Is it possible that James Levin and I, along with a massive crew of staff and volunteers and supporters, plus the bulk of the arts community, started the first Ingenuity Fest back a whole 20 years ago in 2005? Come celebrate the next 20 this weekend and allow your brain to ascend to new heights.Between Consciousness and Blacking Out is the 2nd LP by Daniel Rylander, out this week as the artist plays Akron’s Rialto. We think back and honor Arabella Proffer’s work and community at 78th Street Studios this Thursday. The Cleveland Photo Fest concludes, Heights Music Hop is back, CLE Concierto performs a female baroque composer, Cirque Us returns to town, Akron Art Museum goes neon, Heights Arts’ Art Bar offers jazz & bevvies, No Class celebrates Chappelle Roan with drag and burlesque, Future Ink Graphics vibes on the Zodiac, Annie Zaleski launches her new book on T. Swift, a free concert is inspired by Euclid Beach, and I think Little Italy is crawling with meatballs. Much to ponder.
Join us for the Cleveland Arts Prize 2024 Annual Awards Event, presented by the Cleveland Museum of Art on Thu 10/24, 2024, at Tri-C Eastern Campus for an unforgettable evening of celebration, honoring some of Northeast Ohio’s exceptionally talented artists and most influential cultural leaders:
Amber N. Ford, Photographer; Clint Needham, Ph.D., Music Composer; Barbara Bosworth, Photographer; Shannon Morris, Executive Director and Founder, Artful Cleveland; Dr. Ronald and Eugenia Strauss, Founders, CityMusic Cleveland; Ellen Stirn Mavec, President and Chairperson, The Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation.
Emceed by Ideastream’s Kabir Bhatia, the evening will also feature performances by world-renowned harpist Yolanda Kondonassis (CAP 2011) and the exhilarating choreography of Heinz Poll (CAP 1995) performed by the Ohio Contemporary Ballet (formerly known as Verb Ballet). The evening will also include a tribute to four CAP winners who have had meaningful careers in the arts — John Ewing (CIA Cinematheque), Charles Fee (Great Lakes Theater) Marcie Goodman (Cleveland International Film Festival), and David Shimotakahara (Groundworks DanceTheater). Tickets here.
The Ingenuity Festival, taking place this weekend, Fri 9/27-Sun 9/29, is celebrating its 20th anniversary year, in which time it’s evolved into the biggest artist-driven event in Northeast Ohio. And this year’s theme is “Era of Ascent” hinting at even bigger things to come.It started back in 2005 around the idea of wedding the arts and technology to spark something new and to activate under-utilized spaces in and around downtown. It moved from a then-moribund Public Square to East 4th Street to Playhouse Square, then to two fondly remembered years to the trolley level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge to some abandoned warehouses at Northcoast Harbor. It took a leap forward when it moved into a permanent, year-round home in the sprawling Hamilton Collaborative where you can spent three days absorbing a massive dose of creativity. Read more.
Tanya Kaiser moved to Cleveland in late 2019 and about a year later opened Kaiser Gallery and Cocktail Lounge in Tremont. In four years she’s done 31 solo shows and themed group exhibitions, showing the work of approximately 130 artists. Her unique combo of gallery and cocktail bar and diverse special events made it a hangout in the increasingly gallery-deficient neighborhood. Sadly she’s closing after the run of her current show on October 5, but word is she’ll still be active in the Cleveland arts scene. Read more.
Daniel Rylander is an Akron-based singer-songwriter who started out in a pop-punk band about 20 years ago. But once that group broke up, he decided to focus on his songwriting, augmenting his writing by learning to play piano, guitar and ukulele. He released his debut album in 2013, followed by several EPs. Now finally he’s putting out a second full-length, Between Consciousness and Blacking Out, already available on streaming platforms. He’ll celebrate its release with a concert at Akron’s Rialto Theatre Friday September 27. Read more.
WED 10/2 Finding Forgotten Voters
How we energize voters who have dropped out, discouraged by the political climate, is the topic of the next “Happy Dog Takes On” discussion at the Gordon Square music venue.
In the 112-year history of the City Club of Cleveland, it’s hosted hundreds of distinguished speakers. They run the gamut of future, past and sitting presidents, political leaders of every hue, and notable Americans and international speakers of every political persuasion. But until this year, there have been only two United States Supreme Court justices: Sandra Day O’Connor in 1987 and Antonin Scalia in March of 2003. On September 16, the City Club’s featured speaker was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman to serve on the high court.
Thank you to the American electorate that elected President Joe Biden in 2020. Had he lost, there would be another right-wing conservative on the Supreme Court. Elections have consequences. Had Hillary Clinton been elected in 2016 we would not have Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and granted Trump presidential immunity. Remember that when you go to the polls in November. Read more.
