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Press - Preview - Party: 2022 FRONT International

Press - Preview - Party: 2022 FRONT International

Dear Stuart,

I am excited to share with you an update and an invitation to celebrate the opening of the second edition of FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Prem Krishnamurthy, our FRONT 2022 Artistic Director, has assembled a brilliant exhibition sprawling across 30 venues in Northeast Ohio and featuring a dazzling array of over 100 artists, including art stars like Julie Mehretu, Firelei Baez, Renée Green, Yoshitomo Nara, Jacolby Satterwhite.

Anticipation is high, and the press is calling FRONT one of the must-see art events of the year, along with documenta and the Venice Bienalle.

The title of FRONT 2022, Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows is inspired by a couplet by Langston Hughes, . . .

Our preview days are July 14 and 15, and we would be delighted to have you join artists and art lovers from across the country to share a packed calendar of events and programming. . . .

Laura and I  would be pleased to have you as our guests for an open house brunch at our home from 10:00 to 12:00 on July 15 and 16. . . .

Of course, FRONT runs through October 2, and we would love to see you any time this Summer. I would love to hear your thoughts and impressions.

With warm regards,
Fred Bidwell
Executive Director

I am grateful that Fred Bidwell emailed me an invitation to attend the 2022 FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art preview events. It was great to learn more about, and get an advanced look at some of the venues before “Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows” opened to the public on July 16, 2022. It runs through October 2, 2022.

As background, I put together both "Preview Exhibition" and "Personal Prequel" blog posts, which cover my interests and activities relating to FRONT International between the 2018 events and the start of the 2022.

The scope of this second FRONT International is so large that the preview barely gave a nibble of the full banquet of northeast Ohio art that is now available for exploration. As I prepared this blog post, I learned more and more, but also realized that there still is much more to learn. In 2018, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, enjoyed visiting and blogging about many of the venues we visited, and we look forward to exploring the new art at the 2022 venues.

This blog post includes both the two days of preview events and the kickoff block party, plus additional information:

FRONT International 2022 Preview Days - July 14 & 15

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Start of the Cleveland Holiday Season! PlayhouseSquare Holidazzle - Cleveland Winterfest - TubaChristmas Cleveland

Start of the Cleveland Holiday Season! PlayhouseSquare Holidazzle - Cleveland Winterfest - TubaChristmas Cleveland

Traditionally, on the weekend after Thanksgiving, Cleveland kicks off the holiday season! On Saturday and Sunday, November 24 and 25, 2018, we took part in some great holiday celebrations!

We wrote this blog post as our way of saying thank you to PlayhouseSquare and Cleveland Play House for Holidazzle 2018, and to Downtown Cleveland Alliance and Cleveland Public Square for Cleveland Winterfest 2018.

We also want to mention the great Cleveland Foundation skating rink on Cleveland Public Square! The Foundation has been sponsoring a winter skating program since 2016 as a great addition to the year-round programming that takes place at the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Plaza.

In addition to Holidazzle and Cleveland Winterfest, we have included in this blog post tweets with photos and videos from this year's TubaChristmas Cleveland. Julie performs in TubaChristmas concerts in either Cleveland or Akron every year.

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Cleveland Foundation's Common Ground - Bringing Us Together to Talk About Our Joint Future

Cleveland Foundation's Common Ground - Bringing Us Together to Talk About Our Joint Future

I first learned about the July 30, 2017, Common Ground event from an announcement by Global Cleveland on Twitter. I immediately knew I needed to attend, and share my thoughts about it in my blog.

I also want to thank Cleveland Foundation Senior Marketing & Communications Officer Jennifer Trivelli, who reached out to me via a Twitter direct message on July 7th to confirm that I knew about #CommonGroundCLE -- Greater Cleveland's largest outdoor community conversation and meal.

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A Thank-You for Cleveland Holidazzle & Winterfest 2016

Cleveland Holidazzle & Winterfest 2016

As a way of saying thank you to PlayhouseSquare and Cleveland Play House for Holidazzle, and to Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Cleveland Public Library, and Cleveland Public Square for Cleveland Winterfest 2016, we have gathered our photos and tweets from the day. We enjoy these great events every year.

We also want to mention the role that the Cleveland Foundation is taking this year with the new Cleveland Public Square. The foundation is supporting a winter skating program and the year-round Cleveland Foundation Centennial Plaza.

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PechaKucha: Part of Five Days of Cleveland Creative Free Fun

PechaKucha: Part of Five Days of Cleveland Creative Free Fun

At the start of the week of August 15, 2016, we were prepared to write a blog post about how lucky we are in Cleveland to have PechaKucha Night Cleveland (@PKNCLE), which was coming up on Friday, August 19th. As the week progressed, we realized that, starting on Wednesday, we were going to have the opportunity to attend five consecutive free creative arts events! All of these events deserved at least a special mention and a thank-you, while some even warranted a full blog post.

Thus, this blog post has morphed into something different. While focused on PechaKucha Night Cleveland, it will also include mention of the other free creative events, and an additional inaugural arts event. This is our way to publicly thank the following organizations for their work to provide these free arts events:

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