Cuyahoga Art and Culture

[Bill Call]

CAC is experiencing some financial difficulties because sin tax revenue is declining. Most of the CAC's grants are given to individual artists. Most of the money is given to the biggest "arts" organizations, Playhouse Square, Rock-n-Roll Hall of fame, The Cleveland Art Museum. Financial details are here:

https://www.cacgrants.org/

Well not really. They don't actually give any financial details. Most non profits report their finances to the public in a glossy report that includes very few numbers and a lot of glossy photos of smiling faces.
You have to get the real report here:

Cuyahoga_Arts_and_Culture_20-Cuyahoga_FINAL.pdf

(1.22 MiB) Downloaded 181 times

Someone is getting a pretty big pension.

I never understood why the public should be subsidizing Playhouse Square and the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. I thought they were the economic engines of the region generating hundreds of millions in economic activity. If they are such powerful economic forces why can't they pay their electric bills? Why should local government be handing out stipends to individual artists? Why should government even be involved in subsiding the arts?

"Public Art" is all the rage. The City of Lakewood and Cuyahoga County spent more than $50,000 for public art at Sloane and Detroit. When the construction project was complete they moved the art to Kauffman Park so everyone can enjoy it.

Here it is:

Art at Kauffman Park.jpg (236.83 KiB) Viewed 6139 times

[Mark Kindt]

Note the visual pun in the foreground...

[Amy Martin]

maybe we can get Cindy Marx and Tom Bullock to move it to the holespital since they believe we have an extra $150,000 for more artwork, chairs, and garbage cans . . .

[cmager]

maybe we can get Cindy Marx and Tom Bullock to move it to the holespital since they believe we have an extra $150,000 for more artwork, chairs, and garbage cans . . .

Seconded

[Leo Wetula]

Lucky a metal scrapper doesn't pick it up by mistake on garbage day.

[michael gill]

"Why should government even be involved in subsiding the arts?"

We support the arts with public money in Cuyahoga County because last time it came to the ballot, 75 % (seventy-five percent) of voters said we should do that.

[Richard Baker]

[quote="Bill Call"]CAC is experiencing some financial difficulties because sin tax revenue is declining. Most of the CAC's grants are given to individual artists. Most of the money is given to the biggest "arts" organizations, Playhouse Square, Rock-n-Roll Hall of fame, The Cleveland Art Museum. Financial details are here:

https://www.cacgrants.org/

Well not really. They don't actually give any financial details. Most non profits report their finances to the public in a glossy report that includes very few numbers and a lot of glossy photos of smiling faces.
You have to get the real report here:

[attachment=1]Cuyahoga_Arts_and_Culture_20-Cuyahoga_FINAL.pdf[/attachment]

Someone is getting a pretty big pension.

I never understood why the public should be subsidizing Playhouse Square and the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. I thought they were the economic engines of the region generating hundreds of millions in economic activity. If they are such powerful economic forces why can't they pay their electric bills? Why should local government be handing out stipends to individual artists? Why should government even be involved in subsiding the arts?

"Public Art" is all the rage. The City of Lakewood and Cuyahoga County spent more than $50,000 for public art at Sloane and Detroit. When the construction project was complete they moved the art to Kauffman Park so everyone can enjoy it.

Here it is:

[attachment=0]Art at Kauffman Park.jpg[/attachment][/quote]

Where are the salt shakers and pavement painted green that needed trimmed because the edges were painted so sloppy. Incredible, I didn’t realize it was $50,000 for 11 metal spikes, made with a plasma cutter and stick welder, that were painted green, if I recall correctly, to represent “trees”. Can we assume they became birch trees and only a few leaves hanging on? As with some art, beauty is in the eye of the very few beholders. In my opinion the only location this "art" would improve is the City Hall, another art blunder by a city council that managed to build a box totally void of any architectural distinction.

[Bill Call]

Here is an article that discusses the artwork at Sloane and Detroit:


https://www-cleveland-com.cdn.ampprojec ... grade.html

[Richard Baker]

Community New’s I quote, "Lakewood is upping the ante with a new public art program tied to its 2021 $2.5 million renovation of the Detroit and Sloane avenues intersection." The City of Lakewood was not responsible for the reconstruction of Detroit and Sloane intersection because it is a federal road or US route 20 highway. In addition, “Instead of the public-private partnership that is Spectacular Vernacular, we also feel it’s important that the city injects public art into our capital projects, Lakewood Director of Planning Shawn Leininger said."

The inference that the City of Lakewood paid for the project on Route 20, being politely said, is simply not true. If Shawn can provide accounting that the City of Lakewood paid out the $2.5 million for the project, I be happy to retract my statement. This begs the question, why would Major George's administration attempt to take credit for a project on a Route 20?

Incidentally it, "Stretches from just west of the Atlantic Ocean in Boston, MA - through 12 States to the Pacific Ocean at Newport, OR, US Route 20 is the longest US Highway in the country at 3,365 miles."