Playhouse Square

community development leader says city's population can be stabilized, all neighborhoods can succeed
During a recent address at the City Club of Cleveland, Joel Ratner of Neighborhood Progress Inc. touted recent success stories that the nonprofit has invested in, including a new home for The Intergenerational School underway at the Saint Luke's campus.

Ratner believes that even though Cleveland has been hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, the city can stabilize its population and begin to grow again through promoting thoughtful, equitable, synergistic development that helps everyone succeed.

"For a long time, there was a debate over whether it makes sense to invest in people or place," said Ratner. "However, we believe it should be people and place."

Ratner cited Pittsburgh as an example of a city whose population has been right-sized and has even begun to grow again in recent years.

As examples of why community development matters, Ratner presented statistics showing that neighborhoods where NPI invested heavily over the past decade not only fell less steeply in the recession, but are also coming back more quickly than others. He also believes that every Cleveland neighborhood can be successful.

Ratner touted the recently-announced Slavic Village Reclaim Project, which leverages private investment by Safeco Properties and Forest City to help rehab 2,000+ properties on 440 acres, as one example of innovative best practices.

He also cited NPI's partnership with the Key Bank Financial Education Center to help low-income residents build wealth through savings and investment programs. Through a possible merger with Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition and LiveCleveland, Ratner hopes to begin serving additional neighborhoods.


Source: Joel Ratner
Writer: Lee Chilcote
online resource unites region's agencies to help bridge the education-to-employment gap
Imagine having an online resource with the information needed to custom design your own career path. That’s what the UNCOMN.TV does. This project identifies what employers need in employees, what educators need to be teaching students, and what students need to be doing to snag jobs -- thus helping to turn brain drain into brain gain.
county vote-off secures grants for two large-scale arts projects
Cuyahoga County residents have picked which two large-scale projects will get funding through the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) Creative Culture Grants competition.

* Dancing Wheels received $130,421 for a television documentary that will expand on the dance company's performance of the multi-media ballet, Dumbo. The film will explore issues of bullying and social injustice using the life stories of artists and community figures.

* LAND studio was awarded $150,000 to fund a multi-faceted light installation illuminating public spaces in downtown Cleveland.

Both projects were selected by 6,500 county residents in a public voting process held February 1-20. The winning arts programs, scheduled for completion in 2014, were chosen from a list of six finalists selected by an independent panel of arts and culture experts.

Officials from competition sponsor CAC were pleased by the voter turnout, and believe the winning projects will engage the region in creative ways.

"All six finalists had a different spin on how to connect arts and culture to the community," says CAC executive director Karen Gahl-Mills. "The two winners did a great job of reaching out to the general public."

CAC's pilot voting program revealed just how much creativity exists in the area, Gahl-Mills maintains. "It was delightful to see it come forward in new, exciting ways," she says.

The nonprofit is now assessing the program for possible future iterations. Gahl-Mills is not certain CAC will put on an annual public vote, but she can certainly envision county residents stuffing the ballot boxes for future arts projects.

"It's a great investment of public dollars," she says. "It isn't just the organizations that win; the community wins, too."

 
SOURCE: Karen Gahl-Mills
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth
q & a: tom waltermire, chief executive team neo
wsj calls cleveland an 'overlooked entrepreneurial hub'
In a Wall Street Journal post titled “For U.S. Startups, ‘Times They-are-a-Changing,’” Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, shares his thoughts on entrepreneurship and trends that are changing nationwide, including Cleveland.
 
“I’m convinced that we’re beginning to see a regional 'rise of the rest' as cities like Washington D.C., Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, Raleigh, Cleveland, Detroit and many others experience unprecedented growth in startups. Silicon Valley will continue to be our nation’s most vibrant entrepreneurial hub, but a growing number of companies will start up in these often overlooked places.”
 
“America was built by risk-taking entrepreneurs who throughout history have turned dreams into new businesses, disrupted industries, created new ones and inspired the world.”
 
Check out the full piece here.

roll (tax) credits: a second look at ohio's film tax credits
Back in 2011, Fresh Water ran a feature about Ohio's newly instituted Film Production Tax Credit, which helped attract big-budget productions like "The Avengers" and "Alex Cross," plus smaller films like "Take Shelter" and "Fun Size." We decided to revisit the topic to see how it's working out for Cleveland, and Ohio.
county residents have a vote in how cac will award $300k in arts funding
Northeast Ohio has a vibrant arts and culture ecosystem, so why not let its patrons be directly involved in growing that environment?

This was a question asked by nonprofit Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) when putting to a public vote which large-scale arts or culture projects will receive funding through the organization's new Creative Culture Grants program.

Starting February 1, voters will be able to pick two winning arts projects from a list of six finalists chosen by an independent panel of arts and culture experts. The project finalists, among them a multi-media ballet led by Dancing Wheels, a multi-faceted light installation from LAND studio, and a community-wide arts collaboration between Cleveland's East and West sides, were chosen based on their creativity and prospective ability to impact thousands of Cuyahoga County residents.

"We wanted something that would be a stretch for these groups; something they may not have tried otherwise," says CAC executive director Karen Gahl-Mills.

The winning projects will get up to $150,000 each through the nonprofit's grants program. County residents can vote in two ways: Online up until 11:59 p.m. EST on February 20 or by mail until 4:30 p.m. EST February 15. Paper ballots will be available for download or by calling 216-515-8303. CAC will announce the winning projects on February 25. The chosen projects will take place between March 2013 and August 2014.

Gahl-Mills views the vote as the public's opportunity to have a real say as to where community dollars are going.

"Any of the six projects can be terrific for the region," she says. "We want the community to help make that decision."

 
SOURCE: Karen Gahl-Mills 
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth
cpac roundtable asks how arts can foster sustained economic prosperity for cleveland
Arts and culture can define a community, creating a critical mass that translates into jobs, business opportunities and, ideally, sustained economic prosperity. These were the words of Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium Initiative (NEOSCC) director Hunter Morrison during a January 25 roundtable hosted by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC).

These also are words that CPAC president and CEO Tom Schorgl likes to hear. The focus of the roundtable event was sustainability, and how the arts and culture community can assist the region as it evolves through population and land use shifts. The local arts sector becoming engaged in these issues can help keep Northeast Ohio resilient, vibrant and sustainable, said Morrison, a notion that the CPAC president shares.

"We have cultural clusters throughout the region, and the ability to communicate on a larger basis with the population about those clusters," says Schorgl. "We need to continue to reach our audience."

The roundtable, which drew over 50 attendees to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's main gallery, was CPAC's first such event of the year. The nonprofit will sponsor similar forums through November, with an overall aim of connecting the arts and culture realm with professionals from sectors including community development and health and human services. Past roundtable speakers have included Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon, and City of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

"The idea is to provide a forum for new ideas around a common cause," Schorgl says.

 
SOURCE: Tom Schorgl
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth
greater cleveland rta's ridership gains championed in rail mag
In a Progressive Railroading feature titled “Greater Cleveland RTA posts ridership gain in 2012,” the transportation mag covers the positive news.
 
"Ridership on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) rose 4.3 percent to 48.2 million in 2012, marking the second consecutive year of growth, agency officials said in a prepared statement."

"Every service mode registered an increase, but the biggest gain was posted on the Red Line rail corridor, where ridership climbed 9.1 percent. The Blue and Green rail lines posted a 4.1 percent ridership gain."

"Customers are making a choice to ride, especially on the rail," CEO Joseph Calabrese is quoted in the piece. "With our recent increase in frequency on the Red, Blue and Green lines, and 8,000 free parking spaces at rail stations, we have room for more Northeast Ohioans to make the green choice and ride RTA."

Average daily trolley ridership rose 5 percent to 3,840 trips.

Read the rest right here.
new organization aims to leverage area's expertise in water technology
The health of Lake Erie has come a long way in the past 40 years, and it is now considered by many to be a case study of a recovering ecosystem. Yet not very many people know that, in part as a result of cleaning up our water pollution as well as our close proximity to a Great Lake, Northeast Ohio companies have developed rich expertise in water technology.

To leverage this cluster, influence policy, and conduct research and education, a group of organizations have launched The Alliance for our Water Future, a new nonprofit organization that seeks to spur innovative solutions to freshwater issues locally and globally.

"Silicon Valley is an example of what one industry cluster can do for a region," says Byron Clayton, Vice President at NorTech. "Companies all worked together in that region to leverage their strengths. In Northeast Ohio, we have a great legacy in cleaning up industrial waste water. We identified areas where we have the best chance of competing, and that's been the focus of our water technology cluster."

The areas that NorTech identified are automation and controls (identifying the best, most efficient way to control water), absorbents (extracting contaminants from water) and corrosion resistance (preventing water systems from corroding).

NorTech's role is to identify, organize and accelerate clusters. The Alliance will help promote this success story and spur cross-sector collaboration. By working together, the groups involved in the Alliance hope to make a global impact.

"This is about the economic future of our region," says Fran DiDonato, Program Manager of the Alliance. "If we can show that we had success with cleaning water, then that gives us credibility when we export our solutions to other places."

Two Northeast Ohio companies, MAR Systems and ABSMaterials, were recently selected by the Artemis Project as 2012 Top 50 Water Companies. Rockwell Automation is also considered a major player in the water technology field.

The founding members of the Alliance are NorTech, Case Western Reserve University, Port of Cleveland, Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland State University, Hiram College, Great Lakes Science Center, Kent State University, MAR Systems and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.


Source: Byron Clayton, Fran DiDonato
Writer: Lee Chilcote
creative workforce grants support artists while transforming 'rust belt' into 'artist belt'
Each year in Cuyahoga County, 20 fortunate artists are awarded $20,000 Creative Workforce Fellowship grants to pursue their art, which often takes a back seat to more pressing needs. The fellowships also help to brand the region to outsiders as an artist-friendly place to live.
popular east-side pub parnell's coming to playhousesquare
For 15 years, Declan Synnott has owned and operated the popular Parnell's Pub on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. In the ever-fickle bar biz, that's eons.
 
Synnott, who moved to the States from Dublin, purchased the bar (nee The Charles Stewart Parnell) from its previous owner in 1997. He expanded the bar into the adjoining space in 2004.
 
Synnott's next expansion will be a tad more ambitious: In March, Parnell's Downtown will open in PlayhouseSquare, in a space that has seen its share of short-lived operations. Most recently, it was home to Corks Wine Bar, which lasted a little less than three years.
 
"I plan on doing the same thing as Parnell's in the Heights, but just do it downtown," Synnott explains.
 
That means offering a casual, comfortable atmosphere, live soccer on the tellie, good prices on whiskey and the best Guinness drafts in town, and zero food.
 
"I want to cohabitate with all the restaurants down there like I have for all these years in Cleveland Heights," he adds. "There is a fine array of restaurants down there already. My expertise is in the beverage side of things. I'm going to stick with what I'm good at."
 
Other than some cosmetic changes, Synnott does not foresee making any significant changes to the space at 1415 Euclid Avenue (next door to the Allen Theatre), which in recent years also was home to Hamilton's Martini Bar.
 
Outgoing owner Greg Bodnar says that the crowds never materialized for him at Corks.
 
"The biggest problem down there is that nothing much goes on unless there's a show; and even then, it's an hour before the show and maybe an hour after," Bodnar explains. "If anything is going to make it there, an Irish bar will have the best chance."
 
In addition to the theatre crowd, Synnott hopes to attract commuters, neighborhood residents and of-age college students.
 
Synnott's partner in the business is Joseph Rodgers, who for 16 years was a bartender at Flannery's.


Sources: Declan Synnott, Greg Bodnar
Writer: Douglas Trattner
attorney-run group offers artists free access to legal services
The legal and arts world don't seem like a natural pair, barring the occasional tabloid story about a drug-addled starlet backing her BMW into a police car.

The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Committee (VLA) is bringing those realms together in a more positive fashion by providing the local arts community information about the law as well as free access to legal services.

VLA, a committee of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, refers low-income artists and arts organizations to lawyers for pro bono legal representation, gives informational talks to artists and arts groups, and presents legal seminars to lawyers regarding the arts.

In other words, if an artist needs legal advice about starting a nonprofit arts organization, protecting a copyright, or even forming a band, he or she can turn to VLA, says chairman Todd Masuda, an attorney with Schneider, Smeltz, Ranney & LaFond.

"It's by-need legal work," Masuda says. "Our attorneys will review applications and determine if they meet our criteria" of financial need and relation to the arts.

VLA recently gave a talk to lawyers at the new MOCA. The organization is planning a spring seminar for artists on nonprofit formation issues and health insurance options for the underemployed. 

Steve Day, a VLA volunteer and attorney with Calfee, Halter & Griswold, believes the arts-law connection is an important one for Cleveland.

"If you want an attractive city, you need a lively, vibrant arts community," says Day. "We're helping artists navigate legal roadblocks that would be too expensive for them to handle otherwise."

 
SOURCE: Todd Masuda, Steve Day
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth
classical meets working class: younger audiences being fed new diet of old art
It's not that younger Clevelanders don't appreciate classic art forms like ballet, fine art, literature or the symphony. It's that they don't necessarily appreciate the medium. To engage new audiences, traditional arts institutions are working hard to make their art forms more accessible, less intimidating, and just plain fun.
high on the hog: how lower cost of living equals better quality of life
Recent transplants to Cleveland arriving from so-called "big-ticket" metropolitan markets say that they are experiencing appreciable cost savings in terms of housing, transportation, entertainment and food. And that translates to a better standard of life with little lost in terms of quantity and quality of offerings.
think local, buy local: a procrastinator's gift guide
It's crunch time, folks! In less than three weeks, the 2012 holiday season will be a memory. We feel your pain. To help, we've stitched together a provocative assortment of gift ideas that should knock out your list in no time flat. This year, keep it fresh, keep it tasty, keep it local.
vision for local food system outlined in artsy animation

This animated video premiered at the 4th Annual Sustainable Cleveland Summit in September.

"It illustrates the vision for a local and sustainable food system in the Cleveland region, and how people can get involved," explains Jenita McGowan of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability  "As part of the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 year of local foods celebration, we wanted to create a video that is fun, simple and easy to understand.  It is our goal that this video resonates specifically with residents of Northeast Ohio using recognizable icons, such as the West Side Market.”



wash post covers chuck berry show, exhibition at rock hall
In an article titled "Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum honors rock music pioneer Chuck Berry," the Washington Post covers the recent award and tribute concert.
 
"Still rockin’ at 86, music legend Chuck Berry promised a comeback Saturday with six new songs, some written 16 years ago."
 
"To mark the American Music Masters award presentation, the rock hall has mounted a special exhibition with items including Berry’s stage clothes, a guitar and his 1958 Chess Records recording contract."
 
"The rock hall’s new library and archives has a separate exhibit with items including Berry’s 1964 British tour program and a handbill promoting his appearance with the Grateful Dead in 1968."
 
"Berry, the museum’s first inductee in 1986, called the award and enshrinement in the rock hall a great honor. “You can’t get any higher in my profession than this building or this reason for this building,” he said.
 
Read the rest right here.