Within 20 minutes of arriving, on Saturday, December 6th, at Ingenuity's Flannel & Finery 2025, I was blown away by the stage show that greeted me as I entered the artistically lit cavern that is the Ingenuity Cleveland Hamilton Collaborative building. The rest of the evening proceeded with electronic music of the Tesla Orchestra, fun food, circus jugglers, Smoke and Mirrors laser game, and a crafts area where I used an ink press to make an Ingenuity Cleveland 2025 ornament. There was a costume bar where attendees could get creative and outfit themselves with fancy masks or add some flair to what they were already wearing. Cleveland was dancing into the night as the Ingenuity dance party brought a fun group of people out to move with the music until just past midnight. After the music ended, it was nice to talk to other people who had been on the dance floor. Everyone I met was so friendly and welcoming!
I learned of this party for creatives from an invitation that Ingenuity Cleveland Executive Artistic Director Emily Appelbaum sent to me and others. When we saw each other, Emily greeted me warmly and thanked me for promoting Ingenuity over the years on social media and in my Ingenuity Cleveland blog posts. I suggested that I get a photo of her, since I rarely get one at the events she plans. We took the photo you see at the top of this blog post. Later in the evening, I learned from Assembly for the Arts President & CEO Jeremy Johnson that Emily Appelbaum was offered a position in California, and would be leaving Cleveland. After learning that she would be leaving her leadership role in Cleveland after 10 years, I was especially glad that I made a point of getting a photo with her.
This blog post is not only in honor of Ingenuity Cleveland's "20th anniversary season of programming" and Emily Appelbaum's 10 years of service. It also serves as a reminder of the good time and the people I met that evening at Flannel & Finery 2025. I just had so much fun!!!
I hope this blog post encourages all those who read this to join me in having fun at future Ingenuity Cleveland parties.
Videos:
I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.
Photos:
I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.
Please feel free to pause the video to look more closely at the creativity shown in the slides!!
Learn more about my fun evening from the following social media post that I shared after the event, at 1:48 am! Please click on the links to learn more about the people and organizations I mentioned:
Stuart O Smith Jr is with Jeremy Johnson and Emily Appelbaum.
December 7 at 1:48 AM
Shared with Public
Thank you, Emily Appelbaum and all your great Ingenuity Cleveland staff, for the great evening at Flannel & Finery 2025 I want to wish you all the best in your future creative adventures, and say how much my family benefits from your team's creativity.
Please share with everyone the photos and video I posted during this joyous evening on Bluesky at:
https://bsky.app/profile/sosjr.bsky.social/post/3m7edbzuahk2f
I also was able to talk to some of The Ingeneers after the late night dancing to tell them how much I appreciate the value that they give to the Greater Cleveland community. Please tell them all that their work is GREATLY appreciated!
https://sosassociates.com/blog-tags/ingenuityfest
I met many fun people like -- Issa Vybe, be sure to share my photos with the rest of the people that were part of the fashion performance tonight!! I enjoyed meeting and talking to you tonight. In the first 20 minutes upon my arrival I was blown away by your show.
Thank you, as always, The Tesla Orchestra!
Jeremy Johnson, it was so good to talk to you tonight after having lunch with you so recently at the Futureland Conference, and talking to you at the FRONT show opening at The Cleveland Museum of Art's Transformer Station.
https://sosassociates.com/blog/2025-11-12-cleveland-museum-art-renaissa…
https://sosassociates.com/search/node?keys=%22Jeremy%20Johnson%22&advan…
I will see you again soon, since I have my ticket for the upcoming Assembly of the Arts event:
https://bsky.app/profile/sosjr.bsky.social/post/3m46qzxbsac2o
Finally, I want Erin Huber Rosen to know that after the late night dancing, a former staff member of Drink Local Drink Tap made a point of coming over and saying hello. She remembered me from the times I promoted their great activities on social media. Everyone in #Cleveland should learn about their great work here in Northeast #Ohio and also in Africa!!
https://sosassociates.com/search/node?keys=%22Drink%20Local%22&advanced…
https://drinklocaldrinktap.org/
Related Blog Posts
I always like to include in my blog posts a list of related posts that may be of interest to my readers, but since there are 22 Ingenuity Cleveland blog posts, I will just direct you to look at the 2025 IngenuityFest post, and the following blog tags. I have also included "Art" and "Technology," since Ingenuity Cleveland is known for featuring these areas of creativity in Cleveland:
Blog Date: October 7, 2025 - 20th Anniversary - IngenuityFest 2025: Forging The Future
"Ingenuity Cleveland" - I have been writing about Ingenuity events since 2012
"Technology" - 203 past technology blog posts.
"Art" - 105 past art blog posts.
I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future fun events hosted by Ingenuity Cleveland!
Thank you for reading my blog post. You can learn about my travel journeys with my wife and co-blogger, Julie, and the venues we explore in Cleveland and Akron at: sosAssociates.com/Blog