Now in our 20th year, CoolCleveland has spent a lot of time behind the scenes, interviewing artists and entrepreneurs, partnering with the coolest non-profits in the region, and hosting links to virtually all locally owned shops, restaurants and venues. You, too, can get on the inside track with CoolCleveland’s help.Hear the backstory of the Cleveland Photo Fest and their audacious quest to host one million photos. Pitch in on Château Hough’s fundraiser to help carry on the good work of CoolCleveland columnist Mansfield Frazier and activist who passed away last year. Sit in on a rehearsal as the Cleveland Ballet’s Nutcracker shifts the traditionally Russian dance to Ukrainian.
Then get ready for your turn in the spotlight as you experience the wonder that is NEO: stroll Tremont as Unsilent Night performs music on their phones and Bluetooth speakers; help City Mission at their Amhal benefit; join the car parade and celebrate the first night of Chanukah; hear Lori Kella talk about her deceptive photography at the Akron Art Museum; open your ears for some experimental music at BOP STOP.
Still behind with your holiday gifting? Not to worry: holiday markets at Heights Arts, BAYarts and Made Cleveland are all open daily through Christmas Eve. And, of course, gift tickets to our Cracked Actor shows at intimate venues in CLE, Akron & Cle Hts can be secured right up until they sell out. We can all be heroes with a little rehearsal.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is evolving into a transformed museum, slated for completion in 2024, while staying open every step of the way. Some improvements are already visible, such as the new Wade Oval exterior (pictured). Wow! Plus see new 3-D movies like Dinosaurs Alive! and Superpower Dogs, exhibits like Amazing Insects, Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species, Audubon’s Birds of America, the cool Birdly flight simulator, and much more!
This Friday 12/16, CMNH is keeping the lights on until 8PM for Friday Night Lights. Enjoy special programming, Current Science presentations, gallery talks, up close looks at CMNH animals, and in-depth conversations with curators and special guests. Cash bar with beer, wine, and signature cocktails from Western Reserve Distillers. Read more.
The Nutcracker is a reliable holiday standby for dance ensembles everywhere. Cleveland’s professional company, The Cleveland Ballet, is no exception. It will present the work at Playhouse Square Connor Palace Theatre Thu 12/15-Sun 12/18.
Dance writers Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas sat in on a rehearsal for this year’s production to learn about what it will look like (all new sets and costumes!), how they’re working on making the dancing even better, and the thinking behind changing the traditional Russian dance to a Ukrainian variation. Read more
Before social media, the only way most people heard about the civil rights struggle was through the hard work of writers and photographers “embedded” into the movement, on the scene in the American South, bringing back scenes of racial division, homegrown terror, Ku Klux Klan attacks, and the heroic efforts of those working on the right side of history.
Listen as CoolCleveland speaks with Les Kelen, Executive Director of the Center for Documentary Expression & Art, and organizer of This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement, on display now on view at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage through April 2, 2023. Read more.
Wondering why Ohio’s democracy-hating secretary of state Frank LaRose is out promoting a law to make it harder to pass a ballot issue by citizen petition? The announcements on Mon 12/12 by a coalition of Ohio groups and another organization may be one reason why.
Eight organizations have formed an initiative called Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom that’s working on figuring out the timing and strategy for putting an issue on the Ohio ballot to protect and expand abortion rights. Simultaneously, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights announced its preparing a ballot issue as well. LaRose and his fellow Republicans want to assure that the legislature can continue to pass wildly unpopular laws that relegate women to second-class citizenship. Read the commentary by CoolCleveland’s Anastasia Pantsios.
Featuring new original music from the band, ticket holders will revel in rarely performed deep cuts alongside epic hits. Interviews with members of his seminal band The Spiders From Mars pop up in the show, along with voices from experts and clinical psychotherapists exploring how the artist nurtured his own mental health. Tickets are available now, and make great stocking stuffers. Read more.
Toboggan season is now open at the Cleveland Metroparks! Experience the icy thrill of tobogganing at The Chalet in Mill Stream Run Reservation, located on Valley Parkway between Routes 42 and 82 in Strongsville, a short distance from both I-71 and the Ohio Turnpike. The twin, 700-foot refrigerated ice chutes operate with or without snow through late February, weather permitting. Read more.
Cleveland Photo Fest launched its One Million Photos a year ago but failed to reach that number in time for this year’s event, currently at the Bostwick Design Art Initiative galleries through December 31. So they’re continuing to solicit photos in hopes of getting one million by next year’s CPF. Read More.
CoolCleveland columnist and Hough community activist Mansfield Frasier, best know for his Château Hough vineyard and winery, passed away in October 2021 but the work he did under the umbrella of his nonprofit Neighborhood Solutions Inc. is ongoing. You can contribute by making a year-end donation. Read more
Joseph O’Sickey (1918-2013) was one of 20th-century NE Ohio’s most prominent painters. His estate bequeathed a large number of his works to the Cleveland Institute of Art (where he went to school) to sell. Some of them are now on view at WOLFS Gallery. Read more
This year primary voters selected TV doc and New Jersey resident Mehmet Oz for a shot at a Pennsylvania Senate seat and football has-been and Texas resident Herschel Walker to go to the Senate from Georgia. Fortunately, they were both defeated.
But consider 2016. A thrice-married, never-elected-to-anything, formerly bankrupt reality TV personality defeated a candidate who had textbook credentials for the Presidency — law degree from Yale, former senator, former secretary of state and former first lady — probably one of the best qualified presidential candidates ever. Read more from CoolCleveland columnist C. Ellen Connally here.
