Arts
Many folks around the country know Cleveland for the Browns, the Indians or the Cavaliers. But, while the city has plenty of major league talent, it isn’t all in a uniform playing a sport. Much of it in the arts.
As impressive as the Quicken Loans Arena, Jacobs Field and Browns’ Stadium may be, they are rivaled by many of the museums, theaters and galleries in Cleveland.
Clevelanders can thank city fathers of almost 100 years ago who built several palace-like theaters clustered along Euclid Avenue. Cleveland had its own Great White Way to rival New York’s Broadway. But, like so many such places, the theater district decayed and was almost lost.
In the early ‘70s, efforts began to rescue and preserve what today is known as Playhouse Center Square. Six theaters – Allen, Ohio, Palace, Hanna, State and Kennedy’s – today are home to six different performing arts companies. Populating Playhouse Center Square are the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, the Cleveland Opera, Ohio Ballet, Town Hall Speaker’s Series, Dance Cleveland and the Tri-C Jazz Festival.
The area is also flush with restaurants and bars, completing options for a night out in downtown Cleveland.
Another nexus for the arts in Cleveland is University Circle. This 500-acre enclave is home to bustling communities in the arts, education and health care and research.
Located close to Case Western Reserve University, the city’s world-famous private school, University Circle is home to:
- Cleveland Institute of Art,
- Cleveland Institute of Music,
- Cleveland Playhouse, the longest-running regional theater company in the U.S.,
- Sculpture Center, Eldred Theater at Case Western,
- Harness Chapel at Case Western,
- Cleveland Institute of Art Cinamatheque,
- Cleveland Music School Settlement,
- Karmu Performing Arts Center, the oldest African American theater in the U.S.
- And, the Lyric Opera.
- Severence Hall is home to the renowned Cleveland Orchestra.