Two Akron Arts Projects Focused On Social Justice Receive Ohio Arts Council Grant

The Akron Civic Theatre and National Center for Choreography-Akron have announced their teams each recently received $15,000 from the Ohio Arts Council Arts Resiliency Initiative. All $30,000 will go directly to support Akron artists: choreographer Dominic Moore-Dunson and the creative team and performers of The Civic's Millennial Theatre Project's production of Say It Loud.

The Ohio Arts Council grant will enable NCCAkron to continue supporting Moore-Dunson to develop his next work inCOPnegro. This evening-length dance-theater work and podcast project explores safety, storytelling, parenthood, and police relations in Black communities.

NCCAkron's relationship with Moore-Dunson is an example of the Center's longitudinal investment in artists. Moore-Dunson has participated in a space residency and a Dancing Lab through NCCAkron, and has also co-hosted a grant writing internship; additionally, he's part of NCCAkron's Creative Administration Research program.

"My relationship with NCCAkron has helped me move at the pace that is right for my work," Moore-Dunson says. "NCCAkron helps my team think about big-picture goals and the right kinds of partnerships and funding for our work. This kind of institutional support is invaluable."

The Akron Civic Theatre's grant will be used to support four free public performances of Say It Loud, an original theatrical piece created by Akron-based Black theater artists Francine Parr and Maya Nicholson and performed by six local Black actors.

The performance piece of Say It Loud consists of a series of monologues scripted directly from narratives gleaned from these local sources, offering authentic representations of the feelings,

frustrations, fears, and suffering of community members from all walks of life. The actors speak in the voices of community members who have contributed their stories.

Four performances will be presented in May and June 2022, including an Akron Civic Theatre performance on May 25, the second anniversary of George Floyd's murder. Additional performances are scheduled for Cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls, and Akron's Kenmore neighborhood.

In 2021, Akron Civic Commons (ACC) funding supported Moore-Dunson's initial choreographic research through NCCAkron, engaging community members (including Black police officers, criminal justice workers, and residents) in Akron as storytellers, and in 2020 funded the development of Say It Loud as a way to connect Parr and Nicholson's storytelling to its residents of Summit Lake.

"The early investment of Akron Civic Commons, combined with that of the Akron Community Foundation, provided the base for a project which has successfully combined local voice with consistent and broadly-distributed messaging regarding social justice issues," says Parr. "Ohio Arts Council funding provides us with the opportunity to expand our physical reach regionally while continuing to reach thousands of people per week virtually."

The work of ACC is centered around investments in three neighborhoods and the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail that connects them.

ACC is led by local residents and helps knit together isolated communities through collaboration and the reimagination of our public spaces. Together the neighbors aim to create temporary and permanent design features and regular programming to re-establish the 100-acre Summit Lake as a place of civic pride and play-bridging diverse neighborhoods and fostering economic development and public life in Akron's downtown.

For more information about Akron Civic Commons, visit akronciviccommons.org.

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