Emily Appelbaum took over leadership of the Ingenuity festival ten years ago, when its future was precarious. Founded by James Levin and Thomas Mulready, the festival debuted in 2005, with the goal of engaging the entire Cleveland arts community in activating underutilized spaces with arts and technology. Appelbaum was named program director in March 2015, after a former director quit suddenly following its most unsuccessful location on the waterfront around the Rock Hall and the Great Lakes Science Center and prior to moving to Voinovich Park, promising a “transition.”
But the real transition happened the following year, when the festival gave up its nomadic existence and settled into a massive underutilized industrial building called the Hamilton Collaborative at 50th and Hamilton, forming a “creative cluster.” There it’s grown exponentially. Having a permanent location has allowed it to expand to over 150,000 square feet, offer a permanent year-round home for over 30 creators, present more extravagant installations and host events and activities year-round, led by Appelbaum taking on two roles as executive artistic director.
Under her leadership, the organization instituted Ingeneers, year-round volunteer crew of creatives building the immersive environments for the Ingenuity Fest, the annual Bal fundraiser and ongoing ambience. Appelbaum was also instrumental in igniting the IngenuityLabs Incubator Program and partnerships with the creative community that engaged over 1000 artists, 10,000 creative hours and over 100,000 visitors annually.
Now Appelbaum is stepping down at the end of the year; she’ll be acting as a consultant as Ingenuity transitions to new leadership. She’s taking a leadership position with Creative Sonoma, part of the Sonoma County Department of Economic Development, surveying, mapping, benchmarking and modeling the arts as economic drivers, partnering with their film commission and department of tourism to tackle issues as varied as climate resilience, forest fire devastation, replacing a waning wine industry with artistic attractions, and turning over agricultural land to artists.
The community is grateful for her unflagging energy, her pragmatic creativity, and her fierce belief in the art and artists of our region.