Can Cleveland’s smaller arts institutions become stronger by joining forces?
Karamu House in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood and Cleveland Heights-based Dobama Theatre clearly hope that is the case with the announcement of a formal collaboration launching for the 2016-2017 season.
The two groups’ official statement says, “The Karamu/Dobama partnership is a collaborative initiative between two historic theatre institutions to enrich our theatre making, bring people in our city together, and strengthen our community. Through shared resources, joint programming, artistic collaboration, civic engagement, and the creation of space for conversation, the Karamu/Dobama partnership will be a catalyst for community, enhance the art we create, and allow us to more fully and immediately respond to the challenges we face in the world today.”
While some aspects of this collaboration are still on the drawing board, initially it will include “shared facility and personnel resources, collaborative education programming, joint ticket offerings, professional co-productions, and community activism programs. This partnership will begin during the 2016/17 Season with Dobama Theatre’s lease of rehearsal space at Karamu House, an artist exchange program, and a two ticket offerings.”
Karamu house production manager Richard H. Morris, Jr. will design the set for An Octoroon at Dobama, while Dobama’s scene designer Ben Needham will do designs for Karamu’s Rasheeda Speaking. Each theater will offer discounts to patrons of the other and there will be discounts for those presenting an Ohio Direction card.
In the future, the theaters hope to co-stage productions, offer programs responding to events in the community and sponsor other community engagement and outreach forums “to organize events around social activism.”
Cleveland, OH 44106
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118