Fri 4/24 @ 5:30PM
Sat 4/25 @ 10AM
A new thing is coming to Cleveland Heights’ business district Coventry Village called SPARK Some-Thing. It’s a two-day event that will feature a variety of activities for all ages including live music, public art, poetry, and public improvement projects people can take part in. Most of the activities are free. Despite the area’s ups and downs and the recent negativity surrounding the eviction of the arts groups and nonprofits from the Coventry PEACE campus, the goal is to draw people’s attention to the many restaurants, shops and other businesses on the strip.
While the events official kick off on Friday at 5:30pm with an opening reception at Heights Theatre, there’s an Arbor Day kids’ story time and tree planting on Friday morning and the chance to volunteer for street beautification all day. The reception will feature a panel moderated by Assembly for the Arts’ Deidre McPherson, and include some key Coventry figures: Mac’s Backs Books owner Suzanne DeGaetano, Rob Love of the legendary former record store Record Revolution, Scarlett Red, Sparrow’s Fortune, and Joel Negus.
At 7 pm, Literary Cleveland launches its Cleveland Poetry Festival by presenting a reading with nine area poets who have won the Cleveland Arts Prize including Ali Black, Mary Biddinger, George Bilgere, Kisha Nicole Foster, Stephanie Ginese, Dave Lucas, Ray McNiece, Philip Metres and Dr. Mary Weems, presenting their own work and a tribute to Pulitzer Prize winning U.S. Poet Laureate Ritsa Dove. That’s free; there’s also a ticketed concert at the Grog Shop with Americana indie-rockers Frog, and Cleveland bands Napsack and Wrinkled Beige Linen.
On Saturday, there’ll be a potpourri of events all day, including Independent Bookstore Day activities at Mac’s Backs including live Brazilian choro, a poetry reading, button making and face painting. The Grog Shop will host a free Music Creator Mini-Conference at 3pm with industry leaders, followed by a night of free music with AKA & Co, Quenton Rubin & Friends, Frida and the Mann, and DJ What’s His Face at 8:30pm. Also performing around the street will be baroque chamber ensemble Les Delices, The Tim Facemaker Band, Myth & Co, and Dan McCoy and the Sandings 8s. Muralists and other visual artists will be joined by community leaders to clean up debris (!!!! A noble task we should all take part in!!!) and paint the street.
For a detailed schedule go to coventryvillage.org.