Fri 8/16 @ 7PM
Sat 8/17 @ 11:30 AM
Sun 8/18 @ noon
There are a couple of people coming in to Cleveland this weekend from Zagreb, Croatia, a couple more from Beirut, Lebanon. A delegation of more than a dozen is slated to arrive from San Francisco, another from Seattle. A horde is descending from Chicago.
What’s drawing them here?
It’s Cleveland’s unique Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, which tosses together artists, speakers, music, comedians, and creative types from all over the place and mixes well. It’s three days of ideas ricocheting all over the place as people meet, mingle and exchange ideas. It describes itself as a “young grassroots movement to inspire and enable the creative mind.”
WMC will have nonstop music by a mix of local acts and acts from around the country, like Braid out of Champaign, Illinois, Minneapolis’ Astronautilus, and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Trsiten (pictured).
It also includes TED-style speaker, vendors, galleries, workshops, portfolio reviews, comedy, and people just hanging out and getting inspired by what other people are working on.
This year — its third — it’s consolidated everything at Cleveland Public Theatre for easy access. And because the festival wants to bring more Cleveland creative types into contact with the visitors it’s got a free component this year: two days of free events taking place at Parish Hall on the CPT campus from 11:30 AM-8PM. That includes the breakdance competition on Saturday.
It’s also taking WMC out to the community for the first time, with pop-up sets by some of the booked performers at various locations around Gordon Square.
Most of the $75 three-day passes are sold out, but there should be a few $35 one-day passes available. The Friday night mixer party is $10.
A full schedule is here.