The Cuyahoga Arts and Culture board of directors answered a couple of questions that have hung over the public art funding agency for its recent history. In a unanimous roll call vote, the board approved a resolution to put a 3.5 cent per-cigarette tax before voters in November, for the first time committing to when the issue would be on […]
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Educators talk about “teachable moments”– those times when learning comes easily because something happens that makes information relevant. This is one of those times for people concerned about public funding for the arts in Cuyahoga County. As if to highlight the need to find something other than a cigarette tax to provide such revenue, a recent State of Ohio budget […]
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In 2006, the voters of Cuyahoga County made a bold and historic decision: they approved a 1.5 cent-per-cigarette tax that generates more than $15 million each year to support arts and culture organizations and projects. The levy was an innovative idea designed to help Cleveland reclaim its historic role as a cultural hub for the nation. Its impact has been […]
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Just in case you missed it, Ohio House Bill 86, as passed by the Ohio Senate, includes a provision for Ohio Counties to offer voters a 3 percent tax on marijuana for the arts. The provision was added by Senator Kent Smith, who saw an opportunity for the arts and culture sector to benefit from the new law—and make up […]
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The arts sector in Cuyahoga County has long sought a way to stabilize the revenue stream for its public support, which since 2006 has been a 30-cent per pack tax on cigarettes. Among many other possibilities discussed by policy makers or suggested (taxing real estate, hotel stays, dine-in restaurant meals, beer and wine, soft drinks) the prospect of a tax […]
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Arts funding in Cuyahoga County could get a significant boost by the end of 2023. Just before Christmas, 2022, The Ohio legislature passed a bill that includes permission for Cuyahoga County to put before its voters a revision of the cigarette tax that supports the arts. Governor Mike Dewine signed the bill January 2. Jeremy Johnson, director of the advocacy […]
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The effort to get additional public money to support the arts in Cuyahoga County is a lesson in taking what you can get. That’s been true from the beginning, but the current push to extend the cigarette tax beyond just cigarettes makes the point all over again. Counties seeking authority to tax for a specific purpose have to get permission […]
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For more than a year, artists have complained that Cuyahoga Arts and Culture –the entity that administers the cigarette tax for the arts–did not meet the requirement that at least two of its members “devote a major portion of their time to practicing, performing or teaching any of the arts, or […] are professional administrators in any field of the […]
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The list of applicants to serve on the Board of Directors at Cuyahoga Arts and Culture has grown a bit since CAN last reported. As of January 4, 19 people had applied for the coming term. The County Executive’s office initially said they “ideally” wanted all applications in hand by January 1, but has confirmed that applications are still being […]
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CAN Journal learns something at the end of every year—something about hot topics and what makes people read, and also something about the challenges inherent to building top ten lists. Year after year, we see that people want to read about injustice and controversy. And 2023 was no different, with posts about the disappearance of a large piece of public […]
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