  • Collaboration/Networking/Listening

  • Community Arts Connections (hidden gems)

  • Art as Profession/Exposure (critical)/Startup Support

  • Diversity/Inclusion (special needs, underprivileged, age, ethnicity, etc.)

  • Promotion/What’s Happening?

  • Have Fun/Learn/Student Opportunities/Studio Classes

  • Support/Stewardship/Volunteerism

  • Awards/Shows/Speakers

  • Arts Tourism

The group agreed that the next steps include …

  1. Holding quarterly “Artists Salons” with the first at ORMACO in Homerville

  2. “Inviting A Friend” – Bring One New Person to the Salon

  3. Building a Directory of Artists/Arts Organizations throughout the County

  4. Creating a Calendar of Arts Events throughout the County

  5. Roundtable attendees prioritized in a survey these top needs from the Arts Council:

    1. Grants to Arts Organizations for Projects/Programs

    2. Arts Resources for Underserved/Disadvantaged

    3. Scholarships to High School Seniors in the Arts

    4. Arts Outreach/Exposure in Communities

    5. Fundraising Events/Activities

    6. Grants to Arts Teachers for Student Projects/Programs

    7. Artists/Arts Organizations Collaboration/Advocacy

    When asked what’s missing regarding the arts in Medina County, these were the responses:

    • Find more ways to reach out to our community by involving artists to help

    • Connect with artists living and working in Southern Medina County, including Seville, Rittman, Sterling, Cloverleaf area and other rural areas

    • Provide exposure to the arts to all children