Congratulations to the 2023 ArtsForward Grant Recipients!
Summit County’s arts and culture community is getting a boost...and you can help! Join residents from across Summit County by contributing to ArtsForward! Every dollar you donate will be matched by Knight Foundation up to $1 million in support of arts and culture in our community.
Join us in moving arts and culture forward in Summit County!
Angry Cow Poetry in the Rialto Living Room, $2,000
- Angry Cow Poetry
- Keith Allison
Some of the most powerful voices in Akron and beyond are taking the stage and sharing their incredible expression of art, their talent, their play with words, and baring their soul through spoken word. Come share in community, connection, artistic expression and, if desired, jump on the open mic. Angry Cow Poetry in the Rialto Living Room happens the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm at the the Rialto Theatre. Find more info and all past events at angrycowpoetry.com/rialto
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Music for All, $5,000
- Eri Snowden-Rodriguez
Music for All is a project that will bring free, live, classical, jazz and hybrid styles of music into low-income assisted living centers for disabled and senior citizens, juvenile correctional facilities/prisons, and shelters for unhoused people. Music for All will further engage the community at large by starting a dialogue that challenges our societal views on these marginalized communities, considers the barriers and inaccessibility to art, music and culture these communities experience, and inspires our community to think about how vital art, music and culture is to all of humanity. I hope through this dialogue we as a community can recognize that art and music is not only for those privileged with the physical and financial means, but that the arts are a human need and can be a powerful source of joy, healing and collective care in a world that is too often violent towards marginalized peoples.
Morgan Park Mural, $8,000
- Akron Parks Collaborative
- Bridget Ambrisco
Akron Parks Collaborative has been working with South Street Ministries, the South Akron Block Club, the City of Akron and a core neighborhood group since September 2022 to improve Morgan Park in South Akron. Improvements are underway, guided by a plan developed by the community and funded by the City of Akron, GAR Foundation, Summit County Public Health, the CarMax foundation (via a KaBOOM! playground build) and the Pucci Family. The drive for park improvement is motivated by a deep history of disinvestment in this community reflected through the displacement of this park first by the Summit County Jail and again by the Post Office on Wolfs Ledges. Park improvements will help provide a safe, vibrant, beautiful park and a Morgan Park Mural will help to reflect history and related emotion while creating a neighborhood place for gathering, relaxation and exercise. The Morgan Park Mural will be inspired by the neighborhood through community conversations, youth engagement, and oral histories. It will be created by Dara Harper of Art Only Boutique and brought to life with neighborhood involvement.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Branding the Downtown Barberton Arts and Entertainment District, $9,840
- Main Street Barberton
- Melanie Black Amato
ArtsForward funding will enable Main Street Barberton to maximize its current resources, amplifying efforts to enrich the Barberton arts and entertainment district while also promoting downtown events.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
X: MainStBarberton
Say It Loud, $10,000
- Akron Civic Theatre
- Francine Parr
In June 2020, the tragic death of George Floyd and others, sparked protests in Akron and all over the country. In response to all they were seeing and hearing around them, local theater artists Francine Parr and Maya Nicholson decided to create a work reflective of the community in which they lived. Produced by the Akron Civic Theatre’s Millennial Theatre Project, Say It Loud Akron is a multi-disciplinary, multi-platform vehicle that shares community voices around the issue of systemic racism. Say It Loud Akron performances will consists of a series of monologues scripted directly from the interviews and surveys, offering authentic representations of the feelings, frustrations and fears of community members. The script is fluid with new stories written for each performance based on the town hall which occurred there weeks earlier. Funding for Say It Loud is provided by Akron Community Foundations, Akron Civic Commons and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Peninsula Art Academy 20th Anniversary –Building for the Future, $10,000
- Peninsula Art Academy
- Greg Canda
The Peninsula Art Academy is celebrating 20 years of bringing the arts to the historic Village of Peninsula and surrounding areas and will be including new partnerships with Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and many more thereby establishing an increased footprint beyond the village. PAA will become the leader of arts and culture in the valley by engaging new artists and instructors, offering unique and well rounded educational opportunities, hosting juried exhibits, and increasing the diversity of artists utilizing cutting edge technology that will increase PAA’s presence on line and develop new innovative training opportunities drawing artists to use technology as their medium.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Therapeutic Theater, $14,594
- Makeshift Theater
- Jane Bond
We are using the dramatic arts under the guidance of a drama therapist to address the ravages of substance abuse and both physical and emotional trauma. Theater is a recovery tool for those whose lives have been impacted and who are seeking health and wholeness. We want to bring the power of theater to address an issue that affects our entire community.
Dynamite Duos, dancers with disabilities program, $15,000
- ArtSparks
- Kara Cea
This project is the extension of our Dynamite Duos program to include an after-school tier of programming called Team DDX ( Dynamite Duos Extreme) in order to create equitable arts education opportunities for our students with disabilities. Dynamite Duos is a 30-week dance and music program that fosters creative engagement and social and emotional learning for students with developmental disabilities and their peers who are considered neuro-typical. Students dance in partnership throughout the school year and friendships that otherwise would not take place are formed and maintained well beyond this experience. The program maximizes participation in the fine arts and challenges dancers to recognize that everyone can achieve their best through teamwork, creativity, and empathy.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
X: @artsparksdance
West Akron Through Time, $15,000
- Tyron Hoisten
West Akron Through Time is a cinematic video series that will profile the aging African American residents of Akron’s Buchtel Community, located on the City’s west side. This micro docuseries will advance the collection and documentation of oral histories by preserving residents’ stories for current and future generations. Furthermore, this series will prioritize storytelling through video interviews with residents whose stories are in danger of being lost.
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Proyecto Letras: literacy Voices of American Youth, $16,250
- Proyecto RAICES
- Rita Aggarwal
Proyecto RAICES plans to publish a quarterly illustrated digital and year end physical literary magazine filled with poetry, prose, hand drawings and photography created by the youth served by our organization. The goal will be for our youth to experience different writing styles and poem structures and to learn the importance of self- expression. The mentors for this project are all successful local artists and the ability of Proyecto RAICES students to have this opportunity to work with them will help with creating cultural equity. Writing can increase cultural awareness for both the creator and the society in which they exist.
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WORKSHOP, $17,337
- Work Studio LTD
- Micah Kraus
WORKSHOP is a talent development resource where professional artists, aspiring students, and creatively-minded people engage in artistic investigation and collaboration through the risograph printing process. WORKSHOP is dedicated to artistic discovery, talent enhancement and personal expression in a collaborative instructional environment that is centered around 1-on-1 and small group learning opportunities. WORKSHOP partners with artist educators to design curricula that scaffold learning opportunities from novice to mastery. Participants will discover new creative potential and deepen existing talent by starting with risograph printing basics, followed by development of mastery skills, then culminating in talent engagement by applying the riso process to personal creative practice.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Community Paste-Up Wall, $20,000
- Collide: Cuyahoga Falls
In major cities across the globe, local artists participate in a project called Paste Ups. Collide: Cuyahoga Falls will be creating a Paste Up to engage local artists. This project will bring artists together to showcase their art in public spaces. Artists of all ages will be encouraged to submit their original works of art. Lead Artist Dwight Jellison will curate the submissions, build and create the final Paste Up. We are excited about this opportunity to work with 100;s of artists who enhance the quality of life every day in Summit County.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
The Accessibility Library, $20,000
- Advancing Independence Network
-Akron-Summit County Public Library
-Direction Home
-Summit DD
The accessibility of an event is not merely a factor in its success; it is also the key to creating a more enriching and enjoyable experience for all in attendance. The Accessibility Library is proud to guide you in taking significant strides towards ensuring that volunteers, guests, staff, and performers at your events can fully immerse themselves and actively participate in the vibrancy of your festivals, performances, community gatherings, and shows.
Qu in Recovery, $20,000
- QuTheatr
- Tessa Gaffney
Qu in Recovery is (1) an internal development experience for QuTheatr leaders to receive training in dramatherapy and theatrical intimacy, (2) a community-driven conversation that prioritizes compassion for queer artists in recovery from toxic performance practices, and (3) an original performance created using the Co-Active Therapeutic Theatre (CoATT) model, developed by Dr. Laura Wood and Dave Mowers. Our goal is to be purposefully authentic about our history while paving a new, more accessible path forward.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
We Do it for the Water, $20,000
- Pangea Theater and The Lippman School
- Sam Chestnut
The Lippman School expands its efforts to amplify indigenous voices in Northeast Ohio by bringing Pangea World Theater to Summit County for a revival of the play We Do It for the Water, written by Sharon Day, Ojibwe artist, writer, activist, and Executive Director of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force in Minnesota. The project raises awareness of indigenous rights and honors the water walkers and water protectors who have, through a non-violent movement, united native and non-native people and environmentalists to protect water.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Skin Color, $21,400
- Althea Jones
Skin Color is a community-building interactive art performance that seeks to remove the story of race from the beauty of color. During Skin Color sessions, Althea invites individuals or small groups to engage in lively and enriching conversations about life, connection, identity, and race while color-matching the participant's specific skin color with acrylic paint.
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Reflection Series, $24,500
- The Chameleon Village Theatre
- Josy Jones
The Reflection Series consists of three (3) performances produced by the Chameleon Village Theatre Collective. Through this series, the Cham Villa will produce three (3) site-specific performances (HOME, The Dialogue, and Freight) that serve as a forum for discussion on what we have endured and how we have evolved as humans in the last 5 years. This will be in partnership with local stakeholders, like the Cascade Locks Park. Association and Summit Artspace, to activate their spaces and reshape how audiences view the creative capabilities of these community staples.
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X: thechamvilla
Bipolar Butterfly Unify, $25,000
- Bipolar Butterfly Project
- Kimmy Henderson
The Bipolar Butterfly Project aims to raise awareness and help end the stigma on mental illness through public art installations. Hoping to make change by normalizing dialogue around mental health, encouraging people to feel comfortable addressing mental health and seeking help when needed. This project will be a collaboration piece, joining voices of multiple local women artists, bringing different cultural aspects and varying mental health experiences and backgrounds together to create a photo-op mural that will speak to the community with a unified message to end the stigma.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Ghosts in the Magic City, $25,000
- Magical Theatre Company
- Holly Barkdoll
This project combines live theatre and local history set against the backdrop of Barberton’s downtown landscape. Guests will experience local haunted history as they walk the streets of downtown Barberton on a guided tour focusing on haunted locations. The tours will be led by Magical Theatre Company’s professional actors, some of whom will portray characters from the past.
Want to keep up with the project? Follow along on social media!
Helping Artists Thrive: Artist Care Services, $25,000
- Summit Artspace
- Heather Meeker
Summit Artspace will integrate a new evidence-based, multi-tiered Artist Care programming framework to catalyze artist-to-artist and artist-to-community connections, foster collaboration, and expand artist competencies. Programs will help artists define their own criteria for success and connect artists to resources for individualized artistic practice. Artist Care programs are designed, as the Cultural Plan proposes, to make success available at all levels of development and encourage artists and creatives to grow in their craft and profession.
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X: Summit_Artspace
Shadows to Light: Revealing Bhutanese Refugee Resilience, $25,000
- Khadga Bal
Shadows to Light: Revealing Bhutanese Refugee Resilience is a transformative art project that aims to explore and showcase the journey of Bhutanese-Nepali-American families affected by the Bhutanese refugee crisis. Through a series of paintings and a pop-up exhibition, this project will shed light on the challenges, resilience, and triumphs of the Bhutanese refugee community. The project will delve into the history and culture of the Bhutanese-Nepali-American people by following the narratives of families who ended up in three different countries: Bhutan, Nepal, and the United States. By examining the outcomes of the Bhutanese refugee crisis in each of these places, the project aims to highlight the shared experiences of displacement and the resilience demonstrated by these families.
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Artist Advancement: Unleashing Creativity, Self-Care, and Inclusive Leadership $25,000
- Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture
- Katie Beck
Artist Advancement: Unleashing Creativity, Self-Care, and Inclusive Leadership is a series of workshops that explore different topics related to cultivating talent and bolstering artistic expressions, as well as caring for oneself and one’s community. The topics include 1) theatre, art, and healing, 2) non-hierarchical leadership, 3) self-care for working artists, 4) playwriting, and 5) financial literacy. By providing opportunities for artists to expand their skill sets in these intersecting roles, CATAC is acknowledging the importance of this work and investing in the health and growth of Akron’s arts leaders while helping them to make a home here. Together, these workshops honor artists and creators as the beloved community members they are, offering resources for personal and professional growth and healing.
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Creative Aging Institute at the Akron Art Museum, $25,000
- Akron Art Museum
- Jon Fiume
The Creative Aging Institute at the Akron Art Museum provides free workshops for the
55+ community that explore varying artistic mediums and culminate in an art exhibition.
This program advances the priority of Equity in Akron’s Cultural Plan by addressing agism in our community through offering these free opportunities that bring awareness and value to this population. The Akron Art Museum’s mission invites all people to enrich their lives through modern and contemporary art. Genuine engagement with art can benefit people of all ages and backgrounds. Exposure to the arts provides opportunities to build and maintain cognitive skills, improves global awareness, and entrepreneurial literacy.
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X: @akronartmuseum
Assuage HER, $25,000
- Inspiring Canvases
- J Travis
Assuage HER
Our mission is to transform the traditional art class into a powerful tool to alleviate stress and anxiety. Our classes are tailored to create a safe and supportive environment for women, with a special emphasis on women of color; empowering them with a creative outlet to express themselves.
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The Nightlight Website Rebuild and Accessibility Initiative, $25,000
- The Nightlight
- Jenn Kidd
The Nightlight Website Rebuild and Accessibility Initiative is rooted in our unyielding dedication to accessibility and inclusivity. With The Nightlight's continuous growth, there’s an urgent need for a new website to bolster this expansion, providing a comprehensive, inclusive, and universally accessible digital experience. The redesign of our website is a significant undertaking. We aim to create a digital space that meets and surpasses ADA standards. Features such as alternative text for images, sufficient color contrast, keyboard navigation, and cognitive-friendly design will be incorporated to ensure an accessible experience for all users.
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X: nightlightakron