News

1 new president
In March, CIA’s Board of Directors announced Grafton J. Nunes was appointed the college’s tenth president. He took office on July 1, 2010, succeeding David L. Deming ’69, who had held the post for 12 years. Nunes came to CIA from Emerson College in Boston, where he was Dean of the School of the Arts.

11 CIA artists captured CPAC awards
Artists connected with CIA captured 11 of 22 total awards given by the Cleveland-based Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC). Nine CIA artists will each receive a $20,000 fellowship award, and two other CIA artists will receive a $2,500 Seth Rosenberg Prize.

192 new students enrolled this fall
CIA enrolled 192 new students for the fall 2010 semester, the largest group of incoming students in its 128-year history. Enrollment numbers were up in every category and 72 students came from outside Ohio, the largest number in the history of the school.

16,900 Cinematheque tickets were sold to 192 films
In addition to its staple art films, classics, and documentaries, the Cinematheque organized popular series including the first Cleveland Cult Film Festival and No Sanity Clause: The Crazy Comedy of the Marx Brothers. The Cinematheque also presented programs including The Complete Metropolis accompanied by a live orchestra and a “Food Party” party with CIA grad Thu Tran.

25th anniversary year for Cinematheque
In July 1985, the Cinematheque screened its first-ever film. By our count, the Cinematheque has screened 6,205 different feature films during the past 25 years! Find out how we’re celebrating with special events and a signature 14-month film series titled “The Silver (Anniversary) Screen.”

3 new majors added
In May the Institute earned accreditation for three new Integrated Media majors: animation, game design, and video. A faculty committee spent two years developing the plan for the new majors in response to the extraordinary growth in career opportunities in all three areas. The first students will enter these majors in fall 2011.

12,000 visitors attended exhibitions in CIA’s galleries
The Reinberger Galleries hosted beautiful and haunting gallery exhibitions this year, including the internationally renowned Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books and the show the Plain Dealer called “awe-inspiring,” Anatomica Aesthetica: Photographs from the Mütter Museum, and H. F. Aitken Illustrations from the Dittrick Medical History Center.

1 historic building renovation completed
In December, the Institute completed the exhaustive renovation of its historic Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts. The renovation was the first phase of a plan to modernize and unify the Institute’s campus. Phase II will be the construction of a new building immediately west of and fully interconnected with the McCullough building.

2,464 participants enjoyed 199 Continuing Education programs
From glassblowing to Photoshop to interior design, CIA’s Office of Continuing Education + Community Outreach offered programs to art lovers of all ages, interests, and abilities. And 186 art educators participated in 19 different BASIC (Basic Art Support in the Curriculum) workshops.

Hundreds of recent grads contributed to economy and culture
CIA alumni are making their marks through exhibiting art around the world, teaching at schools and colleges, making names for themselves on national television, and founding international companies—to name a few endeavors.

60 years at CIA marked by beloved professor Franny Taft
This October, the Cleveland Institute of Art celebrated the 60-year tenure of art history professor Frances Prindle Taft. Since 1950, Franny has taught art history to thousands of CIA students.

#1 in alumni giving for the third year
During 2009–10, for the third year in a row, CIA ranked #1 in alumni giving among American colleges of art and design as listed in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 edition of America’s Best Colleges. In addition to grateful grads, other individuals as well as corporations, foundations, and government funders placed their confidence in the Institute with gifts and grants.

One of America’s top 10 design schools
Earlier this year, the Cleveland Institute of Art was ranked one of America’s top 10 design schools by the Design Futures Council, a national think tank that publishes DesignIntelligence. This bimonthly report is a regular source of information for such media as Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.

107 exhibitions included faculty work
Faculty at CIA were included in exhibitions in town, throughout the United States, and around the world. And eight reported that their artwork was purchased for the permanent collections of renowned galleries and museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art's acquisition of a piece by glass artist and CIA Professor Brent Kee Young.

Scores of visiting artists shared ideas
It’s safe to say a week didn’t go by in 2010 without a visiting artist or Lunch on Fridays lecturer coming to CIA. They ranged from jewelry makers like Barbara Heinrich, to printmakers like Suzanne Michele Chouteau, to real-time animators Joe Kelly and Jay Crocker, to engineer turned public artist Jim Campbell. The good news is, 2011 promises more visiting artists—and most of their talks are free and open to the public.

Dozens of leading organizations partnered with students
Again in 2010, students and faculty collaborated with dozens of Northeast Ohio community groups on projects ranging from designing eco-friendly bulkheads for the Cuyahoga River; to illustrating the annual report for Cleveland’s Saint Luke’s Foundation; and designing the t-shirts and merchandise logos for the 2010 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.

5 faculty members awarded exclusive summer residencies
At least five CIA faculty members held artists residencies last summer at prestigious art centers around the world, from Massachusetts to France to Utah.