2025 Creative Impact Fund
Meet the 2025 CIF Artists
About the 2025 Creative Impact Fund
Artists and creatives positively affect our lives and region every day. Their work has the power to promote healing, to transcend barriers and unite people, and to highlight social injustices leading to just and equitable change.
Assembly for the Arts is proud to continue the Creative Impact Fund (CIF) in 2025. This unrestricted grant is designed to support the growth of an artist’s creative practice and advance their impact on our region. In 2025, the CIF will award thirty (30) forward-thinking artists and creatives, in 2025 including 15 Early Career artists at $5,000 each and 15 Mid-Late Career artists at $10,000 each. The CIF is open to artists living in Cuyahoga County who have been creating impactful and inventive artistic work in the disciplines of craft, dance, design, film, interdisciplinary work, media, music, theatre & performance, traditional arts, visual art, and writing/literary art.
Please see the Creative Impact Fund Guidelines for all details including Assembly’s definitions of Artist, Creative Disciplines and Artist Career Stage.
Assembly for the Arts is supported by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
CIF Artists Receive:
- $5,000 (Early Career Artists) or $10,000 (Mid-Late Career Artists) in unrestricted funds
- Promotion as a CIF grantee on Assembly’s website, social media and other platforms
- A one-year Assembly for the Arts membership
- Business and professional development opportunities, including marketing, networking, connections to partners or potential collaborators
- Special access to opportunities as they arise throughout the year
Who can apply?
- Active creators who are Artists according to Assembly’s definition
- Artists must be 18 years of age or older
- Artists must live in Cuyahoga County. All applicants need a verifiable residential address. Studio addresses (unless it’s your place of residence) and P.O. Boxes are not accepted.
Those not eligible to apply include:
- Artists who received a grant through any of the following programs in 2023 or 2024
- Creative Impact Fund (Assembly for the Arts)
- Premiere Fellowship (Cleveland Public Theatre)
- Individual Artist Fellowship (Cleveland Public Theatre)
- Unidos por el Arte (Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center)
- Room in the House Fellowship (Karamu House)
- Urgent Art Fund (SPACES)
- Nonprofit organizations, businesses or collectives. Artists who are part of organizations or businesses may apply as individuals
- Staff and board of Assembly for the Arts and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture
- Selection panelists for any Assembly artist program
How to apply
Artists can submit an online application by clicking the ‘Apply Now‘ button at the top of this page. Artists will need to create a free Submittable account or use their existing account to submit their application. Paper applications will be accepted for accessibility reasons on a case-by-case basis. If you have a disability and require assistance in applying for CIF, please contact grants@assemblycle.org.
The CIF application will be available in English. Spanish-language versions and other translation support will be provided as needed—please contact us for assistance.
Questions?
Be sure to read our Frequently Asked Questions or email us at grants@assemblycle.org
2025 CIF Review Panel
This year, 12 creative experts from across the country will review every CIF submission and make all funding decisions.
Important Dates:
- Applications open: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Applications close: Friday, July 18, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.
- Panel review and scoring: August – October, 2025
- Applicants notified of panel decisions: October – November, 2025
Grant Info Sessions
- Thursday, May 22 – 6:00 PM (Future Ink Graphics)
- Thursday, June 5 – 12: PM (Virtual)
- Tuesday, July 8 – 6:00 PM (MidTown Collaboration Center)
Info Session Video
Guaranteed Income
Thursday October 12 / 6:00 - 7:30PM | Zoom
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.
Quarterly Assemblies
2026 Assemblies
- Wednesday, March 18, 6:00 to 8:00 PM: Love Cleveland Neighborhoods
- Wednesday, June 24, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
- Wednesday, December 2, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Quarterly meetings are $15 and include a lunch or dinner. Members attend for free; login before you register. Each event is hosted at the MidTown Collaboration Center.
With a vision of ensuring that everyone benefits from a diverse and equitable arts and culture sector, we invite the people of Greater Cleveland to assemble for our quarterly state of the arts.
About Quarterly Assemblies
Stay up to date on the most recent creative-industry-wide information over a meal and good company. Each quarter, we share updates on industry data trends, public policy, artist funding, racial equity initiatives, and more. As Assembly continues its work to expand resources and increase equity in Cleveland’s arts and culture scene, weigh-in on what you’d like to see. Share your voice and join the discussion by offering feedback. This event is for anyone, whether you work directly or indirectly with the arts industry. Attendees typically include artists, arts administrators, creative businesses, public officials, and anyone interested in connecting with the arts and cultural industries.
Sign up for the Cadence to get receive updates as we approach the date.
And as always, if you have time after the discussion, stick around with us and continue networking with the amazing folks in our creative fields.
