RoxArts event to benefit the Tamir Rice Foundation
Tamir Rice was one of the community's own—a former fourth-grader at Roxboro Elementary School in Cleveland Heights. In 2014, he was struck down at the young age of 12 by a Cleveland police officer.
On Saturday, Aug. 21, 7:30–10 p.m., RoxArts will partner with the Tamir Rice Foundation (www.tamirericefoundation.org) and SPACES (www.spacescle.org) to host an art-supply drive at an intimate backyard event in the Ambler Heights neighborhood of Cleveland Heights.
All event proceeds will support the mission of the foundation named in Rice's honor: investing in the growth and enrichment of all children through after-school programs in arts and culture, allowing them to express their truth to improve their lives as they grow into young adults.
Attendees are encouraged to bring donations of new or gently used art supplies and other materials for creative endeavors. Donated items will go to incarcerated youth at the Cuyahoga County Detention Center, and to the Tamir Rice Afrocentric Cultural Center. They will be used to support the artist-in-residency at SPACES, and the Tamir Rice Foundation’s partnership with the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center’s Downtown Education Center.
The RoxArts adults-only event will feature live music by local band Grandview. Tickets are $25 per person, or $15 with an art supply donation. Beer, wine, and light snacks will be provided. The event location will be revealed upon ticket purchase. To purchase tickets, visit https://www.roxarts.org/upcoming-events.
There are other opportunities to donate supplies to the project. Four galvanized-steel collection bins, including one on the Roxboro school campus, are located throughout Greater Cleveland. Cleveland artists Antwoine Washington, James Quarles and Davon Brantley painted the bins, which were repurposed from a SPACES art exhibit, with designs that celebrate Rice's life. The other three collection bins are located at Toby’s Plaza in University Circle’s Uptown neighborhood, in front of SPACES on Detroit Avenue, and at Robinson G. Jones Elementary School on West 150th Street, which Rice attended after leaving Roxboro Elementary.
RoxArts members and supporters recognize that systemic racism, discrimination and oppression have existed in local academic institutions and arts organizations, including RoxArts. As an organization, RoxArts now stands committed to further changing the status quo by rooting out these inequities. To read RoxArt’s diversity, equity, and inclusion statement, visit www.roxarts.org.
Andrea C. Turner
Andrea C. Turner is a board member of RoxArts and the owner of ACT One Communications, LLC, a marketing communications consulting firm based in Cleveland Heights.