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Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Awards General Operating Support to Sixty-Three Organizations

Photo Credit: Bob Perkowski

Three-Year Total of General Operating Support Funds Nears $45 Million Mark

Cleveland (December 11, 2009) - Trustees of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), the Cuyahoga County-wide source of public funds for arts and cultural organizations and programming have approved the distribution of Year Three funding for sixty-three General Operating Support (GOS) grants originally awarded in 2007. Voting at Tuesday’s regular meeting of the CAC board, trustees approved payments totaling nearly $15 million, which will provide the third annual installment of operating support for GOS grantees in full compliance with stated program and reporting guidelines. Over three years, CAC General Operating Support has delivered just under $45 million to Cuyahoga County nonprofits helping to secure CAC’s place among the nation’s largest sources of local public support for the arts.

Steven A. Minter, president of CAC’s five-member board extolled the significance of CAC General Operating Support and its often vital role within the operating budgets of grantee organizations. “At a time that is for many CAC grantee organizations marked by diminished revenues, an overall decline in funds raised from both private and public sources, and shrunken endowments for those organizations who are fortunate enough to have them,” Minter noted, “CAC support has been an essential resource and, in some cases, a lifesaver, for this community’s prized arts and cultural assets.”

Minter continued, “With the passage of Issue 18 in 2006, none of us could have predicted the extraordinary impact CAC support would have. The current economic climate has dealt profound challenges to organizations and institutions—world-class treasures—that are integral to this community’s identity and its capacity to offer creative experiences and opportunities for residents and visitors alike. With the establishment of CAC, the citizens of Cuyahoga County have made an incredibly wise, sound investment—one whose impacts we are only beginning to realize.”

According to CAC interim executive director Meg Harris, revenues from the tax levy whose proceeds fund CAC have generated approximately $16.6 million during the first eleven months of 2009. GOS grants constitute the largest expenditure in CAC’s $16.8 million 2010 budget.

Cuyahoga Arts and Culture makes grants using public funds to support the arts and cultural assets that enrich Cuyahoga County and the lives of its citizens. Cuyahoga County residents and visitors currently benefit from more than one-hundred organizations and programs that receive operating and project support grants from CAC. For additional information about CAC grantmaking, including registration information for a January 2010 workshop for prospective applicants for 2011-2012 General Operating Support and Project Support, visit CAC online at www.cacgrants.org.

Press Release 12/11/09 (PDF)

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