'It's gonna create an art renaissance'

Wednesday, the City of Cleveland announced funding for seven public art and place-making projects to bolster artists and strengthen neighborhoods.

City of Cleveland

News 5 first reported on the transformative arts fund in January.

Watch News 5's original report from Jan. 31 detailing the city's plan

Cleveland to award nearly $3M in grants to Cleveland artists this spring

At that time, Rhonda K. Brown, the city’s senior strategist for arts, culture and the creative economy, said, “it's an opportunity for artist to partner with corporations, schools and any public/private entity."

Color shot out of a can and paint dabbled onto a bush is part of Ariel Vergez’s calling.

"For me art is like breathing,” Vergez said. “If I'm not doing it I'm suffocating.”

Vergez, the lead artist of BlackBrain Group, is a muralist, designer and fabricator. His project is one of seven awarded between $300,000 and nearly $500,000 each to bring their talents and work in various mediums to public space across the city’s diverse neighborhoods.

“It's like hey- how can we start bringing in beauty so that you know the people in that neighborhood can feel pride and being there,” Vergez said.

His project includes creating several sculptures, murals and an arts center in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.

“The mural that I think encapsulates the vision of the neighborhood is this sunflower with a spine attached to it,” Vergez said. “The sunflower itself follows the sun… follows the light. So it's that idea that we can be like the sunflower and have our focus on the light always.”

Perseverance is part of LaTecia Delores Wilson Stone’s testimony.

"I am a former resident of CMHA (Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority) housing, and I did not know how much theater could change my life,” she said. “And then I got exposed to it at Cleveland School of the Arts."

Wilson Stone is an art educator, director and playwright. Her plan is to develop an immersive theater program in the Central/Fairfax neighborhood.

“Ultimately immersive theater consists of audience members coming in and they are taking a role in the production,” Wilson Stone said.

Productions will work with residents from Outhwaite Homes, part of CMHA, and students and families connected to East Technical High School to tell their life experiences.

“And within those stories we will blend them together so that we create a true reflection of the community and what they have for their needs and things that we should bring attention to the to the wider community,” Wilson Stone said. "Highlighting the beauty- the beauty of the resilience within the community.”

Wilson Stone said the entire process thus far has been emotional.

"Just honoring my journey and my path and knowing that committing to the arts did reward me in a way that I never would have imagined," Wilson-Stone said. "I cannot say thank you enough to the transformative arts fund."

Brown said there is excitement across Cleveland for the upcoming projects. She wants the transformative arts fund to inspire residents, businesses and organizations to support arts in the city.

“Creating a project in communities and doing the work that they have presented is not only going to transform them, it's going to transform the entire ecosystem,” Brown said.

Watch News 5's original report from Feb. 13 with Rhonda K. Brown discussing her upbringing in the arts

Meet Cleveland's first strategist of arts, culture and the creative economy

Vergez added, "It's gonna create an art renaissance."

The city said it received 103 applications that were vetted by the Transformative Arts Fund Committee.

City of Cleveland

The city provided the following information on awardees.

MEET THE AWARDEES
The following seven projects have received initial notifications of funding that are contingent upon execution of final grant agreements.

9314 Sophia Ave: A Choreographed Deconstruction and Performed Maintenance of the Built Environment
Lead Artist: Malena Grigoli
Institutional Partner: Redhouse studio
Neighborhood(s): Woodhill
Medium(s): Architecture Artist + Design Project Recycling a House
Funding Amount: $364,000

Portals of Knowing
Lead Artist: LaTecia Delores Wilson Stone
Institutional Partner: Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
Neighborhood(s): Central
Medium(s): Immersive Theater
Funding Amount: $312,185

For Those Who Call Here Home: Transforming Asia Town with an Outdoor Community Space—
Lead Artist: Jordan Wong
Institutional Partner: The Sculpture Center
Neighborhood(s): St. Clair/Superior
Medium(s): Place-Making – Fabricated Installations and Sculpture
Funding Amount: $449,750

Storer Ave. Phoenix Project: Murals to Uplift the Human Spirit
Lead Artist: Ariel Vergez
Institutional Partner: Metro West Community Development Organization
Neighborhood(s): Clark-Fulton
Medium(s): Artist Renaissance – Live Garden, Murals and Handmade Sculptures
Funding Amount: $393,700

All My Babies Birthing the Afrofuture
Lead Artist: Jameelah Rahman
Institutional Partner: Cleveland Clinic—Langston Hughes Center
Neighborhood(s): Fairfax
Medium(s): Immersive Interdisciplinary Arts Experiences
Funding Amount: $482,125

IMPART216: Breathing Creativity into Community
Lead Artist: Robin Robinson
Institutional Partner: Ingenuity
Neighborhoods: Mt. Pleasant, Glennville, Cudell, Clark-Fulton, Woodhill, and Central
Medium(s): Mural Making and Breath Work
Funding Amount: $393,397

For Art's Sake® – Empowering Diverse Creatives, Our City & the Youth
Lead Artist: Kumar Arora
Institutional Partner: Campus District
Neighborhoods: Hough, Campus District, Downtown, University Circle
Medium(s): Festivals & Activations Music, Visual Art, Fashion, Commerce
Funding Amount: $465,343

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