CIM thanks Ohio General Assembly for vital support of Academy

It’s no surprise that Cleveland supports the Cleveland Institute of Music. Between the school and the city there exists a long-running and fruitful relationship.  

Less well known or widely appreciated is the funding CIM receives from the State of Ohio. State grants don’t always make headlines or press releases, but to CIM and its students, support from Ohio is both generous and critically important.  

One timely case in point: the $600,000 CIM recently received from the Ohio General Assembly, in support of CIM’s after-school Academy program.  

This vital two-year gift, for which CIM is profoundly grateful, empowers CIM to keep transforming the region's brightest young artists into the conservatory students and music professionals of tomorrow.   

“Along with its peers in University Circle, the Academy at CIM is part of what makes Greater Cleveland an international hub for the arts,” said Jamie Callender, the Lake County Representative and amateur musician who championed the grant as a member of the assembly’s Joint Education Oversight Committee.  

“It’s a one-of-a-kind program in the region that attracts the finest young musicians in our state and prepares them for continued study at CIM and careers in music, where they go on to represent Ohio around world.”  

When it comes to pre-college music education and skills training for life, there is indeed nothing else in Ohio or the Midwest like the Academy at CIM. Inspired by methods employed at CIM by its founders nearly a century ago, the thriving new program takes a holistic approach, training students, formerly including Callender’s daughter, to be complete, disciplined practitioners of their craft as well as talented solo performers. 

All participants, no matter their age or instrument, engage with various chamber ensembles and orchestras and take some combination of courses in music theory, music history, composition, and choral singing. All of this is in addition to private lessons with CIM’s world-class faculty and frequent opportunities to perform in both casual and concert settings.  

In short, it’s a program with no peers in the region. For a similar experience, an aspiring young artist in the Midwest would have to leave Ohio for the East or West Coast.  

“This grant from the State of Ohio and Representative Callender is a significant and meaningful endorsement of our Academy and an important action on behalf of the state,” said Paul W. Hogle, CIM’s President & CEO.  

“With this generous support, CIM can continue to keep Ohio’s talent and resources in Ohio and retain its place as a global leader in musical training.”