July 18, 200717 yr I'll be there on Thurs. I also heard that Cleveland Bikes will be offering half-priced tickets for people who ride to the festival.
July 18, 200717 yr I'll be there on Thurs. I also heard that Cleveland Bikes will be offering half-priced tickets for people who ride to the festival. so does that mean RTA will pick up half of my ticket cost?
July 18, 200717 yr Ingenuity Festival showcases alternatives to razing Marcel Breuer's Ameritrust tower Steven Litt: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 AMBIARCH INC. A proposal by architect Aetem Golestian of Glendale, Calif., would carve giant openings into architect Marcel Breuer's Ameritrust tower, creating a series of garden terraces. Litt is architecture critic of The Plain Dealer. To reach this Plain Dealer columnist: [email protected], 216-999-4136
July 20, 200717 yr Whew! What a night. That storm threw us for a loop. Pictures soon. ++++++++++++++++++++++ cleveland.com: Storm sweeps through opening-night of Ingenuity Posted by Karen Sandstrom July 19, 2007 20:37PM Categories: Breaking News After so much drumming that boomed like thunder, the sky finally had to reply. And it did, cracking its stormy whip through CSU Plaza Thursday evening. There, hundreds of percussionists had been beating and banging and changing up rhythms since about 5:30 p.m. as part of "Samba for 1,000 Drums," the opening celebration of the Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology. The Samba brought professional musicians and local drum lines under the direction of Brazilian percussionist Marcus Santos for a concert of bongos, snares, toms and cymbals. Belly dancers jiggled. Spectators danced. Artist Scott Heiser wore a 15-foot-tall puppet whose fabric limbs undulated in the breeze. The Burning River Roller Girls rolled in looking fierce, though at least one was pulling suckers out of a plastic bag for kids. Everyone encircled the drummers in the Plaza as they kept up their beats for nearly an hour in hot, humid air scented sweet with smoke from a few festival-goers burning hemp rope. At first the sun lit up thick, misty clouds that looked like they'd slip on by. But by 6:20, the sun was gone, the wind turned cool and a wall of dark gray swept in from the west. And still, the drummers drummed. Garvey and Cici Cummings of Garfield Heights found themselves getting into the cycles of beats as 3-year-old Immanuel, perched on Garvey's shoulder, kept time on his dad's head. The family was having a good time. "It's striking, and there's a nice variety," said Cici Cummings. "Kinda crazy, too." It got crazier minutes later. The wind that had been pummeling the trees around the plaza suddenly hammered downtown with rain, sending drummers and their kits, parents and their kids and even a rollerskating gladiator dashing for cover. Some fled inside the atrium at Cleveland State's University Center building. The rest ducked into covered walkways around Rhodes Tower. The drums never stopped. They just got louder, as the sounds careened off the walls at Rhodes Tower and bounced around the massive windows and ceiling of the atrium. In the end, festival co-founder James Levin had more good to say than bad about the unscheduled performance. "It's amazing," he said. "I didn't know we were a festival of art and technology and nature." Back at Playhouse Square, however, the storm was less festive, as wind and rain toppled vendors' tents and sent soggy brochures flying into Euclid Ave. Within 20 minutes, the sky was bright again and the funnel cakes were frying, but organizers canceled the evening's outdoor performances. "There was some production damage," said Anne S. Kohn, the festival's assistant director. Indoor events continued, including the Troika Ranch performance and the premiere of "The Fire Inside," about poet Nikki Giovanni. Kohn said she expected everything to be running on schedule Friday. A brief but intense storm whipped through downtown Cleveland, wreaking havoc with stalls and schedules at the Ingenuity Festival Thursday afternoon, July 19, 2007.
July 20, 200717 yr When a schedule says a certain venue, saaay the 1305 Euclid gallery, will be open "All Day", can someone explain why said venue would be closed on a Friday at lunchtime? The home page says the main event hours are 5pm-9pm (a brilliant way to make 130,000 downtown workers avoid the festival at lunch - since according to the home page, it isn't open!), and this schedule says "All Day". I wouldn't be so miffed if this was the first time this happened but every year of the festival's existence, they've always managed to have this kind of scheduling problem. I really truly want to support this event, but get it together, people! :x http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/files/PrtScheduleFri.pdf clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
July 21, 200717 yr Author just got back from Ingenuity... muuuuch better this year i have to say. I love those old theatres as venues! the place seemed very well attended too, which i was glad to see
July 21, 200717 yr I 'll be around in a green shirt volunteering. Just post photos from Thursday: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13552.0 http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13553.0
July 22, 200717 yr i had a pretty good time on saturday. i thought the festival had quite a bit different feel than the first 2 though. the larger venues, imo, kind of hid some of the innovative displays and presentations. i was also a little disappointed that a few more of the buildings weren't opened up or that some of the spaces weren't used for performances - like the alleys behind playhouse square. i enjoyed the alley music around e4 last year. i also think that RTA missed an opportunity to have the ECP vehicle positioned in the middle of euclid, perhaps near CSU, and set up more as it is going to run. instead it was stuck at the north end of e17. also, i think RTA missed the boat by not highlighting the number of new innovations that are going into the bus, whether the hybrid engines, docking system, prototype fuel cell vehicle, etc. They could have used some big call out signs highlighting this. Instead, it was just the bus parked there. still nice to see it though.
July 22, 200717 yr ^Good observations. I feel the venue as a whole is a great space. There is a need for better use of it. The parking lot at East 17, south of Euclid was completely unused. This is where the food vendors should have gone. I heard All Signs Go pulled out at the last minute, taking with them some of the art work and another stage for performances. Shame. Some of the highlights: Free WiFi on Euclid (1cpublic ?); The "Gulley Stage" at CSU next to Urban (excellent space - there is already talk of making that permanent; the use of the Urban Affairs Building for the family center (every classroom was used for a separate interactive function; Grand Master Flash (ROCKED THE HOUSE!!!); did I mention free WiFi (I am posting this from East 17 and Euclid at the beer ticket stand where I am volunteering today); Uncle Scratch's Gospel Revival gig at the "Gulley Stage" (OH. MY. GOD., Song of the night and intro: "This next song is about kickin' the devil in the balls . Its called... Kickin' the devil in the Balls" They were Hell-arry-us); Opening night in the CSU Plaza: plus many, many more. More photos to come soon, including a photo set of all of the submissions from the Breuer Design Competition.
July 23, 200717 yr i also think that RTA missed an opportunity to have the ECP vehicle positioned in the middle of euclid, perhaps near CSU, and set up more as it is going to run. instead it was stuck at the north end of e17. also, i think RTA missed the boat by not highlighting the number of new innovations that are going into the bus, whether the hybrid engines, docking system, prototype fuel cell vehicle, etc. They could have used some big call out signs highlighting this. Instead, it was just the bus parked there. still nice to see it though. Funny, I was there on Saturday night and my wife and I were talking about how sad it was that RTA didn't have a booth or a vehicle. maybe it was gone by the time we got there or maybe we just didn't find it, but damn, talk about an opportunity to get the public excited about this project, when all that's made the press these days is how much of a hassle the construction is! I, too, said that they could highlight the art & tech features of the BRT vehicles and the stations that would fit perfectly into the theme of the festival. tsk tsk!
July 23, 200717 yr I wonder what the economic impact for the festival is. Is there any information on attendance from the folks at PHS? Cleveland has had a string of events in the city since mid April. I wonder what hotel occupancy rates and net occupancy are? How are restaurant booking? How is attendance and spending at other venues? As a result of these events I wonder what future bookings/reservations are like.
July 23, 200717 yr i also think that RTA missed an opportunity to have the ECP vehicle positioned in the middle of euclid, perhaps near CSU, and set up more as it is going to run. instead it was stuck at the north end of e17. also, i think RTA missed the boat by not highlighting the number of new innovations that are going into the bus, whether the hybrid engines, docking system, prototype fuel cell vehicle, etc. They could have used some big call out signs highlighting this. Instead, it was just the bus parked there. still nice to see it though. Funny, I was there on Saturday night and my wife and I were talking about how sad it was that RTA didn't have a booth or a vehicle. maybe it was gone by the time we got there or maybe we just didn't find it, but damn, talk about an opportunity to get the public excited about this project, when all that's made the press these days is how much of a hassle the construction is! I, too, said that they could highlight the art & tech features of the BRT vehicles and the stations that would fit perfectly into the theme of the festival. tsk tsk! It would have been great if they could have readied a platform bus stop so that people could see and touch it. Oh well. It does appear that the pace of construction on Euclid between 9th and 14th is picking up.
July 23, 200717 yr ^^ There were also thousands at the dew tour, it was sold out. They showed some beautiful shots of the city with a national audience watching. They were very positive and spoke very highly of the city. Nice to see.
July 23, 200717 yr Funny, I was there on Saturday night and my wife and I were talking about how sad it was that RTA didn't have a booth or a vehicle. maybe it was gone by the time we got there or maybe we just didn't find it, but damn, talk about an opportunity to get the public excited about this project, when all that's made the press these days is how much of a hassle the construction is! I, too, said that they could highlight the art & tech features of the BRT vehicles and the stations that would fit perfectly into the theme of the festival. tsk tsk! They had the EC bus on 17th and there were always people going through it when ever i walked by. But your right, there should have been something on Euclid itself - after all, its not called the East 17th Street Corridor Project. Attendance: I have not heard any numbers yet, but the general feeling from James Levin was: Thursday, rain caused lots of problems with many people leaving after the storm Friday, a little less then expected Saturday, way more then expected Sunday, good day overall. more families then expected my opinion: don't have so many things going on at the same time. Dew Tour, Taste of Tremont, Rascal Flats concert, race Too much to do and expect to have a positive revenue flow i am also hearing they will likely have next years in the same location
July 23, 200717 yr ^^ There were also thousands at the dew tour, it was sold out. They showed some beautiful shots of the city with a national audience watching. They were very positive and spoke very highly of the city. Nice to see. Yes I agree. without mixing threads, I heard there were approximately 65k in attendance over the course of the dew tour. As I said in that thread the broadcasters/media got amazing shots of the city and spoke highly of venues. to me this just shows what cleveland could do from a outside region tourist business. Damn, the city could be more attractive to in region folks if we had a downtown retail backbone! Just imagine how many people would could keep in the heart of the city (40 blocks east and west of Public Square)?
July 23, 200717 yr my opinion: don't have so many things going on at the same time. Dew Tour, Taste of Tremont, Rascal Flats concert, race Too much to do and expect to have a positive revenue flow i am also hearing they will likely have next years in the same location Musky, sorry to disagree, but that shows the marketing power and vibrancy of the city. The problem is not the amount of simultaneous events taking place throughout the city, its the PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING of the events. Again, the city has no public relations strategy! :x
July 23, 200717 yr I agree with you. When we are bringing in revenues from outside of the region, we absolutely need better marketing. How much can an event expect to bring in though, from the locals. The first year was free and it did well. The second year (in almost the same location) charged and did well. The only things going on that weekend were the air show and an Indians game. The event got a huge boost from the game because of the location. When i said my opinion, i guess i was thinking more in personal terms. I only have x amount of $, so i will only pick one event to go to.
July 23, 200717 yr When i said my opinion, i guess i was thinking more in personal terms. I only have x amount of $, so i will only pick one event to go to. No problem. You raise valid points. I just think in terms of the larger picture, but I don't think we have the PR strategy to execute. Some People might only be able to pay to attend one event, but the idea that you have options to attend or atleast mill around or go to another event which my have "free" options is what makes the city attractive. A person or a group, might have paid to attend parts of the ingenutiy festival (or a Play/show, or come downtown for a meal), but with a menu of attractions in downtown/near downtown you might stay to: -a meal or two -then headed over to see the dew events -Caught a ride on the goodtime -See a movie -Catch a play/show at PHS -Drinks at the Wyndham -Just walked around downtown, and if you walk around and there is something to see/do, you usually buy! -(If the indians had been intown) you might have headed over to the gateway to bar hop. Its planting the idea in regional peoples minds that downtown/the city is just a "one event at a time town" or "we'll go in for x event than right back home - as there is nothing else to do downtown" mentality. I believe the city has the economic power to do this and people just need a larger variety of stores to window shop or shop..shop..shop.
July 23, 200717 yr I liked the location. was it just me or was there less technology showcased? I think I liked the first year the best...I was completely slack jawed. Last year...nothing to do with anything, but the weather was oppressive, and many venues were not air conditioned. I agree the theaters were great. although...did anybody see the Geisha show? ekk! it was stampede to get out at the end of the first act. I LOVED the music. nation beat and the roots of amercian music were great (and in fact there is a big music show this coming weekend featuring guitar, blue grass and blues sponsored by tri-c..outdoors in the mall I think-will try and find info and post). I did love there so much to do this weekend-including sitting out for free listening to the Moody Blues on the viaduct. I think there should be a "long summer weekend in Cleveland" type promo that better markets all the things going on. Maybe free trolley service around the city? Finally as always ingenuity is my favorite crowd in Cleveland. it is insanely diverse in every way! It really brings out a dynamic bunch and gives me warm fuzzies when I need them the most
July 24, 200717 yr OK I realize this may expose me for being self serving...but about the beer. we were grateful for non bud beer, but perhaps local brewers could be showcased. brewing is all about art and technology no? maybe some high tech food demonstrations. Yes. I am ruled by my stomach sometimes.
July 24, 200717 yr I liked the idea of having Ingenuity and the Dew Tour in downtown at the same time. Lots of young people coming to the Dew Tour from the suburbs and out of town -- show them something cool, creative and techhy about the city so they'll have a positive lasting impression. You never know what personal or business decisions they may make decades into the future as a result of that positive impression. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 24, 200717 yr Just an idea...I don't think the past 2 fests took place on an Indians weekend, correct? Maybe this a good way to wet the palette of 100,000 +/- so people going to the games over the 3-4 day span? I was out of town Sat/Sun but Friday was rather quiet. Is the Tribe fan crowd an untapped market? It'd be interesting to see if the fest could draw 20-30,000 more people if the Tribe is playing. It's nice that the alternating the fest weekend with a sports weekend keeps a steady flow of people into the city during the summer months but if the numbers for this year's fest are similar to the first 2, then I think they should consider changing the dates to see if numbers rise drastically. I would think in a worst case scenario, the numbers would be +/- the same. Oh, and let's NEVER complain about too many people in downtown CLE!!! There can never be too many people spending money in Cleveland!
July 24, 200717 yr Is the Tribe fan crowd an untapped market? It'd be interesting to see if the fest could draw 20-30,000 more people if the Tribe is playing. it would be nice if the tribe could draw 30,000 people! ba-zing!
July 24, 200717 yr Oh, and let's NEVER complain about too many people in downtown CLE!!! There can never be too many people spending money in Cleveland! HELLO!
July 24, 200717 yr I had a full plate on Saturday, with errands and a party on the east side in the afternoon and the Winking Lizard "Shot in the Dark" 4-miler in the evening. There were well over 1,000 people who did the 2 and 4-miler and there was a beer garden open from 4:30 to 10:30 along Huron Road, west of 9th Street. I went over to Ingenuity after that, because I was already downtown and figured it was easy enough!
August 1, 200717 yr Cool Cleveland: Ingenuity wrap-up Cool Cleveland spoke with Ingenuity director James Levin and told him how much fun we had with the family at this year's event, especially the Mindball game, the Mark Mothersbaugh exhibit (and all the art), and the mainstage shows, including Grandmaster Flash, who had thousands in the street in front of the Playhouse Square marquees wit their hands in the air for an hour. Did they exceed last year's attendance? Yes, the total was around 70K. Did their revenue exceed their expenses? Not quite. "Am I forced to tap dance again?" asked Levin, "Yes." http://www.IngenuityCleveland.com ********************* I still have to post pictures from Saturday and Sunday. Coming soon.....
August 1, 200717 yr yes, please do (i'm still looking for myself) and musky's pictures got a shout-out in the cool cleveland email (flikr gallery)
August 1, 200717 yr Saturday, pt I: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13672.msg205274#msg205274 pt II http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13673.msg205275#msg205275 pt III http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13674.msg205277#msg205277
August 3, 200717 yr Las day - Last photos... until next year. Sunday, Part I http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13696.msg206049#msg206049 Sunday, Part II http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13697.msg206051#msg206051
September 13, 200717 yr Volume 15, Issue 19 Published September 12th, 2007 Fall Arts Guide Set The Music Free Many Classical Performances This Season Will Cost Less Than Cab Fare By Michael Gill John DE LANCIE Performs with the Cleveland Orchestra. One way to get some perspective on the depth of the coming musical season in Cleveland is to take out one narrow slice and consider what you find there. Look for baroque music, and find it played on period instruments in mock competition - Bach against everyone else - as Apollo's Fire gets its year started October 3-7. Or you could hear Bach played against the 20th century Russian composer Alfred Schnitke in Red {an orchestra}'s first concert of the year Saturday, October 20. Or you could hear the acclaimed small ensemble Le Concert de Nations play works by a handful of less-known baroque composers in the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series October 30. But style is just one way to define your search. Just to show that classical music isn't just for people who wear ascots, let's consider the concerts you can hear for free. Having three conservatories in Northeast Ohio, plus a multitude of professional musicians looking for something to do, Cleveland has a plethora of opportunities to hear professional performances that cost nothing at all. Take for example CityMusic Cleveland, led by James Gaffigan. Here's a company that is bending over backwards to give anyone who wants to hear live performance of great works a chance to do so, to the point of offering free childcare during concerts to those who call ahead and reserve space. CityMusic begins the season with a program that spans the classical, impressionist and early modern periods with works of Mozart, Ravel, Mendelssohn and Samuel Barber October 10-14. Soloists are violinist Jinjoo Cho and soprano Angela Mortellaro. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony is back in action for another season in residence at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, and continuing to weather change with a new board president, principal oboist David McGuire, and a concert season yet to be finalized. The first concert, however, is slated for October 7, in B-W's Gamble Auditorium, and has a program featuring works by John Cage, John Adams and a world premiere by Michael Leese called "In Memoriam: David Lelchook: For the Victims of War." The Rocky River Chamber Music Society continues to offer free concerts at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River, kicking off the season September 24 with a performance by violinist Diana Cohen, with violoncellist Tanya Ell and pianist Renata Guttman, performing works by Debussy, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. The motherlode of free performances, though, is found at the conservatories, and Northeast Ohio has three - Oberlin College Conservatory, Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music - all offering busy schedules of performances. As it happens, the Cleveland Institute of Music offers a couple of the most prominent landmarks of the musical season. First comes the debut of its new Mixon Recital Hall (see "Boom Town," page 17) which opens to the public with a day of tours, talks and recitals November 11. Next comes the December 14 broadcast of From the Top, a radio show that shines the spotlight on top young performers - in this case from Northeast Ohio. But with about 440 students and a faculty heavily populated by players in the Cleveland Orchestra, CIM's performance schedule must be the busiest in Cuyahoga County. By spring, spokesperson Susan Schwartz says the new Mixon recital hall will play host to as many as seven performances a day. The season gets underway this Sunday with a faculty recital featuring quadruple double basses (that's four of them) worked by Jeff Bradetich, Maximilan Dimoff, Charles Carleton and Scott Dixon, with pianist Pi-ju Chiang. The CIM Orchestra opens its season with a free concert at Severance Hall next Wednesday, September 19 with Carl Topilow conducting works by Rossini and Bartok, and Rachmaninov's concerto no. 2 for piano, with Chaoyin Cai at the keys. SPEAKING OF SEVERANCE HALL, the Cleveland Orchestra will make the place swell with sound starting September 20 when music director Franz Welser-Möst leads a little bit of almost everything: the classical Mozart's Symphony No. 28, the romantic Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" symphony, and the US premiere of Mathias Pintscher's "Five Orchestral Pieces." The season continues September 27-29 with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting performances of Eduard Grieg's luxurious Peer Gynt, and no stingy selection of highlights, but the whole thing, with soprano Inger-Dam Jensen and narrator John deLancie, each performing with the orchestra for the first time, and the Oberlin College Choir. The orchestra's weekly schedule doesn't let up until Welser-Möst takes the show on the road, a tour comprising three performances at Carnegie Hall, one at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and 10 concerts in a European tour, with stops in England, Wales, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Vienna, Austria. The tour program includes performances of Bruckner's Symphony No. 9, which will be recorded for television broadcast and DVD release, all the pieces from the season-opening concert, plus Adams' Guide to Strange Places, Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, Debussy's Ibéria, and Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony. They return to Severance Hall, performing Mozart and Brahms, November 8. Just as most musical organizations are getting their seasons underway, Opera Cleveland brings its post-merger, inaugural season to a close with a return to the State Theater on Playhouse Square and a production of Giacomo Puccini's beloved Tosca. Performances are October 19, 21 and 27. Other highlights of the fall include that cellist (what's his name, again?) Yo-Yo Ma, performing with pianist Kathryn Stott as part of Akron's Tuesday Musical Society series November 2 at E.J. Thomas Hall. They'll play works of Schubert, Shostakovich, Piazzola, Gismonti and Franck. Oberlin College Conservatory's Artist Recital Series opens with the familiar men's chorus Chanticleer October 3, but a fall highlight for that popular series will be the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds, a quintet of African-American and Latino players whose name comes from the Swahili word for faith. Their program is yet to be announced, but their repertoire - bringing percussion and folk influences to the traditional wind quartet sound - inspired someone to coin the term "urban classical music." They perform November 6. If you go for the greatest hits of inspirational sports movies, you won't want to miss Carl Topilow leading the Cleveland Pops Orchestra October 12 at Severance Hall in a program he's calling "Music of Champions" because it includes music from such sports gems as Chariots of Fire, Rocky, The Natural and Field of Dreams. Apollo's Fire 216.320.0012 Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory 440.826.2369 Cleveland Chamber Music Society 216.291.2777 Cleveland Chamber Symphony Clevelandchambersymphony.org Cleveland Institute of Music 216.791.5000 Cleveland Orchestra 216.231.1111 Jinjoo CHO - Soloist with CityMusic. Cleveland Pops Orchestra 216.765.7677 Oberlin College Conservatory 440.775.8169 Opera Cleveland 216.575.0903 Rocky River Chamber Music Society 440.333.2255. Tuesday Musical Society of Akron 330.972.2342 [email protected]
September 13, 200717 yr October 7 - Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde) Beachland Ballroom I saw her years ago. What a set of pipes! I think it was cool that she sang on that Talking Heads minus David Byrne album.
September 25, 200717 yr pd: GuitarMania goes international GuitarMania, the signature fund-raiser created by United Way Services of Greater Cleveland, is going international. K. Michael Benz, United Way's president and chief executive, says Mexico City plans to stage the public art event next year, with 20 percent of the net proceeds going to the Cleveland organization. It will mark the third time that the event, featuring giant Fender Stratocaster guitars decorated by artists and celebrities, will be presented outside of Northeast Ohio. The first was in Phoenix, and Detroit is getting ready to launch its version. Cleveland has held GuitarMania in 2002, 2004 and this year. The current batch of guitars is to be auctioned off at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on Oct. 20. Proceeds benefit the United Way and the Rock Hall's education programs. For more information, go to cleveland.com/guitarmania.
March 3, 200817 yr Bump. Festival starts Thursday night, March 6 and runs through March 16. http://www.clevelandfilm.org/
March 3, 200817 yr A few months ago, I asked for advice on vacant storefronts: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,14864.0.html. Well, I finally have some firm information on two related events we're putting on in May: From Rust Belt to Artist Belt and Pop Up Arts District. Feel free to hit me up with any questions. You can register at http://www.cpacbiz.org/business/CreativeCompass.shtml.
March 3, 200817 yr Conference in May to explore how to capitalize on arts districts by Karen Sandstrom / Plain Dealer Reporter Friday February 29, 2008, 5:08 PM Even the most exuberant Cleveland booster would have to agree that this city is no Paducah, Ky. Over the last eight years, the modest little town some 500 miles away has attracted 70 new residents -- artists who have responded to incentives to buy and improve homes and convert buildings into galleries and work spaces. Paducah has become an unlikely tourist mecca ... ... For more information, please visit http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2008/02/conference_in_may_to_explore_h.html
March 4, 200817 yr This actually sounds pretty cool. There's been quite a bit written about this recently, an arts-based neighborhood revival concept.
March 4, 200817 yr There has indeed. But to the best of my knowledge, there hasn't been a discussion about, or research on, how this type of development works in the industrial Midwest. It's going to be a pretty amazing conversation. We're going to have people like Ann Markusen of the Humphrey Institute, Jeremy Nowak of The Reinvestment Fund and Mark Barone, who launched the Paducah Artist Relocation Project all talking about the role artists can play in regions with shrinking populations, surplus housing, environmental remediation concerns, low brand awareness, etc. And we're going to be talking about how we can all move each other's efforts forward ... so that the work in Pittsburgh informs work in Milwaukee informs work in Dayton informs work in Pittsburgh.
March 5, 200817 yr They have an awesome line-up of movies. Some of the ones filmed in Cleveland sound interesting. Too bad I'm going to miss most of the festival as I will be in England. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 5, 200817 yr I wonder at one point the fest will get so big it needs to expand. I cannot believe how busy it is. I wish the city would do more (or anything?) to make this a regional tourist draw. With even more of a restaurant scene unfolding downtown, you could get people in 3 or 4 days easy and they would never need to leave downtown (Saigon, Crop, Lola, movies, hello!)
March 5, 200817 yr Should I say it again? We need an independent marketing company like NYC & Company.
March 6, 200817 yr Should I say it again? We need an independent marketing company like NYC & Company. nm i just figured it out.
March 6, 200817 yr i think they do a better job of marketing the film festival than you think. Last year I was visiting a friend who lives in Pittsburgh for the weekend and in his pittsburgh post gazette was a copy of the film guide along with a full page spread in the paper touting Cleveland and the festival. He and his wife ended up coming in for the weekend and plan on making it a yearly stop.
March 6, 200817 yr i think they do a better job of marketing the film festival than you think. Last year I was visiting a friend who lives in Pittsburgh for the weekend and in his pittsburgh post gazette was a copy of the film guide along with a full page spread in the paper touting Cleveland and the festival. He and his wife ended up coming in for the weekend and plan on making it a yearly stop. We'll being in the industry, I disagree. :-)
March 6, 200817 yr I agree with MTS here, I think the marketing is horrible. Many people I've talked to (that love the Cedar-Lee by the way) didn't even know we had a film festival.
March 6, 200817 yr again, we have a great event but even locals don't know about it. There are so many untapped resources they are not even exploring. I won't even go there......ugh.
March 6, 200817 yr again, we have a great event but even locals don't know about it. There are so many untapped resources they are not even exploring. I won't even go there......ugh. I think a lot of people don't go because there are (usually) no recognizable names, either of filmmakers or actors. If they could even get a handful of films with names people recognized, they might be more inclined to check it out and then stay to see some other things. It's heavily marketed where I work, for example, but almost nobody goes. But they are all regular movie-goers to the "normal" cineplex so it's not like they don't go see movies.
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