Can we agree to acknowledge that our artist entrepreneurs deserve more recognition? We had the great honor of conducting interviews with the five discipline winners of the 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize. View the videos below, and make plans to attend their awards ceremony on 10/26. The Maltz Museum’s annual Stop The Hate program has awarded over $1.5M to students writing essays on tolerance and standing up to bias and bigotry; this year’s contest is now open for submissions. That’s real money.Speaking of tolerance, CoolCleveland columnist C. Ellen Connally, raised a devout Catholic her entire life, has a few choice words for the hypocritical, ignorant and dangerous rules the Diocese of Cleveland has recently issued. Meanwhile, CoolCleveland arts reporter Bruce Checefsky attended the latest meetings of arts leaders this month, and witnessed the prospect of an uncertain levy renewal and a shocking lack of community input on the distribution of a desperately needed $10M+ of arts funding. Really?
This is real: the Rock Hall is charging ahead with an audacious $135M expansion, legislation has been introduced to incentivize landlords to accept pets, and the LGBT Center is hosting a forum on how to push back on anti-trans legislation. The Grog celebrates 31 years, the Cleveland Ballet opens their season at PHS, and the Beck Center kicks off their 90th (!) anniversary with a play about environmental terrorism. Akron is screening underground films (organized by CoolCleveland’s Bruce Checefsky), Chateau Hough is looking for volunteers, the Slovenian Grape Festival promises a parade with sausages and wine, while Ingenuity returns with a sprawling, multi-level feast of art, music, dance, installation, food and much more. That’s for real.
The Cleveland Arts Prize annually honors artists for artistic excellence and recognizes community leaders who help regional arts flourish. For over six decades, the organization has celebrated the contributions of more than 350 exceptional artists, cultural leaders and organizations.
The Cleveland Arts Prize will hold its 63nd Annual Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 26, 2023 in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
CoolCleveland conducted interviews with the five artists who won the 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize, which includes a cash award of $10,000 each. Read more.
Jeff Rusnak, president and CEO of R Strategy Group, a data-driven strategic communication and advocacy firm, spoke at the Assembly for the Arts (AFA) quarterly meeting on Wednesday September 6 and the Cuyahoga Arts and Culture (CAC) annual report meeting on Wednesday September 13. His message was clear: even if the arts and culture levy passes in 2024, funding will be nowhere near levels from 2007 or 2015 when renewed.
Rusnak said work is needed to gauge the willingness of the public to support more taxes and determine the revenues that would be generated. “We are not going back to where we were,” he said. “Remember, if this issue goes on the ballot in 2024, those funds will not be available until later in 2025.” Read more.
The Rock Hall has announced an October groundbreaking for its expansion project which will include a new lobby, offices, education space and a multi-use venue. The New York firm PAU has been hired to design the project which it says will take cues from the original I.M. Pei architecture. Read more.
A pair of Northeast Ohio state representatives —a Democrat and a Republican — have introduced a bill that would give a tax credit to landlords who allow dogs and cats without breed or size limitations, nonrefundable deposits or monthly rental surcharges. No landlord would be forced to accept pets, but only participating landlords would receive the tax credit. Read more.
Fashion maven Dru Christine has advice for those who’d like to rock their own distinctive style — learn to sew. “Sewing isn’t just a skill; it’s a superpower that lets you unleash your creativity and create one-of-a-kind fashion that turns heads,” she says. She’s got kids and adult classes, online, in-person, sewing parties and private lessons, for all skill levels. No excuse for looking blah! Read more.
Now in its 16th year, the Stop the Hate® contest is comprised of two components: Youth Speak Out, an essay writing contest, and Youth Sing Out, a songwriting contest. Both celebrate Northeast Ohio students in 6th-12th grade who are committed to creating a more accepting, inclusive society by standing up and speaking out against bias and bigotry as they compete for a chance to win prestigious awards.
Each year about 3,000 students enter, and with the help of 400 volunteer readers, 26 finalists are named. Since the contest started, over 50,000 students in twelve counties across Northeast Ohio have participated and $1.5 million has been awarded to students and schools. Deadline Grades 6-10 Essays: 02.08.24; Grades 11& 12 Essays: 02.25.24. Learn more and apply here.
I guess you could say I was Catholic before I was born. I was baptized as an infant at Blessed Sacrament Church. After dropping in and out of the church during my middle years, I’m like many of today’s Catholics — a “cafeteria Catholic,” picking and choosing what I want to believe and what I’m willing to ignore in church teachings. I attend mass just about every Sunday, partially in memory of my late father and because I’m friends with many people at my church.
But the recent policy, effective September 1, 2023, by the Diocese of Cleveland. called Parish & School Policy of Issues of Sexuality and Gender Identity, may have tipped the scales. It’s a bridge too far even for those who pick and choose what they are willing to ignore regarding the past and present wrongs and hypocrisy of the church. Like the slave trade that kept Catholic-run Georgetown University afloat in the 19th century. Or the revelations of systemic child molestation and sexual abuse that was covered up and enabled for the last several decades… Read more.
