The Cleveland Arts Prize was founded in 1960 to honor Northeast Ohio creators in various artistic disciplines who have made significant accomplishments in their fields. In addition, special prizes are awarded to people and organizations who have made contributions to support the area arts infrastructure in various ways.
The 2026 class of honorees was just announced, with three discipline prizes, and four special prizes. The discpline prizes were awarded to spoken word artist and filmmaker Chris Webb (emerging artist), papermaker Aimee Lee (mid-career artist) and collageist Dexter Davis (pictured, lifetime achievement).
Special prizes were awarded to former Rock Hall CEO Terry Stewart, who was given the Martha Jospeh Award for Distinguished Service to the arts; Parade the Circle artistic director Hector Castellanos-Lara, given the Robert P. Bergman Prize; The Connor Foundation, given the Barbara S. Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts; and sculptor Barbara Stanczak, awarded a special citation from the Board of Trustees.
Find out more about the winners HERE. The winners will be honored at the 66th annual awards event at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Thursday October 29. Go HERE for tickets.