The Piqua Arts Council (PAC) is dedicated to making the arts accessible to the community through support, education, and presentation. As a small rural serving organization, PAC supports and offers a wide-range of programming with a majority central to the visual arts. For three decades, the Annual Piqua Fine Art Exhibition and Sale has provided opportunities to a large population of artists. The exhibition attracts artists from across the state and boasts one of the largest collections of artworks at nearly two hundred pieces annually. 

To provide Piqua with an Arts Center, PAC purchased an early 1900s former bank in the heart of downtown, a 14,000 sq ft facility which sat empty for twenty-four years. The residents of Piqua and Miami County, Ohio, have no local dedicated space for art classes or events. The Arts Center is designed to serve the specific needs of Piqua, including facilities for visual arts classes, while also providing space for PAC to bring several current programs in-house including its professional artist workshops, arts exhibition and sale, and a new rotating gallery.

An FCI Implementation grant will support energy efficiency efforts needed for the building. The 14,000 sq ft building has three levels that will include flex spaces, classrooms, a small stage, gallery space, and more. Within the larger capital project, PAC is proposing investing in LED and energy-efficient lighting and an efficient HVAC system. The project’s results estimate an energy savings of roughly 90 percent in lighting and 55 percent in HVAC as a result of the upgrading of these systems from what existed in the building when it was purchased.