A temporary gallery that was launched last year by the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) has extended its lease for the spring semester. The Visual Arts and Technology Center, dubbed "the Coventry Center" because of its location in a long-empty storefront on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights, will enhance CIA's connections off-campus, its founder says.

"Many of our students live in the area, and Coventry has a long history of arts involvement," says Saul Ostrow, Chair of the Visual Arts and Technologies Department. "One of our goals is to bring the arts out of their academic environment, and to offer a resource for the community."

The center also shows CIA's commitment to expanding its campus boundaries and giving students opportunities to create art in a real world setting, says Ostrow. "We want to go beyond gallery walls and build ties with the community," he says.

On Friday, February 18th from 7-9 pm, the center, which is located at 1854 Coventry Road, will host a poetry and storytelling slam as part of "Cleveland Stories," a partnership between the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative and CIA's Reinberger Galleries that seeks to "investigate the real and imagined history of Cleveland."

Future gallery events will include open studios, sidewalk art shows, and an exhibit of Cleveland charter school students' artwork to be curated by CIA students. The center will be open Friday-Sunday beginning in February.

Those who are interested in contributing urban histories -- real or imagined -- to the Cleveland Stories project can visit http://www.cudc.kent.edu for guidelines.


Source: Saul Ostrow
Writer: Lee Chilcote