“The five-member board of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, which administers revenue from the county’s 10-year, 30-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes, voted unanimously Monday evening to ask County Council to put a referendum to renew the arts levy on the Nov. 3 ballot,” writes Steven Litt in Tuesday’s (4/14) Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio). “Voters originally approved the levy in 2006. Before that vote, the county’s highly regarded nonprofit cultural sector received relatively thin local public funding. After the county levy, Cuyahoga became one of the most highly ranked metro areas in the country in terms of local public support for the arts…. In 2014, programs funded by the agency drew total attendance of nearly 6 million from across the county and beyond…. Speaking before the board’s vote, Joe Marinucci, the president of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, said downtown’s current renaissance would not be as successful without the city’s robust arts sector. Organized opposition to the levy renewal has not yet emerged.” A Triad Research Group survey of 600 Cuyahoga County registered voters in December “showed that 80 percent of respondents viewed arts and culture organizations and activities ‘at the top of things making Cuyahoga County an attractive place to live.’ ”
Posted April 15, 2015
