Everywhere All The Time
No matter how you get around, this is the season when our region lights up and struts its stuff. Holiday markets are everywhere: Artcraft Artists at Twist Drill, Asia Town Center, Cleveland Bazaar at Lake Affect Studios, plus artist merchants like Dru Christine Fabrics & Design and Tower Press Building. And holiday celebrations abound: Peninsula Candelight Walk, Light Up Lakewood, the Little Italy Holiday Art Walk, and WJCU’s Blizzard Bash are just the tip of the oncoming iceberg.
Around this town, we understandably have a special place in our heart for IngenuityFest, and in preparation for their upcoming 20th anniversary season, the Flannel & Finery fundraiser at their Hamilton Collaborative space should set your night alight. Negative Space Gallery in Asiatown is hosting a two-day arts & music festival. The Yards Project, on the ground floor of the Worthington Apartments in the Warehouse District, explores defamiliarization, reimagining Cleveland as if you are seeing it for the first time.
As we get around, we are super excited about Dave Swanson’s Mystery Airship landing at the Happy Dog, the Akron Art Museum offering gifts crafted by creative kids, Kent hosting the Preservation Hall Jazz Band with a Creole Christmas, CMA mounting MIX on the theme of beats with an army of DJs, and Blues DeVille rocking the Bainbridge Swing Dance.
Covering the town, CoolCleveland arts correspondent Bruce Checefsky secured an advance copy of a report that Cuyahoga Arts & Culture will be releasing at their upcoming meeting on 12/13 that expresses artist emotions towards the CAC, “including anger, exhaustion, frustration, hopelessness, and sadness.” As usual, the only hope is to attend the next meeting and advocate for positive change around here.
–Thomas Mulready