Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present and Future Nurtures Local Talent with Incubator and Accelerator Programs

In 2023, Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present and Future , a local nonprofit devoted to developing Cleveland’s local music scene, put up some pretty impressive numbers. It raised more than $185,000 for local musicians and venues and held more than 30 events featuring more than 90 musicians.

It aims to do even more in 2024.

One aspect of the foundation is its Music Incubator program that provides local acts with up to $2000 for projects they propose. Locals Clare Feorene, Kid Tigrrrr, Corry Michaels, Thor Platter and Wave Rowanne are participating in this year’s program.

The foundation also offers a Music Accelerator program that’s designed to expand the reach of local bands that have developed fanbases in Northeast Ohio. This year, local acts Maura Rogers & the Bellows and Apostle Jones participated in that program. Thanks to the exposure it received from participating in the program, Rogers's band got onto the Rock Hall's radar, and at 8 p.m. tomorrow, Rogers and the Bellows along with local singer-songwriter Charity Evonna will play a free show at the Rock Hall, kicking off the Rock Hall’s Live and Local series.

“We are trying to find opportunities for these bands that we’re working with,” says Programming Manager David Kennedy one recent afternoon as he sits with Executive Director Cindy Barber and Rogers, who’s also a programming manager for the organization, at Cleveland Rocks Shop, a store devoted to selling merch related to local bands. “We want to be a resource for these local artists, so we’re starting these small programs that are very focused on them. The research we are doing is informing the kind of direction we’re going with the support services and the workshops and the education programs.”

As one example of support provided through the programs, Cleveland Rocks offered a free workshop on writing band bios and hired a local photographer to provide participants with photos that they could put in their press kits.

Cory Grinder, a local singer-songwriter, was one of the first area artists to benefit from participating in the Music Incubator Program.

“Cory gave us the best feedback because he documented exactly how many shows he did and how much he spent on gas and how much merch he sold at each show,” says Barber. “Because of the grant he received, he was able to risk more and stretch himself out and make money from tickets and merch.”

Rogers recently found herself in a unique position where she had a fan interested in financially investing in her group.

“I thought, ‘What can we do?’ I worked with David [Kennedy] because the first phase of the accelerator program is to see where a band that has been around for a few years can do,” says Rogers. “We’ve built a fanbase in Cleveland, and our sound has evolved and what we are doing now has taken a new energy and turn musically. We have a new sound and a show that’s different because it has an energy that we never had before.”

Kennedy recorded a live show and captured what the band sounds like in its current incarnation. A folk-rock group that draws from acts such Fleetwood Mac and 10,000 Maniacs, Rogers and the Bellows have become one of the city's best live acts.

“David [Kennedy] has been strategic in terms of looking at what we needed,” says Rogers. “We didn’t have a support system in place that connects all the dots, and he's helped us develop that.”

Rogers says Cleveland Rocks aspires to bring local acts together like the now-shuttered Barking Spider Tavern, an Eastside concert venue that nurtured local talent for many years before closing, did.

Barber says that a recent census that tracked Cleveland musicians will show that local musicians spend more money on their craft than musicians in many other cities, some of which are renowned for their local music scenes.

“The Accelerator Program aims to identify the best bands in town and the biggest fans in town and put them together. It's something we've done for the Rock Solid Benefits where we've auctioned off house concerts,” says Kennedy, who adds that this year’s benefit will take place on Nov. 9. “I just hate to see 65-year-old musicians climbing up a ladder and painting houses just so they can get by.”

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