The Maryland State Arts Council has awarded $5.26 million in matching grants to Maryland arts organizations for fiscal year 1995.

More than 200 small and mid-sized arts organizations in the state received grants totaling $1.99 million, while county arts councils were awarded $1.26 million in funding. Seven of the state's largest arts organizations -- the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Walters Art Gallery, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Center Stage, the Baltimore Opera Company, Olney Theatre and the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art -- received a total of about $3.3 million.

Grants are awarded on the basis of artistic merit, administrative ability, financial stability, service to the community and involvement of Maryland artists and audiences.

The following groups in the city and metropolitan area received awards:

Baltimore City: AJP Artists Workshop: $5,000; Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation of Maryland: $47,334 and $16,628; Arena Players: $15,000; Arena Players, Studio 801: $5,000; Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation: $2,000; Baltimore American Indian Center: $14,266 and $3,500; the Baltimore Children's Museum at the Cloisters, pending compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act: $40,000; Baltimore Choral Arts Society: $21,307; Baltimore City Life Museums: $8,725; Baltimore Clayworks: $19,806 and $10,078; Baltimore Film Forum: $9,502; Baltimore Folk Music Society: $6,161; Baltimore Men's Chorus: $500; Baltimore Metropolitan Council: $2,500; Baltimore Theatre Project: $20,160; Baltimore's Festival of the Arts: $42,128 and $2,000; the Bristol Players: $3,000; Chamber Music Society of Baltimore: $3,000; Changing Directions: $3,500; Children's Theater Association: $7,000; Concert Artists of Baltimore: $9,500; Cultural Arts Institute: $2,000; Cultural Arts Program: $22,000; Dolphin-Moon Press: $2,500; First English and Evangelical Lutheran Church: $1,000; Greater Baltimore Cultural Arts Foundation: $2,500; the Handel Choir of Baltimore: $10,000 and $1,000; the Heritage Museum of Art: $680; Impossible Industrial Action: $1,411 and $1,000; Jewish Historical Society of Maryland: $18,589; Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Child Life Development: $2,582; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Office of Cultural Affairs: $2,000; Johns Hopkins University, Shriver Hall Concert Series: $8,232; Johns Hopkins University, Hopkins Symphony Orchestra: $3,800; the Lite Circle: Maryland Art Place: $32,747 and $2,000; Maryland Historical Society: $19,614; Maryland Institute, College of Art: $3,360; Maryland Printmakers: $1,000; Maryland State Boychoir: $750; Museum for Contemporary Arts: $12,986 and $3,500; Music in the Great Hall: $1,000; Parks and People Foundation: $20,000; the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University: $6,930; Pro Musica Rara: $1,800; Pumpkin Theater of Baltimore: $6,000 and $1,000; Sankofa Center for Cultural Enrichment: $7,500; School 33 Art Center: $13,417; Second Presbyterian Concert Series: $1,000; Splitting Image Theater Company: $839; the Vagabond Players: $2,000; WBJC-FM: $12,713; West Indian National Association: $10,961; WJHU-FM: $12,027; Women Composers Orchestra: $700, and Young Audiences of Maryland: Anne Arundel County: Annapolis Chorale: $4,000; Annapolis Opera: $3,250; Annapolis Symphony Orchestra: $33,950 and $3,700; Ballet Theatre of Annapolis: $19,376; Bay Winds Band: $333; Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra: $2,160; First Night Annapolis: $7,500; Friends of Quiet Waters Park: $1,000; Highland Beach Historical Commission: $3,024; Kunta Kinte Celebration: $7,500; Maryland Association for Family and Community Education: $2,856; Maryland Federation of Art: $1,000; Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts: $55,000; Performing Arts Association of Linthicum: $1,000; St. Charles Chorale: $700; St. John's College, Mitchell Gallery: $6,000.

Baltimore County: Baltimore Actors Theatre: $14,000; Baltimore Chamber Orchestra: $14,985; Bowman Ensemble: $1,500; Catonsville Community College: $1,000; Charlestown Retirement Community: $1,718; Children's Chorus of Maryland: $1,387; Cockpit in Court Theatre: $4,000; the Downtown Dance Company: $4,859 and $2,850; Dundalk Community College: $4,250; Eastern Baltimore Area Chamber of Commerce, Defenders Day Committee: $4,503; Goucher College, Department of Art: $1,500; Greater Baltimore Cultural Arts Foundation: $1,750; Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra: $3,393; Harbour Theatre of Catonsville: $500; Jewish Community Center: Loch Raven High School, Art Department: $1,000; Maryland Housing Research Corporation: $5,000; Maryland Sings: $800; Maryland State Poetry and Literary Society: $1,439; Phoenix Repertory Dance Company: $1,155; Pikesville Recreation and Parks Council: $7,500; Prettyboy Elementary School: $1,680; Shakespeare on Wheels: $12,000; Stages Theatre Company: $209; Towson State University, Asian Art Center: $7,000, Dance Department: $3,594, Maryland Arts Festival: $7,000, Ensemble Dancers: $1,680; the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Visual Arts: $853, and UMBC's Maryland Stage Company: $3,000.

Carroll County: Chamber Music on the Hill: $556.

Harford County: the Harford Choral Society: $1,750; Harford Community College, Fine Arts Calendar: $6,000; Havre De Grace Decoy Museum: $4,500; Part Two Dance Company: $500, and Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra: $2,500.

Howard County: Candlelight Concert Society: $10,091; Columbia Festival: $32,000; Columbia Orchestra: $700; Columbia Pro Cantare: $7,000; Ellicott City Ballet Guild: $1,000; Howard Community College, Educational Foundation for the Performing Arts: $19,000; Howard County Center for the Arts: $14,082; Howard County Poetry and Literature Society: $5,402; Hunters Creek Homeowners Association: $500; Kinetics Dance Theatre: $15,000; Maryland Museum of African Art: $2,413, and Mid Atlantic Movement Theatre Festival: $4,536.

The Maryland State Arts Council disburses grants to qualified arts organizations, individual artists and county arts councils. This year's awards will mean that qualified arts organizations can receive about 8.4 percent of their annual operating costs from the state. Last year, they received roughly 7.5 percent.

State funding of the arts has dropped from a high of 9.69 percent of the annual operating costs of qualified groups in fiscal year 1991.

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Resurgam Gallery will hold an exhibition of work by local artists to benefit the South Baltimore Emergency Relief Center Thursday through June 26 at the gallery, 910 S. Charles St. The opening reception is 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. For details, call (410) 962-0513.

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The Mencken Society is inviting the public to its summer program to meet Fred Hobson, author of "Mencken," at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in First Christian Church Hall, 5802 Roland Ave.

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First Night Annapolis, the annual arts celebration on New Year's Eve in Annapolis, is soliciting applications from musicians and performers from all disciplines wishing to perform on Dec. 31, 1994. The deadline is July 1. For details, call (410) 268-8553 or 974-9332 from Baltimore.