But more is not better
Our arts and culture industry contributes $533M per year to our local economy. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture has provided over 4000 grants to 485 non-profits, but the current cigarette tax revenue stream is drying up. It’s important that we vote YES on Issue 55 in Cuyahoga County to renew the levy and keep our region’s culture strong. There’s more to John D Morton than being the driving force behind the band electric eels, one of punk rock’s foundational groups. Turns out he moved to NYC by the end of the 70s and pursued art & poetry, which has been collected in a book released by Cleveland’s Stone Church Press.
It’s easy to expand your world this week by registering for the 10th annual Inkubator free writing conference, take a walk through the woods at dusk and view a stellar sunset from the Emergent Tower at Holden Arboretum, catch first call percussionist Jamey Haddad at his regular gig at BOP STOP (which will no doubt sell out), bow down to the coolest band in the world, DEVO, at the two-day DEVOtional, join birders at Mentor Marsh for a week-long birding conference, and witness the explosion of creativity that culminates in the Burning of the Fish at the Fire Fish Festival in Lorain.
But there’s more. There’s the Tremont Arts & Culture Fest, the Sewer District’s Clean Water Festival, the Dark Wave Dance Cave, the Cleveland Pickle Fest, the Cleveland Photo Fest, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Molto Bella Auto Show, and the opening of the Uncommon Sounds Project season. Around here, less is definitely not more.
–Thomas Mulready