When James Levin, founder of Cleveland Public Theatre, first approached me to partner with him on a new arts festival for Cleveland, I thought he was crazy. But I knew he was right. After all, we were as sick as anyone of seeing other cities with fewer artistic assets boast about their citywide arts festivals: Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Festival, the Columbus Arts Festival, even puny Grand Rapids, Mich., hosts a massive Festival of the Arts that draws more than 500,000 people.
We also knew the spark that drives artists to create is the same impetus that compels scientists and technologists to devise new products and new businesses. Artists and technology mavens are similarly entrepreneurial, and we knew it was time to celebrate both in a big, public way.
So the Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology was born. For four days over Labor Day weekend, we’re shutting down Euclid Avenue and East Fourth Street and bringing to life 20 venues with more than 200 events from 80 of the region’s finest arts and technology teams. We’re offering Cleveland Magazine readers two free all-day, all-access passes to the Ingenuity Festival. Just log on to www.IngenuityCleveland.com/clevelandmagazine to register. Then, claim your pair of passes at the information booth at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East Fourth Street. We’ll see you during Labor Day weekend!
Opera In the Alley Explore East First Street, the alley by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and catch the Ohio Boys Choir, composer Linda Eisenstein and even transvestite cabaret by Baby Dee. At midnight, the Cleveland Film Society shows the best of the International Film Festival’s shorts. Sept. 3 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The Technology Temple Converting the Cleveland Trust rotunda at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue will be NEO Show winner and recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduate Ben Kinsley’s motion-sensitive interactive surround-video installation, plus an exhibit by Oberlin College’s Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) and a videodance by MorrisonDance based on images of choreographer Sarah Morrison’s elbow surgery. Sept. 2 through 4, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Family Stage Hang with the kids on the outdoor family stage or inside the Colonial Marketplace and check out the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Animal Show, ethnomusicologist Dr. Craig Woodson’s “To Mars with Music” and the Cleveland Schools’ All-City Elementary Choir. Sept. 2 and 3, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Classical Music in the Old Hyatt Arcade Broadcast live on WCLV 104.9 FM, Cleveland’s Old Arcade becomes classical music HQ with the Cleveland Bach Consort, the Cavani String Quartet, George Crumb’s “Black Angels” by the Cleveland Institute of Music Quartet and the best of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Sept. 1 through 4, noon to midnight.
Visual Art in the Galleria Not everyone made it into the museum’s ongoing NEO Show, so Ingenuity presents a “Salon des Refuses” of the best of the rest, plus installations by ART_Cadence and The Sculpture Center, and an exhibition of digital prints by the New Center for Art and Technology (NewCAT). Sept 2 and 3, noon to 9 p.m.
