Brewed Fresh Daily

A remarkable thing happened last week when Cleveland arts groups got together for their regular Cultural Round Table, this one taking place inside the awesomeShafran Planetarium at the Natural History Museum. In attendance were more than 60 people representing 50 diverse arts and cultural groups in the region: big and small, urban and suburban, institutions and community groups. For the first time, they agreed unanimously to elect Tom Shorgl and the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) to represent all the groups during the upcoming negotiations for the convention center economic package that will include an arts levy. To date, the arts have not been represented at these joint meetings between Mayor Jane Campbell, the County Commissioners, Council President Frank Jackson, and Bruce Akers of the suburban Mayors and Managers Association, even though Dennis Eckart of the Growth Association and Joe Roman of Cleveland Tomorrow have used their political and financial weight to belly up to the table. Because Cleveland is the largest city of its size without public sector support for the arts, this type of unity has been rare for this region, rich as it is in arts and culture. A local arts council would naturally be a rallying point and a convener for the sector, and since Cleveland has really never had one, individual groups have worked independently, rather than in collaboration... We are at a critical point where this town is deciding not only where it�s going, but also how it wants to get there. The inclusive, diverse, community-based approach that comes naturally to the arts is a model for other civic engagements. Open public meetings. Diverse representation. Lively discussion. Cards on the table. Community foremost. Find consensus. Move forward together.