Join the Movement

Assemble to empower all by creating a more inclusive and equitable arts and culture community. Members are gathering from all artistic disciplines, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and abilities to build a better Greater Cleveland.

Membership helps underwrite our advocacy initiatives, and enables us to make research and educational materials free and available to all. Members are automatically added to the Cadence email newsletter.

Benefits

• Members-only email updates including current cultural policy efforts
• Free or discounted event registration
• Individualized advice and counsel
• Promotional support for events (don’t forget to select Assembly Member when adding your event to ClevelandArtsEvent.com)
• Exclusive access and inclusion in the Membership Directory
• Member Spotlights on ClevelandArtsEvents.com
• Access to Rapid Action Grant

Levels

A Top Priority – Strengthening Support for the Region’s Creatives:

When we launched, Assembly was charged with developing new programs and services for artists and organizations to help increase visibility of their work. In the last year, we armed creative businesses, artists and non-profits with tools to help them forge cross-sector connections, expand their knowledge and find opportunities to share their artistic point of view.

Our Workbench Series launched a series of 12 convenings addressing a variety of topics related to the entrepreneurial life cycle of the creative sector, including marketing and business basics, fiscal sponsorship, healthcare, accessibility partnerships, public performance and contracts. The series is such a success, we’ve expanded content in two directions. Creatives Offer Resources for Everyone (CORE) sessions invite creatives to develop their own Workbench sessions. On the other end, Workbox emails are curated about every two weeks to share new opportunities and resources. Assembly also worked with Destination Cleveland and ListenCLE to pay local musicians for street performances and opened busking opportunities during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game events.

In partnership with the Cleveland Leadership Center, Assembly launched its Arts Leadership Residency. The pilot program provides stipends and six business-oriented learning sessions with a racial equity lens to a cohort of over 20 artists, small creative business owners, and nonprofit leaders—the majority of whom are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC). The program is supported by the Entrepreneur in Residence program powered by Huntington, the George Gund Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council. Recipients of the residency will be announced later in 2022.

Assembly supported nine fiscal sponsorships in its first year. Our fiscal sponsorship program opens access to foundation and donor funds that solely fund tax-exempt organizations. Collectively, the community projects raised over $159k. We plan to double the number of fiscal sponsorships we support over the next year, specifically for BIPOC-owned or led nonprofits and businesses, and those managed by and serving individuals with disabilities.

Uniting the Community through Equity-Focused Work:

From the outset, inclusion and racial equity were woven into the fabric of Assembly. Our Board of Directors intentionally reflects our region’s multifaceted residents and organizations.

Increasing equity within the arts and culture sector is among the most challenging work. Our equity efforts have been explicitly strengthened with funding from key foundations—The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The Chuck and Char Fowler Family Foundation and other generous supporters.

Assembly prioritizes forming connections between staff and communities of color—from the Black Local Artists of Cleveland-Kuumba to the programmers at Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center. We’re elevating local BIPOC arts collectives through fiscal sponsorship and the Arts Leadership Residency.

We have engaged Equius Group to help us survey Greater Cleveland’s landscape, establish metrics, and execute deliverables in the third quarter of 2022. We look forward to updating you on this work as it unfolds.

As part of our internal equity practices, Assembly is participating in the Stand Against Racism Challenge by the YWCA Greater Cleveland, having set dedicated time for learning and reflection about social, systemic, and institutional racial inequity into our staff meetings.

Engaging Community Leaders in Critical Conversations:

When Cleveland received $511 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, Assembly activated the artist community to demonstrate why they should receive $10 million in rescue funds – or just 2% for the arts. Our “Artists for ARPA” postcard campaign showcased the work of 18 artists from Cleveland’s wards to garner City Council support for 2% for the arts. Assembly held in-person postcard writing events at the Happy Dog Cleveland and the other at Sankofa Fine Art Plus. On March 28, 2022, a coalition of the creative sector delivered 500 postcards to Cleveland City Hall.

In June 2022, City Council President Blaine Griffin announced he included $5 million for arts and culture in his budget proposal. Mayor Bibb adopted the recommendation to deploy $10M in ARPA funds for arts in Cleveland neighborhoods. Assembly, with its partner CAC, will continue to reinforce the importance of the creative sector to City Council and the Mayor’s office to bring our city ARPA request across the finish line.

Thanks to Rainey Institute, Collective Arts Network (CAN), YARDS Project and Future Ink Graphics (FIG) for their support of the postcard writing campaign.