Topic: Cuyahoga County: New Tax to Support the Arts

[8ShadesofGray]

Some articles over the new Creative Workforce Fellowships, one-year $20,000 grants for artists living in Cuyahoga County. A total of 40 will be given out in two cycles. This is pretty huge for the Cleve. Early research suggested that there was only a handful of fellowships at this level nationwide, and that came mostly from private foundations. So not only does Cuyahoga County now have among the largest per capita public investments in its arts and culture nonprofits, but we also have one of the highest levels of support for individual artists. Yay!

Application forms and additional information are available at http://www.cpacbiz.org/business/CWF.shtml.

Arti$t Friendly
Cpac Shows Individual Artists The Money
By Michael Gill
Cleveland Scene

It was hard not to think of the old Works Progress Administration as Tom Schorgl rolled out the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture's plan to administer individual artist grants on behalf of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture last week.

The economy is in the tank, but the region is spilling over with creative resources, especially starving artists ...

... For more information, please visit http://www.clevescene.com/stories/15/81/artit-friendly

[8ShadesofGray]

Cuyahoga County artists eligible for $20,000 fellowships

By SHANNON MORTLAND
Crain's Cleveland Business
11:23 am, January 19, 2009

Artists living in Cuyahoga County can apply for a new, $20,000 fellowship to help further their careers.

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, or CPAC, has launched the Creative Workforce Fellowship program, under which those receiving the fellowship will receive $20,000, membership in the Council of Smaller Enterprises Arts Network, and a full tuition waiver for CPAC’s Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute. They’ll also be included in a publication that will highlight the fellows’ work ...

... For more information, please visit http://clevelandbusiness.com/article/20090119/FREE/901199966

[8ShadesofGray]

Community Partnership for Arts and Culture will award grants to Cuyahoga County artists
Program will award grants to individuals

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Julie E. Washington
Plain Dealer Reporter

The trickle-down from Cuyahoga County's cigarette-tax money is about to reach individual artists.

The Creative Workforce Fellowship program has $20,000 to give to up to 20 artists, to be used to further their careers. The money, aimed at strengthening Northeast Ohio's arts community, could allow an artist to quit a day job, study with another artist or develop a marketing plan ...

... For more information, please visithttp://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/1234258275249000.xml&coll=2

[willyboy]

8Shades, are you applying?  And when are you back?

[MyTwoSense]

8Shades, are you applying?  And when are you back?

He's like BatGirl.  He slips in and out of UO.

[327]

BatGirl?

[willyboy]

BatGirl?

Thats correct.

[8ShadesofGray]

BatGirl? Haha. I fancy myself more of a Catwoman. Dicks. 

I won't be back until June, but I won't be applying b/c a) I don't really have a serious body of work and b) since I will be at least somewhat involved in the grant management process, it would be a major conflict of interests But still glad to see this kind of investment ... I know their are some reservations about these programs, but I can say that the city is gaining a lot of positive national attention from them in the art world.

[8ShadesofGray]

Cuyahoga Arts and Culture gives $15 million to 130 nonprofit groups
Julie Washington, The Plain Dealer
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Cleveland Orchestra, Playhouse Square Foundation and the Cleveland Museum of Art are among five groups that will receive more than $1 million in general operating support grants disbursed by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, it was announced Monday.

The groups were among more than 130 nonprofit organizations who split $15 million in general operating and project support grants generated by the Cuyahoga County cigarette tax ...

... For more information, please visit  http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/10/cuyahoga_arts_and_culture_gran_1.html.

[8ShadesofGray]

A breakdown of these General Operating Support and Program Support awards by organization and award amount is also available at http://www.cacgrants.org/file_uploads/file268.pdf.

A sampling:

- Cleveland Orchestra, $1,681,098
- Playhouse Square, $1,652,707.00
- Cleveland Museum of Art, $1,604,469
- Rock Hall, $1,072,244
- Cleveland Institute of Art, $780,738
- Cleveland International Film Festival, $126,450
- Cleveland Restoration Society, $91,012
- Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (Cleveland Stories: True Until Proven Otherwise), $13,145
- Arts In Strongsville (Day at the Chalet), $5,986
- City of Bedford (Weekend of Polka), $559

In addition to this funding, the tax revenue also supports the annual 4th of July celebration on Public Square and CPAC's Creative Workforce Fellowship, which awards $400,000 annually to Cuyahoga County artists. 2011 Creative Workforce Fellows (Visual Arts Cycle, including potters, architects, urban designers, filmmakers, painters, etc.) will be announced in late December.

[tedolph]

It certaintly appears that all these groups are worthy of support.  I wonder though if instead of using the $ for opperating support if the $ shouldn't instead be used to purchase art.  Sort of like a renissance patron. I wonder how it would change the way these groups operate instead of direct subsidy.

[Avogadro]

Individual donors are generally more inclined to make donations if they are used to purchase something tangible, such as a painting or sculpture. It is much more difficult for arts organizations (or any non-profit) to get operating support, either from individuals or foundations. Cuyahoga Arts and Culture fits that niche of providing that funding that otherwise wouldn't come.

In other words, there is more than enough $ to purchase art, not enough for operations. Four cheers for CAC.

[tedolph]

Thanks for the insight EC.  I am not an artist well, except for singing in a few operas in the chorus, but I wonder.  Instead of directly subsidizing the opera, how about committing to buying a certain number of tickets and distributing them to community centers, etc. so as not to crowd out ticket sales.  Wouldn't this sort of quasi-market approach be better than direct subsidy? I guess I am thinking that it might drive the decision making process of these groups in a  different direction, more on delivery of product and less on bureaucracy.

Just asking. 

[Avogadro]

Um. Not to be snide here, but did you read the article or are you familiar with CAC's mission? The grants are there to increase public access to the arts, especially through free events and other outreach opportunities.

http://www.cacgrants.org/general-operating-support.php

(Also, I am not EC.)

[8ShadesofGray]

General Operating Support, like Avogadro noted, are the dollars that are the most difficult to come by. It's much easier for a donor, whether an individual or a foundation, to be excited by a new outreach program or a new building, than it is to cover basic office expenses or salaries. By providing some stable revenue for these organizations that they can rely on over a two-year period, the organizations can worry less about fundraising for these expenses and more time concentrating on artistic programming, educational opportunities, community outreach, marketing, etc.

Even with that in mind, these aren't just blank checks. Applicants are reviewed by 7 to 9 out-of-county arts and culture professionals (to prevent conflicts of interest) and are scored based on artistic/cultural excellence, strength of management practices and strength of community engagement. It is a competitive process, and applicants have to demonstrate that they're being thoughtful about how they're being run and how they're serving residents of Cuyahoga County (as well as out-of-county visitors).

It's also worthwhile to note that organizations receive operating support based on their overall annual revenue - organizations receive support of between 3% and 25% of their budget (a sliding scale, with the smallest organizations receiving the smallest awards but the largest percentage of their overall budget and the largest organizations receiving the largest awards but the smallest percentage of their budget). So the operating support does encourage grantees to think from a market perspective - the more revenue you generate, the larger the award you may be eligible for.

[8ShadesofGray]

[Edit] Double post

[8ShadesofGray]

Arts grantmaker in process of gauging community opinion
As receipts from cigarette tax decline, group wants to know how its spending is viewed
By TIMOTHY MAGAW, Crain's Cleveland Business
January 17, 2011

The public body that doles out grants for arts organizations using proceeds from a 10-year cigarette tax that Cuyahoga County voters approved in 2006 is stepping up efforts to determine whether the community understands how the group works and whether the money is spent wisely.

Trustees of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the group that determines which organizations and artists receive the cigarette tax money from a pool of applicants, gave the body approval to spend up to $50,000 with Burges & Burges, a Cleveland political consulting firm. Karen Gahl-Mills, executive director of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, said her agency is “taking the temperature of the community” to determine how its work is perceived ...

... More available at http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20110117/SUB1/301179998/1053/TOC&Profile=1053

[8ShadesofGray]

Some examples of how the tobacco excise tax for arts and culture is affecting local artists ... And what those artists are in turn doing in our community.

As background, the Creative Workforce Fellowship annually provides $20,000 Fellowships and support services to 20 Cuyahoga County artists of all disciplines. In its first three years, the program has distributed nearly $1.3 million to 65 local artists, making it one of the largest local grant programs for artists in the country. The program is run by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture and funded by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture through the support of Cuyahoga County citizens.

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture has released 6 of these videos to date, out of a full 40 that will be out over the next couple of months. You can see them all at http://www.vimeo.com/user5360704/videos.

Since there's going to be 40 of these, let me know if you guys are interested in these. I don't want to overwhelm this thread if people aren't interested, but if they are, happy to embed them here. Let me know

Charmaine Spencer's Story

Charmaine talks about her environmental sculptures, being inspired in her work by her father's carpentry work and her work teaching inner-city kids environmental sculpture work.

David Hansen's Story

David talks about his theatre work, the inspiration he draws from Cleveland and how personal tragedy has informed his writing.
 

Mikaela Clark's Story

Mikaela talks about how she choreographs modern dance, how she addresses social issues through her art and how she's currently working to raise awareness of the global sex trade.

[8ShadesofGray]

Two more artists featured this week ...

Sarah Willis's Story

Sarah talks about becoming a renowned author despite growing up with dyslexia, the film adaptation of her novel and where she draws inspiration for her work.

Bruce Checefsky's Story

Bruce talks about the availability of space in Cleveland and how it impacted his photography, as well as his innovative process of photography using a flatbed photography.

[8ShadesofGray]

I'll take that as a no. Haha.