Northeast Ohio is still a mega manufacturing center for one thing: theatre arts. And when it comes to summer theatre opportunities, parents are spoiled for choice.

 Last summer, Jenny Bendis Goe, artist and owner of Jewelry by Jenny, was touring Coventry with Angie Hetrick, director of the Coventry Village Special Improvement District. Goe, who has lived in the area for her entire life, was heartbroken by the amount of vacant shops at the top of the hill.

So, Goe made it her mission to transform the vacancies to thriving storefronts, starting with her own. She contacted landlord Lewis Zipkin in August, and after some persistence and a business plan, Zipkin agreed to lease Goe former Phoenix Coffee space.  
 
In January Goe opened In the 216, a store that features not only Goe’s artwork but the word of nearly 60 other local artists.
 
Last Thursday, May 28, Goe officially held a grand opening for In the 216 – offering more than 200 guests food, drinks and a look at some of the works for sale at the store.  “There are 58 small businesses represented here,” says Goe. “I have works from $2 to $3,000.”
 
Goe decided to postpone the grand opening until she had her bearings and the weather improved. “It was a little nerve wracking when we first opened up, but all of the Coventry veterans are right, it’s gotten increasingly better,” she says. “I feel like Coventry is just the perfect place for this. Business has doubled, if not tripled since we first opened.”
 
Bodega Coventry next door served food at the grand opening, and encouraged guests to come have a drink on the patio, while burlesque star Bella Sin welcomed people on the street. The event was a success, with both familiar faces and strangers in attendance. “It was fantastic, it was wonderful,” Goe says.
 
In addition to her husband, Steve, Goe has two of the artists helping her out in the store, and just had two high school seniors interested in pursuing art perform their senior projects at In the 216.
 
Now Goe is moving ahead with the next part of her vision for the empty space on Coventry. “I’d really like to see exhibits in the [former] Strickland’s Custard space,” she says. “Not just for artists. I hope anything we do will encourage businesses to open in the empty spaces.”  Goe has a few artists in mind who would like to exhibit in the space. She is talking to Zipkin about her plans to implement exhibits or studios in the area.

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small  Businesses initiative has brought new jobs and economic opportunity to Northeast Ohio in its first three years.

An immigration proposal with local ties has connected groups statewide in the battle for brainpower.

Financial cuts and aging infrastructure require creativity for a transit authority seeking to connect riders to new and improved rapid transit stations.

Cleveland has played a starring role in several blockbuster films in recent years, creating an economic boom in the local film industry. Can local filmmakers build on that success?

Companies in Cleveland are saving wood and other materials that were once factory floors and school chalkboards from dumpsters and transforming them into beautiful, high-quality furniture and flooring.

"The rust belt city offers some old-fashioned, even old-world, charms. Readers ranked it at No. 5 for its rich food halls, like West Side Market—with spices, baked goods and delis—which dates back to 1912, when it catered primarily to the city’s immigrants."

Read the full story here.

Shannon Morris has always been an artist. “Ever since I was little I was very creative and resourceful with materials,” she says. Morris first entered a darkroom at age 13, went to NYU for photography and today works in a variety of media and writes her blog, Electric Belle, from her Cleveland Heights home.
 
But like most creative types, Morris craved inspiration and collaboration from other artists. So in February, she started Artful, a movement to create an affordable space for local artists to come together and create, collaborate and sell their works.
 
“I’ve been thinking about this for years, to create a creative environment,” she says. “Ideally it will be studio space, a gallery space, retail and flex space. Art is supposed to be an outlet. Artists would feed off each other and share.”
 
Artful would be open to all artists. Rent will depend on the space Morris finds, but she plans to keep it affordable. She has been looking at spaces around the east side, but would like to locate in Cleveland Heights. “It just feels like Cleveland Heights is what the place is about,” she says. “We need this in Cleveland Heights because we have many artists and there is no affordable studio space. We have lots of empty buildings and a population that is deeply connected to the arts.”
 
Eventually Morris would like to add an educational element to Artful. “We would ramp up to a place to host events and education,” she explains. “Especially as the arts are dwindling in our schools, this could be a place where kids can go.”
 
Within two weeks of creating a group Facebook page, 140 people had joined Artful. Today, there are close to 160 members. Morris has been touring different vacant spaces, and has solicited advice from Artful followers for their ideas and advice about creating a business plan.
 
Last Sunday she hosted a meeting to discuss ideas for a space and ideas on how Artful can become a thriving part of the Cleveland Heights community. “The energy of the meeting was electric,” says Morris. Artists in all mediums attended, as well as local business owners, residents of all ages and business people willing to help out with the cause. Cleveland Heights city planners and Future Heights have also gotten involved.

With the click of an app, a car from Lyft or Uber can be at your door in minutes. Despite controversy, ridesharing services are making it easier to get around Cleveland without worrying about parking and driving.  

News stories about the once prosperous inner-ring suburb and home of Rockefeller have focused on the city’s financial struggles. As it continues to grapple with a reduced revenue stream and funding shortfalls, people and organizations are filling a void. 

A partnership between product design innovation firm  Nottingham Spirk and CWRU’s think[box] is designed to both inspire new inventions and bring existing ideas to fruition. CWRU announced late last month that Nottingham Spirk, known for creations like the Dirt Devil vacuum and the SpinBrush toothbrush, will work with Case faculty and students on the first floor of the new think[box] facility, scheduled to open in the fall.

The partnership was announced by John Nottingham and John Spirk, both Cleveland Institute of Art graduates, at Case’s Engineering Week banquet on February 26, during which they were the keynote speakers.
 
The idea is to build on Nottingham Spirk’s reputation for creating innovative products in the consumer and medical device fields by helping faculty members, and eventually students, fully develop their own ideas.
 
“We’re creating a partnership in innovation that they can see what the faculty are doing and what might be applicable to their work,” explains Jeff Duerk, dean of the engineering school. “They’ll be brainstorming how to take them to the next level. Nottingham Spirk is the premier design and innovation company in the United States. They’re like Reese’s Cups – they bring things together in such an obvious way. This is about how to take high-quality concepts and bring them to market faster.”
 
Bill Nottingham calls think[box] the “nexus” between Case’s seven schools and the CIA. “The greatest thing that can happen is we work together to promote more successes,” he says. “Hearing about think[box] and what they are doing to promote innovation, and hearing about the startups going on right down the hill from us, it’s really exciting.”
 
Nottingham sees the potential between the two organizations as unlimited. “There are going to be disruptive innovations that come out of think[box] based on the CWRU and Nottingham Spirk collaboration,” he says. “Our success is only as good as our relationships.”
 
The details of programs with students under the partnership have yet to be worked out, says Duerk, but should be soon.