Kemp A. Boyd, married to his incredible wife, Stacy, and blessed with a family of six children, is a dedicated family man and community leader. He serves as the Executive Director of Love Akron and is also a Co-Pastor at Garden City Church. Additionally, Kemp emphasizes[...]

Good afternoon, everyone! I’m Nicole Mullet, Executive Director of ArtsNow and I’m thrilled to welcome you to this year’s State of the Arts! This afternoon, we gather to celebrate the profound impact of the arts, culture, and environmental sectors in Summit County[...]

A special thank you to Jason Blakely with Poetry is Life Publishing for writing this poem specifically for our third annual State of the Arts on October 23, 2024! What is Art?By Jason F. Blakely Art is the culture’s constant heartbeat.Our ears, enthusiastic stethoscop[...]

My entire dance-life, I have lived in NE Ohio outside of a few short stints performing in Washington, DC or training in New York. I love Akron – my small midwestern city that punches above its weight class in lots of ways. We love many things: calling ourselves the Ru[...]

Twentieth-century thinking around art and money implies that fundraising is a simple path: when artists need money to create or share their work, those artists just need to start fundraising. The fundraising path seems straightforward and linear. If you hire a fundraise[...]

Annie McFadden currently works as Chief of Staff, Impact and Communications at United Way of Summit & Medina. As Chief of Staff, she works directly with the president and CEO, and as a key strategic leader, fosters collaborative and meaningful relationships with com[...]

In the nonprofit performing arts sector, conventional wisdom, and formal studies have shown that finding and cultivating new audience members or donors requires more time and money than maintaining existing relationships. Many independent and project-based artists feel [...]

Justin Lepley (he/him) is a dedicated supporter of the arts and entrepreneurship in the Akron community. As the Director of Northside Marketplace and Owner of the Lepley Holdings Family of Companies, Justin is committed to supporting local businesses and fostering a vib[...]

I recently decided I’m a recovering entrepreneur. Not that I didn’t love my life as an entrepreneur and business builder- growing relationships with customers, encouraging young team members to find the passion for our vision, find their talents, and to go a[...]

“I have been the fortunate recipient of good health, a quick mind, a great sense of humor, a wonderful family growing up, a fantastic wife and three incredible kids, a successful business that I got to start and grow with one of my best friends, great friends from[...]