Another Reason to Love Cleveland!

Earlier this morning I attended a reception hosted by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) to announce the 2009 class of Creative Workforce Fellowships.  Each of the group of 20 artists, which included painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and designers, will receive a $20,000 grant to be used as the artists see fit to further their careers and artistic projects, a free year’s membership in the COSE Arts Network, and access to business-management training through CPAC’s The Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute.  To see a full list of today’s recipients and more back story on the Fellowships, click here

This Fellowship program is an unprecedented effort in the Cleveland area to use public dollars to support the work of individual artists.  And it won’t end there.  In a few months the second round of Creative Workforce Fellowships will award 20 more grants to musicians, dancers and others working within the performing arts and literary fields.  The grant program was made possible by forward thinking and visionary leaders in our area, including, but not limited to Tom Schorgl of CPAC, County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones and the entire Board of Trustees of CPAC. 

Following the introduction of the Fellows, time was given for the recipients to comment on their awards.  The overwhelming feeling was one not only of gratitude for being given the financial support of a $20,000 grant, but of pride and appreciation that they live in a region that cares enough about artists and the arts community to support the creative workforce on an individual level.  Many talked about coming back to the Cleveland area and being pleasantly surprised at the level of support for the arts, that frankly, some of the long time residents tend to take for granted.  These types of grant opportunities, coupled with a strong arts infrastructure, affordable studio and warehouse space, business support from places like COSE and CPAC and a low cost of living/ high quality of life really exemplify why our area is a great choice for any artist to settle in and create inspiring work.