Media Contact:
Andrea C. Turner, Communications Consultant 216-310-3496 or act_one@sbcglobal.net

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Cleveland Heights, Ohio — This summer, eight new public art projects will transform Cleveland Heights’ Coventry and Cedar Lee Arts Districts through a major initiative led by Heights Arts in partnership with local artists, business owners and district leaders, LAND studio, and the City of Cleveland Heights.

This project will invest over $250,000 into the Cedar Lee and Coventry business districts, with the timing coinciding with several milestones including Heights Arts 25th Anniversary, the branding of the Cedar Lee Arts District, and the 100th Anniversary of both the Cedar Lee Theatre and Cleveland Heights High School.

The City of Cleveland Heights solicited proposals for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars from local nonprofit organizations in June 2023. The city then awarded approximately $2.5 million to 15 nonprofit organizations including Cleveland Heights’ local multidisciplinary arts organization, Heights Arts.

Heights Arts contracted with LAND studio to work with its Public Art Project Team (PAPT) to create mini public art plans and manage a total of eight resulting projects in the Coventry and Cedar Lee districts.

Heights Arts Executive Director, Rachel Bernstein, is anticipating these installations after three years of working to make it come to fruition. “This project became possible through extraordinary collaboration,” says Bernstein. “From the City and our volunteer public art team to LAND studio, local business districts, building owners, and artists – so many people came together because they believe public art matters.”

In the Cedar Lee Arts District, over 200 artists applied to create murals for six buildings. Erin Guido and Kyra Wells of LAND studio helped narrow the list to 50, and together with the PAPT, narrowed the list to 30 artists and then a final 15 which were presented to the building owners, who were asked to respond with their top three artists. From there, the PAPT and LAND studio matched finalists with each building.

“As a business owner in the district, it’s so exciting for me to see the interaction between our community and local art,” says Emily Mitchell, owner of Mitchell’s Fine Chocolates and President of the Cedar Lee Special Improvement District (SID). “We have been putting in a lot of time and conscious thought into anchoring the creative economy in the Cedar Lee Arts District, and this project is the perfect expression of that work. By opening the buildings to public art, local business owners have committed to the lasting legacy of art in our city.”

The murals will be installed along Lee Road, covering the entirety of the Cedar Lee Arts District. With two murals north of Cedar, and four south of Cedar, these murals will help define the newly branded district as the center of arts and culture for the city. Artists were selected based on artistic quality, experience, site compatibility, and existing connections to Cleveland Heights. Selected artists and sites include:

• Thao Nguyen at the Cain Park Bicycle Building, 1904 Lee Road
• Crystal Miller and Ewuresi Archer at the Central Outreach Building, 2040 Lee Road
• Arlin Graff at the Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road
• Dante Rodriguez at the Green Olive Building, 2214 Lee Road
• Raphael Valdivieso at the Cozumel Mexican Restaurant Building, 2196 Lee Road
• Justin Michael Will at the Anatolia Office Building, 2280 Lee Road

“I’m so grateful to be chosen for this project,” says Will. “I have so many wonderful Cedar Lee memories, and I’m very excited to create something joyful and bright to share with the community!”

Jon Forman, building owner and President of Cleveland Cinemas says of the project, “The Cedar Lee Theatre is pleased to participate in the Cedar Lee Arts District mural project. Murals will add some color and excitement to the increasing activity in this important district.” This will be the second mural installed on the building. The first was installed as one of Heights Arts’ first public art projects in 2001, under the leadership of founding Executive Director Peggy Spaeth.

ARPA funds from Heights Arts and the Coventry Village SID will support the Coventry projects and help define the historic district on the north end at Mayfield Road and at Pekar Park at Euclid Heights Blvd.

As Coventry marks a significant milestone of its own, the district is showing off its iconic character and telling its story through public art. Jordan Wong has been selected to conceptualize and create a piece at the north end to celebrate the growing constellation of eateries which Cleveland Magazine called “Little Asia Town.” Toward the south end, Marika Shioiri-Clark has been chosen to invent an outdoor structure that serves as a performance space during concerts or public events, but also remains functional for families eating lunch or kids wanting to play. Both Wong and Shioiri-Clark have been excited to tap into the culture of Coventry for their projects, with Wong engaging local restaurant staff and Shioiri-Clark learning about the community-building practices exhibited in the district over the decades.

“Coventry will begin to feel and look a lot more like itself this year,” says Matt Moore, Executive Director of Coventry Village SID. “New businesses filling the neighborhood, clearer wayfinding between the 50 small businesses that are already here, and most importantly for the art — everything starts and ends with creativity in Coventry. That’s why we’re thrilled to partner for these two creative works which will book-end the street with beauty.”

Heights Arts will provide other opportunities to engage with new and existing public art. As the organization conferring the longest-running poet laureateship in the state of Ohio, Heights Arts will be commissioning local poets and community poetry in response to the art. The entire process is being documented on film to help encourage future funding for more public art in the city and provide information to interested artists about the process. Future public art is already in the works thanks to the City of Cleveland Heights recognizing Heights Arts’ original desire to bring art to the Noble and Taylor Road neighborhoods. Heights Arts and LAND studio have submitted a joint proposal to begin a public art plan for the Noble/Taylor Road corridor, and, if chosen, will begin engaging those communities later in the year.

Artist bios, renderings, installation updates, and additional public art project information are available at heightsarts.org/public-art/

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Heights Arts is a nonprofit, multi-disciplinary community arts organization in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The community’s proximity to University Circle, home to cultural destinations in Cleveland, has created a place rich with visual and literary artists, musical performers, art educators, administrators and others who make their livelihood in the visual, performing or literary arts. Heights Arts contributes to the region’s artistic vitality by showing and selling artworks by regional artists at Heights Arts Gallery and Store, presenting chamber music and community concerts in intimate settings and public spaces, and are home to the Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate and popular literary Ekphrastacy program. As a multi-disciplinary arts organization, it taps into the potential of its creative residents to enrich community life.