Press Releases

Contact: Ann McGuire
Director of Communications
amcguire@cia.edu
216.421.7417

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland Institute of Art has announced it will offer a full-tuition, four-year scholarship to one Cleveland Metropolitan School District student enrolling at the college of art and design in the fall of 2015.

The scholarship is open to any current senior at a CMSD high school who submits to CIA a complete application for admission, along with a complete portfolio or artwork, by the March 1, 2015 deadline, and is accepted for admission to CIA.

"I am delighted that CIA is making this opportunity available to a creative, talented student from our home city," said CIA President Grafton Nunes. "CIA was established in Cleveland in 1882, so our connections and commitments to the city are deep."

CMSD CEO Eric Gordon said the value of enabling students to attend college and pursue their dreams is immeasurable.

"For many of our scholars, such opportunities amount to more than a monetary gift," he said. "Knowing that a person or organization believes in them enough to finance a four-year college education provides inspiration that can last a lifetime."

CIA is in the final stages of constructing a new building in the Uptown district of Cleveland's University Circle that will unify the college's campus for the first time in more than a quarter century.

The new building, to be named for the college's longtime benefactor George Gund II, is adjoined to CIA's existing Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts at 11610 Euclid Avenue.

"We're particularly gratified that our first CMSD scholar will join us in our first full year on the new, unified campus," Nunes said. "Our new building will be a marvelous facility for learning about, making, and exhibiting art."

There is no specific application for the CMSD scholarship, rather the recipient will be chosen by a CIA selection committee, which will review all applications for admission from CMSD students, looking at both their portfolios of artwork and their records of academic achievement.

The Scholarship will be renewable for up to four years. To qualify for renewal, the recipient must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0.

In recent years CIA has administered various outreach programs to CMSD schools, enabled by grants from KeyBank Foundation, the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, and the Cleveland Foundation's Leonard Krieger Fund.

"We have sent art teachers to teach classes and workshops at CMSD schools, offered scholarships for CMSD students to attend our Continuing Education classes, enabled CMSD students to attend our annual art and design career day, and consulted on curriculum development at the Design Lab Early College High School. This scholarship represents the logical next step in our ongoing partnership with the Cleveland schools."

About CIA

Founded in 1882, Cleveland Institute of Art is an accredited, independent college of art and design offering 15 majors in studio art, digital art, craft disciplines, and design. CIA extends its programming to the public through gallery exhibitions; lectures; a robust continuing education program; and the Cinematheque, a year-round art and independent film program. CIA's public programming is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. For more information visit www.cia.edu.