Creative Workforce Fellowship - Community Partnership for Arts and

Creative Workforce
Fellowship
2nd Cycle Recipients
December 11, 2009
A program of:
To strengthen and unify greater Cleveland's arts and culture sector.
Generously funded by:
Creative Workforce Fellowship
Foreword
Cuyahoga County is home to an extraordinary community of literary, media, performing and
visual artists. These individuals are advancing our regional economy with their creativity and
their entrepreneurship. They are expanding the possibilities for arts education and are
playing an active role in revitalizing our neighborhoods. And, without doubt, they are
producing some of the highest-quality artistic product nationwide.
The Creative Workforce Fellowship program has been an incredible opportunity to witness
our community’s artists and their work. The program, generously funded by the citizens of
Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, gives our community the ability to
see just how many talented artists live and work in our county – and the difference a
relatively modest investment in their work can make.
Already, we are beginning to see the results of this program. In July 2009, 20 craft, design,
media, mixed media and visual artists were awarded the Fellowship. In just five months
time, these awards have assisted them in securing studio space, in refining their business
models, in giving them time to carry out community projects, in working around the globe
and in investing in their art. In time, this investment will have a clear and positive impact on
the art, the artists and the communities of Cuyahoga County.
CPAC is now pleased to present the 2010 Creative Workforce Fellows. Each of these 20
individuals will receive a one-year $20,000 fellowship to develop their careers and to begin,
continue or complete a body of work. In addition, each Fellow will receive a complimentary
one-year membership to the COSE Arts Network, a tuition waiver for CPAC’s Artist as an
Entrepreneur Institute and inclusion in a professional catalog of their work and
accomplishments.
The Creative Workforce Fellowship is designed to sustain and develop the professional
artists who form Cuyahoga County’s creative workforce; to establish a supportive
environment for artists, creativity and innovation; and to increase awareness of Cuyahoga
County’s artists and their professional contributions within the creative workforce. The
incredible talent and promise of the 2010 Fellows make it evident that these goals are more
than attainable; we are already beginning to accomplish them.
In the following pages, we introduce you to each of the Fellows. We hope that you will join
CPAC in celebrating the achievements of the 2010 Creative Workforce Fellows.
Tim Mueller, chair, CPAC
Tom Schorgl, president, CPAC
CWF Literary and Performing Arts Cycle
Panelist Biographies
The following individuals served as panelists for the Creative Workforce Fellowship Literary and
Performing Arts Cycle Adjudication:
Gary Anderson, theatre, interdisciplinary
Gary Anderson is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of Plowshares Theatre Company.
Since 1989, Plowshares has worked to present honest depictions of African American life and
culture through theatre and to promote the artistic talent of Detroit by developing new work and
presenting high-quality existing pieces. Today, Plowshares is the sixth largest African American
theater company in the nation. Anderson is the recipient of a number of awards, including the
Lawrence DeVine Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Theater and the Michiganian of the
Year Award. He has served in a number of leadership roles with national arts groups, including
the National Conference on African American Theatre and Theatre Communications Group.
Anderson holds a Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Wayne State University,
specializing in directing.
Grisha Coleman, dance, music, interdisciplinary
Grisha Coleman is Assistant Professor of Movement, Computation and Digital Media at Arizona
State University’s School of Arts, Media and Engineering. Previously, she served as a fellow at
the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. Coleman has danced with the
Urban Bush Women and was also founder of the music-performance group HOTMOUTH, which
toured extensively nationally and internationally and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
for “Most Unique Theatrical Experience”. She also created Echo::System, a five-part
performance series that placed participants in artificial versions of various natural habitats.
Coleman is a graduate of the College of Letters at Wesleyan University and received her Master
of Fine Arts in Composition and Integrated Media from the California Institute of the Arts.
Brian DiBlassio, music, interdisciplinary
Brian DiBlassio serves as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan – Flint,
where he conducts the UM-Flint Jazz Ensemble and teaches music theory and aural harmony.
He has also taught improvisation, composition, arranging, analysis and jazz / classical piano.
DiBlassio composes and arranges for jazz bands as well as for instrumental/choral chamber
ensembles. As a performer, DiBlassio is an active pianist. He plays weekly with the Afro-Cuban
Jazz quintet Los Gatos and has worked with an array of prominent musicians, including The
Proclaimers, Korn, Sugar Ray and Alex Chilton. In the studio, he has been recorded as a
pianist, arranger and/or drummer on fifteen jazz, rock, folk and singer / songwriter CD releases.
DiBlassio received degrees in Jazz / Music Media & Industry and Improvisation from the
University of Miami and the University of Michigan.
Chiquita Mullins Lee, literary, interdisciplinary, theatre
Chiquita Mullins Lee is the Project Coordinator for Ohio’s Poetry Out Loud National Recitation
Contest. She serves as a teaching artist for the Ohio Arts Council’s Artist-in-Residence program
and has taught creative writing in schools throughout Ohio. Mullins Lee has written and
performed an extensive number of acclaimed plays, and her nonfiction work has been published
in Fifth Wednesday Journal, while her poetry has appeared in the anthology Red Thread / Gold
Thread. She has also written scripts for the Emmy-nominated TechKNOWKids. She is the
recipient of multiple awards, including individual artist fellowships from both the Greater
Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council. Mullins Lee earned her bachelor’s degree
from Vassar College and her Master’s degrees from Ohio University and Ohio State University.
Carla Milarch, theatre, dance, interdisciplinary, literary
Carla Milarch is the Executive Director at Performance Network, Ann Arbor’s professional
theatre. In her ten years at the Network, Milarch has filled many roles, including actress,
director, sound designer, development director, festival producer and artistic director. She is a
founder of the Chimera Theatre Company and a member of the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance, Ann
Arbor Chamber of Commerce and the Cultural Alliance of Southeast Michigan. Milarch is also a
member of the Literary Committee of the National New Play Network and was a co-producer
and member of the curatorial committee of the 2004 National Showcase of New Plays. She has
garnered numerous awards from the Ann Arbor News, the Oakland Press and the Detroit Free
Press and is also a recipient of the Between the Lines “Angel” award for outstanding service to
the LGBT community on behalf of Performance Network.
Michael Simms, literary, interdisciplinary
Michael Simms is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Autumn House Press, where he has
overseen the publication of more than 50 volumes of contemporary literature. Autumn House
Press publishes books of poetry and fine literature and an online poetry magazine, sponsors
two national literary contests and presents the Autumn House Master Authors Reading Series in
Pittsburgh. Simms is the author of 5 collections of poetry, including Black Stone, The Happiness
of Animals, The Fire-eater, Migration and Notes on Continuing Light and is co-author of The
Longman Dictionary and Handbook of Poetry. Simms teaches in the MFA Program of Chatham
University and has previously taught at The University of Iowa, Southern Methodist University,
The Community College of Allegheny County, Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne
University.
Carlos Tortolero, music, interdisciplinary
Carlos Tortolero serves as Public Programs Associate at the Chicago Department of Cultural
Affairs. In this role, Tortolero is responsible for organization of a number of music and film
programs that take place at the Chicago Cultural Center, one of the largest municipal arts
centers nationwide. Among his responsibilities, he manages the Chicago SummerDance series,
an 11-week arts series that takes place in Grant Park and tours through various parks
throughout the city. The program provides Chicagoans with an opportunity to take an hour-long
dance lesson from professional dance instructors, followed by two hours of live music that
enables participants to practice what they have learned. The program is now in its 13th year of
operation and has resulted in 54 public cultural events in the past year. Tortolero is a graduate
of Carleton College.
Creative Workforce Fellowship
Biographies of Recommended Fellows
Brian Bayer
Music
Parma native Brian Bayer is an up-and-coming hip hop artist whose thought-provoking
lyrics have attracted attention nationwide. The music video for his first single Dilemma
aired regularly on national television on MTV’s Logo channel “Click List: Top Ten
Videos.” The video was subsequently voted the number one video of 2008 on the
station. Bayer recently released the album “Young, Gay and Proud” under the artist
name Captain Magik, produced by Bobby Jones. Outhiphop.com noted that, with the
album, the artist “has definitely put his spell over the out hip hop scene.” He previously
released two albums, “4XWasted”, a collaboration album produced by Jones, and
“Streetwize”, a self-produced album recorded at Closer Look Studio. Bayer has been
featured prominently in Spin, Instinct, the LA Times and the Plain Dealer. He recently
served as the opening act for RuPaul at the Toronto Pride After Party and at the
Toronto Pride Blockorama Party. He has also performed as part of “Street Cred 101”, a
live theatre piece about gay hip hop, at the Highways Performance Gallery in Los
Angeles. Bayer is a graduate of Parma High School.
Gail Bellamy
Literature
Poet Gail Bellamy is currently the City of Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate, a program
of Heights Arts and Heights Writes. She is the author of two nonfiction books, Cleveland
Food Memories (Gray & Co.) and Design Spirits (St. Martin’s Press), and the poetry
chapbooks Victual Reality (Pudding House) and Traveler’s Salad (Pudding House). Her
work also appears in several anthologies, including O Taste and See, edited by David
Lee Garrison & Terry Hermsen (Bottom Dog Press), Cleveland in Prose and Poetry,
edited by Bonnie Jacobson (Poets’ & Writers’ League of Greater Cleveland) and Love
Poems & Other Messages for Bruce Springsteen, edited by Jennifer Bosveld (Pudding
House). From 2000-2006 she served as board president of The Poets’ & Writers’
League of Greater Cleveland, now known as The Lit, and for two years during that term
was co-editor of Ohio Writer. Her poetry has appeared in approximately 80 publications,
ranging from Rolling Stone to Whiskey Island. An award-winning journalist, Gail is
executive food editor of Restaurant Hospitality and most recently received a first place
award in the 2009 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards. In addition, she is host of a
new audio series, “A Cook and a Book,” produced by The Front Porch Media Network.
Raymond Bobgan
Theatre
Raymond Bobgan was recently selected by American Theatre as 1 of 25 artists shaping
the future of American theatre. As Executive Artistic Director of Cleveland Public
Theatre, Bobgan has directed several lauded productions, including Osama the Hero,
The Other Shore and a radical interpretation of Our Town. Bobgan has created over 20
new performances and initiated, designed and implemented numerous outreach
projects, including a job training program for inner city teens, after-school arts for youth
residents of public housing and theatre creation and production by residents of a
treatment center for homeless men. Bobgan’s theatrical work has been featured in
American Theatre Magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Journal and
Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research. His work has been seen in numerous countries
and throughout the United States. He is an alumnus of the Theatre Communications
Group / Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artist Residency Program and the TCG /
National Endowment for the Arts Career Development Program for Directors and was
recently awarded an Artistic Excellence fellowship by the Ohio Arts Council. Bobgan is a
graduate of the University of Akron and is a yearly guest artist at Humber College.
Domenico Boyadjian
Music
Domenico Boyagian is an up-and-coming conductor quickly proving himself to be
equally comfortable with both the orchestral and operatic repertory. Boyagian was born
and raised in Bologna, Italy, where he began his musical studies at age 6. For the past
two years, he was one of only ten applicants to be accepted from a pool of 100
conductors to participate in the courses of Orchestral Conducting with Maestro Gianluigi
Gelmetti at the world renowned Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Mr.
Boyagian’s most recent engagements include conducting the Sofia National Orchestra
(Bulgaria) and conducting a benefit concert with the Saint Ann Chamber Orchestra in
December 2009, of which he is currently its Music Director. He recently assisted
Maestro Harry Davidson in a production of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Haydn’s Lo
Speziale at the Cleveland Institute of Music and collaborated on a unique project
involving CIM students and the Accademia Nazionale of Santa Cecilia in Rome: a
memorial concert honoring the victims of 9/11. Boyagian received a Bachelor of Music
in Piano Performance from California State University, Northridge and a Master of
Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Allan Byrne
Theatre
Allan Byrne is an adjunct assistant professor at Cleveland State University, where he
teaches Acting, Directing, Voice, Movement, Theatre History, Text Analysis, Make Up,
Drama in Film and Intro to Fiction. He recently directed "The Oresteia" for CSU. Byrne
has also taught movement in the CWRU Professional Actor Training Program, as well
as voice in their undergraduate program. For seven years, Byrne was Director of the
Port House Theatre Intern Program, where he developed his method of movement
training based on Eastern techniques, and directed the interns in several
Shakespearean productions. He has directed for Dobama Theatre and The Cleveland
Shakespeare Festival. Byrne is also one of the original members and former President
of the board of directors of the critically acclaimed Charenton Theatre Company. He has
acted with The Yale Repertory, The Pittsburgh Public and many local theatres, and he
was recently featured as General Wolf in the PBS film The War That Made America.
Byrne trained in the Suzuki method at Stage West, where he performed in a production
of "Hamlet" that was the cover story of American Theatre Magazine. He holds an MFA
from Temple University’s Professional Actor Program.
Neil Chastain
Music
Neil Chastain is a professional percussionist, composer, DJ, producer and a multitalented musician with a wide variety of experience and training in diverse genres
ranging from jazz to classical, Latin to electronic, African drumming to rock, funk and
hip-hop. He has been working as a professional teaching artist since 1996. Chastain
has toured and performed internationally and has taught at all grade levels. He regularly
conducts professional development workshops for educators throughout Northeast Ohio
and has presented his work to educators at Teachers College at Columbia University.
He currently performs and tours with Kokolo, an Afrobeat band from New York City.
Chastain has toured Europe extensively this year, with Kokolo playing venues in major
cities continent-wide. He was the co-founder and music director of the highly acclaimed
SAFMOD multi-media performance ensemble that began in Michigan and made its
home in Cleveland from 1995 to 2008. Chastain also records and performs as Pureplex,
an amalgamation of Latin and funk rhythms, electronic programming fused with live
instruments ranging from horns to percussion, and diverse vocal styles. He is a
graduate of the University of Michigan’s Center for Performing Arts and Technology.
Mikaela Clark
Dance
Mikaela Clark has been studying dance since the age of 10, when she first recognized
her curiosity towards movement. After training in ballet and modern dance for nine
years near her childhood home in Texas, she sought further education abroad and
nationally, experiencing dance in many forms in the Solomon Islands, Australia and
Cleveland. In 2007, she became a company member with Inlet Dance Theatre and
made Cleveland her home. She currently enjoys performing and teaching with the
company throughout Ohio and internationally, as well as working to create her own art.
Recent choreographic collaborations with Mackenzie Clevenger have premiered at
Cleveland Public Theatre and Ingenuity Festival. Their work infuses dance with visual
art and theatre, thus transporting people into a surrealistic environment in which they
may experience everyday human issues from a different perspective. Clark plans to
continue this partnership with Clevenger in the upcoming year and hopes to continue to
investigate new ways of using dance to capture imaginations and be a catalyst for
positive change, healing and growth. Clark studied contemporary dance at the Wesley
Institute for the Arts and Theology in Sydney, Australia.
Eric Coble
Theatre
Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised on the Navajo and Ute
reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. His plays include “Bright Ideas”, “The Dead
Guy”, “Natural Selection” and “For Better”, and have been produced Off-Broadway,
throughout the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan
Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of
Louisville Humana Festival, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Alliance Theatre,
The Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory,
Stages Repertory, Great Lakes Theater Festival and The Contemporary American
Theatre Festival. Awards include an Emmy nomination, the AT&T Onstage Award,
National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence
Grant, a TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, the Cleveland Arts Prize and two Ohio Arts
Council Individual Excellence Grants. Coble is a member of the Cleveland Play House
Playwrights Unit, as well as a writer for the syndicated television series “Ask Gilby”, and
currently is exploring options for three of his screenplays. Coble earned his Bachelor’s
in English from Fort Lewis College and his MFA from Ohio University.
Sarah Gridley
Literature
Sarah Gridley is the author of two books of poetry: Weather Eye Open (University of
California Press, 2005), and Green is the Orator (forthcoming from the University of
California Press in 2010). Her poems have appeared in various journals, including
Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Gulf Coast, jubilat and New American Poetry. Gridley is
a recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council and the
Merriam Frontier Award for Excellence in Creative Writing. In addition, Poets & Writers
selected her as one of “eighteen debut poets who made their mark in 2005”. Gridley
serves as an assistant professor of creative writing in poetry at Case Western Reserve
University and previously was a visiting professor of poetry at the University of Iowa
Writers’ Workshop. She has also assisted in jurying writing competitions, including the
University of Iowa Book Prize and the Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s Open
Book Competition. Gridley earned a Bachelor’s in English and American Literature from
Harvard University and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Montana.
David Hansen
Theatre
David Hansen is Associate Supervisor of Great Lakes Theater Festival’s School
Residency Program, as well as the organization’s grantwriter. He is also a member of
the Playwrights Unit at Cleveland Play House. A co-founder of Guerrilla Theater
Company, and creator of Dobama’s Night Kitchen, Hansen’s often socially-pointed work
has resulted in productions like You Have the Right to Remain Silent!, Bummer, This
Vicious Cabaret and The Gulf. His The Vampyres was produced at Dobama Theatre
and Cleveland Public Theatre, and his solo performance And Then You Die (How I Ran
a Marathon in 26.2 Years) was recently presented at the New York International Fringe
Festival. His award-winning solo performance on stillbirth, I Hate This (a play without
the baby) has been performed in cities throughout the United States and Great Britain
and was also adapted into a radio drama for NPR. His latest one-act, The Dark Side of
Twilight was commissioned by Great Lakes Theater Festival. With his wife Toni K.
Thayer, he helped produced the award-winning audio diary for WCPN ideastream, The
Naked Truth: Spencer Tunick in Cleveland. Hansen has been a contributor to
Cleveland Magazine, Muse and angle. He received his BFA from Ohio University.
Ernie Krivda
Music
In 2009, Ernie Krivda received the Cleveland Arts Prize award for lifetime achievement
in music. That same year saw the release of perhaps his most adventurous recording,
the solo saxophone improvisations of November Man. In a career that spans almost 50
years, Krivda has earned the respect of his peers and the accolades of critics who have
called him one of the greatest jazz tenor saxophonists in the world. His very personal
and distinctive improvisational style, along with his unique compositions, has been
documented on the 28 recordings under his name and many others as a guest artist.
This last decade has been his most prolific, with eight releases since 2003 and one
more due out in 2010. Since that time, he has shared the stage with some of the great
names in jazz, having performed with artists ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Jackie
Wilson. Krivda’s music takes him across the United States and into the concert halls of
Europe and Japan. He also is a highly respected teacher and clinician who mentored
many young jazz musicians working on the world jazz scene. He currently performs with
his own small groups, his Fat Tuesday Big Band and as a solo performer. Krivda
attended both Baldwin Wallace College and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Dianne McIntyre
Dance
Dianne McIntyre established her choreographic career in New York City for 30 years
before returning to her native Cleveland in 2003. In modern dance, she has
choreographed both for her own company Sounds in Motion, and numerous other
companies nationwide, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dancing Wheels,
Dallas Black Dance Theatre and American Dance Festival. Her theatre choreography
includes Broadway – recently Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson – OffBroadway, London’s West End and more than 30 regional productions. Among
McIntyre’s film and television credits are Beloved and Miss Evers’ Boys, which garnered
her an Emmy nomination. Other awards include a 2007 John S. Guggenheim
Fellowship, a 2006 Cleveland Arts Prize, three Bessies (NY Dance and Performance
Award), a 2009 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from State University of New York
Purchase College and numerous grants and fellowships from the National Endowment
for the Arts. She performs with four other choreographers in FLY: Five First Ladies of
Dance, scheduled to tour in 2010. McIntyre received a BFA in Dance from The Ohio
State University.
Ida Mercer
Music
Ida Mercer is a member of the cello faculty, chairman of the String Department and
cellist of the Almeda Trio at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. In addition, she is a
cello instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Music / Case Western Reserve University. A
founding member of the Cleveland Cello Society, she currently serves as its Program
Chair. In that capacity, she has collaborated with, among others, jazz legend Dave
Brubeck, and Polaris Prize-winning Canadian composer, Owen Pallett, presenting world
premieres of their compositions for cello ensemble. She is a cellist in the Cleveland
Pops, was a cellist and founding board member of Red {an orchestra} from 2002 to
2008 and was Assistant Principal Cellist of the Opera Cleveland Orchestra from 1982 to
2009. She held the same position in the Ohio Chamber Orchestra from 1982 to 2000.
Since 1990, Mercer has been a cellist in the Britt Classical Festival. In 2002, the Ohio
String Teacher’s Association named her “Studio Teacher of the Year” for Ohio. Mercer
holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Illinois, a Master of Music from the Yale
University School of Music and her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Cleveland
Institute of Music / Case Western Reserve University.
Debra Nagy
Music
Debra Nagy has been called “a baroque oboist of consummate taste and expressivity”
(Cleveland Plain Dealer). Nagy performs frequently with baroque ensembles and
orchestras nationwide and has been heard at the international Early Music Festivals of
Boston, Berkeley, Regensburg and Antwerp. She also directs the Cleveland-based
ensemble Les Délices, and is a member of the shawm band, Ciaramella. In June
2009, Nagy released her first feature CD with Les Délices; the disc has received critical
acclaim in the local and national media and was recently featured in the audio-guide to
a special exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Nagy was the winner
of the 2002 American Bach Soloists Young Artist Competition, was the recipient of a
2002 – 2003 Belgian American Educational Foundation Grant and received a fellowship
from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2009. She can be heard in
recordings on the Capstone, Bright Angel, Naxos, CPO, Delos, Yarlung and ATMA
labels. She currently directs the Collegium Musicum and teaches courses in
performance practice as a Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University. Nagy is a
graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and Case Western Reserve University.
Charles Oberndorf
Literature
Charles Oberndorf is a native of Cleveland and the author of three novels and five short
stories. He teaches English at University School, where he is the Chi Waggoner Chair in
Middle School. Oberndorf has also worked with adult writers, both at Imagination 2 and
facilitating CSU's Cleveland Public Workshop during five different semesters. He is a
recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Grant and has written book reviews for the Cleveland
Plain Dealer, The Volunteer: The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and The New
York Review of Science Fiction. He has numerous pieces of writing published by
Bantram Spectra, as well as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He is
currently finishing up a novel about marriage and memory, as well as working on a
biographical novel about Abe Osheroff. Osheroff became involved in radical politics at
age 16 in Brooklyn, New York, went on to fight in the Spanish Civil War, enlisted to fight
in World War II, built a community center during Freedom Summer in 1964, fought land
developers on the Venice canals and built housing for a farm cooperative in Nicaragua
in 1985. Oberndorf is a graduate of Dartmouth College, where he studied Anthropology
modified by creative writing.
Kristin Ohlson
Literature
Kristin Ohlson is the author of the award-winning memoir Stalking the Divine and a coauthor of the New York Times bestselling Kabul Beauty School. A California-born,
Cleveland-based writer, Ohlson has published articles and essays in the New York
Times (magazine and newspaper), Salon.com, Smithsonian.com, Oprah, Ladies Home
Journal, More, Ms, Gourmet, Eating Well, Food & Wine, Vegetarian Times, Utne,
Discover, New Scientist, Preservation, American Archaeology, American Legacy,
Wildlife Conservation, Tin House, Brain-Child and Poets & Writers, and has published
short fiction in award-winning literary magazines such as West Branch and the Indiana
Review. Her personal essay called “Faith in the Baby” appeared in a 2003 anthology
from Salon.com called Life As We Know It, and she was the recipient of an Ohio Arts
Council fellowship for fiction in 2004. Her Gourmet article about dining out in Kabul is
included in Best American Travel Writing 2008. She occasionally teaches writing
classes to women either in or recently released from prison through the Women’s
Reentry program. Ohlson is a graduate of Cleveland State University and Bennington
College.
Chris Seibert
Theatre
As a performer, director, and playwright, Chris Seibert develops new plays, reinvented
classics, solo works and original adaptations. In 27 years of performing, she has
appeared in a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional performance venues.
Notable solo works include the multi-media one-woman performance Cut to Pieces, cocreated with Raymond Bobgan; and the co-created solo performance Split, which
earned Critic’s Choice in the Chicago Reader. Seibert is the recipient of a 1997 Chicago
C.A.A.P. grant for multi-disciplinary performance, and her co-written screenplay Moon
Tooth was a semi-finalist in the 2001 Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project. As Cleveland
Public Theatre’s Director of Education, Seibert facilitates the production and tour of
original theatre works, working collaboratively with Cleveland inner-city teens, children
in public housing and adults in recovery to create original performances based on the
participant’s life experiences. Through the Council of International Programs USA, she
recently traveled to Istanbul as part of a contingent of arts professionals working with
Turkish artists in the development of arts programs for marginalized urban youth.
Seibert holds a BA in Theatre and Women’s Studies from Loyola University Chicago.
David Shimotakahara
Dance
David Shimotakahara is founder and Artistic Director of GroundWorks Dancetheater.
Previously, he founded and was Director of New Steps and served as Rehearsal
Assistant for Ohio Ballet. Shimotakahara has been a member of the Atlanta Ballet,
Boston Repertory Ballet, Kathryn Posin Dance Company and the Pittsburgh Ballet
Theater. In addition, he has choreographed for opera and theater with the Cleveland
Opera, Great Lakes Theater Festival and the Dallas Theater Center. He has received 6
consecutive Individual Artist Fellowships for Choreography from the Ohio Arts Council
from 1996 to 2007. In 1998, he received a McKnight Foundation Fellowship from the
Minnesota Dance Alliance to create new work in the Minneapolis and St. Paul
communities. Shimotakahara was awarded the 2000 Cleveland Arts Prize for Dance,
and in 2002, his work with GroundWorks Dancetheater was voted “One of 25 to Watch”
by Dance Magazine. In 2007, he received the OhioDance award for Outstanding
Contributions to the Advancement of the Dance Artform and was a 2008 recipient of the
first COSE Arts and Business Innovation awards as the founder of GroundWorks
DanceTheater. Shimotakahara attended Lower Canada College.
Robin VanLear
Interdisciplinary
Robin VanLear is a sculptor and performance artist with her own company, Art Acts,
which she founded in 1978. VanLear joined the Education Department of the Cleveland
Museum of Art in 1989 and now serves as the organization’s Artistic Director of
Community Arts. In 1990, she designed the first Parade the Circle in preparation for the
museum’s 75th anniversary and has been the event’s artistic director throughout its 20year history. During her 20 years in Cleveland, Van Lear has designed performances,
installations, masks, sets and costumes for The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Opera
on Tour, Playhouse Square, Cleveland Public Theatre, GroundWorks Dancetheater,
Lake View Cemetery and the annual Ingenuity Festival. Van Lear also founded the
Museum of Arts’ Chalk Festival and Winter Lights Lantern Festival. She is the recipient
of a 1995 Ohio Arts Council Professional Development Grant, the 2001 Cleveland Arts
Prize Robert P. Bergman Award, the 2001 Governor’s Award for Arts outreach, the
2002 Joseph Piggott Award and the 2007 Judson Smart Living Award. Internationally,
she has designed prize-winning carnival bands in Great Britain and Trinidad and
Tobago. Van Lear holds an MFA from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Sarah Willis
Literature
Sarah Willis’ first novel, Some Things That Stay (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000), was a
New York Times Notable Book of the Year, won the Stephen Crane Award for First
Fiction 2000, was awarded The 2000 Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature and was
adapted into a film. Her other novels are The Rehearsal (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2001),
A Good Distance (Berkley, 2004), and The Sound of Us (Berkley 2005). Her short
stories have been published in Book Magazine, Confrontation, Crescent Review,
Tampa Review, Vincent Brothers Review, Rockford Review, Whiskey Island Review,
Riverwind, No Roses Review, Artful Dodge, The Missouri Review, Chautauqua: 20th
Anniversary of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center and the anthology Our Mothers Our
Selves. Sarah has taught creative writing classes at numerous writer’s workshops and
colleges, including Hiram college, John Carroll University, Cleveland State University,
The Columbus Writers Conference, The Writer’s Center at Chautauqua and the Maui
Writer’s Retreat. She has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Willis earned
her degree in Theatre from Case Western Reserve University.
Creative Workforce Fellowship
Alternate Biographies
Alternates are selected to replace recipients
if a recipient is unable to accept the CWF award.
Robin Pease
Theatre
Robin Pease is Founding Artistic Director of Kulture Kids, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to promoting and enhancing arts and cultural awareness for kids of all
ages. She has directed young actors in nontraditional and traditional spaces at Hiram
College, Hawken School, Notre Dame College of Ohio and Lakeland Community
College. She has been the Artist-in-Residence at Hathaway Brown School and Laurel
School, as well as for the New Jersey and Nebraska State Arts Councils and the Idaho
Commission on the Arts. Pease is a member of Actors Equity Association and the
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and is on the roster of artists for
PlayhouseSquare’s Department of Community Engagement and Education, Young
Audiences of Northeast Ohio and New Jersey, the Cleveland Play House and the Ohio
State-Based Collaborative Initiative. She has presented her work in numerous places,
including the Kennedy Center, the International Children’s Games, the Ohio Library
Diversity Conference and the Once Upon A Time Storytelling Conference. Pease has a
BFA in theatre from The Boston Conservatory and an MFA in theatre from Case
Western Reserve University.
Howie Smith
Music
A virtuoso saxophonist and composer, Howie Smith does not easily fit into a single
category. As a performer, he has worked with musicians, organizations and composers
as diverse as Lester Bowie, John Cage, the Cleveland Orchestra, Iron Toys and Elvis
Presley. His recorded performances range from the big bands of Phil Wilson and Frank
Mantooth to the Australian quartet Jazz Co/op to saxophone concertos by David Baker,
Salvatore Martirano and Edward Miller. He has also presented numerous concerts and
workshops throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and
Australia. His compositions include works for big bands and combos; string, wind and
percussion ensembles; electronics; and mixed media. Smith has received two Fulbright
grants, was awarded the 1986 Cleveland Arts Prize for Music and has been the
recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council on seven different
occasions. He has twice served as co-chair of both the Jazz Fellowships and the Music
Overview panels of the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been associated with
Yamaha as an artist / clinician since 1971. Smith received a Master of Science from the
University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Ithaca College.
CPAC 2009 – 2010 Board of Trustees
Tim Mueller, chair, CPAC Board of Trustees, president, PHYlogy
Linda Abraham Silver, secretary, president and CEO, Great Lakes Science Center
Harriet Applegate, executive secretary, North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor
Thomas Chema, member-at-large, president, Hiram College
Jan Culver, treasurer, director, wealth advisory services, Key Bank, NA
Robert E. Eckardt, senior vice president for programs and evaluation, The Cleveland Foundation
Gary Hanson, executive director, The Cleveland Orchestra
Sheryl L. Hoffman, director, government relations, major and planned gifts, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Charles W. Keiper II, commissioner, Portage County
Dennis M. Lafferty, director of office operations and client/civic relations, Jones Day
Peter Lawson Jones, commissioner, Cuyahoga County
Steve Millard, vice chair, president and executive director, Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE)
Greg Peckham, executive director, Cleveland Public Art
John Ryan, state director, US Senator Sherrod Brown
Mary Samide, commissioner, Geauga County
Terrence Spivey, artistic director, Karamu House
Karin Stone, vice chair, marketing consultant
CPAC Staff
Thomas B. Schorgl, president and CEO
Megan Van Voorhis, vice president
Peggy Barnes, office manager
Seth Beattie, program manager
Heather Furman, graduate assistant
Valerie Schumacher, program associate
Kristin Tarajack, research manager
CPAC Advisors
Kathleen Cerveny, director, evaluation and institutional learning, The Cleveland Foundation
Deena Epstein, senior program officer, The George Gund Foundation
CPAC appreciates the generous support of:
THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION
The CWF program is generously supported by Cuyahoga
County residents through a grant from:
And is a program of:
Tower Press Building
1900 Superior Avenue
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