News & Events _ Cleveland Arts Prize

NEWS & EVENTS:

Bergman named new executive director
of Cleveland Arts Prize

Monday, Nov. 13, 4:59 p.m.
By Karen Sandstrom
Plain Dealer Reporter

Educator and arts advocate Marcie Bergman is the new executive director of the Cleveland Arts Prize. She replaces Terri Pontremoli, who resigned in August. The non-profit organization was formed by the Women's City Club in 1960 as a way to honor local artists. This year's awards — the first since organizers took a hiatus in 2004 to reassess the mission — emphasized emerging and mid-career artists and recognized lifetime achievers.

Prizes also are established in the name of arts prize founder Martha J. Joseph and in the name of former Cleveland Museum of Art director Robert P. Bergman, who died in May 1999. Marcie Bergman, who was married to Robert, served as chairman of the special prizes committee this year. She said she is passionate about leading the organization.
“I really believe in the mission,” Bergman said. “If you look at the record of who's been awarded prizes and what they've gone on to do, it only reaffirms the importance of this.”

Honorees have included poet Mary Oliver, the late photographer Masumi Hayashi, and architect Philip Johnson. Singer Jimmy Scott was a 2006 winner of the Martha J. Joseph prize for vocalists. Nationally known architects, choreographers, composers and novelists, as well as local arts supporters, comprise the roster of past recipients.

Bergman has a 30-year career in education and taught English for two years at Hawken School. She also has worked in development for the United Way and directed a project for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. She recently earned a certificate in nonprofit management at Case Western Reserve University. As executive director of the Cleveland Arts Prize, she'll focus on implementing the mission of increasing the prize's visibility, begun under Pontremoli's leadership. It's a part-time job that oversees an operating budget of roughly $80,000. An endowment supports the awards themselves.

She lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband, Alan Rauss, chairman of the board of the Cleveland Play House. Pontremoli lives in Lakewood but serves as executive director of the Detroit International Jazz Festival, and says, “My heart is really in jazz.” She was hired as the arts prize director in 2004, and says,“I really knew I was in there in a transitional capacity. I have this other event that's taking up a lot of my time.” To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

ksandstrom@plaind.com, 216-999-4810

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