Immersive theater in public housing, sculpture in Asia Town and murals in Clark-Fulton are some of the projects planned with about $2.9 million in COVID-era relief funds. Cleveland set aside the money from the American Rescue Plan Act in October 2022 for the Transformative Arts Fund.
Seven public art projects by Cleveland artists working with Cleveland-based institutional partners will roll out over the next year. They include the deconstruction of a vacant house in the Woodhill neighborhood by artist and architect Malena Grigoli.
“She is going to do a choreographed deconstruction and performance of a home that she actually purchased from the Cuyahoga County Land Bank,” said Rhonda K. Brown, Cleveland’s senior strategist for arts, culture and creative economy. “It’s very exciting for us to think about how art can be a part of helping to solve some very serious crises that we have in the city of Cleveland.”
The materials will be formed into bricks, which will then be used to create a public artwork to be displayed where the house once stood.
“We were looking at all art forms: Not just visual,” Brown said. “We were very clear about that from the beginning, and the application gave artists the opportunity to check one box as their artist medium or multiple boxes as their medium, which I think was very cool and kind of gives opportunities for artists that do lots of things.”
Another project, “Empowering Diverse Creatives, Our City & the Youth,” will stage a series of festivals on the East Side.
“That is a project that will have eight activations: Music activation, visual art, fashion, commerce,” she said.
Assembly for the Arts managed the art fund’s application process.
“The city of Cleveland, like no time before, is taking the power, the importance and the centrality of artists as one of its most serious pillars,” said Assembly CEO Jeremy Johnson. “This is major. This is great news for ‘The Land,’ not just for Cleveland, but for this country around how cities can play a role in bringing arts and creativity together with the social and economic concerns of our communities.”
The funding was approved in January, and 103 submissions were received before the March 30 deadline. Johnson said their goal is to get funds into artists’ hands while the projects are in progress, as opposed to reimbursement upon completion. LAND Studio is providing organizational support. Artists will be required to provide quarterly updates to access the funding, which is administered by a partner institution.
Awarded projects
9314 Sophia Ave: A Choreographed Deconstruction and Performed Maintenance of the Built Environment
Lead Artist: Malena Grigoli
Institutional Partner: Redhouse studio
Neighborhood(s): Woodhill
Medium(s): Architecture Artist + Design Project Recycling a House
Funding Amount: $364,000
Portals of Knowing
Lead Artist: LaTecia Delores Wilson Stone
Institutional Partner: Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
Neighborhood(s): Central
Medium(s): Immersive Theater
Funding Amount: $312,185
For Those Who Call Here Home: Transforming Asia Town with an Outdoor Community Space
Lead Artist: Jordan Wong
Institutional Partner: The Sculpture Center
Neighborhood(s): St. Clair/Superior
Medium(s): Place-Making – Fabricated Installations and Sculpture
Funding Amount: $449,750
Storer Ave. Phoenix Project: Murals to Uplift the Human Spirit
Lead Artist: Ariel Vergez
Institutional Partner: Metro West Community Development Organization
Neighborhood(s): Clark-Fulton
Medium(s): Artist Renaissance – Live Garden, Murals and Handmade Sculptures
Funding Amount: $393,700
All My Babies Birthing the Afrofuture
Lead Artist: Jameelah Rahman
Institutional Partner: Cleveland Clinic—Langston Hughes Center
Neighborhood(s): Fairfax
Medium(s): Immersive Interdisciplinary Arts Experiences
Funding Amount: $482,125
IMPART216: Breathing Creativity into Community
Lead Artist: Robin Robinson
Institutional Partner: Ingenuity
Neighborhoods: Mt. Pleasant, Glennville, Cudell, Clark-Fulton, Woodhill, and Central
Medium(s): Mural Making and Breath Work
Funding Amount: $393,397
For Art's Sake® – Empowering Diverse Creatives, Our City & the Youth
Lead Artist: Kumar Arora
Institutional Partner: Campus District
Neighborhoods: Hough, Campus District, Downtown, University Circle
Medium(s): Festivals & Activations Music, Visual Art, Fashion, Commerce
Funding Amount: $465,343
