Creative Workforce Fellowship

Stephen Yusko received a one-year, $20,000 fellowship for outstanding work as an artist in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Out of 310 applicants in craft, design, media and visual artists, Yusko was announced on as one of 20 artists to receive a Creative Workforce Fellowship. The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC), the organization that operates the program, convened a panel of seven experts from around the country to judge the applications. After six weeks of studying the entire applicant pool at home, followed by a four-day public adjudication session they unanimously approved the 20 finalists.  Applications were anonymous to the panel, and were judged based on artistic merit and a written statement about how the artists would use the Fellowship.

“This Fellowship is a tribute to the benefits artists bring to Cuyahoga County,” said Tim Mueller, chair of CPAC’s Board of Trustees, “and our community’s investment in these artists shows our commitment to a strong and vibrant economic future.”

In addition to the financial award, Fellows receive a one-year membership to the COSE Arts Network, http://www.cosearts.org/ and a tuition waiver to CPAC’s Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute http://www.cpacbiz.org/business/ent.shtml.  Fellows are also featured in a professionally-designed catalogue at the conclusion of the Fellowship year.

CPAC launched the Creative Workforce Fellowship program with a grant it received from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture (CAC), a special unit of government established to receive and distribute local tobacco excise tax revenue dedicated to arts and culture support.

CPAC, a nonprofit organization, is dedicated to improving greater Cleveland by ensuring the artistic and economic success of its arts and culture community.