Cleveland City Council approved proposals Monday to fund arts and marketing training for city youth this summer.
Cleveland will grant $60,000 to Karamu House, the oldest producing Black theater in the country. Last year, the East Side theater served 24 children in performance and technical theater skills.
Councilmember Kevin Conwell said he has fond memories performing in a production of "Pippin" at Karamu House when he was a child. He said arts skills are transferrable to other fields.
"One thing about the arts: it teaches character," Conwell said. "Character of self-discipline, character of organizational skills, character of self-esteem, all those kind of things that the arts benefit. And it also … really helps to deal with idle hands."
Council also approved $98,000 to Rhonda Crowder and Associates, a creative services agency, to train students in marketing, teaching skills like social media content strategy and coding.
Last year, 13 children completed summer and fall sessions, which provided certificates in programs like HTML, CSS and user interface and user experience.
City officials say funding these programs is part of Cleveland's goal to reduce violence across the city through early childhood intervention and prevention.
