Our Mission, Vision, and History
MISSION
Zygote Press is an established, nonprofit community printmaking studio, gallery, archive, and education center that supports artists through residency programs, studio access, and artistic development in a collaborative environment open to all.
VISION
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access
Zygote is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all forms. We are committed to using all resources at our disposal to uplift the communities that we serve, and we believe in being accountable to them. Our staff, board, and stakeholders are fully invested in reforms that address systemic and structural injustices against underserved, marginalized, and overlooked groups of people. We will continue the diversification of our board, staff, teaching artist pool, residency programs, and internships. While we are currently engaged in breaking down barriers in fine art printmaking, we will always strive to grow and do better. We vow to continue learning, listening, and rebuilding Zygote as an organization that operates in service of equity, accountability, and access for all.
We believe…
Printmaking must be sustained as a vital contemporary medium in the world of art.
The practices of printmaking can create a community that cultivates collaboration, innovation, and the exchange of ideas.
All artists in our region need access to an affordable, inclusive, professional printmaking shop.
Education and advocacy through the art of printmaking can foster new relationships and partnerships between artists and the community that can improve the quality of life for everyone.
Zygote’s second home at East 30th Street
Our Story
Zygote Press was established in 1996 in Cleveland, Ohio as an open, collaborative print shop. Founded by Liz Maugans, Joe Sroka, Bellamy Printz, and Kelly Novak, Zygote began as a place where artists and printmakers, both established and emerging, had affordable access to the resources and tools needed for printmaking – an essential fine art form used to express cultural identity, communicate ideas, provide social commentary, document history, and as a means for personal expression.
Today, Zygote provides facilities for intaglio, relief printing, screen printing, letterpress, lithography, Risography, and digital media. Zygote is the largest and only green printmaking studio in Ohio, and an internationally recognized destination for artists at every level of experience. But Zygote is more than a print shop. It is a third space, neither home nor work, where artists, students, educators, and community members come together around the transformative power of printmaking.
Zygote offers a diverse range of programs designed to make printmaking accessible to artists at every stage of their creative journey. Through open studio access, artist residencies, exhibitions, the PROOF Fellowship for Artist of Color, the Pressing Matters Afterschool Program for Cleveland high school students, In(k)spire Scholarships for artists in need, and robust, free community programming, Zygote welcomes and collaborates with the community to share the rich and meaningful tradition of fine art printmaking. With our Mobile Art Press Program, teaching artists take fine art printmaking into schools, libraries, museums, and city festivals.
Mobile Art Press Free Screen Printing Program
Zygote maintains a Working Archive – a collection of an estimated 2,000 (and growing) prints by past and present members, shop artists, and visiting exchange artists. This ongoing project is dedicated to recording and preserving the history and evolution of fine art printmaking.
After years of sustained organization growth, Zygote made a transformative step toward securing our future and increasing our capacity to better serve artists and our community. In February 2026, Zygote relocated to a 19,168-square-foot multidisciplinary arts center in the heart of MidTown Cleveland that will serve as Zygote's permanent home for generations to come.
The Perkins Avenue Studio
ORGANIZATIONAL MILESTONES
For 30 years, Zygote has been a critical arts organization in Cleveland, Ohio, working to elevate and empower artists and the community through the practice of printmaking.
2006: Zygote moved from our initial Saint Clair Superior location to East 30th Street in AsiaTown Cleveland.
2011: Zygote founded the Collective Arts Network (CAN), a vital members network of regional visual arts institutions and galleries that produces a quarterly journal of arts, a website, and events around the city.
2011: Zygote opened the Press Artist Share Space (ZPASS), an apartment one floor above the former East 30th Street workshop, which provided a residential space for visiting artists.
2012: Zygote was presented with the prestigious Cleveland Arts Prize — Liz Maugans and Bellamy Printz interview
2014: Zygote purchased and retrofitted a house in the Collinwood neighborhood, the Ink House (now operating as Deep Dive), to serve as a satellite fine art edition printmaking facility.
2015: Zygote eliminated all toxic solvents from the chemistry in our shop, replaced them with greener alternatives, and began sharing this knowledge with printmakers, educators, and other print shops.
2018: Zygote’s founder and Executive Director retired.
2021: Zygote embarked on a new strategic plan, restructuring its staff responsibilities, recruiting new members to its Board of Trustees, shifting the focus of its residency programs, and setting in motion a multi-year DEI plan to eliminate hierarchies and build access. Zygote launched a residency program for Artists of Color.
2022: Zygote embarked on a relocation plan exploration to form a multidisciplinary community arts center in partnership with like-minded arts nonprofit organizations.
2023: Zygote launched Pressing Matters, a new afterschool program for Cleveland teens, focusing on social justice and civic engagement through printmaking.
2024: Zygote substantially enhanced and rebranded the residency program for Artists of Color from a 3-month program to a 9-month PROOF Fellowship Program (Print Residency of Ohio’s Future), with expanded educational and exploratory support plus paid, career-building opportunities.
2025: Zygote launched the In(k)spire Scholarship Program for local artists-in-need.
2026: Zygote purchased and relocated to a 19,168-square-foot facility in the heart of MidTown Cleveland. Our new home will allow us to quadruple the number of people we serve annually; expand education programs; provide accessible, dedicated workspaces and community classrooms; and secure Zygote’s future as an anchor in Cleveland's cultural landscape.
