Cuyahoga County is accepting applications for the board of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. While recent meetings have been increasingly tense, the agency is still responsible for distributing public funding for the arts – more than $246 million since 2007.
The terms of two trustees, Charna Sherman and Karolyn Isenhart, will end March 31. As of Monday afternoon, Isenhart said she was planning to re-apply for another term. Sherman said she is not reapplying.
Applications go to Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne for nominees, which are approved by county council. The person in charge of the process is Chris Alvarado, director of regional collaboration.
“I think that a lot of people feel very strongly about the arts in Cuyahoga County, as they should,” he said. “We’re very proud to have a thriving arts and culture community here.”
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture was formed in 2007 to distribute the proceeds from the 30-cents-per-pack tax. Revenue has steadily declined since then by more than 50%. In 2023, the board approved $10.75 million in grants to arts nonprofits, including Ideastream Public Media. The cigarette tax is set to expire in 2027. At its Sept. 13 meeting, R Strategy Group presented a study recommending a renewal and expansion be placed on the November 2024 ballot. Since then, those plans have been the subject of debate by artists and arts professionals during CAC meetings and in the media.
Trustees serve three-year terms. The bylaws state that board members should “have broad knowledge and experience in the arts or cultural heritage” and be registered to vote in Cuyahoga County. A third qualification has drawn scrutiny in recent years from artists critical of CAC: “At least two members…shall be persons who devote a major portion of their time to practicing, performing, or teaching any of the arts or who are professional administrators in any field of the arts or cultural heritage.”
Whether that means a working artist or an arts administrator has been a source of discussion among Cuyahoga County artists.
“Certain members of the arts community have very specific perspectives on that,” Alvarado said. “That would be something that will be taken into consideration by the county executive.”
Isenhart has been president and board chair of the Downtown Lakewood Arts Festival for a decade. Three of her CAC board colleagues, whose terms are not expiring, have varied connections to county arts and culture.
Daniel Blakemore is philanthropy director at the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He's also a trustee of the African American Archives Auxiliary of the Western Reserve Historical Society. CAC Board Vice President Michele Scott Taylor has spent most of her career in higher education administration, and she is currently chief program officer at College Now Greater Cleveland. Board President Nancy Mendez is CEO of Starting Point, described as a “child care, early education and out-of-school time resource and referral agency.” She was previously VP of community investment at United Way of Greater Cleveland.
Board meetings have been filled with tense exchanges between trustees and CAC staff as well as community members during public comments, stretching most of 2023’s meetings beyond two hours.
Alvarado said 20 people had applied as of Jan. 3, indicating “significantly greater” interest than most of the other boards overseen by Ronayne’s office.
“What I think this particular board… is looking for are folks who are able to see the big picture when it comes to how arts and culture are supported in the county,” he said. “And who are committed to a strong organization that's able to best advocate for the arts and culture community.”
Trustees approve grantmaking policy and guidelines, but do not make recommendations for grants or grant amounts, nor do they evaluate the applications. Funding for individual artists is determined by separate agencies, such as Assembly for the Arts.
“If we had the applications in by the end of January, we're going to be in great shape,” he said. “While I don’t have hard and fast dates for when the nominations will be made, we will have all board seats filled in time for the new terms.”
The next Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Board meeting on Feb. 15 is slated to be the final one for Sherman, a past president. The first meeting with the reconstituted board is scheduled for April 17.
