The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture has announced the winners of the first cycle of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture's Creative Workforce Fellowship grants. The $20,000 grants, funded by the cigarette tax and made to artists living in Cuyahoga County, are among the largest annual grants awarded to support the work of individual artists in the U.S., which ought to make Cuyahoga County an attractive place for artists to live and work. The first round was targeted at artists who make visual things: painters, photographers, woodworkers, fiber artists, filmmakers, etc.
The winners for painting are: Amy Casey, Donald E. Harvey, Michelle Anne Muldrow and Seth Rosenberg; for drawing: Laurence Channing and Andrea Joki; for photography: Bruce Checefsky, Lori Kella, Douglas Lucak, Julius Lyles and Nancy M. McEntee; for woodworking, James Jubal Harris; for fiber art: Nina Vivian Huryn; for film: Laura Paglin; for sculpture, Olga Ziemska and Charmaine Spencer; for glass: Michael Mikula and Mark Sudduth; for fashion design: Valerie Mayén; and for mixed media work: Angela Oster.
The second cycle of $20,000 grants will go to writers and to artists who perform or make work for performance. Categories include dancers, interdisciplinary artists, musicians, literary artists and theater artists. Watch for details on informational workshops, which begin in late July, or go to cpacbiz.org.
Meanwhile, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture is still searching for an executive director to replace Cathy Boyle, who was appointed to the then-new post in 2007, after having served as executive assistant to Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan. She is also the daughter of former commissioner Mary Boyle. True to her word, Boyle resigned from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture after getting the agency up and running. Meg Harris, the agency's director of administration, is currently serving as interim executive director and is not a candidate for the position. CAC makes its first report to the community at a meeting followed by a reception from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22, at Severance Hall. To RSVP, call 216.325.0920.
Management Consultants for the Arts, Inc., a Connecticut-based consulting company specializing in executive-level head-hunting for arts organizations big enough to employ consultants to hire their people, is conducting the search. To see what they're looking for in a new executive director, go to cuyahogaartsandculture.org.
