Sat 9/18 @ noon-7PM
Sun 9/19 @ noon-5PM
The Tremont Arts and Cultural Festival celebrates its 22nd year this weekend, in a community that has changed a lot in the last two decades. It was back in the 90s when artists began moving into what was then a down-on-its-heels community, formerly comprising small ethnic conclaves by torn apart by freeway construction and economic decline. Cheap housing and storefronts attracted artists who opened galleries, giving birth to the Tremont Art Walks, which lasted until just a few years ago.
Eventually, expensive new housing, restaurants and upscale drinkeries replaced most of the galleries, although a handful soldier on. But the neighborhood is still home to many creative people and a lot of cultural activities such as the recently concluded free Arts in August series in Lincoln Park.
For two days, the festival will fill Lincoln Park with lots of such activity and more. Five festival villages will showcase different aspects of the community. The artists’ village is the foundation of the event, featuring painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, handcrafted fine jewelry, glass and wood crafts and more by Tremont and Northeast Ohio artists. There’ll be a special focus on Celebration of Artists of the African Diaspora and special galleries devoted to LGBTQ artists and Latino artists.
The Tremont Farmers Market will have a village featuring the offerings of many of the vendors found at its weekly Tuesday evening market. The Children’s Village will offer hands-on fun for kids, including crafts and weaving, as well as flamenco performances, poet/storyteller Ray McNiece’s Johnny Appleseed: A Dramatic Recreation, and Children’s Creative Movement with the Movement Project.
The Community Village is made up of information booths from local nonprofits and local independent vendors. And the Cultural Village includes food sales from Tremont and other Cleveland-area restaurants and fair-trade and nonprofit groups.
There’ll also be music and dance performances starting at noon both days, including Verb Ballets, the St. Augustine Signing Choir, Ropa Vieja, the Art in Motion Bellydance Troupe, Danza Azteca Guadalupana, the Piast Polish song and dance ensemble, and Lingyun Rising Star Acrobatics & Chinese Dance School.
The festival is free. Masks are requested. More information here.
Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival