Sat 9/26
If one wanted to see how the arts lead economic development, just follow James Levin around. His Cleveland Public Theatre was founded in an inner-city neighborhood at West 65th & Detroit known more for its drugs and prostitution, and now has become the Gordon Square Arts District. I was fortunate enough to help him co-found and co-direct Ingenuity in 2005. His Wooster Jam enlivened that college’s campus. His Cleveland World Festival and One World Festivals have transformed Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens. And when a massive group of community supporters wanted to make a splash in downtown Lorain, they knew who to call.
A three-year-long community project culminated on Sat 9/26 with the igniting of a 24-foot long “FireFish” puppet along the banks of the Black River, accompanied by stilt walkers, ballet dancers and a children’s choir singing Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy.” Leading up to it, students worked as apprentices with area artists, directed by Joan Perch of the Lorain County Community College’s Stocker Arts Center, herself an urban pioneer with her galleries in Cleveland’s Powerhouse and the Euclid Arcade, now known as the 5th Street Arcades. The FireFish Festival ignited the entire community into live performance all night long: The Cleveland Cabaret Project was launched, Great Lakes Light Opera was presented in an alley off Broadway. Belly dancers, Taiko drummers, musicians and visual artists poured out of formerly abandoned sites and onto the street.
But the igniting of the FireFish was only the outward symbol of a deeper ignition. Lorain residents commented that in their decades of living in this town, they had never been shoulder-to-shoulder with such a huge crowd of people before. Ever. Lorain’s main drag, Broadway. has been brightened by the stunning renovation of the Lorain Palace Theatre, turning it into a community center. But the street is still haunted by vacancy and empty storefronts.
During the FireFish Festival, all that went away, and there was opera in the alleys, food trucks in the streets, art hanging in vacant buildings, and all the shops were open late. We bought a chair at 10PM at the 530 Shop, and went back the next day for more.
The list of collaborators on this project is staggering: Community Foundation of Lorain County, Nordson Corporate Foundation, Lorain County Community College Foundation, LCCC Stocker Art Center, Lorain County Port Authority, Lorain County Commissioners, the RossWay Group, Lorain County Community Action Agency, City of Lorain, United Way, Team Lorain County, Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, Nord Family Foundation, Lorain County Metro Parks and CoolCleveland.
Guess what everyone was saying while the FireFish was slowly smoking away… “Can we do this again next year?”
@LorainCounty @Nordson_Corp @LorainCCC @LorainPort @CityOfLorain_OH @OhioUW @TeamLorainCnty @LCMetroParks
View the PHOTOSTREAM here.
