Literary Cleveland Scores Big Grant from Arts Fund

Literary Cleveland just got its largest piece of financial support in its 11 years of existence.

Executive Director Matt Weinkam on Thursday announced that the nonprofit was one of 40 organizations and publishers, and the only one in Ohio, to receive a piece of an $8 million national grant from the New York-based Literary Arts Fund.

In a message to Scene, Weinkam declined to disclose the exact dollar amount but said the money covers “five years of general operating support.”

The grant money “will be a balance of investment in staff support and community impact” that “allows us to level up as an organization as we embark on our next decade of service.”

A dearth of federally-backed funding for literary organizations has created a sink-or-swim phenomenon for smaller or medium-sized nonprofits.

“The grant allows us to move with greater confidence during an uncertain economic time,” he said.

Literary Cleveland is now eight times larger than it was at its inception in 2015, with about $615,000 of revenue reported in 2024. A little more than a half of that hails from grants and longtime donors.

Along with a booming annual Inkubator writing fest, and an around-town Cleveland Poetry Crawl, Weinkam and his team have added writing residencies, formed Ohio’s longest Toni Morrison celebration, hosted a Neighborhood Voices program with the Cleveland Public Library and welcomed all to the new headquarters in Cleveland’s Larchmere neighborhood.