CLEVELAND (November 12, 2025) – The Board of Trustees of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) has approved grants totaling $12.9 million to support more than 300 Cuyahoga County nonprofit organizations of all sizes in 2026. To date, CAC has invested more than $270 million in more than 500 organizations. The Board approved grants for general operating support and project support during a public meeting on Thursday, November 12, 2025.

“We are excited to make these grants to a mix of nonprofit organizations that includes everything from new, volunteer-led projects to cultural institutions that have been around for more than a century,” said Jill M. Paulsen, CAC’s executive director. “It’s very important that CAC serves the entire nonprofit arts and culture community, so that organizations of all sizes can carry out their missions and connect with the residents they serve.”

The bulk of CAC’s 2026 grant funding falls into two categories:

• CAC’s General Operating Support program provides unrestricted, multi-year funding to arts and cultural organizations based in and serving Cuyahoga County. 2026 marks the first year of a two-year grant commitment for these organizations. In all, 152 organizations will receive General Operating Support grants totaling $11.4 million in 2026. The grants range in size from $5,000 to $1 million and were determined by CAC’s objective funding formula.
   
• The Project Support grant program promotes and encourages the breadth of arts and cultural programming in our community by funding projects of all sizes in Cuyahoga County. For 2026, 156 projects were awarded a total of $901,977. The grants range in size from $2,720 to $7,500. Award determinations were made by a diverse and impartial panel of arts and cultural experts from outside the region.

The 2026 grants are made possible by continued tax funding approved by voters in November 2024. “These grants are possible thanks to Cuyahoga County residents who approved the increase in funding through 2035,” said CAC Board President Karolyn Isenhart. “We know that funding is especially critical in times of economic uncertainty. Although funding levels from the first year of tax collections allowed for an increase in grant awards for 2026 compared to 2025, CAC knows that tax revenues from cigarette sales will continue to decline over the next decade. Our Board has worked with the CAC team to create a fiscal management plan designed to maintain consistent grantmaking levels over the life of the new levy. The goal is to continue to fund arts and culture organizations of all sizes that serve residents from every zip code across Cuyahoga County.”

About Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

CAC is Cuyahoga County’s largest source of consistent funding that is dedicated specifically to supporting a vibrant community of nonprofit arts and culture organizations. CAC focuses on supporting the nonprofit arts and culture community as a whole by focusing on equitable grant distributions that give arts and culture organizations of all sizes access to predictable, recurring funding. Since 2006, CAC has invested more than $270 million in more than 500 organizations, both large and small, making our community a more vibrant place to live, work and play. For more information, visit cacgrants.org.