Families and children in our underserved population often experience financial and physical barriers, as well as lack of caregiver support in exploring the arts. Although the Stark County has a very rich arts community, it is not always easily accessible to the entire community. We address this gap by collaborating with local arts organizations, including museums, the ballet, state and national park systems, and the orchestra to provide access and help families overcome these barriers to fully experience the arts.

Provided experiences with the Orchestra to encourage exploration of the arts.

• Listen at the Library: An intersection of books and music. Musicians add to the read aloud experience with sound effects and music. Children learn about instruments and the instrument families.
• Sunday at the Symphony: Orchestra ensemble plays relaxing, melodic sounds at the Library.
• Orchestra tickets: Provide free tickets to two concerts. The orchestra conductor held a program that taught about the narrator of One Thousand and One Nights.

More than 775 people attended the events at the Library. Families traveled to our libraries giving many children a first introduction to orchestral music.
This was our first year offering free Orchestra concert tickets. 250 patrons experienced the orchestra – perhaps for the first time. From a patron: “A note of thanks for providing free tickets to the community for the Canton Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert yesterday. It was awesome. We thoroughly enjoyed the orchestra. I couldn’t have asked for a better seat.”