Creative work is real work.
Beyond The Table is an artist-led documentary, album and gallery exhibition built in Cleveland. We commission new work, train people on the job, and make sure artists get paid and keep what they create.
What does it mean?
Cleveland artists are asked to activate our neighborhoods, our culture and our economy. The funding that supports them is often short-term, split by discipline, and tied to one project at a time.
Beyond The Table names that disconnect. Then it builds something different: a model curated by artists, where every project is also a pathway to paid work, real skills and future contracts.
A seat at the table is a starting point. It is not the end. We are building what comes after.
One production.
Three ways in.
The Exhibition
An immersive gallery experience at We Are Deep Roots, where visual art, film and sound come together as one story. New paintings, installations and soundscapes by Cleveland artists, commissioned fairly with rights retained.
The Music
An original soundtrack recorded in Cleveland with Erie Sound Recordings and Breakthrough Sounds. Every session is paid. Every split is clear.
The Film
A documentary that follows artists, their process and their outcomes. Our team traveled to Atlanta to study how artist-led spaces build a creative economy, and brought those lessons home to Cleveland. More than 60 interviews later, the film is in post-production.
Why it matters
This is not just a documentary. It is a content ecosystem built from a single production, and a workforce pipeline built into the art itself.
Proof for a better model.
Every hour and every outcome is tracked, so Cleveland has the evidence to invest in artists differently.
Ownership stays with artists.
Rights, splits and intellectual property are protected from the start.
Paid roles, real deliverables.
Editors, sound engineers, boom operators, designers, curators and marketers are trained on the job and credited for their work.
By the numbers
9
Original songs
12
Interviews in Atlanta
60+
Interviews completed
4
Founding creatives
Pull up a chair.
Take the music home, or help us build what's next.