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Arts Administration

Marsha Dobrzynski, Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, Cleveland

Nominated By: Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio

View video tribute (5:30 minutes, 21M)

Just over a decade ago, Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio (YANEO) was in the red and on the verge of collapse. Today it is one of the top ranked chapters within the 32-chapter affiliated national network of Young Audiences, Inc. - an organization dedicated to incorporating the arts and arts-based instruction into the daily classroom experience of all children. Much of the credit for this turnaround rests on the shoulders of Marsha Dobrzynski, executive director since 1994. Despite a hard-hit educational environment, she has grown the organization from a grassroots $150,000 operation to a regionally and nationally recognized force in arts education with a $1.5 million budget. Between 1994-2003 Dobrzynksi helped grow the organization 800% in scheduled programs (from 963 to more than 8,000) and increased earned revenues 700% (from $55,627 to $405,289). When the Cleveland Cultural Coalition closed in 2001 YANEO took over the Initiative for Cultural Arts in Education (ICARE) program. YANEO, a participant in the program since its inception, was in a unique position to expand its reach by assuming administration of the program. Through Dobrzynski's leadership YANEO assumed operation for ICARE and doubled YANEO's size in budget and staff in order to properly administer both YANEO and ICARE. In 2004 YANEO secured a prestigious grant from the Ford Foundation to form a community collaborative to provide arts education to every child in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Only six other communities nationwide were invited to participate in this comprehensive initiative. For her contributions to arts education the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education honored Dobrzynski with the 2004 Arts Education Administrator award. Through her collaboration and leadership YANEO has become a true force for educational change in both the region and nationally - the true mark of a deserving winner of the Governor's Award for Arts Administration.