Internal emails obtained by CoolCleveland through public records requests shed light on unspent Individual Artists Grants and show how deep the dysfunction runs at Cuyahoga Arts and Culture (CAC), with board members requesting information from CAC executive director Jill Paulsen and emails going unanswered for months.
In late April, CAC Board Member Charna Sherman requested information on individual artist funding, seeking to find the whereabouts of unused grant money, and did not receive a reply until a month later. Sherman rewrote her request a second time less than two weeks later, finding the information she received from Paulsen was misleading, and received a reply six weeks after that.
On June 5, Sherman wrote, “I suspect that you have misled the Board because you are aware that you and the staff were not transparent even with the Board, let alone the community, about artist funding in the very years our transparency about this topic was being challenged by the artist community.”
Sherman said that she reviewed the board minutes, as suggested by Paulsen, and could not find any such specific disclosures. According to the emails, directives issued by the CAC Board on individual artist funding were clear and direct.
“The Board materials from at least April, September, November, and December 2019 reflect your and the staff’s commitment to comply with the Board’s explicit direction to carry over at least unexpended 2018 budgeted artist funding of $400K to 2019 — that is, a 2018/19 budget of $800K,” wrote Sherman. “In November, you specifically represented that you and your staff expected to reallocate $340K unexpended dollars of the $400K budget for artist funding from 2018 to 2019. In December, you asked the Board to approve only a $730K budget for the artist funding budget without disclosing the discrepancy with the prior months’ $740K figure — which the Board approved.”
Sherman said that she could not find actual funding information, specifically artist support, in 2016, 2017, 2018 or 2019 in any of the materials provided by Paulsen.
Paulsen responded, “Lack of Board action equates to non-expenditure of budgeted amounts,” suggesting the Board had not taken action to keep the individual artist funding that was promised and not distributed, reserved for artists.
On March 3, 2023, Paulsen emailed the Board with the subject line, “CAC board members correcting misinformation,” in response to an article published by cleveland.com, criticizing the agency for making false claims about individual artist grants. Paulsen redacted her original calculations and provided an updated accounting, but only after stating that the CoolCleveland article, which had prompted cleveland.com, had been carelessly malicious about reporting the facts.
Paulsen added in the email to key constituents, “When lies about our public resources are perpetuated, we all lose… [this] irresponsible reporting hurts our entire creative community. If you know of others who are concerned about this issue, please share the key points below, this entire message, or encourage them to call us.”
The CAC emails show no record of Paulsen discussing with other board members, including board president Nancy Mendez, releasing the flawed information to the media or mass mailing the email after cleveland.com published their story.
Confusing? You bet it is.
According to Paulsen, the clerical error resulted when data was calculated by hand rather than by formula. “It was a mistake that understated CAC grant funding for Support for Artists (SFA),” she replied in an email to Sherman.
The whereabouts of the funds left out of the individual artist grant allocation for 2016, 2017, 2018, or 2019 remains unaccounted for despite a clean audit by the Ohio Auditor of State. CAC received the Auditor of State Award for fiscal year 2022, which was presented to the Board of Trustees. Sherman refused to join the CAC Board in a publicity photograph.
Future support for regional cultural organizations is at stake. Artists may be unwilling to support a new levy in 2025. Many have expressed their dissatisfaction with CAC publicly.
Last month, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture voted to support one of three funding scenarios for 2024 and 2025 provided by Paulsen. The agency will bring in just over $10 million this year, down almost 50% from its inception in 2007. One scenario keeps grant funds at more than $9.1 million over the next two years. A second scenario, based on favorable community feedback, says Paulsen, puts each yearly level at $11.1 million. The third scenario would have distributed $13.1 million next year, followed by less than $8.9 million in 2025.
A review of the September 13, 2023, regular meeting of the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Board of Trustees materials showed no mention of an upcoming vote. Draft scenarios provided for the meeting were an estimated, high-level overview created for discussion, according to the documents, with a preview of the 2024-25 allocations. “They are subject to change as more information becomes available and are not board-approved.”
Despite the lack of a substantial discussion, Paulsen called for a vote, which later surprised many community leaders and the CEOs of leading cultural organizations.
Board Vice President Michele Scott Taylor and Sherman argued whether enough information was available to vote on funding scenarios. Sherman asked that organizations receiving the most funding provide feedback. Taylor said there was too much information already and found it confusing. CAC Board Member Daniel Blakemore, a philanthropy director for the nonprofit Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, said scenario three was disruptive and favored the second scenario. Sherman said the public had not thoroughly reviewed the selection process and objected to the vote. Board member Karolyn Isenhart was not present at the meeting.
Peter Lawson Jones, an actor, politician and former county commissioner in Cuyahoga County from 2002 to 2010, said in a phone interview with CoolCleveland that having working artists on the CAC board was vital. Jones was appointed to the Ohio Arts Council board earlier this year.
“It is great to have people who love and have affection for the arts on the Board of Trustees, but even more critical to have one or two working artists. Maybe one up-and-comer and the other established to get a different perspective,” he said.
According to Jones, who led the legislation to establish the arts agency as county commissioner, funding for individual artists was a critical component in the early stages of development for the CAC.
“I find it highly disconcerting over the last several years that funding for artists has diminished. Common sense tells you that having artists support a ballot initiative is important,” he said.
Notwithstanding the dysfunction, voters should look beyond the distraction and vote for arts and culture, Jones added.
“It is essential, critical, and mandatory that they [CAC] be not only transparent with where the individual artist’s funds went and why funding has not been at the levels pledged and promised, but they also need to fix the problem and get the money to the artists.”
Bruce Checefsky is a filmmaker and photographer, and published writer. He is the recipient of three Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, a Creative Workforce Fellowship, and four CEC ArtsLink Fellowships.