2020report.cacgrants.org- Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

- Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Welcome Stories Virtual Events Financials Grant Recipients Menu Welcome Stories Virtual Events Financials Grant Recipients 2020 Report to the Community Through the challenges and uncertainty of 2020, we still created and connected in new and meaningful ways. The Response Learn how four CAC-funded organizations innovated last year to serve the community in new ways. Go To Stories The Creativity Explore a sampling of the virtual programming that inspired arts and cultural connection in 2020. Explore Events Financials See how Cuyahoga Arts & Culture responsibly stewards public funding through its grantmaking. Go To Financials Previous slide Next slide Photos: Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization; Baldwin Wallace University Community Art School; Karamu House; Refresh Collective Welcome Unprecedented. Devastating. Unlike any other. These are just a few of the words that came to mind when we reflected on 2020. For many, the past year carries a weight that cannot be put into words easily. For our arts and cultural community, the COVID-19 pandemic caused devastation that simply cannot be compared. Artists and nonprofits lost jobs and crucial revenue as events and programs were canceled. Friends and family lost connections and shared experiences as it became unsafe to gather. Our creative sector lost momentum and cohesiveness as it navigated uncertainty and change. And despite all this, we created. As we acknowledge the grief and loss of the past year, we also cannot overlook the fact that our arts and cultural community is the very thing that so many turned to over the past year for healing, connection, and hope. Artists and organizations developed new programs and moved existing programs online – and CAC responded with accelerated funding. See the impact of COVID-19 on 65 Cuyahoga County-based arts and cultural nonprofits as of December 31, 2020 – and see the community response by hovering on the down arrows: Compensation Loss: $15,769,451 A direct result of laying off, reducing hours, or canceling contracts of 3,157 people In Response: 4,378 new, online events/activities were created; and 3,204 existing programs were modified to go virtual. Photo: Progressive Arts Alliance Revenue Decrease: 29.4% Organizations lost $119,001,653 in earned and contributed revenue (ticket sales, admissions, donations, etc.) compared to 2019 CAC Responds: CAC accelerated more than $5 million in grant payments and distributed $3 million in CARES Act Funds provided by Cuyahoga County to help grant recipients impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Cleveland Institute of Art Events canceled: 6,539 From music lessons to in-school arts education to large-scale festivals CAC Responds: In 2020, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture invested more than $12 million in grants to support 295 arts and cultural nonprofits across the county. Photo: Chagrin Documentary Film Festival And together, we created. As you navigate this report, we ask that you join us in embracing the mixed emotions. Lean in to the stories of inspiration from groups who embraced the difficulties and created despite challenge. Explore the online and virtual programs that helped us to stay connected, if only through a screen. And join us in recognizing the value of public funding for arts and culture that is strengthening our community. The Response Delivering Arts Education to Kids’ Doorsteps We knew we needed to stay connected to our students at home.” Adam Sheldon, Director Baldwin Wallace University Community Arts School Read the whole story Each year, hundreds of campers descend on Baldwin Wallace University’s campus to participate in summer arts education camps. Last year, instead, hundreds of campers unpacked boxes that were shipped right to their doorsteps to provide a camp experience at home. Faced with the pandemic challenges of 2020, the BW Community Arts School (CAS) staff quickly pivoted and devised the CAS UNBOXED™ program to deliver arts education virtually, shipping hands-on supplies right to a student’s doorstep. Baldwin Wallace University receives a Project Support grant from CAC to support the Community Arts School’s summer programs. We asked ourselves, ‘what are things that make people most excited right now?’ and the answer was mail and packages. We knew we needed to stay connected to our students at home,” said Adam Sheldon, BW CAS Director. That’s how CAS UNBOXED™ was born.” In 2020, BW CAS faculty led virtual classes that were specifically designed for an online, 5-week format. The virtual program drew students from 12 different states who joined students from Northeast Ohio. They received weekly interactive video lessons and opportunities for personalized feedback from the instructor. The boxes themselves contained everything a student needed to participate in the program. Other organizations were doing great online programming but the programs required people to buy supplies. UNBOXED provided everyone with the same baseline of materials,” Sheldon said. That accessibility was really important to us.” Putting Interesting Sculptors and Unexpected Works on the Map We were glad to bring attention to these interesting stories so that people could enjoy them in ways that felt safe to them.” Grace Chin, Executive Director The Sculpture Center Read the whole story What do a tombstone of a formerly enslaved person and the striking pink Malley’s Chocolate silos along Interstate 480 have in common? In 2020, The Sculpture Center identified them both (and a half-dozen others) as sculptures that occupy public spaces in resonate ways, but that might not conform to traditional notions of sculpture. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Sculpture Center, which receives a General Operating Support grant from CAC, created Cleveland Outdoor Sculpture Reconsidered , an outdoor interactive sculpture tour to allow people to explore the region safely, on their own time. The curators wanted to push the boundaries of what sculpture is and to represent women and artists of color, which is why it’s called Cleveland Outdoor Sculpture Reconsidered ,” said Grace Chin, Executive Director of The Sculpture Center. The tour guidebook contains history of the pieces so people can uncover what makes these sculptures interesting.” Stories such as that of Sara Lucy Bagby Johnson, who in 1861 was the last person to be captured and returned into slavery under the Fugitive Slave Act before coming to Cleveland after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. For 106 years, she was interred in an unmarked grave in Woodland Cemetery until a successful campaign provided a headstone for her plot. Or those iconic Malley’s silos. The color is similar to Baker-Miller pink, which has been shown to have a calming effect. Erected in 2011, the silos each measure 12 feet wide and 88 feet tall, and can hold up to 100,000 pounds of raw material. Malley’s originally planned to use them to store milk, cocoa, and sugar, but the company nixed that plan before the silos were fully installed. In 2020, our exhibitions were outright postponed. We were glad to bring attention to these interesting stories so that people could enjoy them in ways that felt safe to them,” Chin said. Preserving Cleveland’s Forest City Legacy Our goal is to increase the tree canopy so Cleveland residents reap the health and wellness benefits of trees.” Tom Schreiber, Community Forestry Specialist Western Reserve Land Conservancy Read the whole story Cleveland has been known as the Forest City” for more than 150 years, but the tree canopy that inspired that distinctive nickname is in danger of disappearing. That’s why Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC) launched the Reforest Our City initiative in 2016 to distribute trees to residents of Cleveland through their Trees4CLE program. WRLC receives a Project Support grant from CAC, which it uses for its tree stewardship programs. CAC’s definition of arts and culture” includes nature and science...