The Cavs on Tuesday, Nov. 18, announced a noteworthy addition who has millions of followers around the world.
The new hire, however, doesn't play basketball. But he was recruited by a Gilbert.
Daniel Arsham, an internationally recognized artist who hails from Northeast Ohio, is the Cavs' new creative director. As part of the deal, the 40-year-old is receiving a minority stake in the franchise — the size of which the team isn't disclosing.
The collaboration is believed to be the first in which an artist has become a minority partner in a sports franchise. Arsham, according to a news release, will "be responsible for the Cavaliers' visual identity across all aspects of the organization."
The artist's duties will include merchandise design and distribution, the design of team apparel, plus input on the team's brand identity and social media approach. Arsham, according to the Wall Street Journal, also will have an impact on the design of the court at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and "will bring a new look to public courts throughout the city."
The partnership was initiated by Grant Gilbert, the second-oldest of Dan and Jennifer Gilbert's five kids, and Anthony Curis, the co-founder of the Library Street Collective. The collective is a Detroit-based gallery that, according to the Journal, has worked with the Gilberts since 2013 "on a number of public and private art initiatives," including the collection that's on display at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Grant Gilbert, 23, is a 2020 University of Michigan graduate who is the Cavs' director of brand strategy. Gilbert joined the organization in a full-time role earlier this year. The news release said he is leading the Cavs' brand "in a new direction: one being at the forefront of arts and culture within sports."
The extensive renovation of the FieldHouse included a public art program that features more than 100 works and was privately funded by the Gilberts. Included in the collection is a "Moving Basketball" installation that was created by Arsham.
When Curis was gathering works for the FieldHouse collection, he, according to the Journal, "wondered whether Arsham, a lifelong Cavs fan, and the team might both benefit from an ongoing creative relationship."
Curis introduced Grant Gilbert to Arsham, and the parties began discussing a potential partnership.
"The deal took several months to finalize," the Journal reported.
Arsham said in the news release that his family's Cleveland roots go back to 1908, when his great-grandfather moved to the city. His family emigrated to the region from Ukraine.
The artist was born in Northeast Ohio, spent most of his formative years in Miami and now lives in Brooklyn, the Journal reported. His work has been displayed in solo shows at museums worldwide, and he's collaborated with big-name brands (adidas, Porshe and Dior, for example) and prominent artists (Merce Cunningham and Pharrell).
Arsham, who has almost 900,000 followers on Instagram, said basketball, "as a global phenomenon, is a recurring theme in my work, and I am a longtime Cavs fan."
In the news release, he added that getting "the opportunity to help shape and lead the team's visual identity as we look ahead to the future is an unbelievable honor that I cannot wait to share with the full community of Cavs fans and partners here and around the world."
A hint at what could be to come might be found in this excerpt of the Journal story:
When Arsham visited the Cavaliers' home, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, last week, he found himself taking notes on the player arrival area and the entry tunnel to the court while thinking about how to imbue both with a design aesthetic more akin to a Snarkitecture installation than a municipal gym.
"That whole space is bare-bones," he says. "The lighting is literally like fluorescent lights you'd have in a high school. Nobody even considered the look. But in this age of social media, that space should be premium and upscale like the rest of the arena."
Snarkitecture is an architectural practice Arsham founded with partner Alex Mustonen in 2007. Arsham will have solo exhibitions at Musée Guimet in Paris later this year and at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in China in 2021.
Arsham's appointment "is an acknowledgment of the massive influence artists have on culture at large, including across fashion, music and, now, sports," Curis said in the news release.
Grant Gilbert, who recently moved to Northeast Ohio, told the Wall Street Journal that "becoming a big brand in the NBA has historically been about geographic location or having a superstar player."
The Cavs' director of brand strategy told the newspaper that art, if it's done well, can also play a major role in a team's brand recognition.
"No team has taken it upon itself to do the things we're talking about doing in terms of building a new narrative," Gilbert said.
The major move was announced four days after the Cavs laid off about 5% of their business staffers. The layoffs occurred after the organization said it underwent an evaluation "of what an appropriate restructuring" of its business side "would look like."
The plan, the team said, is "designed to allow us to better, and more efficiently, align our resources and positions with our current business needs and future goals. The review and process began during the 2019-20 NBA and AHL seasons."
More than 20 positions, according to sources, were affected. Prior to the cuts, the Cavs had the league's second-highest headcount, behind the New York Knicks.
The team said the decisions "were very difficult to make," and added that it's "providing comprehensive and generous support" to assist the laid-off staffers "as they take the next steps in their careers outside of the organization."
When the NBA season opens Dec. 22, the games will be the Cavs' first in more than nine months. The organization has hosted a limited number of events at the FieldHouse, but the gatherings have been much smaller because of safety protocols put in place during the pandemic.
The NBA is projecting that a 72-game season that likely will be played with limited or no attendance will result in a $4 billion loss in total revenue. The biggest hit will be felt on game days, which account for a sizable chunk of each team's revenue.
You can follow me on Twitter for sports information and analysis, and you should check out this piece we wrote on the small, but interesting, role the Cavs played in the Milwaukee Bucks' acquisition of guard Jrue Holiday.
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November 19, 2020 at 01:21AM
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Cavs' new creative director is artist who hails from Cleveland and has worldwide following - Crain's Cleveland Business
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