Is theater dangerous – can it cause riots, upset the applecart of perception, change the world? Or is it merely a fancy of the intelligentsia that art can actually counter prejudice, illuminate the dark corners of injustice, actually advance society? Who...
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Among the many rewards of working here at the Cleveland Foundation, one that I particularly enjoy is the opportunity to have some connection to the Anisfield Wolf Book Award ceremony each year. If you don’t know about this award (and shame on you if you are...
Read MoreIn a number of past blog posts I have talked about how the world within which the arts now function has changed so dramatically that there are real questions about the relevance of the arts as traditionally experienced. I wrote about this dilemma, among...
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I have had occasion, these warm summer days, to walk outside for lunch. In addition to being able to get out of the frigid office air conditioning, my great delight has been walking up Euclid Avenue toward Public Square. Yes, you heard me – a delight to...
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Serpil Sevgen is a Turkish school counselor and artist who uses the arts as a tool in her counseling work with youth in Istanbul. Serpil is another of the foundation’s Creative Fusion artists and she has brought both her counseling and her artistic skills...
Read MoreI just returned from a very meaty and reflective meeting on the role of evaluation in philanthropy (NOT as dry a subject as it may sound!). It was organized by the Evaluation Roundtable, a program of the Foundation Center to improve philanthropy. The...
Read MoreThat’s what Lily Yeh said about fighting her fears and taking on the challenge of transforming a distressed Philadelphia neighborhood – and the lives of the distressed and forgotten people who lived there. Lily Yeh is an artist who has worked most of...
Read MoreAn oxymoron? Maybe. Maybe not. So much of what foundations do may seem obscure, even secret, to those outside what admittedly is often a complex bureaucracy. But the philanthropic field itself is trying hard to shine light and create greater transparency...
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So said Sarah Morrison of MorrisonDance, a local modern dance company, about her dancers’ first rehearsals with Sevi Bayraktar, a Turkish “Roma,” or gypsy dancer, and choreographer. Sevi is in residence with Young Audiences and MorrisonDance for five...
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Two dozen students in various combinations of tights, leotards, sweats and T-shirts surrounded renowned Cuban prima ballerina Laura Alonso following the rigorous master class she had just offered them in the main studio of the Mather Dance Center at CWRU...
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