The Voices Behind the 2026 CIF Review
The Creative Impact Fund Panel is responsible for reviewing and scoring every grant submission and making funding recommendations to Assembly for twenty-two (22) Cuyahoga County artists, each of whom will receive a $10,000 award.
This year’s CIF Panel is comprised of thirteen (13) accomplished artistic practitioners who bring a range of creative perspectives and expertise to the review process. Panelists are selected based on our Panel Composition Criteria, helping ensure a thoughtful and rigorous evaluation of applications.
Alejandro Molina Alanis - Brooklyn, NY
Alejandro presently serves as the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO of the Hispanic Information Telecommunications Network (HITN), since 2018. HITN is the US' largest non-profit Hispanic cable TV station with close to 35 million viewers. In addition, he serves as the Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, a Chicago-based organization he has tutored, taught, and administered since he was 17 years old. Over the past 35 years, Alejandro has organized in the Puerto Rican communities in New York, Hartford, San Francisco, and Chicago, traveled and spoken at the UN Human Rights Conference in Vienna, and been part of the World and National Council of Churches delegations to Geneva, Switzerland, to speak to the Executive Committee of the WCC and testify before the UN Human Rights Committee. He has executive-produced the HITN Puerto Rican Heritage series, two entries of which won Emmys, and he is a co-founder of the HITN production "Tú Cuentas Cine Youth Fest," an online film festival for Latinx youth.
Brad Krumholz - Brooklyn, NY
Brad Krumholz is Executive Artistic Director and Co-Founder of North American Cultural Laboratory (www.NACL.org). He holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Brad has been teaching theatre creation and production for over 25 years, most notably as Assistant Professor and Head of Production at Hunter College, NYC. His recent publications include Why Do Actors Train? Embodiment for Theatre Makers and Thinkers (Methuen Drama, 2023), "The Problem of Movement Theatre" in Movement for Actors (Second Edition: Allworth Press, 2017), “Locating the Ensemble: NACL Theatre and the Ethics of Collaboration” in Encountering Ensemble (Methuen Drama, 2013), and, co-authored with data scientist Dr. Niki Athanasiadou, “Artificial Respiration: An Interdisciplinary dialogue on humanizing AI and future trends in performance” (Performance Research 29, no. 4-5 (2024): 119-127).
Alex Rubin - Glendale, CA
Alex has penned stories across genre in theater, film, television, podcasts, and prose. Alex is a staff writer on Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias” and has written for iHeart Radio’s “Solve” and PEG’s “Jackie Cox Variety Show”. After graduating from USC with her MFA in Writing for Film & Television, Alex was selected for the WIF/Black List Episodic Lab. She has held fellowships with FORGE and the Script Writing Score, was one of ISA’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2023, and her half-hour comedy “Latecomer” is on the 2026 Women’s List which spotlights film and television scripts by women. As a playwright, Alex won the Writers Digest Award in Playwriting, Big Vision Empty Wallet Playwriting Fellowship, and residencies at SPACE on Ryder and HBMG’s National Winter Playwrights Retreat. She was selected for BMI's Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and participated in Andrew Lippa's Writers Bloc, both as a lyricist. Her plays and musicals have been produced across the US, Canada, Mexico, and the UK.
Chanelle Ignant - Oakland, CA
Chanelle Ignant is guitarist, composer, and educator based in Oakland, CA. She has had the privilege of performing with numerous artists at Bay Area staples The Freight, Yoshi’s, The Independent, and more, as well as venues and festivals across the United States. In 2025, she was named a Next Jazz Legacy Awardee under the guidance of Terri Lyne Carrington. Through this opportunity she has had the privilege of performing with Meshell Ndegeocello and receiving mentorship from Matthew Stevens. Her current projects include Origin Stories, an acoustic duo with her partner Lizzy Dutton, and her solo project, Four Flowers. When not playing or writing music she loves teaching guitar and piano to the next generation of music makers at elementary schools throughout the Bay Area.
Tiffany Pittman - Washington DC
Tiffany Pittman's love for the arts is rooted in her upbringing. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she comes from a long line of visual and performing artists. The arts imprinted on her at a young age, and she believes its transformative power is at the base of every great beginning. Tiffany identifies as an art administrator, storyteller, consultant, mother, sister, and dancer in Washington, D.C. She currently serves as the Marketing Director for The International Association of Blacks in Dance. Having the opportunity to amplify Black dance stories has ignited a strong passion for finding new ways to produce and create content that is useful, effective, inclusive, and culturally relevant. Tiffany holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Studies with an emphasis in Dance Performance from Northern Illinois University.
Gary Sczerbaniewicz - Buffalo, NY
Gary Sczerbaniewicz was born in Upstate NY. He earned a BFA in Sculpture from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and an MFA in Sculpture from the University at Buffalo in 2013. Sczerbaniewicz was recently awarded a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant to attend a residency at the historic Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, NY. He is a 2023 recipient of a Summerfair Cincinnati AIA Award, 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Architecture/ Environmental Structures/ Design, and a 2022 recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant for his exhibition ‘Folie a Deux’ at the Ely Center of Contemporary Arts in New Haven, CT. Sczerbaniewicz’ works are included in the permanent collections of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has completed artist residencies at Yaddo, I-Park, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Sculpture Space, the Sanford Underground Research Facility, and AIR Byrdcliffe. Sczerbaniewicz served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Notre Dame from 2017-2020 and is currently Assistant Professor of Spatial Arts - Sculpture at Northern Kentucky University.
Lin Benitez - Vega Baja, PR
Lin Benitez is a Puerto Rico based photographer, filmmaker and visual artist whose work centers on authentic storytelling and meaningful human connection. With years of professional experience, she has photographed hundreds of engagements, weddings, families, and cultural experiences throughout Puerto Rico, creating imagery that reflects the island's landscapes, communities, and spirit. In addition to her photography practice, Lin has written, directed, and filmed short documentaries and music videos. Her award-winning documentary Somos Monarcas has received multiple awards and has been screened at more than a dozen international film festivals. She has also directed and filmed music videos, including Mariposa, performed by Michael Matos Clemente in collaboration with Latin Grammy-nominated musician William Cepeda. As the owner and creative director of 2 Hearts Photo & Video, Lin manages all aspects of an independent creative business, from project development and production to client relations and creative direction. Her work is driven by a belief in the power of visual storytelling to preserve culture, inspire connection, and strengthen communities. As a working visual artist and filmmaker from Puerto Rico, she brings both artistic and entrepreneurial perspectives to the evaluation and support of creative projects.
Noa Fort - Brooklyn. NY
Brooklyn based Noa Fort is a vocalist, pianist, composer, improviser and music therapist. As a bandleader, she released several critically acclaimed albums and performed at the BRIC Jazz Fest, DC Jazz Festival, Vicenza Jazz Fest, Red Sea Jazz Fest to name a few. She collaborated with greats such as William Parker, Mat Maneri, Anat Fort, Chad Taylor, Satoshi Takeishi, Dave Torn, Thomas Morgan, Mary Prescott. As a recipient of Brooklyn Arts Council grants, she created a free concert series throughout Brooklyn, including in a transitional home for unhoused people and community gardens. She was a M3 Mutual Mentorship for Musicians fellow, Art OMI (Music) resident, Banff Jazz and Creative Music workshop participant, NYFA Immigrants Mentorship Program participant and more. Fort is also a licensed creative arts therapist and board certified music therapist. She is a faculty member at the NYU Music Therapy program and the Roc Nation school at Long Island University.
La Toya Davis-Craig - Tallahassee, FL
Dr. La Toya Davis is an educator, arts leader, researcher, and speaker with more than two decades of experience in higher education, cultural leadership, and community engagement. She recently concluded nearly a decade of service at Florida State University’s School of Dance, where she held multiple leadership and administrative roles supporting student success, program development, recruitment, event production, and international partnerships. Her work has focused on expanding access and opportunity for artists across the African Diaspora through strategic partnerships, cultural exchange, and arts education. As a scholar and practitioner, Dr. Davis’s research has explored African Diasporic dance traditions, embodied knowledge, and cultural identity, including field research in Osogbo, Nigeria. In addition to her academic and administrative leadership, Dr. Davis has served as a grant panelist and reviewer for arts and cultural organizations, evaluating projects that advance artistic excellence and community impact. Recognized for her collaborative leadership and strategic vision, she is committed to strengthening the arts ecosystem by supporting artists, organizations, and initiatives that foster innovation, cultural preservation, and meaningful community engagement.
Nana Duffuor - Brooklyn, NY
Nana Duffuor is a first generation Ghanaian filmmaker whose work thoughtfully blends heart and humor to explore themes at the intersection of the personal and political. She holds a Master’s degree in Screenwriting from Columbia University, and has been the recipient of the NewFest Emerging Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award, the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Award for Female Director, and the SFFilm Rainin Screenwriting Grant. She was an adjunct assistant professor in Screenwriting at Columbia University. In 2025, her short film Rainbow Girls premiered at Frameline and has since screened at 20+ festivals worldwide, earning Audience Awards at New Orleans Film Festival and NewFest, as well as NewFest’s Grand Jury Prize. The feature is currently in development. Ultimately, Nana’s goal is to tell unforgettable character-driven stories that offer nuanced portrayals of the human condition.
Jocmarys Viruet Feliciano - Bajadero, PR
Jocmarys Viruet Feliciano is a visual artist from Arecibo, Puerto Rico with a focus on hand papermaking and Book Arts. She holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus and a master's degree from the University of Iowa, Center of the Book. Jocmarys worked as an intern at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland. Her first experience with handmade paper was in 2014 as an exchange student in South Korea. Jocmarys has taught several bookbinding and handmade paper workshops in Puerto Rico and in the United States at places such as Penland School of Crafts in Bakersville, North Carolina, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Taller Lapaduma in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. Her artist's books are part of special collections such as University of Miami, University of Iowa, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. Her most recent artistic experience was being part of a winter residency in the mountains of Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and The Lucayan Archipelago Artist Residency at the Poinciana Paper Press studio in Nassau, The Bahamas.
Teri Ellen Cross Davis - Silver Spring, MD
Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of a more perfect Union, 2019 winner of The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize and Haint, winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. For twenty years, she curated poetry for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. She is currently finalizing her third collection while raising teens with husband and poet Hayes Davis.
Reginald Douglas - Washington DC
Reginald L. Douglas (he/him) is a director, producer, and educator dedicated to supporting new voices, and harnessing the power of theatre to connect community members. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company in Washington, DC, where his leadership has supported the development and production of new and contemporary plays by acclaimed writers including Dominique Morisseau, Psalmayene 24, Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Samuel D. Hunter, Ifa Bayeza, and more. In addition, he has directed new and classic work at theatres across the country, taught at several universities and served on the Executive Committee of the National New Play Network’s Board of Directors for many years. A member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, Reginald is the recipient of the National Theater Conference’s Emerging Professional Award, the Georgetown University Legacy of a Dream Award, and in 2024, he was named “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine.
The Creative Impact Fund is a program of Assembly for the Arts, made possible by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. This individual artist grant program is designed to support and sustain the growth of Cuyahoga County artists and their creative practices, which enhances their ability to positively impact our regional communities.
