Still from Juneteenth production Credit: Courtesy Karamu House

Almost 30 Ohio arts organizations — including 13 in Cleveland — have received federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Grants for Arts Projects program. Three Ohio poets have also received Creative Writing Fellowships, according to a media release from the Ohio Arts Council.

The awards for Ohio organizations totaled $650,000, with grants ranging from $10-$50,000 and each Creative Writing Fellowship awarding $25,000.

Cleveland grant recipients include:

Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra | Arts Projects – Music ($35,000)
DANCECleveland | Arts Projects – Dance ($20,000)
Cleveland Public Theatre | Arts Projects – Theatre ($10,000)
Tri-C Foundation | Arts Projects – Dance ($15,000)
Tri-C Foundation (on behalf of Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland) | Arts Projects – Music ($20,000)
Front Exhibition Company | Arts Projects – Music ($20,000)
Greater Cleveland Urban Film Foundation | Arts Projects – Media Arts ($20,000)
Karamu House | Arts Projects – Theatre ($15,000)
L.A.N.D. Studio | Arts Projects – Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works ($35,000)
The Cleveland Orchestra | Arts Projects – Music ($40,000)
The Sculpture Center | Arts Projects – Visual Arts ($20,000)
SPACES | Arts Projects – Visual Arts ($25,000)
Zygote Press | Arts Projects – Visual Arts ($20,000)
“We thank the National Endowment for the Arts for its continued support and recognition of the creative excellence of Ohio’s arts organizations and artists,” said Ohio Arts Council Executive Director Donna S. Collins. “This past year has been especially challenging for the arts and culture sector throughout the country, and this investment in Ohio is a testament to our state’s strengths of innovation, inventiveness, and ingenuity.”

In January, the Ohio Arts Council recognized 75 artists with individual excellence awards. Each artist will receive a portion of the $300,000 grant funding that was recently approved by the OAC board, coming out to about $4000 per artist.

Applications for the next round of National Endowment for the Arts grants closed in February, but applications for the Literature Fellowships, which focus on creative writing in prose (fiction and nonfiction), are open until March 10.

This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 9, 2021.