First round of Artists in Residence grants is announced

Six artists who live or work in North Shore Collinwood were awarded a total of $30,000 to support their community art projects through the Artists in Residence grant program. This program, part of a special two-year neighborhood arts initiative of Northeast Shores and the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, aims to support artists in the community and involve residents in making the neighborhood a better place to live. It will award another $95,000 in two more rounds of applications between now and fall of 2013. “These community art projects have leveraged and sparked local artist and non-artist interest in purchasing homes within the boundaries of The Waterloo Arts and Entertainment District. People want to be in a thriving, cutting-edge community,” commented Camille Maxwell, Real Estate Development Director at Northeast Shores. The six projects that were recently awarded funding are described below. 

Shawn Mishak was awarded a grant to create a documentary describing life in North Shore Collinwood through the eyes of residents and create a piece of art representing each resident interviewed. Everything will be exhibited at a premier event that will be free and open to the public. Mishak also hopes to show the film at other events and submit it to film festivals so that it and Collinwood will gain more exposure. 

Erin Randel’s “Scoop on Summer” pamphlet was also awarded a grant. The large brochure provides a calendar of the events and activities going on in North Shore Collinwood this summer. It is available for free in many areas around the neighborhood. 

Jef Scharf received funding to give Collinwood a portable silk-screen printing device to print posters, t-shirts and flyers. He will also provide workshops, which will take place at Arts Collinwood, to teach residents how to operate the press and use its products to inform the community. 

Omid Tavakoli was awarded a grant to reopen the sculpture garden located outside the Zaller building on Waterloo Rd. He plans to fill the space with outdoor sculptures, exotic plants and a pond. The space will be open to the public. The project will also improve the safety and walkability of the area by adding an outdoor lighting system. 

Krista Tomorowitz received funding to create a pop-up fashion studio and interactive sewing lab in a vacant storefront.  The shop will teach high school students basic sewing and fashion skills. This project will culminate with a fashion show and clothing sale featuring the work of the students. 

Doug Wood received a grant to host a series of free summer music education and appreciation classes for school-aged children. The hour-long classes will each feature a different guest performer in a different genre of music including blues, jazz and American folk music. 

The members of the panel that made the final grant recommendations were neighborhood residents Andrea Hinton, Charlotte Iafeliece, and Brian Licht, assisted by Vince Reddy of LAND Studio, and Nelson Beckford of The Cleveland Foundation. The grant program is made possible through the generous support of Leveraging Investments in Creativity, the Kresge Foundation, the Ford Foundation and Charter One Growing Communities. 

Please contact Seth Beattie at Northeast Shores at (216) 481-7660 with questions regarding these six art projects or future rounds of this grant program. 

Mariel Behnke is an intern at Northeast Shores.