During Langston Hughes' heyday, African American theatre was "booming, expressive, avante garde and politically punching," says Anthony Elfonzia Nickerson-El of Project1Voice, a national group that aims to spark renewed interest in black theatre. "Hughes and his contemporaries were the conscience of the community."

Fast forward 80 years. Historically African American theatres continue to play an important role in exposing young people in urban area... Read more >

When National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman toured Cleveland's arts districts last year, he blogged about how they were actively applying the principles of arts-based development and urban placemaking touted daily by the NEA.

Now ArtPlace, a creative placemaking initiative led by the NEA and others, has awarded Northeast Shores Development Corporation a $500,000 grant to engage local artists in creatively combating urban vacancy and foreclosure in Cl... Read more >

The term "Rust Belt Chic" has been bandied about in urban journalism circles for over a decade. But lately, the connotation and import of that catchy phrase seem to be taking on a welcome new identity. A book in progress from Cleveland-based writers aims to take ownership of the phrase and help define what it truly means to live in a recovering Rust Belt city.

Technology, health care, food and rock and roll -- these are just a few of the industries flourishing in the eclectic Midtown neighborhood, its leaders told a sold out crowd at the Midtown Cleveland Inc. annual meeting at the InterContinental Hotel.

Key accomplishments within the past year include a successful lawsuit that stopped the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) from closing Innerbelt ramps until a study has been completed; breaking ground on several new proj... Read more >

Christopher Busta-Peck first became interested in teaching others about Cleveland's architectural history when he developed summer history programs for kids as part of his job as a children's librarian.

Too fascinated to put the material down, he soon found himself enmeshed in creating a local history and preservation blog, Cleveland Area History, that has been called the voice of history and historic preservation in Northeast Ohio.

Part of what motivates... Read more >

The Princeton Prize in Race Relations is awarded each year to outstanding high school students across the country who are helping to increase understanding and mutual respect among all races and cultures.

The Cleveland prize, now in its second year, was recently awarded to Demi Zhang, a freshman at Orange High School who has devoted herself to achieving racial and cultural harmony through teaching others. Zhang has exposed her community to Chinese culture through art and ... Read more >

As Yelp Cleveland community manager, native Northeast Ohioan Cara Lageson is a pro-Cleveland powerhouse. When she's not busy penning reviews -- she has logged in about 400 -- she connects "Yelpers" and local businesses by coordinating marketing outreach that extends well beyond the digital realm.

Thanks to game-changing, large-scale architectural efforts largely absent during the recession, Cleveland steadily is catching up to other similarly sized cities in terms of design. Long known as a "brick city," Cleveland's recent and forthcoming high-profile projects are adding progressive new materials to the mix.

Kevin Busta's trendy, neo-industrial furnishings have been written up in the New York Times and grace sleek lofts and posh living rooms all the way from New York City to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Yet the metalworking artist, who grew up in Medina, chose W. 14th Street in Tremont to locate his showroom. Last week, he sold out of nearly all his furnishings in a single week as eight new businesses opened in the neighborhood and the monthly Art Walk kicked off the su... Read more >

Two Cleveland boys from modest backgrounds in the Glenville neighborhood dreamed up Superman 80 years ago. The beloved character -- and many more like him -- have been rescuing boys from boredom and engaging them in reading and writing ever since.

This week, in an inspired twist on this fabled story, a group of third grade and seventh grade boys from Citizens Academy and University School are participating in a superheroes story workshop at Ohio City Writers, a new nonpro... Read more >

This weekend, tens of thousands of visitors will descend on the St. Clair Superior neighborhood for the Cleveland Asian Festival. During their visit, they will be delighted by 25 colorful dragon sculptures painted by local artists and installed outside businesses to beautify the area and celebrate the arts and Asian culture.

The public art project commemorates the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which began with the new moon in January and continues for a full 12 months.
... Read more >

Last year, Akron marketing professional Amy Wong signed up to attend Cleveland GiveCamp for a few hours and ended up staying the entire weekend. She was taken with its mission of helping nonprofits with tech projects -- and she was having a good time.

This year, she hopes to deliver an even bigger impact by serving more nonprofits. GiveCamp, which is part of a national network of events that link technology professionals with nonprofits, is accepting applications until Ju... Read more >

Whereas some kids bond with their dads over football or baseball, Jacob Friedman and his dad have always bonded over oldies music stars like Petula Clark and Dean Martin and old movies starring Tim Conway.

Five years ago, Friedman suddenly had blurry vision and he couldn't get out of bed. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The nine-year-old listened to Clark's "Downtown" to comfort him as he traveled from his home in Parma to Rainbow Babies and Childre... Read more >

This month Cleveland welcomes Great Lakes Courier, a high-energy free monthly paper that caters to Northeast Ohio's enthusiastic cycling community. "One of the things we hope to provide is a place for different groups of cyclists to tell stories and interact," says editor Michael Gill.