CLEVELAND — The Cleveland-based artists are filled with excitement after the City of Cleveland announced the launching of its Transformative Arts Fund Grant Program on Jan. 31.
The program is set to award nearly $3M in grants by the beginning of June to Cleveland artists who have paired with Cleveland profit and non-profit agencies and corporate entities to create public art projects that will have a positive impact citywide.
Rhonda Brown, City of Cleveland Senior Strategist of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, told News 5 the grants of up to $500,000 each will be awarded to Cleveland artists who practice in a wide variety of artistic mediums.
“It’s an opportunity for artists to partner with corporations, schools and any public private entity," Brown said. “There are so many different types artists in the City of Cleveland, from culinary artists, to performance artists, to visual artists, to spoken word poets.”
The grant application portal is up and running, Brown said Cleveland artists will be meeting with Cleveland companies and agencies next month to start working on applications.
“We wanted everybody to have the opportunity to expand their practice to include public art," Brown said. “Information sessions will start in the month of February, matching together artists as well as institutional partners interested in exploring and putting together an application.”
Brandon Chrostowski, Edwins Leadership & Restaurant Institute founder, told News 5 his program has trained dozens of Northeast Ohio chefs and believes the grant program promoted by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is groundbreaking and will have a major impact in continuing a Cleveland renaissance.
“It will really give culinary arts its credit, it really is an art, it is an art form," Chrostowski said. "To put people with a vary valuable perspective and unique talent, and give them funds to do what they always dreamed of doing.”
As a Cleveland-centric program, the following criteria must be met in order to be eligible to receive an award:
· The lead artist must be 18+ years old and live in the City of Cleveland
· The partnering institution must be located in the City of Cleveland
· The proposed project must be based in the City of Cleveland
Meanwhile, Chrostowski said the Edwins team will be applying for the grant program.
“I will apply to anything, I will look at anything, believe me I already do, it’s something that will benefit somebody’s future who is in our program," Chrostowski said. “I’m here basically as a conduit, I’m here as a lineman blocking and tackling for the talent that’s coming up behind me. So if there’s an opportunity to help somebody in our program, take their career form here to here ten times as fast, you better believe I’m going to apply."
