2023-2024 REPORT TO THE
moCa Cleveland, CAC-funded since 2008.
Photo by The Dark Room Co.; Below: Inlet Dance Theatre,
CAC-funded since 2011. Photo by Jackie Sajewski.
Greetings from CAC!
Time and again, Cuyahoga County residents say our community’s arts and culture offerings create a strong quality of life. As the public funder of nonprofit arts and culture in the county, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) takes seriously its grantmaking responsibility. After all, the public dollars we distribute help to boost the economy, educate children and teens, create experiences that enrich our lives, and enhance our community’s appeal.
In 2023, CAC awarded more than $12 million in grants to 275 Cuyahoga County-based nonprofit organizations.
While CAC provides the financial support to help our community’s creative economy thrive, the real thanks is due to you, the residents of Cuyahoga County. It’s the public’s support for funding arts and culture nonprofits that makes this work possible.
Karolyn Isenhart
President, Board of Trustees
Jill Paulsen
Executive Director
Investing In
Our Impact
$247M Total granted to date
4,000 Total number of grants to date
485 Total organizations funded to date
Economy + Jobs
The hundreds of nonprofit organizations that Cuyahoga Arts & Culture funds each year make up an important sector of our local economy, supporting more than 10,200 jobs and investing millions of dollars into our region. This includes:
- $478M in direct expenditures
- $509M in total unrestricted revenue
- 10,200 total jobs (full-time, part-time, contract, seasonal)
- 12,900 volunteers and board members
Education + Youth
CAC grantees are enhancing educational opportunities for Cuyahoga County residents and students. CAC-funded organizations provided more than 1.2 million arts and cultural experiences to children and offered more than:
- 47,000 classes and workshops
- 158,000 hours of arts education in schools
- 4,500 field trips
- 2,350 internships and apprenticeships
Creativity + Connection
More than 6.1 million arts and culture experiences were provided to residents and visitors by CAC-funded nonprofits, and nearly 55% of experiences were free of charge. Vibrant arts and culture offerings are reaching more residents than ever:
- 4.8 million total in-person attendance
- 1.3 million total digital attendance
About the Data: Generated through SMU DataArts. Represents data reported by CAC-funded organizations as of July 2023 through their Cultural Data Profile. Includes data for the most recently completed fiscal year for each organization.
"CAC funding is more crucial than ever. As production costs rise due to inflation, we are grateful for the help through Project Support."
CAC-funded since 2019. Photo by Tom Henderson.
Karamu House Expansion Brings Jobs and Opportunity
The capital campaign construction project has been a win-win for everyone.
Karamu House, CAC-funded since 2008. Photo by Roger Mastroianni Photography.
Karamu House
$128,283 in 2023 General Operating Support
A new marquee at the corner of East 89th and Quincy Avenue in Cleveland announces to passersby they have arrived at Karamu House, the oldest Black-producing theatre in the nation. The marquee, a new pavilion, improved ADA access, and renovations to its Cleveland Foundation Jelliffe Theatre and Bank of America Arena Theatre are part of the multi-year, multi-million-dollar capital campaign.
The renovated spaces will help Karamu House improve the visitor experience and better serve artists, technicians, designers, and actors who bring their performing arts to life. Karamu House’s programs and performances funded in part by CAC will benefit from having more space for artists to work and exhibit and more audience capacity.
It also has had a significant economic impact on the neighborhood.
Inside the theater, the capital improvements will result in more permanent jobs and career training opportunities. When the new Bistro opens in 2025, Karamu House will hire three new full-time employees. On the theater side of the house, a new assistant technical director and a wardrobe coordinator have joined the staff. Between March 2022 through May 2024, 186 individuals have worked on the construction project, including those employed with local minority-owned and female-owned businesses.
With the completion of renovations of venues in the theatre wing, Karamu House will have more flexible opportunities for its programming and will offer its theatres for rent to other arts and culture organizations, including those funded by CAC. Karamu House also plans to re-launch its technical theatre on-the-job training program, which will provide paid employment opportunities for lifelong learners as crew members in theatres throughout the region.
“The capital campaign construction project has been a win-win for everyone,” said Tony F. Sias, President and CEO of Karamu House. “Karamu’s economic impact on the community in the past has been more than $7.75 million a year, and we expect that number to increase exponentially through additional employees and contract employees, ticket sales, food and beverage sales, and increased space rentals. We look forward to welcoming more Cuyahoga County residents and visitors to performances and programs in our neighborhood.”
"Thanks to partners like Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, we can provide our unique tri-curricular programming of poetry, soccer, and service-learning at no cost to our families. This support allows us to welcome the community to a high-quality Power of Poetry event every year."
CAC-funded since 2014
ROAM Music Programs Inspire 2,000 Cleveland Students
CAC funding makes it possible to hire musicians to teach the program. Their work changes how students emotionally experience the world.
Roots of American Music, CAC-funded since 2008.
Roots of American Music
$20,760 in 2023 General Operating Support
Last year, in 32 Kindergarten and second-grade classrooms in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Blues music was the catalyst for conversations about the highs and lows in their young lives. In one classroom, after hearing the Blues song “The Thrill is Gone,” students shared their memories of grief and happiness.
It’s these organic “light bulb” moments that make Roots of American Music’s programs effective in reinforcing children’s language arts, music, and social-emotional learning.
“Even if a song is written by an adult for other adults, children can also find meaning in it based on their life experiences. We never know how, when, or where the musical process will impact students,” said teaching artist Beth Gatchell. “These unexpected, in-between moments where music just does its thing, and we hold space for it, are so valuable.”
In 2023, Roots of American Music served nearly 2,000 students in Cleveland Metropolitan School District classrooms through its two programs: ‘Blues is the Backbone’ program for students in kindergarten through 3rd grade and ‘Stop the Hate’ in collaboration with The Maltz Museum for middle school and high school students.
‘Blues is the Backbone’ culminates with students writing lyrics to their own class song. During 2023-24, more than 700 students in kindergarten to third grade experienced the power of the Blues is the Backbone program.
Michele Colopy, Roots of American Music’s executive director, said the program is designed to teach across the curriculum. “Our program introduces connections to sociology, history and music through a shared experience,” she said. “CAC funding makes it possible to hire musicians to teach the program. Their work changes how students emotionally experience the world.”
"Cuyahoga Arts & Culture has been integral to our growth and community reach over the last decade. CAC has helped our organization set meaningful goals while also helping to fund our award-winning programming!"
CAC-funded since 2010. Photo by Lindsey Beckwith Photography.
moCa Cleveland Collaboration Expanded Reach of Latinx Art
CAC’s funding allowed us an opportunity to partner creatively in ways that we may not otherwise have done.
moCa Cleveland, CAC-funded since 2008. Photo by The Dark Room Co.
moCa Cleveland
$140,402 in 2023 General Operating Support
Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center
$30,000 in 2023 Cultural Heritage Funding
In 2023, moCa and Julia de Burgos Cultural Art Center partnered on an 18-month institutional and artist residency. Julia de Burgos occupied spaces on moCa’s first and third floors and co-designed programming with moCa to advance the work of Latino/a/x artists and artists of color and provide new professional development opportunities. A seven-member cohort of Cuyahoga County-based, early career artists worked alongside mentor artists and arts leaders, and moCa hosted exhibitions of the cohort and mentor artists’ work throughout the residency.
In total, 35,000 moCa patrons saw the artists’ work, and 4,000 of them took time to leave written creative responses to the pieces.
Megan Lykins Reich, moCa Cleveland executive director, is excited by the expansive artistic presence that this residency created. The collaboration was so successful that it influenced the museum’s decision to engage residencies in 2024 and 2025 with Cleveland-based non-profits Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries and Birthing Beautiful Communities.
“CAC funds allowed us to undertake the Julia de Burgos partnership,” she said. “It helped us to see the potential of grounding a Cleveland-focused experience while ceding space to allow audiences to see how art intersects with people and service. We often wonder how two arts organizations will work together or how art and design create action and reflection that are meaningful. CAC’s funding allowed us an opportunity to partner creatively in ways that we may not otherwise have done.”
"CAC funding has made it possible for us to share our love of dance and movement with our community! It has been an honor to bring our programming to adults who would not otherwise have opportunities to grow, heal and connect with one another through dance and movement."
CAC-funded since 2023
Towpath Trail Lantern Parade Merges Sustainability and Creativity
The parade allows us to connect the community to a place through art on the Towpath.
Canalway Partners, CAC-funded since 2023. Photo by Nathan Stroempl.
Canalway Partners
$4,000 in 2023 Project Support
What do 300 people and some discarded items have in common? In 2023, they welcomed spring during the second Towpath Trail Lantern Parade along the historic Ohio & Erie Canal.
The parade featured local artists who created illuminated art from recycled materials. Community members were encouraged to create lanterns from their salvaged materials at home and join the parade. Others attended workshops from Heights Arts and UpCycle Parts Shop, which were held at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Community Arts Center. Out of repurposed bottles, cake containers, cereal boxes and yarn were born alligators, terrariums and fish-shaped lanterns. 55% of the attendees were new to Canalway programming.
“The parade allows us to connect the community to a place through art on the Towpath,” said Kristen Romito, Canalway Partners’ community engagement specialist. “We use CAC’s grant to hire local artists to produce lanterns and run community workshops highlighting the intersections of art, sustainability and nature. It’s a unique way to get people outside in winter and onto the Towpath.”
"Stable funding from CAC has been instrumental in allowing us to re-invent ourselves again. Our singing membership is up, we have an exciting new director, and our repertoire has been refreshed.”
CAC-funded since 2012. Photo by Neal Linebaugh.
Resident-Led Grants Support Neighborhood Gathering Space, Community Beekeeping Project
Funding from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture supports arts and cultural projects through ioby and Neighborhood Connections. In 2023, more than 76 projects were made possible through these partnerships.
Mustard Seed Works
$4,230 grant in 2023 – Neighborhood Connections with co-funding from CAC
In 2023, Danie White started a junior beekeeping program in partnership with a childcare center in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood. This pilot program gave preschoolers a unique opportunity to dive into the world of beekeeping. The new bond between the center’s owner and Ms. White led to the creation of “My Sista’s Keeper EduApiaries”. Now, women from the community get together regularly to learn and practice beekeeping while examining the connection of sisterhood – both in the hive and between one another.
Coventry Living Room Project
$9,808 raised in 2023 – ioby-CAC Match Fund
The Coventry Living Room Project is a community-led place-making effort. In 2023, its leaders created a public, outdoor gathering space in Pekar Park. This space, known as “The Living Room,” was built to strengthen the sense of community and support small businesses in the Coventry Village neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. The space includes a stage, beautifully painted furniture, a canopy to provide shade, and planters.
2023 Financials
Audited
Change in net position – ($2,555,080)
Net position – $13,113,589
Investing In
Above: ARTFUL Ohio, CAC-funded since 2023. Photo by Jesse Rhinehart.
Top: Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center, CAC-funded since 2015; Left: Slavic Village Development, CAC-funded since 2014; Right: Shaker Historical Society, CAC-funded since 2008.
2024 Grant Recipients
A–C
Achievement Centers for Children
America Asian Pacific Islander Organization
American Hungarian Friends of Scouting
American Slovenian Polka Foundation
Artists Archives of the Western Reserve
Association of African American Cultural Garden
Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging
Broadway School of Music and the Arts
Brooklyn Heights Service Clubs
Case Western Reserve University
Cedar Fairmount Special Improvement District
Celebrate the Arts Performance Academy
Center for Arts-Inspired Learning
Center for Employment Opportunities
Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
Children’s Museum of Cleveland
Cleveland Association of Black Storytellers
Cleveland Chamber Music Society
Cleveland Classical Guitar Society
Cleveland Contemporary Chinese Culture Association
Cleveland International Film Festival
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
C–H
Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present and Future
Cleveland School of the Arts Board of Trustees
Cleveland Shakespeare Festival
Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium
Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project
Community Cup Classic Foundation
Coventry Village Special Improvement District
Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio
Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio
Doan Brook Watershed Partnership
Dunham Tavern Museum and Gardens
East Cleveland Farmers’ Market Preservation Society
Edward E. Parker Museum of Art
Encore Chamber Music Institute
Friends of the East Cleveland Public Library
Friends of the McGaffin Carillon
Front Steps Housing and Services
Golden Ciphers Youth Development & Cultural Arts Center
Good Company: A Vocal Ensemble
Greater Cleveland Film Commission
Greater Cleveland Neighborhood Centers Association
Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival
H–O
Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation
Hospice of the Western Reserve
In Harmony Therapeutic Services
International Community Council
International Women’s Air & Space Museum
Jennings Center for Older Adults
Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland
Jewish Federation of Cleveland
Jones Road Family Development Corporation
Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center
Lake Erie Nature & Science Center
Lakewood Young Filmmakers Academy
LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland
Little Italy Redevelopment Corporation
Little Lumpy’s Center for Educational Initiatives
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology
North East Ohio Musical Heritage Association
Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development
P–Z
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
SOS: Strengthening Our Students
St. Clair Superior Development Corporation
Stellar Acrobatic Dance Academy
Talespinner Children’s Theatre
Tremont West Development Corporation
Ukrainian Cultural Arts Association of Greater Cleveland
Union Miles Development Corporation
Wake Up and Live’s Actors’ Studio
West Park Kamm’s Neighborhood Development
Western Reserve Fire Museum & Education Center
Western Reserve Historical Society
Western Reserve Land Conservancy
Westown Community Development Corporation
Photos: Column A-C: Art of Me Productions, CAC-funded since 2022; Column C-H: GroundWorks DanceTheatre, CAC-funded since 2008. Photo by Mark Horning; Column H-O: LAND Studio, CAC-funded since 2008. Photo by Rebecca Louise Law; Column P-Z: Ursuline College, CAC-funded since 2014. Photo by Judy Takacs.
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s mission is to inspire and strengthen the community by investing in arts and culture.
(216) 515-8303 1422 Euclid Avenue, Suite 400-5 Cleveland, Ohio 44115
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