Strategic Plan 2020–2027
Artists and designers have pursued their creative and innovative passions at the Cleveland Institute of Art since 1882. For decades, CIA has been the launching ground for creative careers in Cleveland and beyond. During that time, the College’s alumni have served the communities they call home and contributed to local, state and national economies.
The CIA community of students, alumni, faculty and staff is strong, and this strategic plan helps ensure the College will continue to take responsibility for developing an environment that’s rich with success and accessible to all.
View the Full Strategic Plan
Goal Areas + Key Initiatives
To prepare leaders in art and design for a changing world by delivering a comprehensive curriculum, upholding educator excellence, fostering practical experiences that feed future careers and supporting holistically all students.
Key Initiatives
- Reinforce and evolve our comprehensive curriculum to provide students with a platform to become leaders: material to digital practices, critical thinking, intellectual inquiry, entrepreneurship and equitability.
- Launch new initiatives/programs: Explore and propose new undergraduate or graduate programs, using a standardized feasibility process factoring in market data, financial consideration and mission alignment.
- Support the whole student by teaching life skills, enhancing support for the increasingly complex needs of today’s students, and removing barriers that impede student success.
- Invest in a teaching and learning initiative to support faculty and serve as a resource and catalyst for innovative advancements in faculty pedagogy and inclusive teaching.
- Create an interdisciplinary hub for technology and innovation that fosters connectivity between CIA, industry and community.
To secure the future of our college of art and design by attracting and retaining more students who reflect our diverse society, garnering greater financial investment, fostering operational excellence and achieving a healthy workplace culture.
Key Initiatives
- Prioritize equity and inclusion to ensure our environment is welcoming for all. Continue to adopt policies and procedures that reinforce our values, instill belonging, champion diversity and build an inclusive community.
- Increase enrollment through new student recruitment and retention, aligning mission and net revenue to achieve a sustainable, fiscally responsible and student-centered enrollment plan.
- Launch a $35 million comprehensive campaign to support the College’s transformation in student access and success, teaching and learning, technology and innovation, campus, and community.
- Expand access to pathways to an education at CIA through engaging in relationships with educational partners.
- Unify the College’s marketing initiatives to clearly articulate our value proposition and brand promise.
To serve as the cultural anchor and instigator that affirms the value of art and design in our communities by collaboratively engaging people in the positive growth of our region and the vital role our institution has in shaping it.
Key Initiatives
- Expand CIA’s impact in the community by partnering with organizations and institutions throughout Cleveland and the region to infuse art and design into the public realm.
- Align our work with community and cross-sector partners and leverage our impact on the regional creative economy.
- Bridge community access to CIA and further creative placemaking initiatives in the City of Cleveland and beyond.
- Celebrate and engage CIA’s vast network of alumni to build a lifelong creative community and support the next generation of leaders.