Support for Cuyahoga County Artists – An Update

Cuyahoga Arts & Culture continues to work toward having a proposal at the September 2017 board meeting for new, community-informed approaches to support Cuyahoga County artists, in line with our mission. This work is grounded in key elements affirmed by our Board at their December 2016 meeting.


Here's an update. Over the last month, CAC has made plans to:

  • Continue to learn from artists. CAC is committed to holding artist gatherings in the coming months to create a space to learn what’s on their mind and what types of support would be meaningful, and help them work in their communities. Stay tuned for more details on these forums, which will be open to the public.

  • Assemble a planning team. At CAC's April 17, 2017 board meeting, staff plans to recommend to the Board a planning team of local community leaders who will advise the process of developing new approaches for artist support. CAC is committed to making sure the process is inclusive.
  • Continue to learn from other public agencies. CAC is making plans to partner with Americans for the Arts (AFTA), to update existing CAC research about how other public agencies across the country fund and support individual artists.

In addition, CAC has a new opportunity for individual artists. Artists can now submit ideas for funding to bring additional arts and culture programming to Public Square from May to August 2017. Arts & Culture in the Square is made possible with funding from National Endowment for the Arts and Group Plan Commission, and in partnership with LAND studio. This program was originally announced in May 2016, and artists and makers living in Cuyahoga County can submit ideas until March 29, 2017.

We will continue to provide updates as they become available. If you have any questions or ideas, please contact us at info@cacgrants.org or 216-515-8303. You can also sign up for e-mail updates about support for artists.