MEET TANYA KAISER  We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tanya Kaiser. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tanya below.
Hi Tanya, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real. Renaissance Box began as an idea that first emerged during my MFA, when I was teaching art at a university defined by science and engineering. My classrooms were filled with students who approached creativity through experimentation and analysis, and witnessing how naturally they combined technical thinking with artistic inquiry made a strong impression on me. Even after graduating, I kept returning to the question of what could happen if interdisciplinary collaboration wasn’t incidental, but intentionally created. For a long time, the idea lived in notebooks and conversations. I researched programs around the country and saw a clear gap: few spaces truly supported artists and STEM practitioners as equal creative partners. The concept had potential, but it needed a catalyst. That catalyst came when I was selected to pitch the idea at Accelerate 2024. Preparing for that moment required me to crystallize the vision—to articulate not only what Renaissance Box could be, but why it mattered and how it could function as a program under Kaiser Studios. Presenting it publicly shifted everything. The response validated the need for a space like this and gave me the momentum to move from imagining to building. Shortly after, Kaiser Studios received the Ingenuity Impact Award from Ingenuity Cleveland, which further propelled the idea forward. The recognition opened doors, strengthened community support, and created the foundation for a partnership with IngenuityLabs. Their environment aligned seamlessly with the residency’s mission, and together we began shaping the program’s structure, refining its goals, and preparing it for launch. From there, Renaissance Box developed quickly. I formalized the framework, built the operational infrastructure, and piloted early collaborative experiences to ensure the residency was responsive and meaningful. By the time the first cohort arrived, the program had transformed into a functioning interdisciplinary residency rooted in curiosity, dialogue, and shared exploration. Renaissance Box continues to grow, but its origins remain at the heart of it: an idea sparked in a cross-disciplinary classroom, accelerated by the opportunity to pitch at Accelerate 2024, and made real through the support and recognition of the Ingenuity Impact Award. Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers. Kaiser Studios grew out of my work as an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and curator. My background in installation and sculptural practice taught me how deeply creativity intersects with memory, identity, and the structures that shape our lives. During my MFA, I taught art at a university centered around science and engineering, and witnessing how naturally STEM students engaged with creative inquiry sparked the earliest ideas for what would eventually become Renaissance Box. Kaiser Studios began as a way to support artists through exhibitions, programming, and community engagement. Over time, it evolved into a nonprofit dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. Our flagship program, Renaissance Box, brings together artists and STEM professionals to explore ideas collectively. We provide residents with a space to experiment, think across disciplines, and develop new work by bridging a gap in the creative ecosystem where these kinds of collaborations rarely have structured support. What sets us apart is our belief that art and science are not separate worlds, but parallel ways of questioning and understanding. Renaissance Box offers an environment where those methods can meet, challenge one another, and expand what’s possible. Our work helps artists gain access to new tools and perspectives while giving STEM partners a creative framework for exploration. For the community, we create points of connection through exhibitions, talks, and public programming. I’m proud of the impact we’ve made, including receiving the Ingenuity Impact Award from Ingenuity Cleveland, which recognized the importance of this interdisciplinary vision. More than anything, I want people to know that Kaiser Studios is built on curiosity, collaboration, and the belief that creativity thrives when we break out of silos. Our mission is to support artists, spark innovation, and create spaces where ideas can evolve into something meaningful and unexpected. Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light? One thing non-creatives often struggle to understand is how fluid and expansive a creative journey can be. Especially when it leads into interdisciplinary work like Renaissance Box. For many people, creativity is seen as something separate from science, engineering, or research, but my path has shown me that these boundaries are far more porous than they seem. Renaissance Box was born from recognizing that creativity isn’t limited to the arts; it’s also present in experimentation, problem-solving, and the curiosity that drives scientific inquiry. Non-creatives might also be surprised by how much structure and strategic thinking go into building a program like this. Renaissance Box isn’t just about inspiration—it’s about creating a system where collaboration can thrive, where artists and STEM professionals can trust the process enough to take risks and explore unknown territory. That requires planning, facilitation, adaptability, and a willingness to step into ambiguity and build something new from it. If there’s insight I can offer, it’s that creativity is not the opposite of logic or research; it’s a parallel language. What sets Renaissance Box apart is the belief that when those languages meet, something powerful happens. My journey reflects that intersection: art shaped how I see the world, and interdisciplinary collaboration expanded what I believed was possible. That blend is what fuels the program, and it’s what I hope others, creative or not, will recognize as a valuable way of thinking and working. What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory? A lesson I had to unlearn while building Renaissance Box was the idea that disciplines need to stay in their own lanes. That artists should think like artists and scientists should think like scientists. This belief is subtle, but it’s deeply woven into how many of us are trained. In schools, in museums, in labs, we’re often taught that creativity and research belong to separate worlds, each with its own boundaries and expectations. The backstory goes back to my MFA years, when I was teaching art at a university shaped by science and engineering. Even though I was immersed in a creative program, the wider environment operated on a very different set of assumptions. I carried the quiet belief that I needed to protect my creative identity, keep it pure, keep it separate from fields that felt too structured or analytical. But in the classroom, I watched STEM students approach creative work with an openness and inventiveness that challenged that belief. Their curiosity wasn’t separate from their technical mindset. It enhanced it. That was the first crack in the idea that creative disciplines should remain neatly divided. When I began developing Renaissance Box, that old belief resurfaced as hesitation. Could artists and STEM professionals truly collaborate as equals? Would interdisciplinary work dilute creativity rather than strengthen it? I realized I had to unlearn the very thing I had been conditioned to protect. The notion that art needed to exist apart in order to stay authentic. Letting go of that belief changed everything. It opened the door for Renaissance Box to become what it is now: a residency built on the shared power of different ways of thinking. Unlearning that boundary allowed me to see collaboration not as a compromise, but as a catalyst. And now, watching residents discover new forms of creativity together confirms that the most meaningful innovation often happens in the space where old assumptions are finally released. Contact Info:
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 Announcing Winners of the 2025 Creative Impact Fund
Flexible funding and business development support will elevate artists’ creative practice and regional impact, with support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture |In Press Release, Press |By Deidre McPherson Read the article on AssemblyCLE.org CLEVELAND, December 12, 2025 — Assembly for the Arts is excited to announce 29 artists have been awarded 2025 Creative Impact Fund grants. In its third year, the Creative Impact Fund (CIF) is one of the largest unrestricted grant funds available to Cuyahoga County artists. CIF supports the growth of an artist’s creative practice and advances their impact on the region. The award provides flexible, unrestricted funding; professional and business development opportunities; mentorship and networking; and membership in Assembly for the Arts. This year’s Creative Impact Fund honors 15 Early Career artists at $5,000 each (professionally practicing 5 years or less) and 14 Mid-Late Career artists at $10,000 each (professionally practicing for 6 years or more). Twenty-nine awards are being made in 2025, up from 17 in 2024. The selected artists represent dance, theatre, design, film, craft, music, visual arts, writing/literature, and interdisciplinary fields and are based across Cuyahoga County. Early Career ($5,000) awardees:
Awardees were selected through a semi-anonymous review process by a panel of 12 accomplished artistic practitioners from across the country, representing 12 states, 10 cities and 11 creative disciplines. Read about the selection panel. Learn about the 2025 Creative Impact Fund grantees. ### Assembly for the Arts Assembly for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that unifies Greater Cleveland’s creative sector by coordinating information, partnerships, and opportunities and advocating for strong public and private investment in arts and culture. It supports nonprofits, artists, and creative businesses through research, policy, and sector-wide services, working closely with Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and Assembly for Action (a 501(c)(4) advocacy affiliate). Learn more at www.assemblycle.org. MEDIA CONTACT: Malissa Bodmann [email protected] |
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