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A young rider pops a wheelie on a BMX at a ride-out, front wheel high, friends and murals behind.

Cleveland, Ohio · 501(c)(3) since 2023

THE BALANCE POINT IS THE MOMENT BETWEEN FALLING FORWARD AND FALLING BACKWARDS

A nonprofit studio on Cleveland's southeast side that starts from what young people already love — a bike, a camera, a page, a shirt — and builds artists, thinkers, and leaders from there.

Fund the work → See the four studios
400+ Young people served Ages 8 to 25, across Greater Cleveland
50+ Bike ride-outs organized The front door to everything else we do
5 School district partners Studios delivered inside Cleveland-area schools
4 Studios, all free Writing · Mentorship · Art coaching · Print & enterprise

The clearest picture of how this works

Bike Life
Cleveland

For the young riders, the bike is the way in. Donald Black, Jr. starts from their love for riding and builds from there: identity, community, and mentorship. On the rides and in the workshops they learn to shoot photographs and edit them, to shoot video and edit it — real technical skills in the visual arts and storytelling, taught by working multidisciplinary visual artists, that give them confidence.

They are not just along for the ride. They are the ones creating the media and documenting the culture around it. Donald uses what they already love to connect and to teach, and takes them through books that show how to execute what they are trying to do. Rides roll through Shaker Heights and back through the neighborhood.

In September 2023, Balance Point Studios rode out with Literary Cleveland's Inkubator conference to merge the love of poetry and bike riding — promoting bike safety, community building and overall healthy living. Riders left the library, crossed the southeast side, and stopped at three murals painted by Donald Black, Jr. At every wall they read the image, wrote about it, and read the poem out loud before rolling on.

That is the whole organization in three hours: meet young people where they already are, hand them a way to say something, make them finish it, and put it in front of people.

  1. 9:30 AM Roll out Shaker Heights Public Library Bikes, helmets, water, pen and paper. All skill levels, free to join.
  2. Stop one Mt. Pleasant Read the wall The group stops at the first mural, talks through what it's doing, then writes from it.
  3. Stop two & three Kinsman Write, then say it out loud Two more walls. Riders share what they wrote with the group before the next leg.
  4. By noon Return Back where you started, with a poem Three hours, three murals, a neighborhood read closely and a new piece of writing.

What we're for

Balance Point Studios seeks to make, teach, and share art to unlock greatness, and challenge curious and creative minds to express themselves freely.

The vision

Our vision is to see people become themselves so they can discover their purpose, focus, and move toward a fulfilling life.

A mural at Kinsman Road: a silhouetted figure holding a bunch of balloons against a pink and blue sunset over the Cleveland skyline, captioned ‘never let go of hope.’
“never let go of hope” — Kinsman Road Mural by Donald Black, Jr. Hover to register the color.
  • Creativity
  • Accountability
  • Truth
  • Imagination
  • Personal growth

Who we serve

MISREPRESENTED BLACK YOUTH ON CLEVELAND'S SOUTHEAST SIDE.

Balance Point Studios is committed to serving misrepresented Black youth and young adults by creating culturally responsive, artist-led spaces where creativity, self-expression, and personal growth can thrive — while welcoming all individuals who share in that mission.

The talent on the southeast side has never been the problem. What has been missing is the room: real tools, working artists, and adults who treat where a young person comes from as the starting point, not the obstacle.

A young girl drawing with a pencil at a table, lit from one side in a darkened room.

The case for this work

Why our
work matters

Mental & emotional wellnessA young person who can say what happened to them — in a poem, a photograph, a print — is processing it instead of carrying it. That takes a room, a regular practice, and adults who stay.
Belonging & identityNobody makes their best work in a room where they are merely tolerated. Young people make it where they are known by name and asked what they think.
Access to meaningful arts experiencesNot a one-off assembly. A camera in your hands for a season, a critique that takes you seriously, and a wall with your work on it.
Support for emerging creativesTechnique is the easy part. What emerging artists lack is someone who has done it telling them how it is actually done — and where the paid work is.
Culturally responsive, artist-led spacesEvery studio here is run by a working Cleveland artist who has stood where these young people stand. That is not a hiring preference. It is the method.

Our response

Balance Point Studios exists to put those five things in one room. Artistic development and personal growth are not two tracks here; they are the same work, and every studio is built so a young person leaves with a stronger voice, a finished piece, and a clearer sense of what they can hold.

How we care for the whole person →

We believe creativity is not simply something people do — it is something that helps people understand who they are, connect with others, and imagine what is possible.

The studios

Four doors
into the same room

All studios in detail
A young woman reads from a music stand into a microphone while a seated audience listens.

The Most Promising

Ages 13–18
Creative Writing Studio

A writing cohort for young people who have never had a room built for their words: drafts, revisions, and a night with a microphone and an audience.

Read more →
Three young riders on customized bikes in a parking lot; two of them bump fists.

Balance Point

Ages 8–25
Bike Studio

Free mentorship built around community — Wheelie Culture, videography, and education, with the ride-out as the front door.

Read more →
A mural of a cracked American flag with a hand holding a microphone, on the wall of the Cleveland Public Library Rice Branch.

UnCut Art School

Ages 13+
Artist Development Studio

Artist coaching: finding your subject, your voice, and your medium — tested against quarterly critiques with working artists.

Read more →
A mentor and a young printer at the heat press.

Mount Pleasant Printing

Ages 9–25
Printing Studio

Where a design becomes a product and a product becomes a business. Young people start on direct-to-film (DTF), then move up to direct-to-garment and screen printing, and learn to sell what they make.

Read more →

Campaigns

Three campaigns.
One claim.

All campaigns
A young rider on a BMX bike at a ride-out, head thrown back mid-shout.

The Last Free Sport

Bike Studio

Bike Life is this generation's free sport. Cleveland can be the first city to treat it as youth infrastructure instead of a crime.

See the campaign →
A young woman reads from a music stand into a microphone while a seated audience listens.

Read Out

The Most Promising · Creative Writing Studio

A child's reading level is a neighborhood problem, not a child problem. Give the book that changed you, and say why on camera.

See the campaign →
A young printer holds up the shirt she just made, grinning.

Own the Press

Mount Pleasant Printing · Printing Studio

Whoever owns the press keeps the proceeds. Young designers learn to print, price and sell, and get paid for every piece.

See the campaign →

Who is doing this

Two Cleveland artists,
fifty years of practice

Portrait of Ali Black, co-founder of Balance Point Studios.

Ali Black

CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR · WRITER & EDUCATOR

A writer and educator from Cleveland with more than 25 years working with young people — through the Aspire Program at Hathaway Brown, Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio, West Side Community House, and the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning. A published poet and a finalist for the 2021 Ohioana Book Award.

If It Heals At All — Jacar Press, 2020 We Look Better Alive — Burnside Review Press, 2025 Work in The Atticus Review, The Offing, The Adroit Journal
Portrait of Donald Black, Jr., co-founder of Balance Point Studios.

Donald Black, Jr.

CO-FOUNDER · PHOTOGRAPHER & ARTIST

An award-winning photographer and muralist working since 2008, with 25+ years in arts education. His practice runs through NewBridge Cleveland, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and the Cleveland Print Room, and he has lectured at the Cleveland Institute of Art and other institutions.

Murals across Mt. Pleasant and Kinsman Photography throughout this site

Every partnership — funding, in-kind, or a collaboration — extends Balance Point Studios' reach on the Southeast Side of Cleveland and beyond.

We are a young 501(c)(3) with a long track record behind it. Unrestricted support is what lets us keep every studio free and keep the ride-outs rolling.

Ways to give → See the impact

Where this work has lived

Institutions our founders have taught in, partnered with, or shown work through.

  • Cleveland Metropolitan School District
  • Cleveland Institute of Art
  • Cleveland Print Room
  • NewBridge Cleveland
  • Center for Arts-Inspired Learning
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio
  • Hathaway Brown School — The Aspire Program
  • Hawken School
  • West Side Community House
  • Shaker Heights Public Library
  • The City Club of Cleveland
  • Literary Cleveland