By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

HAMILTON - Computer graphics classes, glittery social functions, parent-child academic enrichment: the Fitton Center for Creative Arts is pushing its limits.

Butler County's fine arts center is expanding both facility and programs to provide new resources for the public. As it prepares to unveil its new addition and launch its Mega Mall of the Mind (MMOM) initiative, the Fitton acknowledges a recent gift and major grant that have provided an important boost.

Anne Ruder Bever's $1.2 million gift rounds out the capital portion of the Fitton Center's 10th Anniversary Campaign. And a $1.4 million-plus grant from the Ohio Department of Education will underwrite MMOM, a program of arts, education and social services.

Almost all of Bever's gift goes to fund the Carruthers Center for Arts and Technology, a 12,400-square-foot wing that contains enlarged pottery and painting/drawing studios, sound-proof music practice rooms, a technology lab, student gallery space and a ballroom with kitchen facilities. "The Hamilton Business Expo will be at the Fitton Center this year, and we hope to attract receptions, dinners and civic functions," said Fitton Center spokesman Paul Thoms .

"We've been very successful in raising sufficient funds early in our 10th Anniversary Campaign to assure construction and furnishing of the addition," said executive director Rick H. Jones .

Hamilton philanthropists Donna and Ralph Carruthers are primary donors. The new wing officially opens today .

With funding assured, the five-year MMOM project is now in the planning and scheduling stages, Thoms said. Retired Hamilton City Schools instructor Henry Cepluch is its coordinator.

"One of our goals will be to help people learn how to live in a pluralistic socity through such non-traditional approaches as dance, food, drama and music," Cepluch said. "Among the offerings will be academic and arts enrichment, physical activity, health education, technology and career skills, English as a second language, money management and mental health assessments."

The initiative links the Fitton Center with Hamilton's Madison and Jefferson elementary schools. Social services will be provided by LifeSpan and Living Water Ministry. While MMOM targets children - the idea is to help students at low-achieving schools meet core academic standards - parents are part of the plan, Cepluch explained.

"The part that excites me the most is the involvement of the parents," he said. "We've gotten some nice, responsible parents involved and are breaking down some of the barriers between families, schools and agencies."

MMOM activities debut in early June. After-school programs begin with the new academic year.

Another popular Fitton Center initiative will continue this summer, thanks to Bever, a Hamilton native who lives in Oxford. The donor earmarked $100,000 of her $1.2 million gift to help underwrite Arts in Common, a summer program that takes arts instruction to 17 sites throughout Butler County.

"That program was dying for lack of funding until this gift came along. It's a lifesaver," said Jones. "Arts in Common is one of those programs where you can really see appreciation in the faces of the kids."

The Fitton Center is at 101 S. Monument Ave.; phone 863-8873.