On Sunday November 12, the Plain Dealer ran an op-ed written by arts activist/philanthropist Fred Bidwell explaining why he was stepping back from leading the campaign to renew the arts levy until serious changes were made to Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the organization tasked with distributing the tax money. CAC has generated controversy over the last seven years, with many in the arts community accusing it of lacking transparency and disrespecting creators.
A few days after Bidwell’s piece appeared, Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com editor Chris Quinn and content director Laura Johnston, on a Today in Ohio podcast, scoffed at Bidwell’s editorial, calling it “ridiculous and childish.” Quinn said the public criticism of CAC is a “lot of noise and stupid,” suggesting a tax on any bourbon over $40 because “clearly, those are the guys going to the arts.”
This attitude that the arts are for moneyed elites insults an entire productive sector of the Northeast Ohio community that civic leaders love to boast about when they’re promoting tourism. It’s also flatly untrue.
Let’s compare access to that “working class” entertainment that the Plain Dealer thinks is worthy of saturation coverage and a flood of tax dollars that makes the arts levy money look like petty change: the Cleveland Browns.
I was able to find only one Cleveland arts organization where the cost of the high-end ticket is even close to the AVERAGE ticket to a Browns game: the Cleveland Orchestra. And the vast majority of its tickets are way less. They also have student rates that are less than the price of a movie ticket. If you want to go hear the Cleveland Orchestra play the Tchaikovsky violin concerto this weekend, that will set you back between $39-$175 or $15 for students.
It’s harder to figure out Browns tickets prices since they go through the opaque Ticketmaster and there are so many resellers. (You can buy an orchestra seat directly from the Severance Hall box office for the stated amount.) Using the next game on December 10, the range is $69-$429. Most sources say the average price is a couple of hundred dollars. Add in parking, drinks and snacks, and the cost of going to a Browns game is prohibitive to many, perhaps why it’s been estimated that 70% of those attending games are from outside Cuyahoga County, 85% outside Cleveland proper.
Meanwhile many small arts groups, such as Cleveland Public Theatre and Near West Theatre, have gone to an all-tickets “pay what you want” model to make their offerings more accessible. Many others, such as Dobama, have long had “pay what you want” special performances. And the Cleveland Museum of Art is free. How elite is that?
The fact is, to a low-income family who can barely afford groceries, let alone $40 bourbon, an afternoon at the Cleveland Museum of Art or a ticket to Near West Theatre’s current show The Wizard of Oz is far more accessible than a seat at a Browns game.
[The event pictured above was an afternoon of free dance, music and visual arts for all ages on Public Square, sponsored by the FRONT International Triennial in July 2022.]
2 Responses to “How “Elite” Are the Arts in Cuyahoga County?”
Peter Lawson Jones
Amen! That’s all that need be said. Frankly, I’m absolutely gobsmacked by Chris Quinn’s and Laura Johnston’s intemperate comments. They’re both generally more thoughtful than that. As one of the public sector architects of Cuyahoga Arts and Council, I, like Fred Bidwell, am deeply disturbed by the dysfunction that is readily apparent on the board as well as by the board’s failure to deliver funds to support area artists. Bully for Fred for pointing it out. (By the way, I am one who is not a fan of the present mode of funding CAC. I find it regressive and inequitable.)
Liz Maugans
Chris Allen and Laura were patronizing and sounded like Hannity and friends. Completely disregarded the potentially prompted messaging that sounded like it came from CAC LEADERSHIP Press releases.