Cleveland Arts Prize

08/31/2026

Meet our 2026 Cleveland Arts Prize Winners!

We are honored to introduce this year’s Mid-Career Artist Award winner, Aimme Lee. Lee is a papermaking artist and culture bearer who advocates for Korean papermaking practices. Her initial Fulbright research helped her build the first hanji studio in North America here in Cleveland and write her award-winning book, Hanji Unfurled (The Legacy Press, 2012). She exhibits and is collected internationally; her work has shown at Allen Memorial Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Fuller Craft Museum, Islip Art Museum, Museum of Nebraska Art, and the Korean Cultural Centers of the Korean Embassy in D.C. and Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Korean Consulate in NYC. Many collections hold her art including Cleveland Museum of Art, Kent State University Museum, and the libraries of Brooklyn Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Stanford, UCLA, Yale, Harvard, Oxford, and Rijksmuseum.

The 66th Annual Cleveland Arts Prize Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 29, 2026 at the The Cleveland Museum of Art.

🎟️ For tickets, visit https://clevelandartsprize.org/annual-awards-event/.

Stay tuned as we spotlight more of our winners!

08/28/2026

Need weekend plans? Check out what’s happening in Cleveland’s vibrant arts scene this weekend:

8/28 - moCa Fall 2026 Opening Night at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland moCa

8/28 - Hispanic Heritage Free Community Summer Concert at Near West Theatre

8/29 - The Cleveland Orchestra - Summer in Vienna at Blossom Music Center

8/30 - One World Day 2026 presented by Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation at Cultural Gardens Federation

Looking for even more to do? Explore exhibitions, performances, and events happening all across the city at clevelandartsevents.com

08/26/2026

The future of great art begins with those who believe in it.

Join us for the 66th Annual Cleveland Arts Prize Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 29 at The Cleveland Museum of Art, as we celebrate the artists and leaders shaping Northeast Ohio’s vibrant cultural legacy.

2026 Discipline Prize Winners Include:
Chris Webb - Emerging Artist in Theatre
Aimee Lee - Mid-Career Artist in Design
Dexter Lee Davis - Lifetime Achievement Artist in Visual Arts

We’ll also honor this year’s Special Prize recipients:
The Connor Foundation - Barbara S. Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts
Héctor Castallanos-Lara - Robert P. Bergman Prize
Terry Stewart - Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts
Barbara Stanczak - Special Citation from the Board of Trustees

The evening will feature unforgettable performances by past Cleveland Arts Prize winners, followed by an After Party in the Atrium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Tickets are available now at clevelandartsprize.org.

Come celebrate the artists, leaders, and visionaries who continue to shape the cultural identity of Northeast Ohio. ❤️

08/25/2026

Aimee Lee: Every Last Scrap opens August 28 at the Kent State University Museum!

Featuring the work of internationally recognized artist and 2026 Cleveland Arts Prize winner Aimee Lee, the exhibition explores traditional Korean hanji papermaking through Lee’s sculptural garments and works thoughtfully transforming mulberry bark, natural dyes and every scrap of material into art. The exhibition will be on view through May 24, 2027.

The opening reception will take place Thursday, August 28, from 5-7 p.m. at the Kent State University Museum. The event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.

To RSVP for the opening night reception, visit https://connect.kent.edu/register/museum-aimee-lee-26

For more information on the exhibit, visit https://www.kent.edu/museum/news/kent-state-university-museum-presents-aimee-lee-every-last-scrap

Pictured: Aimee Lee, Tract (2026). Ink and indigo dye on paper and hanji, thread. 49 x 49”

08/24/2026

Meet our 2026 Cleveland Arts Prize Winners!

We are honored to introduce this year’s Emerging Artist Award winner, Chris Webb. Webb is a globally recognized spoken word artist, Emmy-winning journalist, filmmaker, and ad director from Cleveland, Ohio. A Cleveland School of the Arts graduate, Chris trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before earning his degree from the California Institute of the Arts. His filmmaking and ad work have been featured by MTV, BET, and the Tribeca Film Institute, with clients including the White House, Essence Festival, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The 66th Annual Cleveland Arts Prize Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 29, 2026 at the The Cleveland Museum of Art.

🎟️ For tickets, visit https://clevelandartsprize.org/annual-awards-event/.

Stay tuned as we spotlight more of our winners!

08/21/2026

Need weekend plans? Check out what’s happening in Cleveland’s vibrant arts scene this weekend:

8/21 - Opening Reception: Emergent and Spotlight: Olatunbosun Akinyelure at Heights Arts

8/22 - Passing Light: works by Peter Christian Johnson & Charles Goolsby at River Gallery

8/22 - African American Heritage & Cultural Celebration presented by Western Reserve Historical Society at Cleveland History Center

8/23 - Southeast Asian Festival presented by Westside Block Party at Edgewater Park

Ongoing until 12/6 - Lake Effect: Artists from Cleveland Now at The Cleveland Museum of Art

Looking for even more to do? Explore exhibitions, performances, and events happening all across the city at clevelandartsevents.com

08/20/2026

Want to be part of the 2026 Cleveland Arts Prize Annual Awards Event?

There are still opportunities to get your organization in front of Cleveland’s vibrant arts community through event sponsorships and program advertising!

For more information, visit https://linktr.ee/cap1960

We’d love to have you be part of this special evening!

Pictured: The 63rd CAP Award Winners and Honorees

08/19/2026

Artists, creative leaders, philanthropists and educators make up the 66th class of the prestigious award.

08/19/2026

08/19/2026

We’re thrilled to see Aimee Lee, our 2026 Cleveland Arts Prize Mid-Career Artist Award winner, featured in The New York Times!

The article shines a light on Aimee’s extraordinary work with hanji, traditional Korean handmade paper, and her dedication to preserving, exploring, and expanding this centuries-old craft through contemporary art.

We’re so proud to celebrate this well-deserved recognition of Aimee and her incredible contributions to the arts.

Read the full feature in The New York Times here - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/arts/design/korean-papermaker-hanji.html

Aimee Lee learned to make hanji with Korean masters. Now she practices their traditional technique in the United States.