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This thread is either long overdue...or maybe being cleaned in some form.

 

This should help out with topics covering Natural History Museum, Cozad-Bates House, Botanical Gardens, Children's Museum, UCI, CMA, Hessler, etc -- all non-construction of course.

 

REMBEMBER:  We do have threads on Little Italy, CWRU, CIA, Cleveland Orchestra, and all the construction related threads. (Circle 118, UH, Expansions)

 

Here's the UCI website http://www.universitycircle.org/

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  • I’m not concerned about a narrative that UC is passing downtown as a jobs or residential hub.  University Circle IS Cleveland.  Obviously, NEOtrans gives an eye-opening analysis comparing the downtown

  • Is UC becoming Greater Cleveland’s top job hub? By Ken Prendergast / September 20, 2022   For the first time in 200 years, Downtown Cleveland is at risk of losing its position as the regio

  • ^ great article @KJP. University Circle is probably the area of Greater Cleveland that excites me the most. It's really developing into a sophisticated uptown district. Maybe RTA should rethink it's o

I'll start it off:

 

The Children's Museum of Cleveland sets attendance record for 2009

By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer

January 13, 2010, 8:00AM

 

 

The dinosaur-themed play area offers the type of hands-on experience that is attracting record numbers of parents and children to the museum. Last year, it had more than 102,000 visitors, the highest annual attendance yet.

 

Attendance at the museum, 10730 Euclid Ave. in University Circle, has increased each of the past six years. Admission is $7 for adults and children ages 1 to 12. Infants younger than 1 are admitted free.

 

MORE AT http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/the_childrens_museum_of_clevel.html

U.S. museum hires Korean curator

 

Sun Seung-hye hopes to build cultural bridges

January 12, 2010

 

 

Last week, the Cleveland Museum of Art announced it had appointed Sun Seung-hye as the new associate curator of its renowned Japanese and Korean collections. The position had been empty since 2005, when the Asian collection was removed from public view due to a large-scale renovation and expansion project.

 

MORE AT http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2915151

^Thanks for posting that- it's cool to read about the CMA from a non-US perspective.  The Severence connection to Korea was a nice surprise too.

Yes, thanks for posting. Really nice article and a little history lesson as well.

np.  Very refreshing article from an outsider...

Everyone likes dinosaurs, right?? :-D

 

Cleveland Museum of Natural History's dinosaur blockbuster sorts out truth from fiction

 

At "Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries," on exhibit through Sunday, Jan. 31, at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, you can view a T. rex in motion in 3-D animation. You'll also see full-scale models of dinosaurs along with a 700-square-foot diorama depicting a 130 million-year-old forest in China where a feathered dinosaur, Beipiaosaurus, once lived.

 

MORE AT http://www.cleveland.com/living/index.ssf/2010/01/cleveland_museum_of_natural_hi.html

  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting read from Litt:

 

Cleveland Museum of Art needs to plan exhibits with star power

By Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

January 24, 2010, 12:00AM

 

The need is immediate. The Vinoly expansion throws down a gauntlet. It includes a pair of special-exhibition galleries designed to provide a total of 12,000 square feet of space, enough to hold most of the biggest touring exhibitions mounted by the nation's leading museums.

 

 

Exhibitions in 2012 will focus on works by Rembrandt in American collections, American art of the 1920s and '30s, and the paintings of African-American artist William H. Johnson.

 

The schedule signals a quickening pace, which is good. But with the exception of Rembrandt, it lacks obvious star power. It also avoids making a major commitment to 20th-century abstraction.

 

 

 

MORE AT http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/01/cleveland_museum_of_art_needs.html

Here's a little promo video from the homepage of UC:

 

University Circle chief Chris Ronayne to run for Cuyahoga County Council, ending speculation he'll seek top executive post

By Henry J. Gomez, The Plain Dealer

January 25, 2010, 12:15PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The speculation surrounding Chris Ronayne's immediate political ambitions is over.

 

The president of University Circle Inc. and former chief of staff at Cleveland City Hall will announce via Facebook today that he will seek a seat on the new Cuyahoga County Council.

 

 

Con't: http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2010/01/university_circle_chief_chris_ronayne_to_run_for_cuyahoga_county_council_ending_speculation_hell_see.html?

  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting.....I like it.

 

Cleveland Museum of Natural History picks physicist as its new director

By John Mangels, The Plain Dealer

February 09, 2010, 6:46PM

 

Evalyn Gates, a well-known physicist, author, educator and advocate of increasing the ranks of women in science, is the new executive director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

 

Museum trustees voted Tuesday afternoon to approve Gates' appointment, ending an 18-month international search to fill the post left vacant by the resignation of Bruce Latimer in June 2008.

 

"My head is spinning a bit," Gates said during a phone interview shortly after the museum announced her selection. "I'm absolutely thrilled and delighted to take the leadership of this outstanding institution. We're uniquely poised to do something important."

 

MORE AT http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2010/02/cleveland_museum_of_natural_hi_2.html

  • 2 weeks later...

New collaboration between Cleveland Clinic, art museum to help Alzheimer's patients

By Kaye Spector, The Plain Dealer

February 24, 2010, 9:00AM

 

Alzheimer's disease begins in the brain's memory center, destroying cells and causing problems with thinking and behavior. But in the disease's early- to midstage, areas of the brain that govern emotion, perception and creativity often remain intact.

 

Those undistributed areas of the brain make it possible for patients to respond to the visual arts and music, even when they've lost connection to the everyday world.

 

A symposium today on making the arts accessible to dementia patients kicks off a new collaboration between two of the town's venerable institutions, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Clinic.

 

MORE http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2010/02/new_collaboration_between_clin.html

  • 2 weeks later...

If this isn't just a punch in the stomach...

 

Western Reserve Historical Society sells its history to save institution

By Joan Mazzolini, The Plain Dealer

March 07, 2010, 3:58AM

Joshua Gunter, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- This is a story about how the Western Reserve Historical Society, a beloved Cleveland institution, dreamed too big, lived too large, failed to understand the politics of Cleveland City Hall and marched recklessly to the brink of ruin.

 

It is a tale about desperate people who made a decision to save their institution by systematically and secretly selling off its treasures, the artifacts of Greater Cleveland's history. Buyers eagerly have snapped up the society's valuable cars, rare and historic guns, famous aircraft, furniture, religious vestments, historic money, photos, signatures and other artifacts, many donated by Cleveland's forebears.

 

 

 

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/western_reserve_historical_soc_3.html

^^ I can't believe there is no talk or chatter on this. ??

 

To lose our Crawford Auto Museum and precious NEO artifacts is unexcusable.  It just seems like something could have been done differently.  Like the article has stated, these items are now lost forever, especially for Cleveland's heritage.  When the Little Italy musuem closed down 3 years ago, all the items were donated to the WRHS.  I only hope all the items are in safe keeping, and it's frustrating that I even have my doubts!

 

With the HUGE endowment right next door, it's too bad the Cleveland Musuem of Art couldn't help bail them out.  These were not assets that were sold, these were collections.

 

Sigh...

I agree with you, and it comes down to the usual problem... we've got the wrong people in charge of our agencies and instutitions around here.  The new management here is solving the immediate crisis but alienating enough people they may create a new crisis. 

 

And I remember those grand lakefront plans they had in the 90s... they're the only lakefront plans I've really liked, because they showed real ambition and tied in very well with the city's past & present.  Heck of a lot better than a merry go round.  I had no idea that simply drawing up the plans for this would gut the institution... I'm really not sure how that could have happened.  Seems like there's some unfair blame on the lakefront plan, and not enough blame on simple mismanagement.

  • 4 weeks later...

I agree with you, and it comes down to the usual problem... we've got the wrong people in charge of our agencies and instutitions around here. The new management here is solving the immediate crisis but alienating enough people they may create a new crisis.

 

And I remember those grand lakefront plans they had in the 90s... they're the only lakefront plans I've really liked, because they showed real ambition and tied in very well with the city's past & present. Heck of a lot better than a merry go round. I had no idea that simply drawing up the plans for this would gut the institution... I'm really not sure how that could have happened. Seems like there's some unfair blame on the lakefront plan, and not enough blame on simple mismanagement.

 

If WRHS is having trouble paying its bills now, I shudder to think how the place would be doing if it had to run and pay for the big lakefront facility they were envisioning.  This town has already lost some well established non profits due to ambitious but risky expansion.

 

It's really sad WRHS is selling some of its assets to stay afloat; and really sad they couldn't acquire some of the recently liquidated street car collection (that one kills me).  But unless they find a way to raise a lot of new money themselves (not siphon it off from the CMA or any other non profit attraction), they're going to have to focus on their core assets and stabilizing their finances.  I just hope these sales are getting them there.

  • 1 month later...

With its attendance stagnant, Cleveland Botanical Garden sees debt grow into a problem

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/with_its_attendance_stagnant_c.html

 

I think this type of story should give us serious pause before launching new stand-alone non-profit institutions like a big ticket aquarium unless the financial plan is absolutely iron-clad.  With our declining employment and corporate underwriter base and public fiscal situation, the financial health of our existing institutions could very well be an ongoing challenge.

Is there any such thing as an ironclad financial plan?  Any new facility, expansion, or program is a risk.  I hate to see a venerable institution take a financial hit, but even more I'd hate to see us even more paralyzed by fear than we already are.

With its attendance stagnant, Cleveland Botanical Garden sees debt grow into a problem

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/with_its_attendance_stagnant_c.html

 

I think this type of story should give us serious pause before launching new stand-alone non-profit institutions like a big ticket aquarium unless the financial plan is absolutely iron-clad.  With our declining employment and corporate underwriter base and public fiscal situation, the financial health of our existing institutions could very well be an ongoing challenge.

 

We do need these things, but we also need them to not fail.  Maybe this is another chicken/egg problem... drawing new business would stabilize the money issues, yet we need attractions to help promote the region for investment.  This was the thinking behind Gateway and RRHOF in the 90s: if you build it, they will come. 

 

Of course our national economy since the 90s has not cooperated, so I'm hesitant to chalk up those efforts as failures.  They've certainly helped build the downtown population and that's been our biggest success story in the past decade.  In that sense they've been very effective, although that success didn't take place in a vaccuum.  Would recent investments in E 4th and the WHD have taken place without the major projects of the 90s?  I doubt it. 

 

One thing about UC's attractions is that many have a dated feel to them, and they don't compare favorably enough to counterparts in nearby cities to be any more than a regional draw.  I mean, yeah, CMA is great, the best of the bunch, and it has some unique collections... but the same can be said (at least) for Toledo's.  Pittsburgh's natural history museum is awfully nice.  So is Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus.  MOCA is getting ready to solve its visibility problem and represents a major upgrade.  I don't think the superiority of our orchestra is debatable, but that's not something you can just go visit on a whim, like a museum is.

 

Bearing all that in mind, I worry about the aquarium plans.  On the good side there seems to be a regional need for one, but on the bad side the scale is such that it won't do much to set Cleveland apart.  Quality over quantity.  UC is unique in its tightly packed collection of features, so clearly that's what it needs to build on.  But it also needs something more, because individually those features are only marginal draws.  Above all it needs to focus on becoming an independent and  fully-funtional urban neighborhood, like Pittsburgh's Oakland and the OSU area of Columbus.  Then it can promote its advantages without having to defend its current shortcomings.  Uptown is a big step in this direction.

We need a business friendly administration. Taxes, land use,  labor laws, etc. this would be a sea change for  this city and state.

Is there any such thing as an ironclad financial plan?  Any new facility, expansion, or program is a risk.  I hate to see a venerable institution take a financial hit, but even more I'd hate to see us even more paralyzed by fear than we already are.

 

Strictly speaking, yes, there is such a thing as an ironclad plan (more or less)- the Art Museum operated 100% off endowment income into the 1970s- it literally had no development department and did not rely at all on the gate, local public subsidy or annual giving for its first 60 or so years.  But that's an extreme example, so you're right- I definitely overstated it.  Like anywhere, poorly managed or unfortunate institutions come and go no matter what the regional economy is doing (Cleveland Ballet, Healthspace...), but I think we should be hyper aware that the pot of public and philanthropic money is on a long term downward trajectory so even well-managed institutions may be facing problems.

 

I don't mean to be all doom and gloom- for all I know there are enough fish enthusiasts to sustain a big aquarium without needing any operating support from the public or local foundations- but if I were the Cleveland or Gund Foundation, City or State, I wouldn't give any money to launch a big ticket new institution unless it made a very compelling and very conservative case that it would be able to pull its own weight long term.  And yeah, I know this is somewhat hindsight driven; I'm sure the Botanical Garden thought it was making a compelling case when it launched its expansion.  And I like their facility, so I'm happy they built it.  And I'm sure the foundations think about all this stuff constantly so I'm not really adding anything new.

 

On a related note- it seems incredible to me that a few years ago the WRHS was discussing and even fundraising for a major new facility when now it's literally selling off parts of its collection to keep the lights on.  So everyone who said "no" to that pitch did the right thing, IMHO.

We need a business friendly administration. Taxes, land use, labor laws, etc. this would be a sea change for this city and state.

 

I generally agree, but I see the specifics differently.  Local taxes need to come down and could be reduced substantially through regionalism.  But consider that Ohio now has some of the lowest business taxes in the nation.  Let's give that a chance to work, statewide.  I believe it will. 

 

As for land use and labor laws, I don't think we'd see much net gain from moving those to the right as you suggest.  Those are separate debates, more appropriate for their own threads... but as it relates to University Circle I will say that loose land-use controls have practically ruined it.  Most everything that's been done there, and nearby, has moved it in an auto-oriented anti-pedestrian direction that has prevented it from becoming a high-quality example of what it fundamentally IS and must always be: the cultural center and second downtown of a major city.       

but as it relates to University Circle I will say that loose land-use controls have practically ruined it. Most everything that's been done there, and nearby, has moved it in an auto-oriented anti-pedestrian direction that has prevented it from becoming a high-quality example of what it fundamentally IS and must always be: the cultural center and second downtown of a major city.

 

I certainly agree with you there.  As a neighborhood, UC is a severe underachiever thanks to the development trajectory plotted by UCI and the big institutions in the 1950s-1990s.

  • 3 weeks later...

Cleveland Botanical Garden selected for national pilot sustainability rating program

Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010, 10:30 AM   

Michael Scott, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Botanical Garden is on the forefront of setting new nationwide sustainability standards for landscape projects -- not only by pushing the green envelope on its own, but by developing new guidelines for everyone else.

 

The University Circle garden was selected last month by a nonprofit group to be one of 150 pilot sites across the United States, Canada, Iceland and Spain where a new voluntary rating program will be evaluated.

 

"We're thrilled to be a part of this -- to be able to share and learn of others' great ideas and for the privilege of showcasing this to the public in Northeast Ohio," said Natalie Ronayne, executive director of the Botanical Garden.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/cleveland_botanical_garden_sel.html

 

New leadership coming in.

 

Cleveland Institute of Art's David Deming Retires After 12 Years of Innovative and Thoughtful Leadership

 

 

CLEVELAND, OH.- David Deming will retire as president and CEO of The Cleveland Institute of Art on June 30 after a 12-year tenure.

 

Deming spearheaded the plan for a unified campus on Euclid Avenue that will feature substantial renovations to the Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts and construction of a new building immediately to the west of it. Renovation of the McCullough building began last spring and will be complete by the end of the calendar year; the new building will be constructed thereafter. Environmentally sensitive designs call for a “green” roof with sculpture garden and visual screens designed by acclaimed Dutch architect Winy Maas. The new campus will be part of the revitalized Uptown neighborhood of Cleveland’s University Circle.

 

Deming will be succeeded at the Institute by Grafton J. Nunes, currently dean of the School of the Arts at Emerson College in Boston, whose term will begin July 1, 2010.

 

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=38594

 

 

I was just recently at the Botanical Gardens. Its such a beautiful place to visit and relax. My favorite part was definitely the children's area... they had such a cute fountain and sun dial. Glad to see that they will be able to participate in something so special. I'm excited to see how it all turns out!

 

:)

A new era for ancient works: Cleveland Museum of Art's renovated 1916 galleries open June 26

Published: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:00 AM

Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

 

On Saturday, the Cleveland Museum of Art will unveil the latest installment in a $350 million expansion and renovation due for completion in 2013 -- the new galleries of ancient, African and medieval art.

 

Through 915 works of art, the display traces more than 4,000 years of human history and includes everything from ancient Greek sculpture to reliquaries with the bones of Christian saints. There also is a new gallery for prints and drawings.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/06/a_new_era_for_ancient_works_cl.html

Cleveland Museum of Art's new galleries include antiquities on loan from Italy

Published: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:00 AM

Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

 

Ecco, as they say in Italy: Here it is. Italian cultural authorities have fulfilled a promise to lend a series of ancient artworks to the Cleveland Museum of Art, as if to thank the museum for having returned a batch of looted antiquities.

 

Last year, Italy convinced the museum that it had inadvertently acquired 13 antiquities that had been looted or handled by traffickers in recent decades. A 14th object, a Renaissance-era cross from a small town near Siena, had been stolen from a church.

 

The Cleveland museum sent all 14 objects back to Italy

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/06/cleveland_museum_of_arts_new_g.html

 

Partial skeleton from Lucy's species shows human ancestors walked and ran like us 3.6 million years ago

Published: Monday, June 21, 2010, 3:01 PM    Updated: Monday, June 21, 2010, 3:19 PM

John Mangels, The Plain Dealer

 

 

Meet Lucy's great-great-great grandfather.

 

On Monday, a team of Northeast Ohio researchers announced a rare and important find – the partial skeleton of a 3.6 million-year-old early human ancestor belonging to the same species as, but much older than, the iconic 3.2 million-year-old Lucy fossil discovered in 1974.

 

Less than 10 such largely intact skeletons 1.5 million years or older have been found. Greater Cleveland researchers have played leading roles in three of those discoveries, reinforcing the region's prominence in the search for humanity's origins.

 

The new specimen is called Kadanuumuu (pronounced Kah-dah-NEW-moo). The nickname means "big man" in the language of the Afar tribesmen who helped unearth his weathered bones from a hardscrabble Ethiopian plain beginning in 2005.

 

"It's all about human-like bipedality evolving earlier than some people think," said Cleveland Museum of Natural History anthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie, the lead author of the analysis appearing online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2010/06/partial_skeleton_from_lucys_sp.html

 

Very interesting....  Thanks for a good article.

Cleveland: New galleries open to the public at Museum of Art

 

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Museum of Art is celebrating a milestone in their major renovation project this weekend, with the opening of their newest galleries.

 

 

Seventeen new galleries open to the public today, and feature over 900 works of art from the Ancient Near East, Greece, Rome and Egypt; Byzantine, medieval and African art and so much more.

 

Many of these works are returning to display for the first time in five years. 

 

The Cleveland Museum of Art is under going an eight year, $350 million renovation project.

 

On Sunday, June 27, the museum will continue their celebration of the gallery openings with the Going Global Family Day. Special activities will take place from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

 

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=138575&catid=3

 

  • 2 weeks later...

Some yahoo.com love.  This may eventually be a whole new topic.

 

Introducing Cleveland's newest neighborhood: The Medical District

 

On Cleveland's east side there's a neighborhood called University Circle. It's an anachronism. The "circle" part disappeared 60 years ago. There is one university. Yet the same area includes three hospital systems, medical and nursing schools, the local biotech trade group and many of the city's medical startups.

 

Enough. Down with the name University Circle. Expand the borders a bit and call it what it is: The Medical District.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/medcity/medcity_ts3037#mwpphu-container

 

 

 

 

^This guy either has way to much time on his hands or is really running out of good ideas for stories.

Yeah I'll say.  And he doesnt even acknowledge the amount of museums and cultural institutions that are a part of the area when recommending "The Medical District"

(Finally, the people at University Circle org. mention this near the bottom). 

 

"Yet the same area includes three hospital systems, medical and nursing schools, the local biotech trade group and many of the city's medical startups.

 

Enough. Down with the name University Circle. Expand the borders a bit and call it what it is: The Medical District."

 

 

 

Health-tech corridor sounds way better.  And keep " university circle" for Christ sake!!  That name has taken so long to brand.

I disagree.  First of all, the article is very flattering for the area and a nice little promotion for a great part of the city proper.  Next, the Medical District name doesn't have to replace the University Circle completely - it can just be a major component of it.  And third, maybe the whole area should be renamed the Medical District.  If medicine is the new manufacturing for Cleveland, then we need to focus all of our attention on that, which includes semantical changes that might be a little more appealing or recognizable to other parties.  For instance, I guarantee you that if CSU changed its name to University of Cleveland, there would be some positive effects since that name sounds more...professional. 

 

Case medical/health line/Clinic/UH/all those bio companies on Euclid.....  It really has become a medical district.

I have two problems with this:

 

1) There is so much more than Medical in the high-lighted area.  How can this area be named the "medical district," when there is sooo much more.  Without even straining my brain...Cleveland Orchestra/Severance Hall, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Children's Museum, Cleveand Musuem of Natural History, Botanical Gardens, Little Italy, Case Western Reserve University, CIM, CIA, MOCA, Cultural Gardens, IT Firms, Technology companies, Cleveland School of Arts, Restaurants, Bars....

 

2) Overbranding.  Just 3 weeks ago, this area has been named the Health-Tech Corridor, in order to recieve state and federal funds.  Fine -- I have no problem with that, especially since it is a new way to channel money into the area, plus it keeps the University Circle brand name.  But adding a third name?  Please stop... Adding another name to it does what, let America know Cleveland is a medical city?  Not quite.  It's not like everyone in the nation will think Cleveland has become a medical mecca now...basically no one will hear the "news," it does not increase funding, etc.  Even the quoted "only 10% of the nation associates Cleveland as a medical city," is shady.  This survey was from 2006, two years before as the free national press the Cleveland Clinic was getting almost weekly during 2008-2009 as being the model medical center for health care reform.  PLUS, there have been Cleveland Clinic expansions in Las Vegas, Florida, and Abu Dhabi since then.  I would bet that if the survey was done in 2010, It would be at least 5%-10% higher in recognition. 

 

 

  • 2 weeks later...

Very cool:

 

Cleveland Natural History Museum unveils state-of-the art planetarium projector

Published: Friday, July 16, 2010, 11:39 AM   

Everdeen Mason, The Plain Dealer

 

 

John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND -- More than 800 star-struck museum members were dazzled by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's new-and-improved planetarium Wednesday.

 

The Nathan and Fannye Shafran Planetarium, which opened in 2002, has just received a new digital projection system that adds 3-D graphics, high-definition imagery and enhanced special effects to the museum's sky shows.

 

The sky shows allow the audience to see more than 5,000 stars, galaxies, planets and more, and also feature presentations from professional astronomers.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/07/museum_unveils_new_state-of-th.html

  • 2 weeks later...

Good article in the NY Times about how botanical gardens are shifting their strategies for attracting visitors by emphasizing food. Cleveland Botanical Garden is leading the charge...

 

Botanical Gardens Look for New Lures

By JUDITH H. DOBRZYNSKI

Published: July 26, 2010

 

For the last quarter century, the Cleveland Botanical Garden went all out for its biennial Flower Show, the largest outdoor garden show in North America...

 

But in 2009, the Flower Show was postponed and then abandoned when the botanical garden could not find sponsors. This year, the garden has different plans. From Sept. 24 to 26, it is inaugurating the “RIPE! Food & Garden Festival,” which celebrates the trend of locally grown food...

 

So it is across the country. Botanical gardens are experiencing an identity crisis, with chrysanthemum contests, horticultural lectures and garden-club ladies, once their main constituency, going the way of manual lawn mowers...

 

For the rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/us/27botanical.html

  • 3 weeks later...

:clap:

 

Hawken School to open new learning center in University Circle

Published: Monday, August 16, 2010, 7:00 AM   

Edith Starzyk, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hawken School, one of Cleveland's most prestigious private schools, got its start back in 1915 when headmaster James Hawken set up shop in a house on Ansel Road.

 

But starting later this month, Hawken will go back to its roots, setting up an extension campus in a former mansion on Magnolia Drive -- about 500 yards from the original school building.

 

"Back in the beginning, kids used to go to the museums for lunch every day," said Scott Looney, whose title is head of school. "Now, almost 100 years later, here we are going full circle."

 

"As far as we can tell, we are the only suburban day school in the country that's going back to its founding city."

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/hawken_school_to_open_new_lear.html

 

  • 2 weeks later...

It sounds like Cleveland snagged a quality director on this one:

 

David Franklin of the National Gallery of Canada named director of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Published: Friday, August 27, 2010, 7:50 AM   

Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

 

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Museum of Art is hoisting the red maple leaf on its flagpole, figuratively speaking.

 

The museum's trustees voted unanimously Thursday to appoint Montreal native David Franklin, deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, as the Cleveland museum's new director. He will be the CMA's eighth director since the museum opened in 1916.

 

Franklin, 49, is a respected scholar and curator with strong international connections among dealers, collectors and museums, which he hopes to translate into high-impact art acquisitions and exhibitions in Cleveland.

 

"I'm committed to moving my family to Cleveland and putting down roots," Franklin said.

 

He declined to describe the terms of his contract, but said, "I'm certainly intending to stay a very long time. That would be my dream."

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/08/david_franklin_of_the_national.html

The more I read about it, the more it looks like we nabbed one of the "big guns."

 

I was browsing google news this morning and numerous major newspapers are already carrying the story (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Enquirer, Ottowa, Plain Dealer ... ;)  )

Yes I agree MH, It sounds like Cleveland did very well in finding this one...

A few more good articles on the new director:

 

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/tough+face+replace+National+Gallery/3453337/story.html

 

"It just struck me as a place where I could learn a lot, but also be part of something that's pretty unique," Franklin said Friday, in a telephone interview from Cleveland. "I really think this museum is going to be the focal point of American museums in the next couple of years, because of this ambitious ... $350-million campaign."

 

 

 

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/14443

 

“I have long admired the Cleveland Museum of Art’s commitment to quality, which has given the institution a reputation for possessing among the world’s finest encyclopedic holdings,” said Franklin. “It is with great enthusiasm that I join the talented Cleveland staff in leading this museum into its next 100 years. I want to build upon the museum’s strong traditions while increasing its focus on outreach and diversity to identify new ways to bring the collection to life and engage the regional and global audiences that the museum serves.”

 

 

 

 

Interview:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/08/david_franklin_speaks_on_being.html

  • 1 month later...

FYI, groupon.com has a coupon this morning for over 50% off membership to the Cleveland Natural History Museum:

 

http://www.groupon.com/cleveland/

^Holy Sh!t!  They've almost sold 1000 new memberships!

 

I bought mine this morning when it started.

Thanks, MH.  Yesterday, I forwarded the link you posted to every young family I know.  The NHM is not appreciated like it used to be, IMO.

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