The Cleveland Arts Prize acknowledges, honors, and celebrates creative excellence among us through the awarding of prizes to persons who are the creators of original works of art, rather than to persons who are performers or interpreters of other artists’ work. Arts Prizes are awarded in the fields of architecture, dance, literature, music, and the visual arts for work that has, through its consistent high quality, brought distinction to its creator and to the Greater Cleveland area, as well as to the organizations, if any, with which the artist has been associated. Prize winners are individuals who have made Greater Cleveland their artistic home, although they need not be natives or current residents of the area. However, preference is given to actively contributing members of the Greater Cleveland arts community. The Cleveland Arts Prize Committee generally defines the Greater Cleveland area as Cuyahoga County and the counties contiguous to it (Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties). Cleveland Arts Prize juries generally find corroboration of creative excellence in the fact that the work under consideration has received national recognition as well as local and regional attention. In addition to these general criteria, the Cleveland Arts Prize juries rely on criteria specific to the character of their disciplines. These are enumerated here. In seeking nominations from the public, the Cleveland Arts Prize Committee desires to expand its base of knowledge of meritorious artists and arts patrons. Nominations that are accompanied by a nominee’s resumé and representations of his/her work are thus very helpful to the Arts Prize juries. However, we ask that you provide these backup materials ONLY if it is possible to secure them without divulging their purpose to the nominee. As Greater Cleveland is blessed with many more creative individuals than we can honor each year, we wish to maintain the confidentiality of our decision-making process.

1. The prize shall be awarded to a choreographer who has created a distinctive voice in dance.

2. The prize shall be awarded for sustained achievement, reflected in a significant body of work which has been awarded critical acclaim and presented in the Greater Cleveland area.

3. The prize shall be awarded for work that has not only been recognized locally and regionally, but has also attracted national attention. Among the signs that the work has achieved national attention are: that it has been reviewed or written about in national newspapers, magazines, and/or dance journals; that the choreographer has either been commissioned by an organization outside this geographic area to create a new work or to set an existing work on a dance company in another region; that the choreographer’s work has gained visibility through touring.

4. In any year, the Dance Jury may recommend that NO prize be awarded.

5. A nomination will be, if possible, accompanied by the nominee’s résumé and videos of the nominee’s work with each dance identified as to title, number of dancers, music and composer, date, and place of first performance. In addition, copies of reviews, feature articles, and any other documentation that supports the nomination will be helpful to the jury. Because nominations are considered confidential, please make every effort to secure these materials without the knowledge of the nominee.

6. Background materials, which will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope, should be sent under separate cover to: Cleveland Arts Prize, P.O. Box 21126, South Euclid, Ohio 44121-0126.

The Cleveland Arts Prize Nominations

Architecture

Dance

Literature

Music

Visual Arts

Special Citation for Distinguished Service to the Arts

The Robert P. Bergman Prize

Dance Criteria> Nominations