Assembly for the Arts names equity advocate Chinenye ‘ChiChi’ Nkemere to head region’s nonprofit arts council
Source: Cleveland.com
Date: September 28, 2023
Abstract:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Northeast Ohio has a new high-level arts leader with a passion for social and racial equity, deep family roots in Nigeria, and a strong conviction that a healthy arts and culture sector is essential to the region’s future.
Chinenye Nkemere, who goes by ChiChi, was recently elected to a two-year term to succeed philanthropist and arts entrepreneur Fred Bidwell as chair of the 23-member board of Assembly for the Arts, Greater Cleveland’s nonprofit arts council.
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture considers November '24 levy to expand cigarette tax
Source: ideastream
Date: September 13, 2023
Abstract:
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture made several moves at its Wednesday board meeting aimed at addressing consistently declining revenue. The agency is funded by the county cigarette tax. It’s slated to bring in just over $10 million this year, down almost 50% from its inception in 2007.
Area arts leaders have been working for more than two years to get permission to expand the tax. State lawmakers finally agreed this year to allow CAC to ask voters to increase the tax from its current rate of 30-cents-per-pack.
Opinion: Investments in artists pay dividends for regional economy
Source: Crain’s Cleveland Forum
Date: August 28, 2023
Abstract: Arts and culture play an outsized role in the economic and social vibrancy of Greater Cleveland. Some $9.1 billion is generated annually by Northeast Ohio’s creative economy industry — a mix of nonprofits, cultural businesses and individual artists — according to pre-pandemic research from Ohio Citizens for the Arts.
Executive Ronayne names 2 new members to RTA board
Source: Cleveland.com
Date: July 25, 2023
Abstract:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne on Tuesday recommended reappointing one member and adding two new members to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Board of Trustees. He nominated Deidre McPherson and Stephen Love to serve and recommended reappointing lifelong board member Karen Moss to keep her seat.
Assembly for the Arts awards grants for art in redlined communities
Source: ideastream
Date: July 17, 2023
Abstract:
Assembly For the Arts has announced 16 artists are receiving grants to create work in Cleveland and East Cleveland. Each award of $6,250 is for projects in redlined communities which traditionally lack arts investment. Artists will also receive professional development opportunities and support from Assembly for the Arts, an advocacy group for arts and culture in the region.
Some of the projects receiving support include an ice cream truck that’s been converted into a portable recording studio and an elderly visual artist whose work focuses on the impact of domestic violence. The grants are drawn from $140,000 in Cuyahoga Arts & Culture funding.
“You’re going to see neighborhoods that we don’t always associate with arts and culture,” said Assembly President Jeremy Johnson. Calling the areas “potential-bound,” he said that many of the artists have been living and working in the neighborhoods for years.
“I don’t want to say we’re bringing arts to communities,” he said. “We are ‘surfacing’ arts and culture that’s already there and helping it blossom even more.”
Cleveland Institute of Art student’s mural selected for Cleveland Foundation’s MidTown Collaboration Center
CLEVELAND—Cleveland Institute of Art student Aniyah King’s “Growth From Within,” a mural that symbolizes growth and progress in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood and represents Hough residents’ pride and passion, will be installed at the Cleveland Foundation’s MidTown Collaboration Center when it opens in 2025.
In fall 2022, Cleveland Foundation asked CIA and Assembly for the Arts to lead a collaborative design project for a mural that would benefit the Hough community, CIA students and MidTown Collaboration Center stakeholders.
CIA devised a faculty-led project within an existing class taken by students representing multiple majors, and Assembly for the Arts organized a committee that would choose the final mural design through a transparent selection process.
Cleveland names Rhonda K. Brown its first arts czar
Source: ideastream
Date: June 15, 2023
Abstract:
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announced Thursday the city’s first senior strategist for arts, culture and the creative economy.
Shaker Heights native Rhonda K. Brown most recently served as president at the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation. The Ohio State University graduate previously held development roles at Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and Museum of Science and Industry. An artist herself, her parents founded the first for-profit, Black-owned fine art gallery in the country in 1980 in Shaker Heights.
Ohio could reverse course on potential Cuyahoga County vape tax, allow higher tax on cigarettes
Source: Cleveland.com
Date: June 26, 2023
Abstract:
COLUMBUS, Ohio—State lawmakers are considering rolling back a recent state law designed to raise more money from Cuyahoga County’s cigarette tax, though they’re seeking a replacement plan that could bring in even more revenue by allowing an increase in the tax rate itself.
Read full article here: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/06/ohio-could-reverse-course-on-potential-cuyahoga-county-vape-tax-allow-higher-tax-on-cigarettes.html
This Saturday, Bike Your Neighborhood kicks off new community cycling rides
Source: The Land
Date: June 1, 2023
Abstract:
Bob Render, a longtime resident of E. 128th St. between Buckeye and Drexmore Roads in Buckeye-Shaker Square, saw something happen in his neighborhood a few years ago that he couldn’t remember experiencing before.
“Two years ago, I’m down here pulling weeds and I see these folks on bikes coming down the street,” he said. “Well, I didn’t know who they were until they got a little closer, and then I realized it was Tim Tramble, Indigo Bishop, and Peter Whitt, the senior staff of the Saint Luke’s Foundation, and some of the people they funded. I said, ‘Boy, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. I can’t remember ever seeing a president or CEO of a foundation, any foundation in Cleveland, on a bike ride in the neighborhood.’” …
…Deidre McPherson, who by day works as chief community officer for Assembly for the Arts and by night is an avid cyclist and cycling promoter, is one of the organizers behind Bike Your Neighborhood. She told Harry Boomer of WOIO Channel 19 why she loves Slow Roll events. “It’s a really beautiful experience, we ride through neighborhoods, spread bike joy, and inspire people to move,” she said….