Sat 9/6-Sun 9/7 @ noon-6PM
Rooms To Let CLE debuted in 2014, based on an interesting concept: teams of artists descended on houses in Slavic Village slated to be demolished and filled them with temporary exhibits and installations. It drew attention to the fact that Slavic Village was one of the areas in the entire country hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis of 2010. When it came back from the pandemic in 2021, its model had changed. It focused on putting artwork and performances into empty storefronts and other empty spaces around the corner of East 55th and Broadway, once upon a time the area’s “downtown,” and filling the intersection with vendors, artmakers and music. It had some promising elements, such as Jacci Hammer’s Sacred Sound Garden which filled shaded vacant lot hidden between two buildings with art, music and do-it-yourself activities, but it was basically, a neighborhood street festival along the lines of a smaller Waterloo Arts Fest
A name change probably should have followed, especially after last year’s bungling. Months prior to the late June event, it teased that it was moving into a huge building, something on the scale of the 20-year-old Ingenuity Festival — and then it announced just days before it was scheduled to occur that it was being postponed until September. Come September, it was another neighborhood street fair at East 55th and Broadway.
It’s a little hard to tell where it’s going now although the use of what was revealed to be the Corlett Movers Building on East 55th seems to be off the table. They’re saying “In 2025, we will pivot again, this time focusing on outdoor spaces, including vacant lots, gardens, and the heart of the Broadway Historic District” — in other words, something that’s already been done. Again, it seems, artists and local organizations will set up in the street as they’ve done the past four years to create and sell their work. Go here to learn more about ome of the artists participating.