The Echo Artist Residency Program invites two artists each quarter to experiment and create site-specific projects for our galleries and the greater Cleveland community. Each season, SPACES selects one local artist from Northeast Ohio—defined as Cuyahoga County and its contiguous counties: Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Geauga, and Lake—and one artist from outside the region. These two artists form a peer cohort, fostering the exchange of ideas, techniques, and networks. While collaboration is not required, the selection committee seeks artists with complementary or intersecting themes to enhance dialogue and impact. SPACES encourages applicants to propose projects that push the boundaries of their artistic practice, and share an authentic connection to this region.

Benefits

• An artist honorarium and production budget
• Full use of SPACES’ production facilities and A/V equipment
• Access to offsite maker spaces at no cost
• Research support and curatorial guidance
• On-site lodging in the gallery
• A dedicated local artist ambassador to help foster genuine community connections
• Opportunities to engage in local cultural experiences
• Marketing and Press support, including a press release
• An exhibition preview night with community arts leaders
• A public exhibition opening reception

Moonlighter Film Camps, led by professionals in the outdoor film industry, offer a safe learning environment for women and are designed to enhance technical filmmaking skills. 

The Post Production camp will focus on building your

• narrative
• editing
• audio mixing
• colour correction and other technical filmmaking skills. 

These four-day workshops are open to creatives who identify as women who want to deepen their understanding of crafting content for the outdoor film genre.

Other Moonlighter Camps (with hyperlinks) 

• Field Skills - June 2026
• From Concept to Completion - October 2026

Each camp runs independently of the others and must be applied to separately.

Description

During this program, filmmakers will take part in scheduled workshops with faculty and guests to: 

• build technical filmmaking skills.
• explore the elements of a compelling narrative in filmmaking.
• discuss themes in mountain and adventure filmmaking.
• receive feedback from faculty on works-in-progress.
• share strategies and best practices with peers .

Participants will also benefit from: 

• on-campus lodging and meals to support a fully immersive experience.
• shared production spaces and collaborative areas where participants can work together and share ideas, fostering a vibrant creative community.

For more information and to apply.

Moonlighter Film Camps, led by professionals in the outdoor film industry, offer a safe learning environment for women and are designed to enhance technical filmmaking skills. 

The From Concept to Completion camp will focus on 

• building your narrative
• pitch decks
• producing
• fundraising
• marketing
• distribution.

These four-day workshops are open to creatives who identify as women who want to deepen their understanding of crafting content for the adventure film genre.

Other Moonlighter Camps : 

• Field Skills - June 2026
• Post Production - February 2027

Each camp runs independently of the others and must be applied to separately.

Description

During this program, filmmakers will take part in scheduled workshops with faculty and guests to: 

• explore the elements of producing a film.
• discuss themes in the mountain and adventure filmmaking industry.
• receive feedback from faculty on works-in-progress.
• share strategies and best practices with peers. 

Participants will also benefit from: 

• on-campus lodging and meals to support a fully immersive experience.
• shared production paces and collaborative areas where participants can work together and share ideas, fostering a vibrant creative community.

For more information and to apply.

As cultural policy in Canada and internationally struggles to acknowledge the growing pressure to evolve, decision-makers must understand its foundations, current status, and future possibilities. This program invites participants to critically examine how policy shapes access, equity, and influence—and how it can be reshaped to respectfully enact diverse worldviews and lived experiences. 

Participants will gain tools to dissect cultural policy across local, provincial, federal, and Indigenous governance systems, engage with government cycles, and advocate for community-rooted priorities. The course supports leaders in reimagining cultural policy as a living, responsive framework for systemic change.

Description

In this six-day course, participants will not only critically examine Canada’s cultural policy—its colonial foundations, development, and ongoing systemic inequities—but also situate it within a broader international context by reviewing global trends and policy shifts.  This program offers a space for bold thinking, critical reflection, and practical action—where participants can connect, challenge assumptions, and co-create a more inclusive and responsive policy landscape. Through dialogue, case studies, and international comparisons, the course creates a third space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous decision-makers to exchange worldviews, forecast funding futures, and develop advocacy strategies to influence policy and institutional transformation.

Program highlights 

• Unpacking the colonial foundations and lived realities of cultural policy              
• Navigating multi-level governance structures           
• Understanding funding cycles and identifying systemic inequities              
• Applying human-centered and regenerative design to policy development           
• Growing a toolbox/bundle rooted in responsibility, equity, and right relations
• Collaborating across organizations and sectors to drive systemic change
• Reimagining accountable cultural policy as a living, responsive framework for the future

For more information and to apply.

As cultural organizations navigate complexity and pursue meaningful impact, evaluative thinking and data management are vital leadership tools. Critical strategic planning that considers intentional resource allocation for organisational evaluation processes is essential for today’s arts and culture ecosystem. This program equips participants to clarify priorities through learning agendas, design integrated data approaches that balance numbers with narrative, and use evaluation to activate strategic plans. Arts-based, participatory action  and AI-supported methods will enrich reflection and storytelling, helping leaders strengthen transparency, adaptability, and shared learning across their organizations.

Description

Over six days, participants will engage in a dynamic, practice-based learning environment designed to build leadership capacity through evaluation and data strategy. Guided by hands-on labs, peer exchange, reflexive praxis and case studies, they will experiment with tools that support strategic decision-making, team engagement, and organizational learning.

The program emphasizes real-world application, encouraging participants to challenge assumptions and refine internal systems. By the end, each participant will leave with a customized roadmap to embed evaluative practices across their organization—advancing accountability, responsiveness, and long-term resilience in the cultural sector.

Program highlights 

• Build learning agendas that clarify what matters most
• Design integrated data strategies that balance numbers with narrative
• Use evaluation to activate strategic plans
• Explore arts-based, participatory action and AI-supported methods for reflection and storytelling
• Strengthen internal systems for transparency, adaptability, and shared learning

For more information and to apply.

As cultural institutions navigate accelerating change and increasing complexity, leaders can build personal and institutional capacity to meet the demands of an uncertain future.  Foresight can provide insight to make strategic planning more robust and resilient.

This program invites participants to grapple with some of the most strategic questions facing the sector: What emerging social, technological, economic and environmental changes could disrupt the cultural ecosystem? How could these disruptors shape cultural futures? How can cultural institutions respond to build a better future? This workshop will use foresight tools in a learning-by-doing process to facilitate a dialogue on the broad changes that lie ahead for the sector.

Description

Over six days, participants will use the tools of strategic foresight to deepen their capacity to think long-term, respond to disruption, and lead with purpose. Participants will explore how the cultural ecosystem could evolve and respond to the disruptive forces on the horizon, equipping them to better face the future(s).

The program involves hands-on workshops, strategic dialogue, and external speakers to challenge assumptions and expand horizons. Participants will leave with a powerful toolkit to lead boldly, think long-term, and create lasting cultural impact as they learn to use scanning, system mapping and vision-building with increasing confidence.

Program highlights 

• Explore a range of futures and the challenges and opportunities that could emerge.
• Design visions and strategies that are resilient, adaptive, and future ready.
• Lead with purpose in rapidly changing and interconnected cultural ecosystems.

For more information and to apply.

Moonlighter Film Camps, led by professionals in the outdoor film industry, offer a safe learning environment for women and are designed to enhance technical filmmaking skills.

The Field Skills camp will focus on building your

• narrative
• camera work
• sound capture
• interviews
• lighting and other technical filmmaking skills.  

These four-day workshops are open to creatives identifying as women who want to deepen their understanding of crafting content about and within outdoor environments.

Other Moonlighter Camps : 

• From Concept to Completion - October 2026
• Post Production - February 2027

Each camp runs independently of the others and must be applied to separately.

During this program, filmmakers will take part in scheduled workshops with faculty and guests to: 

• build technical filmmaking skills.
• explore the elements of a compelling narrative in filmmaking.
• discuss themes in mountain and adventure filmmaking.
• receive feedback from faculty works-in-progress from faculty.
• share strategies and best practices with peers. 

Participants will also benefit from 

• on-campus lodging and meals to support a fully immersive experience.
• shared production spaces and collaborative areas where participants can work together and share ideas, fostering a vibrant creative community.

For more information.