Cleveland artists ask for a portion of ARPA funds from city council in a colorful way: postcards

Source: News 5 Cleveland

Abstract:

CLEVELAND — You’ll find no shortage of art from Cleveland’s West Side to its East Side, it enriches thoroughfares and fills the seats in local theaters. Painters, photographers, poets and performers showed up at Cleveland City Council’s meeting to tell city leaders that they need help and funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

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Assembly for the Arts plans Cleveland City Hall rally advocating for $10M in federal COVID relief for the arts

Source: Cleveland.com

Abstract:

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Assembly for the Arts, the nonprofit umbrella group for Cleveland’s nonprofit and for-profit cultural industries, is pushing City Council to allocate $10 million of the city’s $511 million in federal COVID relief money to the arts.

They planned to deliver more than 500 artist-designed postcards representing constituents from across the city’s 17 wards during a Monday evening rally at City Hall.

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Cleveland artists lobby for ARPA relief funds with postcard campaign

Source: Ideastream

Abstract:

Cleveland-area artists plan to rally on the steps of City Hall Monday. This group of painters, photographers and others are using their skills to convince officials to allocate federal pandemic relief funds to support the arts.

The advocacy organization Assembly for the Arts tapped the talents of local artists to produce a series of postcards, each bearing an illustration and making the case for a $10 million share of the city’s $511 million allotment of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

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Personal View: A Rescue Plan for Cleveland's Creative Communities

Source: Crain’s Cleveland

Abstract:

What makes a neighborhood vibrant? A vibrant community is filled with jobs, creativity, art, music, theater, dance and voices that represent our diversity and experiences. In the coming months, Cleveland will have an opportunity to reinject vibrancy into communities harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a working artist in Cleveland, I’m joining hundreds of local artists to ask the Cleveland City Council and Mayor Justin Bibb to invest a portion of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds into arts and culture. Cleveland’s rebound from COVID requires an investment not only in public safety, health and human services, but also in the creative sector. Artists, creative businesses and cultural nonprofits form the backbone of Cleveland’s economic vibrancy.

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Two Cents: Creatives Campaign for a Slice of Cleveland's Rescue Plan Funds

Source: FreshWater

Abstract:

Before the pandemic, Ohio’s creative sector generated $9.1 billion for the economy and accounted for more than 65,000 jobs, according to Ohio Citizens for the Arts’ 2018 report, Ohio’s Creative Economy: The Economic Impact of Arts & Creative Industries.

When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, Cleveland’s creative community was the first to shut down and has been the last to return to any sense of normalcy. Even now, the region’s creative community continues to suffer, says Jeremy Johnson, president and CEO of Assembly for the Arts, the nonprofit organization focused on increasing equity in Cleveland’s arts and culture industries.

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Cleveland artists seek lifeline in Covid relief money

Source: The Land

Abstract:

March 2020: The world came to a juddering halt.

While many of us found ways to reorient our lives by summer, making an office out of the living room or trading in our corporate uniforms for delivery driver tags, the creative sector stood upon the precipice of loss and wept. And now, as the world is finally trying to get moving again, Cleveland artists have a chance to breathe life back into the city.

The cost? With just a thin slice of the city’s federal rescue plan, the arts community could get the jump start it needs, says one local group.

“It’s a whole array of creative workers who make up a collective $2.9 billion industry in Northeast Ohio,” said Jeremy Johnson, CEO of Assembly for the Arts. “We believe the artists deserve a piece of the Covid-related pie.”

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Artists for ARPA: Just Two Percent

Source: CAN Journal 

Abstract:

For decades, the City of Cleveland, has had a scarce commitment to the support of the arts and cultural sector. In particular, the creative workforce—the individual people who actually do the creating– has been exceedingly undervalued.  Those are people hit hard by the COVID crisis. Currently the arts sector, coordinated by Assembly for the Arts, is asking Cleveland City Council to approve Mayor Justin Bibb’s recommendation that $10 million dollars of American Rescue Plan Act funds be invested in the arts, including the creative workforce. That is two (2) cents out of each of the $511 million that Cleveland has to spend. Two percent.

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Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb unveils 85 goals - some big, some small - for first 100 days

Source: Cleveland.com

Excerpt:

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb on Monday identified 85 goals for his first 100 days in office – a wide-ranging set of priorities for how the city delivers basic services, addresses public health and safety, and lays the groundwork for some of Bibb’s more ambitious, longer-term plans.

The mayor also unveiled an online tracker, at mayor.clevelandohio.gov, to show the city’s progress toward achieving those goals and to provide a way for residents to hold him accountable to his promises.

Bibb’s priorities were developed off the work of an 80-plus person transition team, comprised of leaders in business, community organizations, non-profits and government, and tasked with identifying early recommendations for Bibb’s new administration.

Deploy $10 Million of ARPA Funding for the Arts in Cleveland Neighborhoods.

Cleveland’s arts and culture sector was critically impacted during the pandemic. The unprecedented financial damage rose to $146 million and impacted 5,000 jobs in Cleveland-area cultural nonprofits alone. Focus funds on local artists and creative neighborhood place-building to uplift and empower residents.

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Assembly for the Arts Launches Postcard Campaign Urging Cleveland to Use Portion of ARPA Funds for the Arts

Source: SCENE

Abstract: Cleveland’s recently formed Assembly for the Arts has hatched a postcard campaign to appeal to Cleveland city council to dedicate 2% of the city’s ARPA funding for arts and culture.

“We will creatively share with Cleveland’s 17 Councilmembers the power and the impact of the arts and culture in their respective districts,” said President and CEO of Assembly for the Arts, Jeremy A. Johnson. “Through art, we’ll represent the importance of investing in cultural workers and artists, nonprofit organizations, and cultural businesses. Collectively we are powerful tools to improve our city and to emerge from the COVID pandemic. We want to give creatives the opportunity to share with elected officials how putting the arts in ARPA is a priority for the city’s future.”

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Ohio artists and arts advocates lobby for ARPA funds

Source: Ideastream

Abstract:

Arts organizations across Ohio are lobbying local government officials to secure a share of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Nearly $2 trillion in stimulus money was assigned to cities across the country last year. As the President and CEO of ArtsWave, Alecia Kintner heads an organization that helped shepherd the arts and cultural life of the Cincinnati region since the 1920s. But she said a recent performance by actor Kelsey Steele carried a vital message from the 2020s. The Cincinnati native took his act to city hall.

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