Culture + Arts

Amy Arbus’ striking portraits beautifully capture the essence and energy of Cleveland’s performing artists and the remarkable gifts they bring to our community. Arbus has published four books of her photographs, and her work is in many prestigious collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Arbus’ photographs have appeared in more than 100 periodicals, and she has had 21 solo exhibitions around the world. She also teaches portraiture at the International Center of Photography, Maine Media Workshops and the Fine Arts Work Center. The Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the arts because we recognize that their innovation and creativity are essential to our community’s continued vitality. The talented actors, dancers and musicians pictured in this report, and so many others like them, make Cleveland a more rewarding, interesting and lively place to live and work. We are richer because of their presence.

The photographs created for the 1998 annual report by Larry Fink beautifully capture the creativity and energy which reverberate through the hallways and classrooms of the Cleveland School of the Arts. Fink’s work has been included in major museum exhibitions throughout the world, and he has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Foundation commissioned these photographs as a reflection of its commitment to create educational excellence for all children in the Cleveland Public Schools and its conviction that the arts can play a major role in achieving that excellence.