The purpose of the fund is to fulfill the mission of providing Hancock County artists, the arts community, and arts educators the funds to pursue their crafts and vision of creating and teaching the arts while transforming themselves and their community.
2026 Marianna Hofer Grant Recipients
Caitlin Parke
Caitlin Parke will use Marianna Hofer Grant funding to audit jazz piano and jazz studies courses at Bowling Green State University during the Fall 2026 semester. With a background in classical piano performance and a music minor from The Ohio State University, she hopes to strengthen her skills in jazz improvisation, rhythmic phrasing, and ensemble performance through coursework and one-on-one instruction. Beyond personal artistic growth, her goal is to bring more high-quality live jazz experiences to Hancock County through performances at nursing homes, restaurants, and community venues. She regularly shares jazz standards with older adults and local audiences, creating meaningful moments through music, including a recent performance at Brookdale Senior Living where a couple in their 90s danced together during “The Way You Look Tonight.” She also recently performed for the Lunchtime Live Series at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts. Through this experience, she hopes to build lasting musical collaborations and expand access to live jazz throughout the community.
Cindy Meadows
Cindy Meadows will use Marianna Hofer Grant funding to strengthen her drawing and watercolor skills as she continues growing as both an artist and art educator in the Findlay area. After completing a watercolor course through previous grant support, she was encouraged by her instructor to further develop her foundational drawing abilities alongside continued watercolor study. She recently joined the Ohio Watercolor Society and believes the advanced training made possible through the Marianna Hofer Grant will help elevate her work to a competitive professional level while opening new artistic opportunities and connections.
Jennifer Sowders
Jennifer Sowders will use Marianna Hofer Grant funding to further develop her award-winning acrylic landscape practice through her first-ever artist residency experience. After earning international recognition for her acrylic landscapes over the past two years, she is stepping away from watercolor work to focus more intensely on acrylic painting and plein air inspiration. She hopes the residency will provide uninterrupted creative time surrounded by nature and fellow artists, allowing her to deepen her artistic practice and create new work in an immersive, inspiring environment.
Awakening Minds Art
Awakening Minds Art, in partnership with Journey to Belonging, will use Marianna Hofer Grant funding to present From Conflict to Canvas: Borders & Brushstrokes, a community arts program exploring refugee experiences, cultural identity, and belonging through visual art. The program will combine storytelling, cultural learning, and mixed-media artmaking for adult and high school participants. Led by AMA instructor Brandon Barnett and Journey to Belonging’s Kristy Szkudlarek, participants will create individual artworks and a collaborative mural inspired by themes of migration, resilience, and identity. The project will culminate in public exhibitions at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts and during the Findlay Art Walk, inviting the broader Hancock County community to engage in reflection, dialogue, and cultural understanding through art.
Findlay Art League
Findlay Art League will use Marianna Hofer Grant funding to bring ceramic artist and instructor Kayla Kirk to Hancock County for specialized pottery instruction and workshops. Owner of Charmed Ceramics and a member of Toledo’s Huron Street Studios collective, Kirk combines her passion for teaching with years of professional ceramics experience. A graduate of the University of Toledo with degrees in Sculpture and Art History, she previously worked at Pewabic Pottery, where she refined her craft in one of the nation’s most historic ceramic studios. Through these workshops, Findlay Art League aims to provide local artists with access to advanced pottery techniques and hands-on learning opportunities while fostering creativity and artistic growth within the community.
Distributions from the fund will be for arts education – either education of the artist or artists(s) or for arts education programming provided by the artist or artists. Grants from the Fund must be used for new artistic skills to be learned or existing skills to be further developed by the artist(s) or provided to Hancock County youth and/or adults. The number and the amount of the grants awarded each year will be determined by the Grant Panel identified in the Review Process paragraph below and will depend on the amount of the annual distribution from the Marianna Hofer Arts Endowment Fund and the number and amount of grant proposals received.
Who May Apply
- Individual visual, performing, or literary artists and arts organizations residing in Hancock County may apply for grants from the Fund.
- For the purposes of the grant an artist is defined as someone who makes a living as or whose avocation is visual, performing or literary arts. An arts organization is defined as a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission includes providing visual, performing, or literary arts education.
- Artists who are enrolled in a degree or certificate-granting program of any kind at the time of application are not eligible to apply. Applications will not be accepted before graduation date.
- An artist working full-time as teaching staff at a college or university at the time of application is not eligible to apply.
- An organization is not eligible for multiple awards during a grant cycle. In addition, an organization and an individual working on behalf of the organization are not eligible to receive separate awards for the same project during a single grant cycle.
Application Deadline*
Applications open on February 1 and are due by 11:59 pm on March 15 each year. Grant awards will be announced in April of the same year.
Review Process
The grant requests will be reviewed by a panel of visual, performing, and literary arts professionals from The University of Findlay. The panel will include the department chairs from each discipline or his or her designee. The review panel will not include any representatives from Marathon Center for the Performing Arts.
Grant Disbursement
Grant recipients will receive the approved amount of their request within 10 days of notice of award. Grant requests may be fully or partially funded.
What Can The Grant Monies Be Used For
The grant funding must be used for new artistic skills to be learned or existing skills to be further developed by the artist(s) or provided to Hancock County youth and/or adults.
Examples
- Artist attends a training to learn a new technique or skill or deepen his or her knowledge of this technique or skill.
- Individual artist or a representative from an arts organization attend a training to deepen his or her knowledge about an art form or new techniques for teaching youth.
- Individual artist or teaching artist employed with or contracted by an arts organization provides arts education programming in visual, performing, or literary arts to youth and/or adults from our community.
Project Timeframe
The arts education activities covered by a grant must be performed between June 1 and December 31 of the same year of funding. The grants are not for reimbursement of costs already expended.
When publicizing this grant, please acknowledge support from the Marianna Hofer Arts Endowment Fund of The Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation.
Final Report
A final report must be completed and submitted to Marathon Center for the Performing Arts no later than December 31 of the same year of the completion of the project. In addition, it is desirable to include photographic documentation with associated media releases for use by The Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation in online and print marketing materials.
About Marianna Hofer
(The following obituary for the late Marianna Hofer was published in The Courier on May 10, 2017)
Marianna L. Hofer shuffled off this mortal coil on May 3, 2017, after a short but courageous battle with cancer. Marianna leaves behind her two beloved cats, Sofia and Aloysia, as well as many friends and colleagues. Marianna was preceded in death by her mother, Mary, and her father, Elmer, whom she admired and often credited to giving her her unique perspective on life.
Marianna taught writing at the University of Findlay for 32 years, and was dedicated to her classroom and her students. As one of her colleagues wrote, “She single-handedly helped hundreds of struggling students pass English 104… she worked diligently, passionately, ferociously to teach reticent writers to organize their thoughts and words, when the last thing they wanted to do was organize their thoughts and words."
Marianna’s life outside the classroom was lived for art. She loved being at her studio in the Jones Building, sharing space with other artists. She especially enjoyed the spring and fall Art Walk, where she could share her talents and promote local art and artists. Marianna was an avid photographer, preferring older cameras exclusively using black and white film. She had a keen eye and was a talented photographer, but her passion was poetry.
Marianna wrote in her journal every day. Her poems were published in literary journals across the country. Her first book of poetry, “A Memento Sent by the World,” was published in 2008. (She was so tickled to see it on Amazon!) Her second book, “The Weight of the Minolta in Her Hand,” will be released later this year.
Marianna’s love of art and its creators led her to leave a legacy at the Community Foundation. There will be an endowment in her name in support of the arts and artists in Findlay, a town she profoundly loved.