Despite a drop in cigarette sales in Cuyahoga County in the first quarter of this year, tax revenue is up, creating more funding for Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Only 121 million cigarettes have been sold in Cuyahoga County this year, less than the first quarter of last year. But there will be a larger pool of money to fund Cuyahoga Arts & Culture grants because of an increase in the county’s cigarette tax, from 30 cents per pack to 70 cents.
The agency’s board on Wednesday discussed its grantmaking process for this year, which opens next month.
CAC Executive Director Jill Paulsen said the increased tax does not mean grants could double when announced this fall.
“If you think about all the issues circulating in the air locally, statewide, nationally, there's a lot that's impacting consumer buying," she said. "There's a lot that's impacting taxes and we're trying to factor all that in. I think the biggest thing to note is we're only three months in and we usually have to get probably three-quarters of the way through the year before we have a good sense of where we're at."
Paulsen said arts organizations are generally concerned about uncertainty in the funding world.
“Some of them are still kind of working through what it means to be post-pandemic,” she said. “What's their operating model now? How do they remain relevant? How do they keep their dollars? How do they attract new guests, new visitors, new students, right? Then you layer on what might be happening at the state level, federal level and even sometimes locally.”
During the meeting, CAC staff highlighted changes in this year’s grantmaking process, such as the removal of some panel reviews, a one-step process to apply for both project and/or operating support grants and an expanded application window that runs from early may until July 31.
Grants for operating support are now open to organizations of any budget size, instead of the previous minimum of $100,000.
“We’ve already heard positive feedback,” said CAC grantmaking director Jake Sinatra. “Groups have been saying, ‘I may not have a large, full-time staff… but I could really benefit from a grant that allows me the flexibility to pay my utilities and do my work versus having to come in for a project grant dedicated to a specific, one-off event or program.'"
Ideastream Public Media is a recipient of CAC funding and contributed to the campaign to increase the tax.
