Central’s Foluke, 14 other arts organizations receive Equity in the Arts funds from Cleveland Foundation

In the Central neighborhood one Saturday, a youngster is plucking a classical guitar. Another is drawing a landscape entitled “Life Skills.” Three others are making quesadillas under a chef’s tutelage for the group’s lunch. Later, youngsters will rehearse acting, singing, and drumming for an upcoming show – with sets and costumes they’ve made.

Foluke Cultural Arts Center is one of 15 nonprofit organizations that recently won $5,000 to $20,000 apiece from the Cleveland Foundation’s Equity in the Arts Fund. The fund promotes the arts for communities with historically low support. This year’s grantees practice street dance and African dance, stage Spanish drama, use arts for behavioral health, make fair trade chocolate, and much more.

Sprinkling cheese on quesadillas, Foluke’s Emily Daniels, 12, says she likes the arts because “I can express myself freely.” Flipping the quesadillas on the grill, Kamya Fowler, also 12, says, “It’s fun experiencing the arts. You get to go out of your comfort zone and do something you never tried before.” And, at Foluke, you can do it for free.

Foluke began in 1996 as a dance ministry at Lane Metropolitan CME church, near Central’s Friendly Inn Settlement. Now, it rents space from the Friendly Inn, a nonprofit community center and outreach organization. Foluke runs programs for children both on the weekend and after school on weekdays. According to its website, its mission is to “art as a weapon against poverty, racism, and discrimination” and “provide at-risk youth with life skills, discipline, resilience, and self-reliance.”

Boris Oicherman, who administers the arts equity fund, said in a press release that it “uplifts organizations that were historically under-supported by funders – and these predominantly are organizations led by people of color. It amplifies the diversity of Cleveland cultures and richness of creative practices.”

In an interview with The Land, Oicherman added that the fund seeks not to boost just the arts but whole communities. “Culture is embedded in every aspect of life. We should support culture because it supports everything else.”

The endowed fund is worth more than $4.3 million. It has given out nearly $9.6 million in its 30 years.

This year’s grantees also include Loiter, which runs a farm and market in East Cleveland for local produce, African clothing, fair trade chocolate, and other goods. Loiter’s leader, Ismail Samad, plans to use the grant to renovate a historic house and host fine artists, visual artists, and activists there.

Another grantee is the Museum of Creative Human Art. This institution without walls stages exhibits and teaches art in various sites around town. Co-founder Michael Russell says that imagination helps in all fields. “You can envision what your creativity can do in whatever lane you decide. You can come up with answers.”

At Foluke, operations manager Nicole Hatcher says Foluke is important because it provides not only access to the arts, but also to social and emotional learning. Many youngsters seldom socialize beyond school because of fears of crime and Covid-19, she said.

“Kids will come in frustrated. They haven’t had a chance to talk to anybody. They’re having all kinds of problems,” said Hatcher. “And they come to Foluke, and they get to put their hands on paper, make something, beat out the issues with the drums. They get to explore ways of showing their feelings at safe spaces.”

This year’s Equity in the Arts grantees and amounts are:

• 10K Movement: $20,000.
• American Asian Pacific Islander Organization: $5,000.
• Art of Me Productions: $20,000.
• Broadway School of Music & The Arts: $14,000.
• Cuyahoga Community College Creative Arts Academy with Kerry Davis: $20,000.
• Foluke Cultural Arts Center, Inc.: $20,000.
• Kings & Queens of Art: $20,000.
• LatinUs Theater Company, Inc.: $20,000.
• Life Exchange Center: $15,000.
• Loiter: $20,000.
• Martha and Tonya Johnson Legacy Project: $20,000.
• Mojuba! Dance Collective: $20,000.
• Museum of Creative Human Art: $20,000.
• Neighborhood Connections: $20,000,
• Rhythmic Art Studio, Inc.: $15,000.

For more information on participating in arts activities at the organizations that received Equity in the Arts funds, click on the links above. In addition, for other arts enrichment activities at no or low cost to children, ACE reimbursement dollars may be available.