The Cleveland Arts Prize has announced it's 2024 award winners.
Cleveland Arts Prize 2024 Announcements
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Photographers Amber N. Ford and Barbara Bosworth and composer Clint Needham will be recognized by the prestigious Cleveland Arts Prize, which honors outstanding artistic talent and significant contributions to the arts community in Northeast Ohio. Artful Cleveland founder Shannon Morris, CityMusic Cleveland founders Dr. Ronald and Eugenia Strauss, and Ellen Stirn Mavec, president and chairman of The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, will also be recognized by separate special awards.
In 2024, the Cleveland Arts Prize organization received 178 applications. Jurors awarded three official “Discipline” prizes as well as three special prizes. Discipline prize winners receive $10,000. Jurors for the contest are artists, community leaders, and past winners. “Despite the lack of funding forcing us to reduce the number of prizes this year from five to three prizes, the dedication and passion of our artists continue to inspire us all,” said Aseelah Shareef, board co-chair of the Cleveland Arts Prize.
2024 Discipline Prize Winners
Emerging Arts: Amber N. Ford, Visual Arts
Ford is a freelance photographer based in Cleveland whose work has been exhibited at the FRONT Triennial, MoCa Cleveland, and the Kent State University Museum. Ford received the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in 2017. Her photojournalism has appeared in the New York Times and Washington Post, and she has served as Artist-in-Residence at both the Gordon Square Arts District and MoCa.
Mid-Career: Clint Needham, Music
Needham is a composer whose work blends popular styles such as grunge, ska, and hip-hop with orchestral music. His work has been described as “wildly entertaining” and “brilliantly orchestrated” by the New York Times. It has been performed by leading orchestras across the United States. Needham is Composer in Residence and professor of composition at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.
Lifetime Achievement: Barbara Bosworth, Visual Arts
Bosworth is an acclaimed photographer who was born in Cleveland and raised in Novelty, Ohio. Her work is often inspired by the landscapes of her childhood and the interplay between people and their environment. She had a recent solo exhibition, “Barbara Bosworth: Sun Light Moon Shadow” at the Cleveland Museum of Art that coincided with the 2024 solar eclipse. She has also exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is professor emeritus of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Special Honorary Prizes
Robert P. Bergman Prize: Shannon Morris
Shannon Morris, founding executive director of Artful Cleveland, will be honored with this prize. The non-profit group, located in the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building, offers affordable studio space and various educational programs and services to artists in Northeast Ohio.
Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts: Dr. Ronald and Eugenia Strauss
The Strausses, founders of CityMusic, are prominent figures in the local arts community. They founded CityMusic in 2004, which offers free concerts across Northeast Ohio and presents a schedule that mixes top-tier classical performances with arts education initiatives like the Clurie Bennis Children’s Outreach Series, providing interactive arts programs in underserved Cleveland neighborhoods.
Barbara Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts: Ellen Stirn Mavec
Ellen Stirn Mavec, president and chairman of The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, will receive this prize. Mavec is a well-known arts advocate in Cleveland, having served as board chair of the Cleveland Museum of Art since 2022 and as a trustee since 1991.
Winners will be celebrated at an Annual Awards Event at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, October 24, at Cuyahoga Community College East Campus. Tickets are available at www.clevelandartsprize.org. General admission is $75. Event attendees will see performances by past winners including Tony Award-winning actress, performer, and composer Alice Ripley (2019); choreography by Heinz Poll (1995), performed by Ohio Contemporary Ballet; and original music by 2024 Verge Fellowship winner TJ Maclin.
Founded in 1960, the Cleveland Arts Prize is the nation’s oldest municipal arts award. Over the years it has celebrated 400 artists and supported the creative community in Northeast Ohio.
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author Paris Wolfe