Renderings Courtesy of circleeastdistrict.org
Written By: Tyisha Blade
New, exciting and innovative community engagement events are underway in East Cleveland. Ingenuity Cleveland, in partnership with the Cuyahoga Land Bank and The City of East Cleveland have been approved for a $75,000 Our Town Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the East Cleveland Alive! project. According to Ingenuity Cleveland, the initiative features 18 months of events that “create gathering spaces for cultural exchange to occur; provide artistic programming to energize and engage community members; and co-create with residents of artworks to establish a sense of place.”
Emily Appelbaum is the executive director at Ingenuity Cleveland. She said East Cleveland Alive! is a project that compliments new, multifaceted investments in and around the neighborhood. “Specifically, the renovation of the former Mickey’s building,” she said. “The building is like the central hub; it’s a beautiful art deco (Arts Décoratifs) historic gem. We are excited to see new community spaces planned for that building.”
The focus of East Cleveland Alive! is the Circle East District, a 30-acre neighborhood being redeveloped by the Land Bank. Appelbaum said Ingenuity Cleveland was commissioned to work with stakeholders, artists and pillars in and surrounding the city with the common goal of highlighting unique events that bring people to the city while celebrating existing businesses and residents.
Kamla Lewis is senior housing development project manager at the Land Bank. She said in recent studies such as The City of East Cleveland Visioning Project, community members have provided information about what type of community they want. “We’ve taken that information and built off of it,” Lewis mentioned. “The neighborhood said ‘we want this to be a diverse community.’ So, we want to bring people into the community who aren’t already here. In order to bring new people in, we have to find a way to start connecting people from outside the community with people inside.”
She also said a part of the goal with Ingenuity Cleveland is to start creating places, spaces and events where people from the city and surrounding areas can come together and break down barriers. Lewis said a goal of the East Cleveland Alive Project is to show off the strong sense of community in the city and introduce people who aren’t East Clevelanders to the residents. “We think that there is nothing more persuasive in encouraging people to move to East Cleveland than meeting East Clevelanders,” Lewis added.
Most of the events will have learning, hands-on, and food & beverage components. Applebaum said there are fully immersive experiences for each event. Grant funding will be used, not only in creation of those unique experiences, but also for artifacts, public art and more. She also mentioned the impact of East Cleveland Alive! “We’ve gotten some beautiful feedback from residents that we have engaged. It sounds like people are really excited to see fresh energy for the city,” she said. “The world is in a moment of recovery after a challenging three years (due to Covid). East Cleveland has such a beautifully rich history of art, culture, musicianship and architecture. All of that deserves to be honored and made visible to people who would not otherwise consider East Cleveland as a destination for cultural programming.”
The monthly events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit circleeastdistrict.org.
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