Cleveland Arsenal Award Winners Announced

Northeast Shores is pleased to announce the 2012 winners of the Cleveland Arsenal award. The Cleveland Arsenal is a new program designed to honor the achievements of individuals who are sharing their love of Cleveland on a grassroots level, singing the praises of our city’s unique neighborhoods, including North Shore Collinwood. These are all individuals that have shown a strong dedication to this great city and are actively changing people’s minds about Cleveland’s future.

The Cleveland Arsenal is a new program being offered as part of the Artists in Residence initiative, a two-year effort to make North Shore Collinwood an even better neighborhood for artists to live and work, organized by Northeast Shores and the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture.

The 2012 winners of the Cleveland Arsenal award are Sam Allard, Daniel Brown, Valerie Mayén, Gina Prodan and Rick Stockburger.

Sam Allard is a journalist and fiction writer from the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. He is the editor of Whiskey Island literary magazine and a book critic for the Plain Dealer. He loves Cleveland for its culture and courtesy, its spunk and pluck, the small-town aromas and big-city sports. He is a fan of the city’s microbrews, gardens and artists.

Daniel Brown is a Cleveland native and recent graduate of DePaul University in Chicago. He is currently participating in a year of service at Saint Martin de Porres High School in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood. Daniel loves Cleveland for its vast potential, its neighborhoods and its never-say-die mentality.

Valerie Mayen is a fashion designer, David Bowie advocate and a shop owner. She has lived in Cleveland for nearly 11 years after time in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Corpus Christi. While running her locally -made clothing store Yellowcake in the Gordon Square Arts District, Valerie also heads a budding internship program and a developing sewing workspace for other designers.

Gina Prodan runs the popular Unmiserable Cleveland blog and is an urban cycling-enthusiast and triathlete. She is a web developer at Case Western Reserve University by day and an all-over Cleveland adventurer after work. Gina has volunteered with Cleveland literacy programs for the past decade and is a fan of the city’s entrepreneurial spirit, shops, restaurants and neighborhood movements.

Rick Stockburger is co-creator of Saving Cities and a former Non-Commissioned Officer in the United States Army. He was also the audio engineer for the highly-anticipated documentary Red, White and Blueprints. Rick’s love affair with Cleveland started at an early age ingrained in him through his father’s love for the Browns. He can often be spotted at Harland’s Pub on E. 185th Street.

Each of the five recipients of the honor will receive $1,000 to support their grassroots marketing of Cleveland neighborhoods, including potential marketing of Northeast Shores’ artist support programs. Award recipients will also participate in a series of educational meetings to increase their interaction with local civic marketing organizations, such as Global Cleveland, LiveCLEVELAND! and Positively Cleveland. Northeast Shores plans to offer the program again in 2013.

For more information about the Cleveland Arsenal or about the Artists in Residence program, contact Northeast Shores at 216.481.7660, ext. 27, or sbeattie@northeastshores.org.