LGBTQ+ Fieldhouse Art Mural Program at Studio West 117
Creating a safe, celebratory space for Northeast Ohio's LGBTQ+ communities.
Leader
Deidre McPherson
Location
1384 Hird Avenue Lakewood, OH 44107
About the project
We are seeking private funding to support artists to create and install over two dozen murals and works of art in the Fieldhouse at Studio West 117 (Lakewood, OH). Designed to uplift, support, and connect our region’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ (LGBTQ+) community, the Fieldhouse at Studio West 117 will offer a Gymnasium for recreational sports and community events, three international restaurants, and Lakewood’s first public rooftop patio. With a collection of over 9,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor murals and public art, the Fieldhouse Art Mural Program will add vibrancy and expression to Studio West, creating a safe celebratory space for the LGBTQ+ community.
Phase One of the Fieldhouse Art Mural Program has been successfully completed thanks to the generous support from The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation. Phase One includes murals in the Gymnasium, a facility that will host an LGBTQ+ Youth Sports League, Stonewall Sports Dodgeball, as well as numerous community and private events. The Gymnasium murals are a collaboration between artists Aja Joi Grant and Stina Aleah. Grant completed a series of movement-inspired photo shoots with members of the LGBTQ+ community to represent some of the programs and activities that will occur in this community space. Aleah used those photos as inspiration for painting the murals.
Private and community support is needed to fund the completion of Phase Two of the Art Mural Program, which includes remaining murals of the Fieldhouse at Studio West. This will include the Courtyard, the restaurant and bar spaces , and additional locations that encourage physical activity and well-being. We believe that art is also essential to our well-being, both in its creation and presentation. The Art Mural Program will invite artists and organizations to collaboratively engage with one another to inspire content for these murals to ensure that they are a reflection of our community. Please visit the Studio West 117 website for more information about the development and the Art Mural Program’s website to read about our Artist Selection Panel and Featured Artists to date.
We are grateful for donations of any size. Every dollar donated is doubled by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Thanks for your support!
The Steps
We anticipate the Fieldhouse Art Mural Program to be completed by December 2022. Murals will be installed as artists are selected and as fundraising and sponsorship funds are raised.
- Ongoing - Deadline for Phase Two artist submissions
- Ongoing - Deadline for Artist Selection Panel to select Phase Two artists
- Ongoing - Assign Phase Two artists to building locations
- Continuous - Artists begin installing Phase Two murals onsite
- December 2022 - Deadline for mural installation
- June 2023 - Public Art Mural Program Dedication Event
Why we‘re doing it
The Fieldhouse Art Mural Program seeks artists to create art that conveys a spirit of LGBTQ+ pride while celebrating the beauty, struggles and triumphs of LGBTQ+ people. This is about more than the murals. This Program aims to engage artists across mediums to support the long-term vision of Studio West 117, which is one that showcases LGBTQ+ creativity and talent.
The goals of this project are to:
- Create murals for an indoor and outdoor environment that reflects the spirit and diversity of Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ community
- Provide our region’s LGBTQ+ community and allies with an inclusive and welcoming destination
- Showcase a diverse aesthetic from a variety of LGBTQ+ (and allies) artists.
- Serve as a vehicle for ongoing community engagement
- Support our local arts ecosystem by creating economic opportunities for LGBTQ+ identifying artists
Greater Cleveland needs LGBTQ+ affirming spaces to negate the stereotype that our region is without them. The Studio West 117 project is creating a neighborhood that will support the health, well-being, and quality of life for our region’s LGBTQ+ community working in partnership with pillar institutions, like the LGBTQ Community Center of Greater Cleveland, Plexus LGBT + Allied Chamber of Commerce, and many others (large and small).