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 - April 27. 

Discipline awards are application-based only. You do not have to be nominated in order to apply. 

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 who has worked or has been influential in the Northeast Ohio region over a period of decades and whose artistic achievements have brought distinction to the artist individually and to our 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 Winner,  Mid-Career Prize Winner, and Lifetime Achievement Winner.

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

Jurors are announced during the application window. 

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 open December 8, 2025 - January 7, 2026

Verge Fellowships are generously supported by grants from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and The Cleveland Foundation.

OVERVIEW | The Verge Fellowships provide unrestricted monetary stipends to promising, developing artists within and across multiple disciplines. Like the Cleveland Arts Prize awards, the Verge Fellowship rewards artists in the Literary Arts, Visual Arts, Dance, Theatre, Music, and Design, as well as interdisciplinary practices.

DESCRIPTION | 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 exhibitions or other discipline specific opportunities.

GOALS

• Provide unrestricted financial resources to promising practicing artists.
• Provide guidance for developing artists by trusted community partners.
• Identify and celebrate diverse Cleveland-area artists through an inclusive and accessible selection process. 

AWARDS

CAP will award five (5) Verge Fellowships annually an unrestricted stipend of $2,000. In addition to the award, Verge fellows will have the opportunity to participate in a photoshoot, award ceremony, and promotional media opportunities.

SELECTION

CAP will work with arts and culture partners throughout the northeast Ohio region in the selection process and year of fellowship.

2026 Verge Jurors will be announced during the application window.

ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATION

Verge Fellows are part of the CAP fabric and will be integrated in various ways. Including:

• Thought partners for ongoing Verge Fellowship program improvements
• Engaged as performers and presenters for CAP programming

RACIAL EQUITY

Intentional efforts to promote the Verge Fellowship to developing artists of color will be implemented. The partnerships with arts and culture organizations representing Cleveland’s diverse communities and arts perspectives are essential to the program's progress. CAP will maintain a standard of racial equity training for all Trustees of the Board.

The application consists of: 

• 2 work samples
• Artist statement (250 word max) [Tips for writing an artist statement]
• Short Bio (250 word max)
• Optional support materials: website, links to reviews, additional video/audio file of work, letters of reference, etc.

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.

Determination of Winners

1. The winning entries will be selected by the Cleveland Arts Prize Verge Jury. The Jury is comprised of CAP committee members and community partners. Their decision will be final and no further correspondence shall be considered.
2. Entries will be judged on the strength of which submissions meet the following criteria:

• Quality of work
• Dedication to craft
• Intention and goals of the artist as indicated in Artist Statement and Bio.

The winners will be selected and notified in early February 2026.

There is no fee to apply.

The prize for each 5 VERGE Fellowships is an unrestricted $2,000.

Winners will be notified via email or phone and announced through all Cleveland Arts Prize social media outlets.

Intellectual Property

1. Cleveland Arts Prize may use for any Cleveland Arts Prize promotional purposes, including, but not limited to display on websites, programming, and other physical and virtual materials.
2. CAP reserves the right to choose not to use the winning entries as described in these guidelines.
3. Cleveland Arts Prize reserves the right to use any other entry for promotional purposes in the future.

Disclaimer

1. CAP is not responsible for late, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, or otherwise unusable entries, including entries that are lost or unusable due to computer, internet, or electronic problems.
2. CAP is not liable, for the purpose of winner and prize notification and delivery, in the event the applicant has provided incorrect, outdated, or otherwise invalid contact information.

CAP reserves the right to withdraw or disqualify an application or nomination from consideration if (i) the candidate is ineligible based on established requirements for the award, or (ii) if the candidate's past or present actions or behavior are unlawful or if, in the sole discretion of the Board, are harmful to the integrity or reputation of CAP or the award.