University Circle

This a blog post about two stories. First, as the title indicates, it is my opportunity to share my photos, the people with whom I connected, and some of what I learned at the Futureland AI Forward Summit on Thursday, November 20, 2025. The second story is how I am having a busy month, and to save time, I used AI for the first time to write part of this blog post.

First Story

I want to mention here that it was great to see the performance of Myles "Humble G" Smith of International Multimedia Group, and later have a great conversation with him and Jalá Smith. I had written a blog post which featured Humble G many years ago , so it was great to see him perform again!

In the afternoon, I attended TerDawn DeBoe's presentation, "Workshop: From AI Overwhelm to 10X ROI in 90 Days." You can learn more about her work at WorkWithTerDawn.com and InstituteOfBusinessai.org. I was interviewed about what I thought of her presentation, and if she uses it in a future promotional video, I will add it to this blog post.

Second Story

The second story was driven by my goal to create the text for this blog post quickly. It was after 11:22 pm, and I was finishing the draft of my blog post about the Grand Opening: Upland Sims Park Expansion - City of Euclid. I was tired, but I had set a goal of starting the text about the Futureland event, and I did not want to go bed without beginning to write it. I decided that since the Summit was about using AI, and was sponsored by Google, I would try for the first time using the Google Gemini AI platform. I gave it minimal promps and the text I had shared on social media. By 11:40:38 pm, I had an OpenDocument (.odt) file of a blog post text, and then decided it would be easier for me to add an HTML file to my website. I had Gemini create the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - HTML5 version). I finished the evening at 1:02:09 am by choosing the following privacy option: "The activity you selected is being permanently deleted from your account and no longer tied to you."

The most important takeaway from the Summit is that our Northeast Ohio leaders are looking to use AI and other technology to better serve our community. I did talk to a couple of the presenters about how many unscrupulous people are using AI to steal creative people's intellectual property, to create false propaganda, and for other unethical activities. I shared with them the case of the felon in the White House creating an AI video of himself as a king dropping feces on the public that does not support him. They shared my concerns, and I was impressed that they did make the Summit focus on positive uses of technology in the world. As I shared on Bluesky social while I was writing this blog post, many ". . . of the presentations weren’t even about AI per se, but just about how to use good data and technology to better serve the community. Technology in the hands of good people can truly improve lives."

I currently don't plan on using AI, since it does not meet my current needs, but at the same time I think it is important to learn what it can do. I highly recommend attending future Futureland Summits, since their presenters did an excellent job of introducing technology that could further positive objectives in our community.

I appreciated being invited by The Cleveland Museum of Art Director of Communications Jacqueline Bon, to the Thursday, November 6, 2025, preview of Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses, but I did have questions about this new exhibition. I wondered what was meant by the statement that the exhibition would feature "art and fashion interwoven." I knew that I liked Renaissance art, but I was not sure that I would appreciate how this artwork impacted the development of ". . . fresh perspectives throughout the fashion landscape."

Fortunately, while attending the opening reception for the New Work: FRONT Fellows Show, I was able to talk to the museum's Chief Marketing Officer, Todd Mesek, and learned that the upcoming Renaissance to Runway exhibition would, indeed, be of interest to me!

The Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses exhibition runs from Sunday, November 9, 2025, through Sunday, February 1, 2026. Since the New Work: FRONT Fellows Show is currently being shown at Transformer Station through Saturday, December 27, 2025, I decided to also add information about this special, final, FRONT show. I put together this blog post to share my photos and observations about these two current shows, and to thank The Cleveland Museum of Art for bringing such exciting exhibitions to our community!

As I parked my car, it was a beautiful summer day for the Cleveland Museum of Art 36th Annual Chalk Festival on Sunday, September 21, 2025. Less than ten minutes later, it started raining, but fortunately, it was a short cloudburst. The rain only returned on and off for the rest of the afternoon. Despite the fact that I missed seeing the pre-rain chalk drawings by just a few minutes, I still found the artwork most enjoyable, along with the festive environment of the Fine Arts Garden.

I heard a fellow attendee of the event state that the brief rainfall brought a “soft focus” to the chalk artwork! That was an astute observation.

For this, my fourteenth Chalk Festival blog post, I want to thank all the creative people who participated. The chalk art created at the Cleveland Museum of Art Chalk Festival every year is outstanding!

On Friday, March 7, 2025, I was in University Circle attending the Stand Up for Science 2025 Rally at Case Western Reserve University. While there, I made a point of visiting University Circle Artist-In-Residence Sylvia Munodawafa's exhibition, and then, since it was right across the street, I rode the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.

I met artist Sylvia Munodawafa at the end of the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) opening of their "2025 Student Independent Exhibition,” and she let me know that her artwork is being featured in the University Circle headquarters building.

Also, back in November, at the "Illuminate the Circle” event, I met University Circle Engagement and Outreach Manager Debbi Abela and Chief Engagement and Collaboration Officer Sheffia Randall-Nickerson. They told me about a new University Circle Community Room, which I also made a point of visiting. I learned that artist Sylvia Munodawafa and others are providing community programing in this new space.

I hope reading this blog post encourages you to contact University Circle to visit their headquarters, and to ride the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel. Have fun!!!

On Monday, January 20, 2025, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, volunteered at the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel at the Cleveland History Center, while my son, Michael, and I spent Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2025 visiting four of the museums in University Circle.

It was an unusually cold day (the outside temperature varied between 7°F and 11°F). We used drawstring bags to carry our multiple layers of winter clothing while we were in the comfortably warm museums, and then wore the clothing when we walked between the venues. At these low temperatures, the cold hurts any uncovered skin, such as our faces. Despite the extremely cold weather, was saw many families visiting the museums throughout the day.

I put this blog post together to share my photos and experiences of our visit to the following museums:

• Cleveland Museum of Art
  - Zygote Press
  - Specialty Departments and Programs
  - Picasso and Paper Exhibition

• Cleveland Botanical Garden

• Cleveland Museum of Natural History

• Cleveland History Center
  - Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel
  - Cleveland History Center Exhibitions

I want to thank these museums for welcoming the community every year to visit as part of celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. I am grateful that we have such excellent, educational, and engaging museums in our community. Michael and I had a great time touring all the museums.

As I have done in the past, I wanted to create this blog post to share my photos from the holiday lights in the area, but this year there were two big differences:

• Unlike past years, I attended the official lighting ceremonies at four locations!! Normally, I only attend the downtown Cleveland Lighting Ceremony, and then would see the holiday lights display at Nela Park, Akron, and University Circle during my normal holiday visits to those venues. This made this year special!

• A second difference is that I also attended two arts venues the same evenings as two of the lighting ceremonies. I wanted to share these experiences this blog post. First, after I attended the University Circle holiday lighting ceremony, I went to a Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program production. Second, before the Akron holiday lighting ceremony, I toured Summit ArtSpace.

What follows are my photos and videos of:

• Saturday, November 23, 2024
  Illuminate the Circle: A Magical Holiday Experience - Cleveland's University Circle
  and Jesus Christ Superstar - Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program - Wine Cast

• Friday, November 29, 2024
  Tour of Summit ArtSpace
  and
  Welcome Santa Parade & Grand Reopening Celebration For Lock 3 - Akron

• Saturday, November 30, 2024
  WinterLand Cleveland - #WinterLandCLE in Tower City & Public Square - Downtown Cleveland

• Friday, December 6, 2024
  GE Nela Park’s 100th Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony - East Cleveland

I feel so fortunate to be able to attend these holiday lighting ceremonies and arts events. Thank you to all the creative people who enrich my life!

I was fortunate to attend the Cleveland Museum of Art's preview of their new Picasso and Paper exhibition on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. As I was talking to blogger Dan Hanson during the preview, he pointed out how incredibly lucky we are to have the Cleveland Museum of Art bring this exhibition to Cleveland. Cleveland is one of very few places in the world where this exhibition will be shown.

I not only appreciated seeing the amazing artwork, but it was great to be given a tour by Curator of Prints and Drawings Britany Salsbury. She was able to give the historical background in a personal way during the tour she led. I always like to first visit the galleries of a special exhibition, and then attend a tour with a curator or docent.

The exhibition is huge, filling all of the museum's special exhibition space (both the Exhibition Gallery and the Exhibition Hall). With all this artwork, you will want to take time to view it closely, so I highly recommend planning to take plenty time to see it all. I also recommend taking a break halfway through the exhibition and then coming back with fresh eyes to see the second section.

I enjoyed the preview, and wrote this blog post to share my experience at the Picasso and Paper exhibition.

On Sunday, September 15, 2024, my family visited the 35th Annual Chalk Festival at the Cleveland Museum of Art after the event had ended for the day. I like to visit the venue at the end of the second day every year to see all the completed chalk drawings. This is my 13th year taking photos of the museum's annual Chalk Festival.

I want to thank all the creative people who participated. The chalk art created at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival every year is outstanding!

On Sunday, September 8, 2024, our family was very fortunate to attend the BubbleFest Cleveland public event at University Circle's Wade Oval. We also went to the evening BubbleFest Variety Show as guests of one of the organizers, Steve Presser!

We are so glad to have seen Steve Presser's announcement about BubbleFest Cleveland 2024 and the video he shared, since it led to lots of bubbly fun! We wrote this blog post to thank and honor the organizers of #BubbleFest2024. We are so lucky in Cleveland that this international bubblers convention took place here, and that the convention attendees chose to share their outstanding talents with the public. They provided two FREE events and a special variety show featuring the best bubblers from all over the world!

We attended the 32nd Annual Parade the Circle and Circle Village with our son, Michael, on Saturday, June 8, 2024, and wanted to share with you our photos and videos, and links to what others shared about the day. We attend this event almost every year.

This blog post mirrors the way the parade was organized into sections marked with colored banners. We divided this blog post into these same color sections to make it easier to find pictures of people/organizations that may be of interest to you. Be sure to watch the videos in full screen mode so you don't miss anything!

We were grateful to be able to attend the Annual Parade the Circle and Circle Village, and look forward to future years of this great arts event!