Cigarette Taxes Have Funneled $270 M. Toward Arts and Culture in Cleveland Since 2007

Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has funneled $270 million into arts and culture since 2007 through a cigarette tax, distributed by the nonprofit Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Beneficiaries include the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, the Cleveland Institute of Art, ICA-Art Conservation, Sculpture Center, and the Cleveland Arts Prize. The tax has funded roughly 4,000 grants to 485 organizations, far exceeding the $48 million the entire state received from the National Endowment for the Arts in the same period.