Beck Center for the Arts Announces Melinda Placko As Associate Director of Music & Visual Arts

Beck Center for the Arts has announced the addition of Melinda Placko to the Education management team.

Last month Melinda Placko joined the associate director education team. Melinda is a Cleveland artist, educator, and arts administrator. She earned her BFA in painting from Cleveland Institute of Art, and MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with focus on public and collaborative art. For over 15 years, she served as a teaching artist in the Cleveland area, partnering with Art House Inc., Boys and Girls Club, and the Center for Arts Inspired Learning. Most recently, she was senior faculty with the Cleveland Print Room, and managed a city-wide photo mentoring program for teens. She currently maintains her studio at the Hildebrandt Artist Collective in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood. Her artwork combines drawing, painting, collage, and public art, and was exhibited at MetroHealth and University Hospitals, Survival Kit at West 78th Street, and Zygote Press, among others. Most recently, she was senior faculty with the Cleveland Print Room, and managed a city-wide photo mentoring program for teens. She currently maintains her studio at the Hildebrandt Artist Collective in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood, where she paints, dances, plays the piano, and collaborates with studio-mates. She knows creative outlets save lives and is proud to be encouraging creativity in her hometown.

Melinda stated, "I find Beck Center to be an inspiring workplace with a flourishing, creative community. Happy to be here!"

Beck Center for the Arts located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. For more information visit beckcenter.org.

Beck Center for the Arts is proud to be a part of Northeast Ohio's professional theater landscape, operating under a letter of agreement with Actors' Equity Association. We are a Small Professional Theater (SPT) based on the number of seats, number of our performances, and the maximum weekly hours of work we provide to actors. We produce every show on our stages, by choosing the play, casting and rehearsing it, building the sets, props, and costumes, directing and performing the live music, and designing lights and sound. We proudly utilize regional resources and talent.

Beck Center for the Arts also offers arts education for all ages, all skill levels, and all abilities with classes and lessons in music, dance, visual arts, and theater, as well as creative arts therapies. Financial assistance is offered for qualified applicants so that these programs can be enjoyed by all.

Programming at Beck Center for the Arts is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council. Beck Center gratefully acknowledges the generous funding provided by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

Beck Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that offers professional theater productions on two stages, arts education programming in dance, music, theater, visual arts, early childhood, and creative arts therapies for individuals with disabilities, free gallery exhibits year-round, and community education programming.