Balance PointStudiosGive

Impact

What we count,
and why it counts.

Balance Point Studios is a young organization built on a quarter-century of practice. These are the numbers we stand behind today — and the model underneath them.

400+Young people servedAges 8–25
50+Ride-outs organizedThe relationship engine
5School district partnersGreater Cleveland
25yrsFounder experience eachIn arts education and youth work

The model

Across four studios,
the same four moves.

This is the shape our studios share. It is why a bike ride and a poetry workshop belong in the same organization.

1  ·  Meet them where they already areNot a classroom they have to be recruited into. A ride-out they already wanted to be on, a camera they already wanted to hold, a shirt they already wanted to make. More than 50 ride-outs is 50 open doors.
2  ·  Put a real tool in their handsA microphone, a camera, a squeegee, a page. Free, and theirs to use — not demonstrated at them.
3  ·  Make them finish somethingQuarterly critiques in UnCut Art School. A poem read aloud before the next leg of the ride. A print pulled clean. Accountability is one of our five values because finishing is the skill that transfers.
4  ·  Put it in front of peopleOn a wall, in a reading, on a storefront, in a film. The work leaves the room — which is how a young person starts to read themselves as an artist rather than a participant.
A young woman reads at a microphone to a full room of seated guests, the Balance Point Studios seal projected on the screen behind her.
A full room on Lee RoadYoung writers read their work to family, neighbors, and supporters.

Reach

Where the studios run

Home base is 3558 Lee Road in Shaker Heights. The work itself lives in Mt. Pleasant and Kinsman, in five Cleveland-area school districts, and wherever the ride goes.

  • Studio programming on Lee Road
  • In-school programming across five districts
  • Public murals and ride-out routes on the southeast side
  • Partner events with libraries and literary organizations

Accountability

Governance and status

Legal name
Balance Point Studios
Status
501(c)(3) · determined 2023
EIN
93-1834688
Registered in
Ohio

Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Financial documentation is available to prospective funders on request.

400 young people in, and the ride has barely started.

Multi-year, unrestricted support is what turns a proven practice into a permanent institution on Cleveland's southeast side.

Talk to us about funding →