Downtown Kent to turn into student art gallery in March

While attending the 2025 Heritage Ohio Annual Conference, Lesley Sickle, marketing coordinator of Main Street Kent, learned how in Delaware, Ohio, they displayed students’ artwork at local businesses for an entire month and started thinking about how Kent could pull off something similar.

“I was an art major, so I instinctively love to have art around town and public art,” she said. “So, I thought this would be a great way to partner with our schools, and a great way for students and kids and families to maybe explore some spots downtown.”

During March for Art, Main Street Kent, a non-profit organization that looks to revitalize downtown Kent, will work with Davey Elementary School, Walls Elementary School, Stanton Middle School’s Art Club, Theodore Roosevelt High School and 16 local businesses to showcase students’ art during the month of March.

Sickle anticipates between 800 and 850 K-12th graders’ masterpieces greeting customers at Tiger Rae Boutique, Off the Wagon, McKay Bricker Framing, Alley Mac and Bell Tower Brewing Co.

The collaboration between Main Street Kent, the schools and the businesses will ensure that people have easy access to viewing students’ works, while also motivating people to visit businesses new to them.

“Then really it just feels special for the kids to be able to see their work on display, outside of their classroom or outside of their home on their refrigerator or their grandma’s,” Sickle said.

She hopes March for Art furthers Foodie February’s mission of encouraging people to patronize local businesses as the weather causes months like February to be slower sales months.

“But they’re also free to kind of just go in and appreciate the artwork without necessarily the pressure to buy something,” said Bridget Tipton, board member and former design committee chair of Main Street Kent.

The students’ work will not be for sale, as all of the students have expressed a desire to have them back, she said.

Tipton and Oliver Wuensch, design committee and board of directors’ member of Main Street Kent, have helped Sickle prepare, measuring spaces to display the art.

After finishing her term as design chair in December, Tipton discovered she had more time to help Sickle with this undertaking, which includes determining how to mount the artworks on different surfaces like plaster, wood and tiles.

To celebrate the unveiling of March for Art, families of the artists will be invited to the March for Art Celebration at City Hall. There, they will receive information about where their child’s art will be on display, and artists will be given a button. During the celebration, students will have an opportunity to meet local artist Danny Likar, whose work will be installed in the City Hall lobby, and talk to him about his career and work.

Other than promoting local businesses, Tipton said March for Art will help foster students’ art abilities by instilling a sense of pride in their works. 

Because the works will be on display throughout the entire month of March, Sickle hopes residents will take advantage of that, seeing all of the students’ pieces even if they aren’t their children.

“Expose the younger kids to some older kids' artwork and sort what’s ahead in their schoolings, as far as the different artworks, different materials and mediums that they get to maybe work with as they age,” she said.

As Main Street Kent prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary, Sickle also advises residents to be on the lookout for future celebrations that are currently in the planning stages.