Activism & Volunteering

06.03-06.10.20

The message is clear.

Your voice, and your help, is needed now more than ever. And our community is stepping up.

SPACES is doubling down on their mission and responding to local artists’ needs by refocusing funding programs and serving as a critical resource for artists. Chef Doug Katz is offering Sunday Brunch online cooking classes to benefit Countryside Market. Artist Derek Hess is selling “Medi-Teddy” t-shirts and prints to benefit health care workers battling COVID-19. The Giving Tree Project is providing masks for seniors and others in need.

Get in touch with your elected Ohio state reps and make a plan to register and vote. Donate your cool memorabilia to the Rock Hall. Offer to help the overwhelmed and under-resourced Food Bank. Go to the new MadeCleveland online marketplace and buy some local art.

Let’s get active and volunteer. Who can you help this week?

–Thomas Mulready

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Photo by Thomas Mulready
CoolCleveland.com

VOTING
Because It Really Does Matter

It’s easy (and lazy) to say, “Voting doesn’t matter.” It can feel like that sometimes. But keep in mind that while presidential elections are exciting, it’s just as important to know who your state legislators are. For instance, one of them is sponsoring a bill to make it more difficult to vote in Ohio (we have details!) You need to know what’s going on — and vote. Read More

HELPING
VIDEO: Watch SPACES Respond to Artist’s Needs

During this time of crisis, SPACES has doubled down on their mission to serve as a resource for artists by supporting politically, culturally, and/or socially responsive artist projects, and they’ve refocused funding programs to address emergency needs brought on by the pandemic and current economic crisis.

CoolCleveland talks with interim director Megan Young, a performance artist herself, about the resources SPACES is making available, how SPACES is moving ahead with their programming, and the cultural landscape in our region. Read More

RESPONDING
All for the Animals

Becca Britton founded the nonprofits Friends of the Cleveland Kennel in 2003 and Neighborhood Pets in 2017. Both have grown, along with the need, so FOCK will be absorbed into Neighborhood Pets, while a new group takes its place. Read More

Local Theaters Respond to Racism

Many area arts organizations see inclusion, equity and justice as a key part of their mission. Read what Near West Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre and Beck Center have to say about the recent events that have roiled the nation. Read More

RACING
A Most Excellent Race

Get out of the house and move with a Most Excellent Race: Virtual! Participate anytime, anywhere! Proceeds help Achievement Centers for Children/Camp Cheerful! Read More
SPONSORED

DONATING
VIDEO: Rock Hall’s NEO Sound Collection Is Simply Unbelievable

Check out the new video from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives on their NEO Sound project, featuring incredible rare clips from DEVO, The Dead Boys, Aerosmith, The Who, Metallica, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie, plus flyers of Iggy Pop, John Cale and Pere Ubu, and a photo of the Cleveland Arena, the site of the world’s first-ever rock and roll concert. This collection is amazing.

Andy Leach, senior director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives, says, “Right now is really the perfect time to be on the lookout for music memorabilia that you might want to donate to be part of our permanent collection.” View the video and our exclusive interview with Leach. Read More

EATING
What’s New at Melt Bar and Grilled

First, the Independence location is now open for lunch starting June 1! Next, all locations are open for dining room and patio service while practicing six-foot social distancing requirements and intense sanitation procedures. And finally, the Fried Green Tomato BLT is back for June! Read More
SPONSORED

THIS WEEK

WED 6/3
Serving Basic Needs
Food insecurity has grown exponentially in NE Ohio during the pandemic, so if you’re looking for a place to make a difference, you couldn’t do more good than by helping the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.* New book spotlights 20 “Boss Ladies” of Cleveland.

THU 6/4
Exploring Outer Limits
Three Oberlin professors will talk about the school’s TIMARA program and its 50 years of electronic/computer art education as part of Oberlin’s Stage Left series.* Coalition for humane county jail conditions fights for timely release hearings.

FRI 6/5

De-Plasticizing

A new film and panel discussion look at plastic polluting the Earth & what we can do about it.

* Virtual CMA MIX party invites you to dance at home.

*Area art galleries begin reopening cautiously.

* Cleveland Orchestra cellist live streams Bach Suites.

* Cleveland Print Room’s annual peer show opens online.

SAT 6/6
Meet the Artists Online
Summit Artspace will be hosting one more virtual artwalk before opening the gallery doors to welcome visitors in July. * The Peninsula Flea resumes with social distancing guidelines.* MadeCleveland provides an online marketplace for local vendors.

* Cleveland rockers Herzog release track from upcoming album you can pre-order now.

* Get out on the lake with Cleveland Sailing Charters.

SUN 6/7
Virtual Sunday Brunch
Cleveland chef Doug Katz is hosting Sunday brunch online — you buy the ingredients, he tells you how to assemble them — to benefit Summit County’s Countryside Farmers Market.* Hudson Library hosts online concert by early-music ensemble Les Delices.* Former Plain Dealer reporters read from their favorite articles.

MON 6/8
Giving Protection
A state senator and an attorney from Lakewood are enlisting volunteers to make masks for seniors and others who need them.*CWRU engineer/designer Ian Charnas’ latest creation is a robot head massager.

TUE 6/9
Art for the Soul
A new mural in Lakewood by printmaker April Bleakney features an image she says is intended to reflect “peace and serenity.” * Writers and actors are invited to join CPT Dark Room Zoom open mic.* Artist Derek Hess’ Medi-Teddy design benefits health care workers.

WED 6/10
The Great Outdoors
If you need a dose of nature to refresh and restore your spirits to fight another day, Holden Arboretum is now open to the general public* Founding of the Cleveland League of Women Voters 100 years ago is explored in WRHS blog post.

MANSFIELD

So That We Never ForgetWhen Chicago teenager Emmitt Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman who has since recanted the foul accusation, his death at the hands of white bigots wasn’t the first such incident of lynching in this country — it was just the most recent and heinous… Read More

Murder Most Foul

While all unjust deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers are a wicked manifestation of something terribly wrong with how America is policed, the death of George Floyd is far different, far worse. In the vast majority of cases black men die from gunfire; from rounds fired by a nervous or simply racist… Read More