Nearly seventy area organizations, including Ideastream, are among the first beneficiaries of a tobacco excise tax, passed by Cuyahoga County voters in November 2006. The agency "Cuyahoga Arts and Culture" is in charge of distributing the tax revenues to the various grantees who were chosen based on applications submitted to an outside panel of experts. The awards are wide-ranging --- from a 1.8 million-dollar grant to the Cleveland Orchestra, to a nearly six thousand dollar funding stream given to a tiny westside group known as "Joyful Noise" --- a music school that provides free music lessons and use of instruments to local children. Co-director Barbara Wilberg says, money is always tight.
BARBARA WILBERG:I mean, any non-profit... It's just completely preposterous that they can do anything at all, right? Even if you're not sure what will happen, you pretend you can do it. You do everything you can think of to make it happen. And then, sometimes it happens.
Applications for a second grant program which will provide support for arts and culture projects will be accepted through February 27th.
