Update

Collinwood is on fire!  Well, not in the literal sense, of course, but it is being engulfed with the heat of artistic energy. The Welcome to Cleveland Weekend enjoyed gratifying reviews, while the Waterloo Arts and Entertainment District was recently sprinkled, yet again, with artistic seasoning and flavors courtesy of the Maria Neil Art Project.

Recent Wins

Welcome to Cleveland Weekend

Our Welcome to Cleveland Weekend was a huge success!  The event provided artists from across the country with the opportunity to come in and experience all the things that make Cleveland a great place for creative people to live and work … And to see some of our tremendous artist space programs in action!

Highlights included guided tours of Cleveland’s premiere artist neighborhoods and institutions, behind-the-scenes access to some of Cleveland’s great cultural organizations and tours of houses and storefronts that are being targeted for artist ownership.

The outcomes have already far exceeded our expectations. Several guests are already in the process of signing leases in Cleveland. Two more have signed up for a homeownership course in hopes of buying one of our $6,500 artist houses. Three more are coming back to tour more of our artist houses, and another is moving back to the Cleveland area after a considerable absence.

Maria Neil Art Project

Waterloo’s newest art gallery, the Maria Neil Art Project, will be opening its doors this September. The gallery is a venture created by avid art collectors, John Farina and Adam Tully. They started the business in early 2012 as a way to bring art to nontraditional spaces and encourage collecting. With their recent move to the Collinwood neighborhood, they opted to launch a gallery space as a way to not only better promote unrepresented and underrepresented artists but also to be a part of enhancing the community in which they live. This is the latest arrival in an arts district that is teeming with artistic energy, much of it thanks to ArtPlace. Every day, we are receiving new inquiries from artists, looking to buy a house or open a new business or launch a community arts project. Together, those artists are crafting a new future for the neighborhood. We’re excited to see the Maria Neil Art Project join them!

Insight

It takes a village to revitalize a village. We believe that one of the main factors in neighborhood vibrancy is how many creative voices are engaged in advancing a vision for a better place. Not all ideas, themes, or plans that are revealed may necessarily appeal to all tastes within a neighborhood … But that’s the real beauty of the work artists do. Art inspires dialogue and a sense of thinking outside of the box which contributes to making a neighborhood innovative and unique … And to encouraging even more voices to be engaged. Individuals within any given vicinity want to become engaged and have a desire to take part in creating historic treasures for their neighborhood and future generations. The arts have a great knack for getting people to the table for that discussion. As Collinwood Rising continues to bring new artists to the neighborhood, to engage even more artists already living and working here and stirs up new visions for what the Collinwood neighborhood can become, we know that this process will continue to stoke the flame of pride and investment in our community.