Cleveland Arts Prize promotes creativity in Northeast Ohio by honoring artists for artistic excellence and recognizes community leaders who help regional arts flourish. Cleveland Arts Prize (CAP) was established by the Women’s City Club in 1960, and continues today as the nation’s oldest municipal arts award and an ongoing platform for celebrating Northeast Ohio’s exceptional arts community. In its earliest years, the group commissioned the Arts Prize medal, launched a scholarship program and established an endowment that secured the annual awarding of prizes.

Discipline Awards

Applications are accepted March 1 - May 1. 

Discipline awards are application based only. Your nominee will be notified and sent the link to complete the application. Nominations do not have an effect on their application and are not seen by the jurors. Nominations must be submitted by April 1st in order to give the nominee adequate time to complete the application. 

Discipline Prize Criteria:

A body of original work that consistently exemplifies the highest level of artistic excellence as shown by but not limited to:

• Mastery of traditional skill and willingness to challenge status quo
• Awareness and/or acknowledgment of contemporary and/or changing schools of thought respective to discipline
• High level of continuity between artist statement and work 
• Regional, national and/or international recognition*
• Contributions to the canon of knowledge that will endure beyond the artist's life* 

*These criteria will be assessed relative to career level.

Applicants will be placed into career levels based on the following requirements:

Emerging Artist Award: Candidate is currently living in Northeast Ohio and has created significant work or projects and shows remarkable promise for further development of their artistic careers.

Mid-Career Artist Award: Candidate is currently residing or has previously resided in Northeast Ohio and whose work has received both regional and national recognition.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Candidate has worked in Northeast Ohio over a period of decades and whose artistic achievements have brought distinction to the artist individually and to the region as a whole.

Past Arts Prize winners are not eligible to win a prize in the same category more than once.

Applicants must currently or have previously lived or worked in Northeast Ohio. Only living artists can apply or be nominated for a discipline prize.

Special Prizes

Special Prize candidates are considered through nomination only. The nominator is responsible for soliciting no more than 5 letters of support in favor of the nominee.

The submission of support letters is the responsibility of the nominator. Nominations without support letters will not be considered.

The nominator for a special prize candidate may suggest the specific award they feel their candidate is best suited for, but the Cleveland Arts Prize Jury will make the final decision as to which Prize is awarded. Special Prize nominees are not notified of their nomination. 

Nominations are accepted March 1 - June 1. 

Special Prizes are honorary. Read more about them here.

Determination of Winners

Discipline Prize winners receive an unrestricted prize of $10,000 each. Special Prize recipients are honorary. 

Winning applicants are selected by the Cleveland Arts Prize Jury, composed of artists, community leaders, and past winners. Their decision will be final and no further correspondence shall be considered.

Discipline applicants are reviewed through a two tier process. Each discipline's respective juries put forth up to three finalists to be reviewed by what is called The Academy Jury. This is the second and final round of review of the finalists from each discipline. The Academy Jury determines the Emerging Prize Winners,  Mid-Career Prize Winners, and Lifetime Achievement Winner.

The Special Prize Jury members review all nominees and determine the winners for each of the Special Prizes. 

2024 Jurors

Disciplines Jurors:

Design Michael Cristoff, Emily Applebaum, Dan Cuffaro

Literature Matt Weinkam, Ray McNiece (CAP '21), Charles Oberndorf, Stephanie Ginese (CAP '23)

Music Emily Laurance, Theresa May (CAP '21), Liza Grossman (CAP '16)

Theatre and Dance Pamela Young (CAP '14), Dale Heinen, Joan Meggitt, Maureen Burns

Visual Art John Williams (CAP '18), Kerry Davis, Grace Chin, Michael Loderstedt, Emily Liebert, Janice Lessman-Moss (CAP '19)

Academy Jurors: Felise Bagley (CAP '15), Cindy Barber (CAP '07), Raymond Bobgan (CAP '14), Eric Coble (CAP '07), Michael Dalby, Jason Hanley, Kathryn Karipides (CAP '74), Jonathan Kurtz (CAP '12), Lisa Kurzner, Valerie Mayen (CAP '14), Deidre McPherson, Jeff Niesel, John Orlock, Fabio Polanco, Gabriel Pollack, Jan Ridgeway, Jeffrey Strean, Douglas Max Utter (CAP '13)

Special Prize Jurors: Regennia Williams, Letitia Lopez, Anna Vedouras, Fran Belkin

Arts Prize Discipline and Special Prize Winners will be announced on or around August 1.

Discipline Prize funds will be distributed in December of the winning year. 

INELIGIBILITY: Incomplete or late forms, past winners will not be considered.

VERGE Fellowships

Fellowship applications for the 2023/24 season have closed. 

Five (5) Verge Fellowships will be awarded annually an unrestricted stipend of $2,000. In addition to the awards, Verge fellows will have the opportunity to participate in a group and individual photoshoot, a recognition reception, and promotional media opportunities. 

DESCRIPTION |  In 2018, Cleveland Arts Prize, with support from the Cleveland Foundation, launched the (on the) Verge Fellowship to provide unrestricted monetary stipends to promising, developing artists within and across multiple disciplines. The program is designed to celebrate and support artists within initial, introductory levels of their artistry. The Verge Fellowship is intended to recognize and support artists on the verge of their arts career, at a level before they would be considered “emerging” artists, who demonstrate creativity, passion and commitment to their arts discipline. CAP will work with community partners to widely promote the Verge Fellowship, select winners and to support the artists during their fellowship period. This support may take the form of mentorship by CAP winners and exhibitions or other discipline specific opportunities by CAP partners.

Eligibility:

1. Only one application per person will be accepted.
2. Applicant must be at least 15 years of age.
3. Applicant must reside in the Northeast Ohio area.