25 August 2008

originality is the spice of life

I just finished writing an article for the school newspaper about a festival that I go to every summer. The festival is called Ingenuity, and it takes place in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, every July. I thought I would share this article with you, readers, and beg and plead for your feedback :D

ORIGINALITY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

ingenuity (n.): the quality of being cleverly inventive or resourceful; inventiveness. This is certainly an apt description of the Ingenuity Festival, held for four days each July in Playhouse Square, a neighborhood in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The Ingenuity Festival’s goal is to combine art and technology in a meaningful way, while encouraging the ingenuity of technology in our society. This is done through all sorts of artistic outlets: dance, visual art, music, theatre, etc.
Conceived in 2005 by James Levin, the idea was to showcase Cleveland’s strength as a centre of technological commerce and an art-loving community by combining the two. The various venues throughout the festival take place on the street, in alleys, in parking lots, and in old, empty buildings. These spaces are ideal environments for the innovative work that inspires festival-goers, as they are sparse and allow for the utmost creativity.
In 2006, MorrisonDance, a contemporary dance company based in Cleveland, collaborated with NASA and performed a piece with minimal music and live photographs of space projected on the wall of an empty warehouse. In 2007, Grandmaster Flash was the main event of the festival. He performed at the festival to celebrate his induction to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and the peformance was certainly one to be remembered. This year, Lisa K. Lock, a pioneer of contemporary ballet, performed a duet in an alley. This came as a surprise as she typically performs solos, so seeing her dance with a partner was quite a treat. (Last year, she performed a piece on some old-school playground monkey bars entitled “Suspended Vision.”)
This year, though it was shorter in time than past years, was certainly one to be remembered. The performances were incredible, the art exhibits were touching and thought-provoking, and there was certainly no shortage of interesting people to watch. Ingenuity Fest has become an exciting adventure which I look forward to each summer. For more information, visit
http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/.

Easels were set up in the streets with canvas and paint for festival-goers to create art.

2 comments:

Michelle Clay said...

Greetings! I'm another Franklin blogger, myself; just thought I would have a look at who else in the area uses blogspot. Nice blog you've got going here!

I've never read Nancy Drew, but I have to say, your essay has made me consider giving those books a look. :) Thanks.

Jackie said...

That painting is so amazing. I wish I could sit down and just paint...