Announcing Winners of the 2025 CREATIVE IMPACT FUND

Announcing Winners of the 2025 Creative Impact Fund

Flexible funding and business development support will elevate artists’ creative practice and regional impact, with support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

CLEVELAND, December 12, 2025 — Assembly for the Arts is excited to announce 29 artists have been awarded 2025 Creative Impact Fund grants.

In its third year, the Creative Impact Fund (CIF) is one of the largest unrestricted grant funds available to Cuyahoga County artists. CIF supports the growth of an artist’s creative practice and advances their impact on the region. The award provides flexible, unrestricted funding; professional and business development opportunities; mentorship and networking; and membership in Assembly for the Arts.

This year’s Creative Impact Fund honors 15 Early Career artists at $5,000 each (professionally practicing 5 years or less) and 14 Mid-Late Career artists at $10,000 each (professionally practicing for 6 years or more). Twenty-nine awards are being made in 2025, up from 17 in 2024.

The selected artists represent dance, theatre, design, film, craft, music, visual arts, writing/literature, and interdisciplinary fields and are based across Cuyahoga County.

Early Career ($5,000) awardees:

Joy David – Writing / Literary Art
Julia Fisher – Theatre
Anthony Ford – Visual Art
Wil Frierson – Film
Felicia Harris – Dance
Dontae Hill – Film
Elliot Jarrous – Theatre
Tanya Kaiser – Visual Art
Christina Lindhout – Dance
Alyssa Lizzini – Visual Art
Tanya Long – Craft
Elizabeth Pollert – Dance/Theatre
Susan Snipes – Media Interdisciplinary
Eric Tuck-Macalla – Visual Art
Antoinette Wiley – Writing / Literary Art

Mid to Late Career ($10,000) awardees:

Ali Black – Writing / Literary Art
Amy Casey – Visual Art
Christa Ebert – Interdisciplinary and Music
Elijah Gilmore – Music and Writing / Literary Art
olula negre – Music and Interdisciplinary Art
Quartez Harris – Writing /Literary Art
Thomas Hudson – Visual Art
Lori Kella – Visual Art
Jacob Koestler – Film and Visual Art
Adam Lucas – Design Interdisciplinary
Laura Camila Medina – Visual Art
Philip Metres – Writing / Literary Art
Daniel Roth – Visual Art and Design
Deontae Trundle – Film and Design

“Cuyahoga County is home to exceptionally talented artists working across many disciplines. The work of these incredible individuals enriches our communities and keeps this region a powerhouse of creativity. Congratulations to this year’s grantees,” said Jeremy V. Johnson, Assembly for the Arts’ President and CEO.

Awardees were selected through a semi-anonymous review process by a panel of 12 accomplished artistic practitioners from across the country, representing 12 states, 10 cities and 11 creative disciplines. Read about the selection panel.

Learn about the 2025 Creative Impact Fund grantees.

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Assembly for the Arts Assembly for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that unifies Greater Cleveland’s creative sector by coordinating information, partnerships, and opportunities and advocating for strong public and private investment in arts and culture. It supports nonprofits, artists, and creative businesses through research, policy, and sector-wide services, working closely with Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and Assembly for Action (a 501(c)(4) advocacy affiliate). Learn more at www.assemblycle.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Malissa Bodmann

malissa@compellingcommunicationsllc.com

by Deidre McPherson

2025 Creative Impact Fund Grantees

Artists Making an Impact

Assembly is proud to announce the 2025 cohort of Creative Impact Fund artist grantees.
This year, 15 Early Career Artists will receive $5,000 and 14 Mid-Late Career, will receive $10,000 each in unrestricted funding to support their creative practice and elevate their impact on our region. Artists were selected through a rigorous process by the CIF25 National Panel, comprised of artists and creative professionals from across the country.

The 2025 Creative Impact Fund grantees represent a wide range of creative disciplines and neighborhoods throughout Cuyahoga County.

A huge thank you to our 12 member selection panel for their thoughtful review and expertise of each application, and to our Artist Advisory Committee for helping shape and strengthen our grant programs. We’re grateful for your leadership and collaboration!

Ali Black - Mid-Late Career

Ali Black is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author of the poetry collection We Look Better Alive (Burnside Review Press, 2025) and the poetry chapbook If It Heals At All (Jacar Press, 2020). She is the winner of the 2025 Cleveland Arts Prize in the Emerging Artist category. Her writing has appeared in The Atticus Review, Literary Hub, The Adroit Journal and elsewhere.

Amy Casey - Mid-Late Career

Amy Casey has shown her paintings and etchings of cityscapes regionally and nationally with solo shows in Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Provincetown, and Homer, Alaska. Drawing on the places around her, the news of the world and sweaty anxiety dreams, Casey creates and reorders impossible cities.

Joy David - Early Career

Joy David is a genderqueer Ukrainian writer living in Cleveland, Ohio, where they work as a geneticist researching insulin resistance and metabolic disorders. They organize the Starlight Elsewhere Reading at the Rhizome House and are the author of Hibernation Highway (Madhouse Press, 2020).

Christa Ebert - Mid-Late Career

Christa Ebert, known as Uno Lady, is a musician and mixed media artist who creates ethereal, voice-driven compositions and nature-inspired video art. Using vocal layers, field recordings, and electronic tools, she builds immersive sonic landscapes.

Julia Fisher - Early Career

Julia Fisher (she/her) is an award-winning playwright and intimacy director whose work has been seen in professional theatres throughout Cleveland, Akron, Chicago, Knoxville, and beyond. Julia has intimacy directed over 45 productions at over 15 theatres and universities, and she has developed and taught consent-forward practices to participants across the globe.

Anthony Ford - Early Career

Anthony Ford is a photographer and emerging maker exploring ceramics, textiles, and garment construction in 2026. Through his Village of Practice project, he studies the frictions and freedoms of creativity, learning how making reshapes identity and community. His work blends quiet observation, personal renewal, and a commitment to living a more intentional, art-filled life.

Wil Frierson - Early Career

Wil Frierson is a Cleveland-born visual artist from the Glenville neighborhood, creating work inspired by the everyday moments, cultures, and personal passions that move him. With 17 years of storytelling experience and a degree from Cleveland State University, Wil blends cinematography, editing, and visual design to craft warm, intentional narratives.

Elijah Gilmore - Mid-Late Career

Elijah G is an international Afrobeat Jazz Artist who promotes world peace. He's also the founder of Tribe of Eli Wellness, an organization that teaches our world emotional intelligence, health and wellness, environmental protection and cultural diversity by way of the arts.

Quartez Harris - Mid-Late Career

Quartez Harris is a poet, bestselling author, and educator. Recognized for his distinct lyrical voice and commitment to young readers, he weaves imagination with lived experience to create impactful narratives that resonate across ages. His writing invites readers to reflect, dream, and discover more possibilities.

Felicia Harris - Early Career

Felicia Harris is a dynamic street dancer trained in krump, hip-hop, and house, blending raw energy with theatrical storytelling. With roots in street culture and a strong background in theater, she fuses expressive movement, character work, and musicality to create performances that feel both powerful and deeply human.

Donte Hill - Early Career

Dontae Hill is an emerging visual artist, producer, screenwriter, and International Award winning filmmaker. Born in Alabama, Hill relocated to Ohio and began his artistic career. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree he began acting for award winning cinematographers and major production companies such as AGBO Films and Warner Bros. In 2019, Hill directed his first film Mississippi: 1968

Thomas Hudson - Mid-Late Career

Thomas Hudson is a Cleveland based visual artist whose work highlights the lives and experiences of African Americans from 1865 to the 1970s. Working in pencil, oil paint, and sculpture, he creates historically grounded narratives with accuracy, dignity, and emotional depth. He is expanding his major series, REMINISCENT: Our Times Before Yesterday.

Elliot Jarrous - Early Career

Elliot is a Palestinian-American standup comedian and writer from Cleveland, Ohio. He won Rookie of the year at the 2025 Cleveland Comedy Awards, and was nominated for “Best Male Comic” in Cleveland Scene Magazine. He’s also the former Roast Battle Champion of the Cleveland chapter of Roast Battle League.

Tanya Kaiser - Early Career

Tanya Kaiser is an interdisciplinary artist whose sculptural and installation work investigates identity, cultural and political systems, and bodily autonomy.

Lori Kella - Mid-Late Career

Lori Kella is a visual artist and photographer who explores the complexity of the 21st century landscape by crafting elaborate fictions meant only for the camera’s lens. Her artwork examines ecological renewal and the effects of climate change in the Great Lakes region.

Jacob Koestler - Mid-Late Career

Jacob Koestler is a visual artist living in Cleveland, hailing from Johnstown, PA. He holds an MFA from Ohio University. His practice includes film, photography, and multimedia installation. Koestler is also a co-founder of Blurry Pictures, an award-winning collaborative project that produces documentaries, books and other printed matter.

Christina Lindhout - Early Career

Christina Lindhout is a dancer and choreographer, and Assistant Professor of Dance at Baldwin Wallace University. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including from Akron Soul Train, Ohio Arts Council and Summit Artspace. Christina leads a diverse group of Cleveland-based artists called Christina Lindhout & Artists.

Alyssa Lizzini - Early Career

Alyssa Lizzini is an artist from Cleveland, Ohio, whose work explores memory and the passage of time as it relates to our sense of place. In the studio, she uses drawing, painting, and printmaking techniques to create visually complex images that reflect both our perception of memory and the constantly evolving socio-spatial world.

Tanya Long - Early Career

Tanya Anne Long is a ceramicist and sculptor based in Cleveland, Ohio. She received her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and her BFA from Pratt Institute. She utilizes both slab-built and wheel-thrown construction to craft objects that exist in a space between sculpture and function.

Adam Swift Lucas - Mid-Late Career

Adam Swift Lucas (b. 1983) is a graphic designer, publisher, and educator living and working in Cleveland, Ohio. His multidisciplinary creative practice, Specific Ideas, operates at the intersection(s) of graphic design and publishing, making both self-initiated and collaborative projects.

Laura Camila Medina - Mid-Late Career

Laura Camila Medina (1995) is an interdisciplinary artist born in Bogotá, Colombia and living in Cleveland. Her practice is deeply inspired by the kisses between mountains and sky of her birthplace intertwined with the thematic fantasy-scape and migrant microcosms of Central Florida.

Philip Metres - Mid-Late Career

Philip Metres has written thirteen books, including Dispatches from the Land of Erasure (2025) and Fugitive/Refuge (2024). Winner of three Arab American Book Awards, a Guggenheim, and a Pushcart Prize, he is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, & Human Rights program at John Carroll University and teaches at VCFA MFA low-residency program.

olula negre - Mid-Late Career

A grandchild of twin migrations fleeing the devastation of state-sponsored violence in the American South and Puerto Rico, olula negre, is a creative musician (cello/voice/banjo) and visual artist from Cleveland, Ohio whose work is rooted in their Black American and Latine heritage, queerness and their interests in speculative fiction/storytelling, folklore and folk music, labor movements, and cosmic workings

Elizabeth Pollert - Early Career

Elizabeth Pollert is a Cleveland-based creator, performer, and dance educator, and works as an independent artist with area choreographers, movers, and multi-genre makers. She has performed and choreographed both in the U.S. and abroad, including France, Canada, China, and Easter Island(Chile).

Daniel Roth - Mid-Late Career

Daniel Roth is a Cleveland-based sculptor and designer whose work explores materiality, humor, and trompe-l'œil through inflated steel and industrial fabrication. Roth holds BFAs in Sculpture and Industrial Design from the Cleveland Institute of Art. In addition to his independent work, Roth fabricates mounts, displays, and custom components for other artists.

Susan Snipes - Early Career

Susan Snipes is an interdisciplinary artist based in Cleveland, Ohio, whose media installations respond to the anxieties and disconnection of the digital age. Working with video, sound, digital devices, and often incorporating user-contributed content and interactive elements, she creates immersive spaces that invite reflection and dialogue.

D. Trundle - Mid-Late Career

Born and raised in Cleveland, OH., Deontae Trundle learned how to be a storyteller while attending the Cleveland School Of The Arts. Deontae continued his creative journey, earning his Visual Communications Degree from Cuyahoga Community College. After 25 years of crafting stories through print, web, animation, film and entertainment, D. Trundle has developed and produced his very first feature film in his hometown.

Eric Tuck-Macalla - Early Career

Eric Tuck-Macalla is a Cleveland-based multimedia artist whose sculptures, drawings, and installations give quiet form to the inner world. He works with humble, everyday materials—unburdened by status or sentiment—to explore presence, placement, and transformation. His immersive works invite reflection on value, beauty, and what we choose to hold dear.

Antoinette Wiley - Early Career

Antoinette M. Wiley is a singer, writer, editor, and writing coach. She holds a BA and MA in Creative Writing from Cleveland State University and an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles. Antoinette’s work has appeared in Gordon Square Review, Antioch Magazine, and elsewhere. Her passion includes empowering writers to embrace their unique perspectives and providing nurturing workshop spaces.

Cuyahoga Arts and Culture

The Creative Impact Fund is made possible by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. The program provides flexible (unrestricted) funding and professional and business development opportunities. Development includes mentorship and networking opportunities, and memberships to Assembly for the Arts and the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE). The purpose of the fund is to encourage the growth of artists’ creative practice and advance their impact on the region. It is open to individual Cuyahoga County-based artists of all creative disciplines.

by Deidre McPherson

2025 Creative Impact Fund Panelists

A national panel of artist experts.

The Creative Impact Fund Panel is responsible for reviewing and scoring every grant submission and making all funding recommendations to Assembly for thirty (30) Cuyahoga County artists in 2025.

This year’s CIF Panel is comprised of twelve (12) accomplished artistic practitioners curated from across the country, representing 12 states, 10 cities and 11 creative disciplines. Panelists were recommended to Assembly by previous CIF grantees and are selected based on our Panel Composition Criteria. Please welcome this incredible cohort to Cleveland!

Ariana Brown

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, TX, now based in Houston. She is the author of the poetry collections We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020).

Rosa Chang

Rosa Chang is an artist based in Baltimore and New York whose work is deeply rooted in fostering a harmonious relationship between humans and nature.

Mahwish Chisty

Mahwish Chishty combines new media and conceptual work with materials and techniques of South Asian art and craft traditions.

Christopher Gonzalez

CHRISTOPHER GONZALEZ is a queer Puerto Rican writer living in New York. He is the author of the short story collection I’m Not Hungry but I Could Eat (SFWP, 2021)

Kei Henderson, Founder + Head of Creative Strategy

Kei Henderson is the founder and head of Third & Hayden, an Atlanta-based management label and publishing company, as well as a creative entrepreneur and Grammy-winning manager

Shabez Jamal

Shabez Jamal, is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Their visual practice and research explore the temporal nature of photographic imagery and memory relating to physical, political, and socio-economic spaces.

Brit Krohmer

Brit Krohmer is an object maker, using ceramic as a primary medium, an educator, and art handler from Rockford, IL, currently living and working in Milwaukee, WI.

Laura Lambuley

Laura Lambuley is a highly accomplished pianist, composer, and producer with a Latin Grammy award to her name.

Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead

Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead is an artist, educator, and academic leader. His art practice encompasses traditional and newer media, community projects, and creative writing

Hyeyung Sol Yoon

Hyeyung Sol Yoon is an artist at the margin of her American and Korean identities who plays the violin, composes, teaches, and organizes arts communities

Nina Young

Nina Young is a screenwriter, director, and producer from Detroit, MI with a passion for exploring the Black female identity through film.

Jade Yumang

Jade Yumang uses three-dimensional, site-specific installation, and performative work as a way to see how the body resists or submits through materiality.

Cuyahoga Arts and Culture

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.

by Deidre McPherson

Boost Fund Artist Grantees

Congratulations to the 2025 Boost Fund Artists!

All 2025 Boost Fund artists will receive $1,500 to support their creative practice.

Grantees were selected using a nationally modeled random selection process.

Cycle 3 Artists

Brian Bailey, Interdisciplinary
Anna Baldi, Design
April Bleakney, Visual
Roni Callahan, Visual
Caleb Cameron, Music
Inaya Carrington, Dance & Choreography
Jackson Clark, Film
Kylee Cook, Craft
Eileen Dorsey, Visual
Crystal Durden, Music
Joseph Feighan, Interdisciplinary
Christine Gray, Craft
Jonathan Henry, Visual
Jeanetta Ho, Design
Devin Howell, Music
Matthew Hummel, Interdisciplinary
Cheyanne Jeffries, Visual
Sonavi Jethra, Interdisciplinary
Jeffrey Jones, Music
Dawn Kessler, Dance & Choreography
Mona Kolesar, Visual
Kaitlyn Krych, Craft
Malcolm Linder, Visual
Joel Linebach, Dance & Choreography
Michael Oatman, Literary Arts/Writing
Anastasia Pantsios, Visual
Marshall Pecora, Visual
Raven Platts, Music
Darice Polo, Film
Linda Post, Visual
Wesley Robinson, Literary Arts/Writing
Glenn Robinson, Film
Richard Rodriguez, Music
Charles Rubin, Music
Meredith Ruble, Visual
Maureen Ryan, Visual
Naomi Samarasekera, Visual
Tavion Tate, Music
Debra Tinsley, Theatre & Performance
Anthony Tognazzini, Literary Arts/Writing
Thu Tran, Film
Maira Vianna, Music
Sophia Webb, Music
Jill Zimon, Literary Arts/Writing

Cycle 2 Artists

Cathrine Avila, Visual Art
Karen Beckwith, Visual Art
Patricia Brett, Visual Art
Elisa Byrd, Theatre & Performance
Carla Carpenter, Craft
Timothy J. Collingwood, Theatre & Performance
Jeffrey Curtis, Music
Clark DeCapite, Visual Art
Levaille, Eitzman, Craft
Esteban Eysaman, Music
Elijah Gilmore, Music
Jon Gott, Interdisciplinary
Tiara Grayson, Visual Art
Raven Grice, Visual Art
Alexander Guzman, Dance & Choreography
David Haddon, Visual Art
Eriana Hargrove, Craft
Ryan Jaenke, Visual Art
Mick Jones, Film
Julian Khan, Music
Charlie Malta, Visual Art
Jake Mangini, Film
Jacqueline Mantey, Visual Art
Ray McNiece, Literary
Jeffery Melton, Music
Destiny Moore, Visual Art
Stephanie Nunn, Design
Nahomy Ortiz-Garcia, Literary
Sarah Paul, Visual Art
Byron “Ronny Knight” Phillips, Media
Elizabeth Pollert, Dance & Choreography
Leonte Reed, Visual Art
Conrad Relitz, Visual Art
Julie Reminick, Interdisciplinary
Isaac Richter, Film
Raymond Robinson, Visual Art
Dylan Rundle, Design
Brian Sarama, Craft
Martha Shiverick, Film
Aaron Smith, Music
Sujatha Srinivasan, Dance & Choreography
Bethany Svoboda, Music
DeNavya Tolbert, Music
Josh Usmani, Visual Art
Vickie Verlie, Music
Laura Walter, Literary
Nikki Woods, Visual Art
Anna Wright, Film
Tess Young, Craft
Joyce Yu, Music

Cycle 1 Artists

Zach Angeloni, Music
Ewuresi Archer, Visual Art
Dyrell Barnett, Film
Gideon Berry, Visual Art
Robin Blake, Music
Mike Bruckman, Film
Brittany DeMudd, Design
Shaun Doyle, Visual Art
Sharon M. Dundee, Visual Art
Suhaylah Hamzah “Qnowher Earth”, Interdisciplinary
Lisa Edwards, Visual Art
Brianna Fairbrother, Visual Art
Dante Foley, Media
Tyrone Fontaine, Media
Gwendolyn Garth, Visual Art
Regan Gray, Music
Fern Haught, Literary Arts / Writing
John O. Horton, Jr., Music
Wade Howard, Music
Mark Howard, Visual Art
Sidney Im, Dance & Choreography
Erin Johnson, Interdisciplinary
Saralila Kalafat, Music
Marissa Kehres, Visual Art
Billi Kribbs, Visual Art
Brandon Landrum, Music
Cecilia Li, Visual Art
Tanya Long, Craft
Casey Louis, Music
Tuck Mindrum, Music
Nancy Notarianni, Visual Art
Connor O’Brien, Music
Kristy Ockunzzi, Literary Arts / Writing
Arturo Orso-Giacone, Music
Dev Patel, Visual Art
Sarah Raban, Visual Art
Eric Rippert, Visual Art
Callum Sharkey, Visual Art
Randall, Slaughter, Visual Art
Edward Sotelo, Music
Harold Stallworth, Music
Darian Stitt, Media
Rachel Usmani, Media
Jurnee Weeams, Visual Art
Cyera Wilder, Dance & Choreography
Tracey Wiley, Literary Arts / Writing
McKinley Wiley, Visual Art
Charles Wilkerson, Visual Art
Anthony Yanick, Interdisciplinary
Rachel Yurkovich, Visual Art

Questions?

Please contact grants@assemblycle.org.

Boost Fund is supported by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

by Deidre McPherson

CIF Grantee Portal

by Deidre McPherson

Guaranteed Income

Thursday October 12 / 6:00 - 7:30PM | Zoom

View the Recording

What would it look like if artists could work knowing they’d receive a guaranteed paycheck every month? And what would happen to our local economy if we placed this level of value and trust in artists? Other cities are already trying this.

In this session, we’ll hear from two of the country’s leading organizations in arts-based GI – Springboard for the Arts and Creatives Rebuild New York. Join the virtual conversation to learn about their Guaranteed Income programs, what guaranteed income is, how it works, the larger national GI movement and what it could mean for Cleveland’s creative industries. Artists, funders, city and county leadership and anyone interested is welcome to join this free virtual event.

Guest Speakers

Ricardo Beaird, Community Development Director, Springboard for the Arts
Wone Vang, Economic Opportunity Director, Springboard for the Arts
Soley Esteves, Director of Programs and Operations, Creatives Rebuild New York
Torri Hanna, Fiber Artist + Springboard GI Recipient

What is guaranteed income? Defined by Springboard for the Arts, an artist support organization in Minneapolis, “A guaranteed income is a monthly cash payment given directly to individuals. It’s unconditional with no strings attached and no work requirements and is meant to supplement, rather than replace, existing social safety nets and can be a tool for racial and gender equity.”

Learn more about Springboard’s Guaranteed Income program and Creatives Rebuild New York’s statewide Guaranteed Income program

Ricardo Beaird

Springboard for the Arts

Soley Esteves

Creatives Rebuild New York

Torri Hanna

Fiber Artist

Wone Vang

Springboard for the Arts

This conversation hosted as part of REvision, a series of free community discussions focused on reimagining and addressing key challenges faced by Greater Cleveland’s arts and culture industry.

by Deidre McPherson

Deidre McPherson