SMARTS back on track after $54,000 grant

YOUNGSTOWN — Less than a year after it was dropped by its funding source, SMARTS has rebounded with the help of a major donation and a cast of supporters.

SMARTS — Students Motivated by the Arts — is an 15-year-old program that offers education in music, theater, dance, visual and other arts to local children. In May, Youngstown State University announced that it would no longer fund the program, forcing SMARTS to either find a new source of money or fade away.

Becky Keck, executive director of SMARTS, announced Tuesday that the program resumed Nov. 14, buoyed by a $54,054 grant from the Hine Memorial Fund that fully funds the program for the current school year.