Retired YSU dean contributes to SMARTS arts school downtown

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Students Motivated by the Arts All in One Campaign received its lead private $60,000 gift from Barbara Brothers in honor of her late husband, Lawrence Haims.

The campaign is to bring a community arts school to the city’s downtown. The $750,000 campaign which provides capital, programming and sustainable funding to ensure SMARTS’ future is now at 69 percent of its goal.

Brothers is a retired Youngstown State University dean.

The future home of SMARTS is in the Ohio One Building downtown. The two music rooms in the SMARTS facility will be named in memory of Lawrence Haims.

SMARTS provides quality fine and performing arts programming that is accessed by thousands of Mahoning Valley children who otherwise may not have access to the arts. The program is an innovative and leading arts-education program that has been a gift from the community to the community.

SMARTS community art school provides access and early training in the arts for the region’s K-12 youth with a focus on underserved populations. SMARTS will engage public and private organizations, schools and artists in cooperative projects designed to enrich the community, promote student achievement, inspire self-discovery and impact cultural and academic literacy through fine and performing arts.