Cuyahoga Falls schools awarded grants for art initiatives
The Cuyahoga Falls City School District was recently awarded four grants to support year-long artistresidencies and interdisciplinary art program among students, staff, and the community.
The district received three grants from the Ohio Arts Council, one for the high school and one each for Bolich and Roberts middle schools. The Cuyahoga Falls schools also received a grant from the GAR Foundation to support a year-long artist residency project called Home is where the heART is.
This community-wide project is divided into three phases: research, create, and design, and will culminate in a new permanent art piece that will be prominently displayed in Cuyahoga Falls’ new 6-12th grade building, which is scheduled to open in during the 2025-26 school year.
Jennifer Schulman, a Cuyahoga Falls High School art teacher and organizer for Cuyahoga Falls CitySchool District’s All City ArtWalk, conceived of the project and submitted the grant applications toprovide students, staff, and community members with the opportunity to learn and contribute to an art piece that celebrates what Cuyahoga Falls and Silver Lake means as home, inspiring future generations and welcoming new perspectives.
“I was honored to be asked to create a large-scale mural with students for the new 6-12 building,” said Schulman. “This epic opportunity for student artists to make their mark in the new space I felt needed to include both the high school and middle school levels. I knew that coordinating this type of vast collaboration would require more personnel and professional expertise. The Ohio Arts Council TeachOhio Grant was the perfect opportunity to enable us to have resident artists help coordinate and provide the knowledge and experience needed to accomplish such an incredible project.”
Allyse and Mac Love, of Art x Love have been selected as the artists-in-residence for the project and are already working with students and staff on the first phase of the project. Art x Love’s office and studio are returning to downtown Akron after spending the last 3 years in Bath.
“We are honored and excited for this interdisciplinary collaboration with the Cuyahoga Falls City School District and the community,” says Mac Love, Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst at Art x Love, and the high school artist in residence. “The students are just beginning to tap into their creative potential to dive into the project’s prompt. Home is where the heART is gives us an opportunity to teach them how to excel as creative professionals across a wide range of disciplines, all while learning about and deepening their appreciation of the incredible history, people, places, and experiences that make Cuyahoga Falls and Silver Lake a unique place to live, work, and play.”
The Ohio Art Council awarded a total of $35,000 to the District for this year-long artist residency, which includes 50 days in the high school and 25 days in each of the middle schools with Art x Love. Local and guest artists will also be part of the curriculum, sharing their creative process andjourney with the students for further learning. The GAR Foundation awarded an additional $8,000 tocover the project cost of materials and provide the supplies for students to present portions of the mural at the Cuyahoga Falls All City Art Walk on April 25, 2024, from 5-8 p.m.
Home is where the heART is surveys can be found at local community and cultural centers acrossCuyahoga Falls, and can also be submitted online. Participants do not need to be current residents of Cuyahoga Falls or Silver Lake to share their input. Take the survey, learn more, and get involvedat https://artxlove.com/heart or by contacting Art x Love at 330-238-8588.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cuyahoga Falls schools awarded grants for art for middle, high schools
