Topic: Cleveland & Its Artist Pioneers

[8ShadesofGray]

I know some of these articles are posted elsewhere, but I thought it was time to get them all in one thread. They seem to be popping up more frequently ... and I have reason to believe that there will be more attention on artists' role in revitalizing Cleveland neighborhoods soon

[8ShadesofGray]

Artists vs. Blight
by Alexandra Alter
Wall Street Journal
April 17, 2009

Last month, artists Michael Di Liberto and Sunia Boneham moved into a two-story, three-bedroom house in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood, where about 220 homes out of 5,000 sit vacant and boarded up. They lined their walls with Ms. Boneham's large, neon-hued canvases, turned a spare bedroom into a graphic-design studio and made the attic a rehearsal space for their band, Arte Povera.

The couple used to live in New York, but they were drawn to Cleveland by cheap rent and the creative possibilities of a city in transition. "It seemed real alive and cool," said Mr. Di Liberto.

Their new house is one of nine previously foreclosed properties that a local community development corporation bought, some for as little as a few thousand dollars. The group aims to create a 10-block "artists village" in Collinwood, with residences for artists like Mr. Di Liberto, 31 years old, and Ms. Boneham, 34 ...

... More at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992318352327147.html

[8ShadesofGray]

Artists fleeing the city
High cost of living, fewer part-time jobs drive them out of New York.
By Miriam Kreinin Souccar
Crain's New York Business
November 14, 2010

For 25 years, Elyas Khan tried to make it as a musician in New York. The front man for the band Nervous Cabaret, Mr. Khan lived in at least 20 places, from Bay Ridge to Washington Heights, moving each time his lease expired and the landlord jacked up the rent. He worked so many part-time jobs to make ends meet that he barely had time to compose new songs.

Two years ago, he and his wife, Melissa, got the boot from their live/work space in Dumbo when the landlord turned the building into luxury commercial space. That was the day Mr. Khan gave up on New York ...

... Other so-called second tier cities are giving New York a run for its money by actively courting artists with incentive programs and housing deals. In the Cleveland neighborhood of Collinwood, the Northeast Shores Development Corp. has bought 16 vacant properties and renovated them as artists' residences. All but four have sold, and the development company plans to renovate more properties.

Brian Friedman, executive director of Northeast Shores, says that during the past few months, he has been getting regular calls and visits from artists and musicians interested in relocating from Brooklyn ...

... More at http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20101114/FREE/311149985#

[8ShadesofGray]

Cleveland: Some artists leaving New York City for local neighborhoods
WKYC
November 30, 2010

CLEVELAND -- Why would artists leave the cultural excitement of New York City for Cleveland?

Ivana Medukic is a sculptor who lived in Brooklyn for three years.

She grew up in Greater Cleveland. She and her chef- husband have decided to come back and live in Cleveland's Waterloo Arts District in Collinwood. A big reason, it's affordable to live here.

They are deciding which house they want to buy.

"Artists are getting priced out and dispersed through (New York City's) neighborhoods. You're losing the sense of community and working together...Cleveland is a great place for art. There's a lot of culutre and diversity here. You still get the big city feel, " she said ...

... More at http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=161580

[StrapHanger]

Unfortunately, though, Cleveland is not the "sixth borough":  http://gothamist.com/2010/12/03/poll_new_yorks_6th_borough.php

[8ShadesofGray]

Jersey City? Blech That's actually a really nice write-up, though. We're getting a lot of good press on this topic of late.

[8ShadesofGray]

A Diaspora of Artists
by Michael Fallon
Utne Reader
January 25, 2011

In ordinary times, in the ordinary places of North America, emerging artists come and go like the passing seasons. If you’re a talented young video artist, say, living in Dubuque and gaining regional attention, or if you’re an edgy photographer who has won a big grant award in Baltimore, what you do, nine times out of ten, is move away. You take your potentially fleeting cultural capital and attempt to parlay it into a big-time career by going to the Big City. For most, this means escaping to New York, but it can also mean (if your art is more media-driven) going to L.A. or, if you're more intrepid and enterprising, Berlin or London. For years, the story of most smaller-market art communities—such as Minneapolis, Vancouver, Seattle (on and off), Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland, Portland, etc.—has often been more about who has left the scene than who remains behind ...

... So, with artists suffering in the two largest American cultural Meccas, where is a struggling artist to go? Where can artists find arms welcoming enough to provide a chance to sustain their careers? Well, as it happens, perhaps sensing an opportunity in the leveled fields of the current economy several of America’s bleakest, and most economically depressed, cities—Detroit, Baltimore, and Cleveland, among others—have begun making their case to become the next American artistic epicenter. All of these places have begun offering incentives like housing allowances (or otherwise cheap housing options), grants and other competitive awards, and other support to artists, even as they promise at least some of the cultural amenities—museums, arts events, and the like—that one can find in the Big Cities ...

... More at http://www.utne.com/arts/a-diaspora-of-artists.aspx#ixzz1DNUNEcgq

[8ShadesofGray]

NYC Artists Migrating to the Cleve
by Laurie Apple, Animal New York
December 1, 2010

With NYC becoming more expensive all the time, artists are fleeing to places like Cleveland, Ohio–where you can buy a two-bedroom house for almost as much as a single pack of cigarettes costs here. And with everyone in Cleveland migrating elsewhere, that leaves lots of extra room for folks from W-Burg.

While moving to Ohio be a full-fledged trend yet, enough artists are doing it to inspire local-media trend pieces ...

... More at http://animalnewyork.com/2010/12/nyc-artists-migrating-to-the-cleve/


Some fun quotes in the Comments section ...

"In fact, I've seen more indie hipster types in the Cleveland area than I have in Williamsburg (and I spend a lot of time mulling around Bedford Ave.). While the constant overkill of bright lights and screeching taxis provides an artist of NYC with an uncountable number of outlets for their work, Cleveland provides community and an art influenced by the solidarity of place; the artists of Cuyahoga County are Cleveland proud. As a city that has not yet acquired the supposed esteemed 'sixth borough' title, Cleveland works off of what it has to offer; without all of the distraction and bling a big, big city gushes, Cleveland artists can concentrate solely on their work." - Rebecca

"As I have recently moved back to Cleve from SoCal, I can tell you - land sucks." - Matt

"That said, I'd consider moving to Cleveland just for the f*cking Christmas Ale." - JAA

"I recently moved to New York after having lived in Cleveland for the past year, Columbus for 4 years before that, and Cleveland before that. I'm of a firm belief that artists sort of have the power to invigorate a city. It's like that whole gentrification thing, you know? Definitely has its good and bad points, but in general, I think its positive. No, Cleveland does not have a lot going for it...but what it does have is POTENTIAL." - NYCviaCLE

"Those of us who live here barely pay attention to the lists anymore. Come visit, we'll show you a good time and no misery will be on the agenda." - Carole Cohen

[Rustbelter]

Whoever is in charge of marketing for Cleveland should really push this aspect to artist types in NYC and Chicago. Maybe pass out some flyers in Williamsburg and Wicker Park! Especially considering that cities like Pittsburgh, Cincy, or Buffalo are also viable options. Some of these articles are nice, but frankly most people in NYC or Chicago would look at you crazy if you told them you were taking your art career to Cleveland.

Who knows, maybe Cleveland can be the new Portland!

[3231]

^unfortunately, our marketing people aren't the hippest cats. I wish we'd not focus so much on rock and roll.

[Hts121]

I wonder how much MOCA getting a new, permanent home at a prominent locations is going to fuel this fire.

[KJP]

Why don't we take this upon ourselves? There are several UrbanOhioans from NEO living in the NYC now. I'm sure they'd be willing to help us undertake a guerrilla marketing campaign by leaving fliers and other materials on art studio bulletin boards, in coffee shops, stores, telephone poles, bus stops, etc.

[Jeffery]

Buffalo is already on the radar, as is Pittsburgh (cf Levi's "Braddock" campaign and Braddocks 'connected' (to hipsterland) mayor).  Jim Russell's "rust belt chic" meme plays into this a bit, too.

[Jeffery]

...and there's always Paducah, which is the mostly unlikely spot for an arts colony.  Yet but that was actually a sucessful public policy move for that rotting river city.

I think an issue might be, getting the artists' art to market.  The art market is still in LA, Chicago, NYC, Bay Region (maybe), so getting the art back to the metropoles so it can actually be sold could be a show stopper, no? (assuming a lack of sufficient local patronage to support a visual arts community)

Anway, I think this is a neat concept, and its been addressed by some U Penn researchers as a way of community development and revitalization (they dont use the term gentrification).  Need to surf around to find their stuff..its avalable via .pdf or used to be.

[8ShadesofGray]

^ You might be thinking of the Social Impact of the Arts Project (http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/SIAP/). Very cool stuff from Ms. Seifert and Dr. Stern ... Check out "Cultivating 'Natural' Cultural Districts" for some interesting research on Philly neighborhoods around this topic. The Urban Institute's Maria-Rosario Jackson and Ann Markusen at the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the University of Minnesota are also considered leaders in this area of study.

And (shaaaaameless plug), Cleveland also launched From Rust Belt to Artist Belt, a conference that is exploring the role artists can play in revitalizing industrial cities. In its first two years in Cleveland, 200 artists, community development professionals, etc. from 59 cities in 13 states have attended. The second conference was set right in the middle of the Gordon Square street improvement (like zig-zagging across hot tar and wet concrete ). The third conference will be taking place this April in Detroit's Midtown / Creative Culture Corridor.

[8ShadesofGray]

As for marketing, I definitely think a modest guerilla marketing campaign would definitely be a start. I mean, look at Collinwood's well-placed advertising in a handful of national arts publications and the amount of interest that's generated. I anticipate there will be some more discussion of this concept pretty soon.

[Rustbelter]

I think an issue might be, getting the artists' art to market.  The art market is still in LA, Chicago, NYC, Bay Region (maybe), so getting the art back to the metropoles so it can actually be sold could be a show stopper, no? (assuming a lack of sufficient local patronage to support a visual arts community)

Perhaps, but Cleveland is in proximity to other cities, so you could be an artist in Cleveland and make trips to Chicago, Toronto, Pittsburgh, DC, NYC, etc. That is a big advantage that Cleveland has over more isolated cities like Minneapolis or Kansas City.

And there are plenty of "artist types" in Austin and Portland. Who is buying art there?

[Jeffery]

^
"artist types" vs artists.

I would figure artists actually make a living off their art, or it's more than a hobby or pose.  Or they might have a day job...what the Germans call a "brotberuf"... but the passion is for doing art and there is some income coming in from sales via dealers and galleries.

The question of marketing art and patronage is a good one, as well as galleries.  Presumably one could have an artist community but not much of this visible if the artists show out-of-town or out-of-state.    That was the case here in Dayton, where at least one local artist rarely (if ever) showed in Dayton, his dealer & gallery being out on the West Coast somewhere, since there was minimal local patronage and next to no gallery or dealer infrastructure.

The marketing aspect, or marketing channel, could be an interestig feature of facilitating artists.  Things like transporting art, connecting artists to galleries and dealers in art markets, etc.

You might be thinking of the Social Impact of the Arts Project   Very cool stuff from Ms. Seifert and Dr. Stern ... Check out "Cultivating 'Natural' Cultural Districts" for some interesting research on Philly neighborhoods around this topic.

Yes, that is exactley it!  That's what I recall...thanx!

[8ShadesofGray]

^ Good points. Keep in mind, though, how variable distribution channels are. Some artists sell primarily through direct distribution like fairs or a space of their own, some sell primarily from a retail perspective and some from a wholesale perspective. And when we talk about recruiting artists into Cleveland neighborhoods, we're generally talking about artists very broadly ... Not just fine artists who sell in galleries but also musicians, filmmakers, theatre artists, dancers, fashion designers, graphic designers, product designers, poets, architects, furniture crafters, glassblowers, freelance journalists, etc. Artists have all sorts of distribution channels, some that are more dependent on the local market being able to provide them income than others.

One interesting thing happening in Cleveland now is a movement toward subsector research. In addition to doing research on the arts and culture sector at large, the Community Partnership for Arts & Culture is starting to do more niche-based research on different artistic disciplines. First up is music ... Looking at how musicians make their money, where they get it from (i.e. what types of income and where it's earned), how they spend it, how they plug into the broader economy, etc. The study's looking at everyone from the Orchestra and the Rock Hall to bands to K-12 music teachers and really trying to get a fuller sense of the entire music ecosystem. Armed with this better understanding of how the industry really works, I think Cleveland will be in a better position to help artists distribute their work like you were recommending.

[Rustbelter]

^
"artist types" vs artists.

I would figure artists actually make a living off their art, or it's more than a hobby or pose.  Or they might have a day job...what the Germans call a "brotberuf"... but the passion is for doing art and there is some income coming in from sales via dealers and galleries.

Yes, I agree with what you're saying. Although, I think if you get a certain amount of real artists you will also get the posers/hipsters that follow. I also see this as a good thing because it attracts potentially talented young people and creates a scene. That is why I brought up Portland and Austin, which are probably extreme cases that have obnoxious levels of posers and hipsters. It's still a bit of a mystery to me how Austin ever got the reputation of being cool anyway. Underneath all its hipness it's about as unremarkable of a city as you can find. Basically it's like a bunch of hipsters and tech nerds invaded and deemed it cool for no reason. Otherwise it would be like Oklahoma City. At least Cleveland has good urban bones, architecture, and strong classical arts institutions.   

[Jeffery]

^
I think with Austin you have something like Columbus going on, the big state university + state government, and the state university there is more the liberal arts school?  TU vs Texas A&M...with A&M attracting the more nerdy technical students (ie "engineers" and "Aggies")?

One interesting thing happening in Cleveland now is a movement toward subsector research. In addition to doing research on the arts and culture sector at large, the Community Partnership for Arts & Culture is starting to do more niche-based research on different artistic disciplines. First up is music ... Looking at how musicians make their money, where they get it from (i.e. what types of income and where it's earned), how they spend it, how they plug into the broader economy, etc. The study's looking at everyone from the Orchestra and the Rock Hall to bands to K-12 music teachers and really trying to get a fuller sense of the entire music ecosystem. Armed with this better understanding of how the industry really works...

I love this kind of stuff.  Nuts and bolts analyses on how something that is sort of "loose" (conceptually speaking) operates.   Clevo really has it together.

[Jeffery]

Although, I think if you get a certain amount of real artists you will also get the posers/hipsters that follow. I also see this as a good thing because it attracts potentially talented young people and creates a scene.

...theres a good book on this process re Chicago's "Wicker Park" area, called "Neo Bohemia", I think.

[Rustbelter]

...theres a good book on this process re Chicago's "Wicker Park" area, called "Neo Bohemia", I think.

I believe it, as I lived in Wicker Park for 4 years. I'm sure it was truly bohemian in the 80s & 90s, but these days its residents are more like yuppies with bohemian tastes (in contrast to Lincoln Park/Lakeview which are more like yuppies spawn from fraternities/sororities). Logan Square is quickly becoming the new Wicker Park, even through Wicker Park is still the main hangout for the city's hipsters.

[asher519]

I think an issue might be, getting the artists' art to market.  The art market is still in LA, Chicago, NYC, Bay Region (maybe), so getting the art back to the metropoles so it can actually be sold could be a show stopper, no? (assuming a lack of sufficient local patronage to support a visual arts community)

Perhaps, but Cleveland is in proximity to other cities, so you could be an artist in Cleveland and make trips to Chicago, Toronto, Pittsburgh, DC, NYC, etc. That is a big advantage that Cleveland has over more isolated cities like Minneapolis or Kansas City.

And there are plenty of "artist types" in Austin and Portland. Who is buying art there?

No one is really "buying" art there, just looking at it and trying to make it. Portland had a hyper-trendy art fair (The Affair @ The Jupiter Hotel) that ran for about four years. The reasons given for its demise included competition from larger shows in the burgeoning art fair scene and lack of collectors in the Portland market. I remember when this thing started it was a big deal on the national radar, bringing galleries and buyers from across the country to Portland to commingle with local artists and galleries. It didn't surprise me when it fizzled out, however, as Portland never seemed to have a strong cultural market beyond diy and experimental art. (I've provided a link to an article with more information below.)

As was attempted in Portland, you could also bring the buyers to Cleveland. It seems a creatively-done art show/event that seeks to draw national participants while spotlighting a growing local scene could avoid some of the difficulties Portland ultimately had. Cleveland certainly has a location better able to attract notice from the East Coast, as well as Chicago; has stronger "cultural bones" in the form of its more traditional institutions; and, though the two metros have comparable GDPs, I would guess that Cleveland has more in the way of "old money" and corporate endowment which--for better or worse--provide a great deal of financial backing to the art world (I don't advocate corporate takeover of art, I'm just thinking about potential buyers). An "Affair" done Cleveland-style, publicized well, would probably also draw interest from buyers in areas like Pittsburgh and Columbus. In a manner of speaking, a strength that Cleveland has is that art has long been part of its cultural fabric--though, perhaps, in a more conservative way--whereas places like Portland and Austin have been creating their markets almost from scratch for just a few short decades.

Maybe it's just my biased Rust Belt mentality (one of the things that brought me back from the West Coast), but it just makes sense to me that a thriving, nationally-recognized and respected art scene in Cleveland is a very real possibility. Let's hope these notices from New York (and beyond) keep coming.

More info about The Affair @ The Jupiter Hotel

[8ShadesofGray]

Thought this video might be interesting within this conversation ... Several local artists explain what draws them to Cleveland / Cuyahoga County and talk about how grant funds can be pivotal in getting artists to move here / stay here. As background, the Creative Workforce Fellowship annually provides $20,000 Fellowships and support services to 20 Cuyahoga County artists of all disciplines. In its first three years, the program has distributed nearly $1.3 million to 65 local artists, making it one of the largest local grant programs for artists in the country.

The Creative Workforce Fellowship - One Story, Many Voices

[8ShadesofGray]

A new Cleveland artist-based community development program is going to be announced on April 4th, along with the release of a pretty massive study about where artists are locating within Cuyahoga County and where they're most likely to locate in the future.

On Monday, April 4, 2011, from 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. at the Idea Center, CPAC will present new research and a brand new artist neighborhood program we think you should know about. Below you’ll find some brief information about the special event:

•Where do artists live? What drives their choices to live in one neighborhood over another? Aiming to answer these questions and more, CPAC commissioned an analysis by Northern Ohio Data and Information Service (NODIS) at Cleveland State University. Join us for a sneak peak of the findings as we “home” in on Cleveland artists.

•Three years ago, CPAC launched a regional dialogue about how communities can work together with artists to transform the Rust Belt to an Artist Belt. That conversation continues at the next iteration of the conference focused on the creative supply chain in Detroit, Michigan April 6-7, 2011 (www.rustbelttoartistbelt.com). Before that, join us as we move from dialogue to action through a new artist neighborhood program. You won’t want to miss it.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1438561777

[8ShadesofGray]

CPAC and NODIS just released a new study, "Putting Artists on the Map". It's massive - actually being released in 5 installments over the next month because it's so big. The groups were able to map the residential addresses of more than 4,000 artists living in Cuyahoga County, and from this, were able to identify 24 artist neighborhoods (that account for more than half of the artists in the sample) and describe the characteristics of each of these nabes. They also surveyed several hundred artists about where they live and work now and where they would like to live and work. They also ran a regression analysis that attempts to predict where artists are most likely to live in the future. Finally, they looked at the specific housing stock that artists are currently living in to give a really strong sense of the characteristics of these properties.

The first installment, an overview of all four streams of research, is available at http://www.cpacbiz.org/ftp_file/10-11/PuttingArtistsontheMapSummary.pdf

[8ShadesofGray]

Here's one tidbit of that research ... A map of where more than 4,000 Cuyahoga County artists live, along with 24 "artist neighborhoods" that collectively account for more than 50% of all the artists we had information on. Keep in mind that this isn't all artists living in Cuyahoga County, but it's a pretty gigantic sample, so it gives us a very good representation. In the second installment of the research getting released next week, you'll also get to see where artists are at the discipline level (i.e. Are musicians living in the same neighborhoods that writers are and visual artists are?).

[8ShadesofGray]

Housing For Artists: Where Will The Money Go?
Maude L. Campbell, Scene
Monday, April 4, 2011 

Come fall, one Cleveland neighborhood will offer artists more than inspiration and the camaraderie of fellow creatives. The Artists in Residence initiative announced Monday by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture will provide loans for artists buying or renovating property, home ownership services, and grants for artists undertaking community projects.

The winning artists’ enclave will be announced July 1, and the $500,000 committed to the two-year project will start flowing in October. Area community-development corporations competing to bring the project home should know that a bit of dilapidation could help ...

... Read more at http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/04/04/housing-for-artists-where-will-the-money-go

[8ShadesofGray]

For neighborhoods interested in applying to host the two-year pilot around artist-based community development, letters of interest are due April 25th at 5 p.m. Guidelines are available at http://www.cpacbiz.org/ftp_file/10-11/ArtistsinResidenceGuideline.pdf