Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

Our Mission

Facilitate access to legal services for Northeast Ohio artists and arts organizations, including pro bono legal representation and referrals to income-eligible artists and arts organizations in all disciplines
Develop educational resources for and build a living network of the region’s lawyers, artists, and arts organizations
Advocate for a strong and vibrant arts community

How we serve the community

For artists: If you are an artist or arts organization in the Greater Cleveland area seeking free legal assistance, please contact the VLA to submit an application.
For the public: The VLA is committed to partnering with local arts and nonprofit organizations to present free, public law-related education programs. Past presentations have focused on topics such as leasing, gallery agreements, sales, and intellectual property protection. If you have an idea for an educational program, please let us know!
For attorneys: We are currently seeking attorneys to join the VLA Committee to help us carry out our mission. If you are interested in joining the VLA, please submit your committee request form.

Upcoming VLA events

VLA Summer Social - (June 11 at the Cleveland Public Theatre) - All CMBA members are invited to join the VLA for their FREE* summer social: the world premier performance of Red Ash Mosaic at the Cleveland Public Theatre. This fascinating new work is based on “The Egyptian Book of the Dead,” connecting its ancient themes of the cycle of life and death with modern concerns about mindful living, the limits of memory, and personal achievement. VLA members will meet and mingle with new and familiar friends, along with luminaries from the CPT, one of Cleveland’s premiere sites for forward-facing theater.

The evening kicks off with complimentary light hors d’oeuvres, beer, and wine. Seats are limited so email Jessica Paine TODAY to reserve your tickets!

6:00 p.m.: VLA mixer
7:30 p.m.: Performance
* Tickets are FREE for the first 20 RSVPs; discounted tickets available when capacity is reached

Red Ash Mosaic: Devised by Raymond Bobgan and the CPT Ensemble; Directed by Raymond Bobgan (Cleveland Arts Prize recipient 2014/Theatre, Creative Work Force Fellow 2014/Music Composition and 2010/Theatre).

Red Ash Mosaic is an experiment in theatrical form, with interwoven and contradictory narrative threads, powerful physical action, chanting and poetic texts - designed not to show, but to invoke; not a presentation, but a transmission. Beginning in the daily doldrums of a video game store, Red Ash Mosaic erupts into a fracturing of quotidian realities and parallel lives before launching into an otherworldly land of dreams, spirits and the awakening of one man as he confronts his own death.

"Employment Law for Nonprofits: How to Reduce Risk and Improve Compliance" - (Aug. 25 at the CMBA) - FREE public seminar for nonprofit leaders, both in the arts world and without, in partnership with Reach Out for Nonprofits of the CMBA. For more information, click here.

Volunteer Today

"VLA Do Free" - Sculpture with neon and recycled materials by Cleveland-area artist Jeffry Chiplis, winner of the 2013 VLA Commission Design contest.

VLA members at a free, public presentation at the Cleveland Print Room

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts is a program of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, with funding support provided by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation.

The CMBF is a 501(c)(3) organization; gifts to it are tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Helpful Links and Resources

Arts Organizations, Venues, and Education

Art House Inc.

Art House is a nonprofit art center, founded in 1999 and located in historic Brooklyn Centre in Cleveland. The organization was founded by local artists and residents who were dedicated to the belief that the arts enrich lives and help create better communities. Art House's 3,000 square foot studio facility is housed in a 1948 domed Quonset building.

ArtSpace-Cleveland

Founded in 1998, ArtSpace-Cleveland is dedicated to developing and sustaining affordable living and workspace in a community setting. ArtSpace-Cleveland helps artists find spaces to live and work; publishes a quarterly newsletter; meets monthly with artists, nonprofit organizations, and building owners; researches zoning and building codes to facilitate affordable space development; maintains a database and website; provides building owners with information on the needs of artists; and conducts an annual trolley tour of artist live-work studios.

Beck Center for the Arts

The Beck Center for the Arts is a nonprofit, performing arts and arts education organization dedicated to inspiring and enriching the quality of life for Northeastern Ohioans. The Beck Center combines professional theatrical productions with comprehensive curriculum-based arts education in Creative Arts Therapies, dance, music, theater, and visual arts, serving over 60,000 annually in Cuyahoga, Lorain, Lake, Medina, and Summit Counties.

Cleveland Institute of Art

The Cleveland Institute of Art was established in 1882. Over the years it has earned a reputation for being among the top ten professional colleges of art and design in the country. It is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and is also a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design and the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. The Institute attracts students who are serious about becoming professional artists and designers and who seek a school with a broad campus atmosphere that is both intellectually stimulating and artistically challenging.

Cleveland Opera Theater

Cleveland Opera Theater seeks to bring world-class opera to a world-class city, enriching the cultural life in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio through the performance of professional mainstage opera productions. The Theater's vision is that people from all backgrounds, if given the opportunity, will be moved by the unique beauty and transformative qualities of opera. Cleveland Opera Theater is restoring professional opera to its rightful glory in Cleveland - honoring the legacy of Opera, advancing the art form in the present, and innovating for the bright future.

Cleveland Print Room

The Cleveland Print Room is a nonprofit community darkroom, educational center, studio workspace, and photographic gallery located in the Quadrangle arts district in the St. Clair/Superior neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Housed on the first floor of the historic ArtCraft Building, Cleveland Print Room offers a place to process 20th century emulsion-based film and analog photography collectively with others who share a passion for the photographic arts. Since photography is a huge part of everyday life, the Print Room has a shared desire to partner with the photographic community, the arts community, and the education community.

Cleveland Public Theatre

Cleveland Public Theatre's mission is to raise consciousness and nurture compassion through ground-breaking performances and life-changing educational programs. Cleveland Public Theatre is an alternative performance company with a commitment to help develop original theatre artists from Northeastern Ohio -- particularly those whose work is experimental in form and/or challenging in content.

Cleveland State University Art Department

The Cleveland State University Art Department offers undergraduate degree programs in Studio Art, Art History, and Art Education. Students may pursue an Art Major in any of these three areas leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree.

An Art Minor is offered in Studio Art and in Art History
Graduate degree programs are offered in History/Art History (Master of Arts) and Education/Art Education (Master of Education)
Non-degree certificate programs are offered in Graphic Design.

The Cleveland State University Art Gallery provides visual arts programming for the university and community. In addition to important local and regional artists, nationally and internationally known artists have participated in exhibitions, workshops, and lectures at the CSU Art Gallery.

Cool Cleveland

Cool Cleveland distributes an Events Newsletter and serves as a hub for Clevelanders seeking information on a variety of local arts-related events and activities.

COSE Arts Network

Professional artists are faced with the unique challenge of working creatively every day, while also dealing with the same financial, technical, legal and marketing concerns many small businesses face. COSE aims to ease that burden for artists, so that they have time and energy remaining to do what they do best. The COSE Arts Network, in partnership with the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC), creates an opportunity for the arts and business worlds to intersect through educational and networking events, access to resources, and unique promotional opportunities.

Dobama Theatre

Dobama Theatre's mission is to premiere the best contemporary plays by established & emerging playwrights in high-quality professional productions. Through educational and outreach programming, Dobama Theatre nurtures the development of theatre artists and builds new audiences for the arts while provoking an examination of our contemporary world.

Great Lakes Theater Festival

The mission of Great Lakes Theater Festival is to bring the pleasure, power, and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in northern Ohio. Since the company's inception in 1962, programming has been rooted in Shakespeare, but the Festival's commitment to great plays spans the breadth of all cultures, forms of theater and time periods including the 20th century, and provides for the occasional mounting of new works that compliment the classical repertoire.

Karamu House

Karamu House celebrates Cleveland's cultural traditions and seeks to give life to our future as a city that celebrates diversity, community, and hope through the performing arts. In addition to unique live theater, Karamu House provides arts and cultural programming for youth by incorporating dance, music, and cultural arts taught by professional instructors alongside classrooms led by certified teachers.

Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (UDC)

The UDC is a community service organization with a professional staff of designers committed to improving the quality of urban places through technical design assistance, research and advocacy. Supported by the Ohio Board of Regents' Urban University Program and the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University, the UDC offers architectural and urban design expertise in the service of urban communities, design professionals, and the planning and public policy work of the state universities in Akron, Youngstown, and Cleveland.

Museum of Contemporary Art

Founded as The New Gallery in 1968, and then renamed the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art in 1984, MOCA Cleveland continues to evolve in exciting new ways while producing original, compelling exhibitions. MOCA has become a major producer of exhibitions, which has fueled its reputation as a visionary leader. In addition to featuring the work of national and international artists, MOCA consistently showcases established and emerging artists living in the Cleveland area through continuing exhibition programs like the PULSE Series and the Wendy L. Moore Emerging Artist Series.

Near West Theatre

Based in the Ohio City neighborhood, the Near West Theatre has a unique identity as a grassroots, intergenerational theatre with an emphasis on serving youth. Near West Theatre delivers an inclusive, self-esteem building process that results in high-quality productions and programming that help build Cleveland's Near West Side and surrounding neighborhoods; educates and raises awareness around issues of social justice, discrimination, and stigma; and provides people of all ages with the ability to nurture their sense of identity and strengthen their purpose as individuals and as a community.

SPACES Gallery

SPACES advances the artist's vision: by providing freedom, resources and an audience, SPACES enables artists to engage the public in a vital dialogue about contemporary art. SPACES interacts directly with artists, promoting excellence and experimentation to produce challenging gallery exhibitions, public programs, residencies and publications.

Zygote Press

Zygote Press is a nonprofit, cooperative, fine art printmaking workshop located in the Quadrangle arts district in the Superior/St. Clair neighborhood. The mission of Zygote is to enable artists to produce fine art prints within an atmosphere of collective exchange by providing them with affordable workspace and exhibition opportunities. Zygote is a resource dedicated to increasing awareness about contemporary printmaking by creating active communication among artist-printmakers and the broader community.

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