The Board of Directors of the Clifton Cultural Arts Center is delighted to announce the reception of a $250,000 capital award from the State of Ohio.
This most recent award is slated for renovations to the historic 1906 Clifton Elementary School, at the corner of Clifton & McAlpin Avenue, as part of a multi-million dollar preservation project to create the Clifton Cultural Arts Center (CCAC).
When complete, CCAC’s facilities will include the school and neighboring carriage house and share a 9-acre urban campus with the newly-built Fairview-Clifton German Language School and the City of Cincinnati Clifton Recreation Center.
“We would like to thank everyone who made this exciting investment by the state possible, and particularly to thank the Hamilton County State Delegation, Governor Strickland, the members of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Prioritization Task Force, Hamilton County Commissioners and Mayor Mark Mallory and Cincinnati City Council for their support of this project for consideration,” said Cindy Herrick, Board President of the Clifton Cultural Arts Center.
Mark McKillip, a founding Clifton Cultural Arts Center Board member, added, “We greatly appreciate the many local leaders who share our vision to create a vital community asset. This grant will provide an important down payment toward the first phase of renovations for the Clifton School. We look forward to partnering with the Cincinnati community to raise the additional funds needed to make this dream a reality.”
CCAC emerged in 2004 in response to an extensive community engagement process surrounding the design of a new public school building in Clifton for the Fairview German Language School, a School of Academic Excellence. This process affirmed the school and community’s common priority on integrating arts and cultural education with mainstream education and community outreach, thus creating CCAC’s mission: to strengthen the critical link between participation in the cultural arts and successful children, adults and communities.
As CCAC has grown, it continues to build community participation as demonstrated by the expanding volunteer base; significant financial contributions from local citizens and foundations; collaboration with other educational, cultural and artistic organizations; and prior financial support from the City of Cincinnati, the Uptown Consortium and the Clifton Town Meeting.
The announcement of the capital grant represents a generous investment by the people of Ohio and another significant milestone for CCAC, providing added momentum for the organization’s first Executive Director, Ruth E. Dickey, who began on May 13th through the support of a grant from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
