Summer of Purpose: Johanna Tomsick

Not all nonprofits are created equal. From small, grassroots organizations to massive private universities, any number of odd and different organizations have come together under the umbrella of “nonprofit.” In the past three weeks, working with an organization on the smaller end of the scale, I’ve noticed a few common threads...

Renting audiences

It was not until I read the latest issue of the Wolf-Brown consulting firm’s newsletter that I encountered the concept of “renting an audience.” But according to Matt Lehrman, executive director of Alliance for Audience of Phoenix, this is what so many arts organizations are trying to do when they use advertising to attract new...

The disease of nostalgia

On Feb. 24 at the Idea Center, Mohsin Hamid, a Pakistani writer and 2008 winner of an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, came back to Cleveland to speak on "Literature, Pakistan and 'The West.'" The lecture was part of the annual series co-sponsored by the Cleveland Foundation and the Baker-Nord Center for Humanities at Case Western Reserve...

A. Grace Lee Mims Vocal Scholarship

Purpose: To provide scholarships for African-American vocal students who are U.S. citizens and pursuing graduate-level study in vocal performance or music education, with an emphasis on voice. Candidates must be committed to preserving the art form of Negro spiritual singing as exemplified by Roland Hayes, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson...

Northwest Emergency Team Fund Scholarship

Purpose: To provide scholarship support for children of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics (first responders) in the cities of Bay Village, North Olmsted, Westlake, Lakewood, Rocky River, and Fairview Park. Applicants must be pursuing vocational or technical training or an undergraduate college degree at an accredited...

Robert P. Madison Scholarship in Architecture

Purpose: To provide scholarship support for African American high school students and undergraduates enrolled in coursework at an accredited school of architecture, with a declared major in architecture.   About the program: The Robert P. Madison Scholarship Fund was established in 2004, seeded by generous contributions from Robert and...

How I Spent My Summer: Kachi Udeoji

Opera Cleveland was born in 2006 out of the amalgamation of two Cleveland-based nonprofit arts organizations with similar missions. The Lyric Opera of Cleveland and Cleveland Opera both had a mission of enriching the communities of Northeast Ohio by staging operatic productions that attract youthful and seasoned performers to Cleveland...

Ohio City – but not the one you think

This past Monday, I spent a very stimulating 90 minutes with the folks at Glazen Creative Studios brainstorming ways to engage the local population’s pride and confidence in the city and the region. These were sincere, smart, and committed folks who cannot understand why the locals are so down on their own community. First there was...

The jury’s in

Well, the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is over for another year, it’s 33rd. And despite the economy – or just maybe because of it – it broke every record from previous years. More than 60,000 people attended over the 11 days of the festival. And CIFF’s Audience Challenge Match fundraiser, embedded cleverly within...