On September 27-29, the IngenuityFest celebrates its 20th year of bringing thousands of Northeast Ohioans together for three days of unique art experiences.
This year’s theme, “Era of Ascent,” was inspired by the idea of flight. The theme continues the festival’s goal of providing playful, innovative artistry and showcasing forward-thinking technological advances. The festivities will be at IngenuityLabs at the Hamilton Collaborative, 5401 Hamilton Avenue, Cleveland.
“We are delving into air space travel with everything from the technical flight of airplanes and rocket ships to mythological and historical things,” said Emma Morris, marketing and development manager for Ingenuity Cleveland. “So, there will be hands-on exhibits that people can walk up to touch and sit on to interact. We will have a couple more traditional art-type exhibits, immersive places with projection technology, and augmented reality and virtual reality experiences to immerse people in. As in past years, there will be various music and dance performances — an addition this year includes ‘Flight of Lightning,’ where aerialists and Tesla Coils will fly from the ceiling. Many local and national touring acts of all genres and types will appeal to families and individuals.”
Year 1 through Year 20
According to the Ingenuity website, James Levin and Thomas Mulready imagined a festival that would expose the extensive range of artistic and cultural strengths throughout Northeast Ohio when they created the IngenuityFest in 2004. Each year, thousands of visitors of all ages stop by to see how participating artists cultivate the intersection between arts and technology.
From 2005 to 2016, the annual festival moved around Greater Cleveland occupying a mix of locations, beginning at Cleveland’s Public Square and, in subsequent years, E. 4th St., Playhouse Square, Cleveland State University campus, and the Detroit Superior Bridge Streetcar level.
In 2016, the organization’s leaders found unused space in the former Osborn Manufacturing building and established the Hamilton Collaborative at E. 55th St. and Hamilton Rd. in Cleveland to broaden its scope. Since 2017, that building has been the venue for the festival.
This strategic shift has empowered the organization to become a year-round place for community artists to utilize the warehouse space and collaborate with other artists with a similar vision.
“We have always been a 501(c)3 nonprofit,” Morris said. “Our mission is to ignite a creative spark. Alongside a couple of strategic partners, we made Hamilton our home base. A couple of new avenues have opened, including community programming in the neighborhood and traveling to other places throughout Cleveland and Northeast Ohio to bring the same caliber of programming. The IngenuityLabs Incubator program is for artists and small creative entrepreneurs to work, learn, and grow together in our building. We currently have around thirty “pod” spaces, which we call our incubator spaces, and will be expanding to 50 over the next few years. Artists and entrepreneurs can sublease spaces from us and utilize all our tools, woodshop spaces, and resources.”
Amenities and resources
IngenuityLabs offers several amenities, including a full wood workshop and a variety of tools and supplies. The term artist is used loosely. It can also mean anything from entrepreneurs, technical painters, sculptors, textile artists, flame effect artists, printmakers, and educators. According to Morris, each can experience business expansion or accelerate where they are as individuals to reach the next level.
Tanya Schatzman, who recently began renting incubator space at IngenuityLabs, feels connected to the organization because of its use of recycled material and repurposing. Schatzman is the co-founder of “Wrecks and Effects.” Their form of artistry is described as “destruction.” They break items like glass, mirrors, wood, and metals to form various pieces of art.
“Fundamentally, their mission is right on track with mine,” Schatzman said. “That’s what makes this such a natural environment to work in. Working where your creativity differs from what’s being produced next to you is a struggle. Since being a part of this group of artists, we have expanded our view of what’s possible. Collaborating with other artists helps to define our objective further. We focus on destruction as a creative force, then use that individuality and that self-expression as the art of making beauty from brokenness.”
Schatzman and her partner Erica Thrasher will present the project “Notorious Thugs: Ode to Reconception” at the festival. It’s a raw tribute to Nikki Giovanni and Tupac and the essence of “Thug Life,” accomplished by using destruction as a creative force, Schatzman said.
IngenuityLab’s warehouse space recently increased from 200,000 to 300,000 square feet. The incubator capacity will soon expand to 50 spaces. The IngenuityLabs Incubator is growing in popularity. The cost of incubator rental space is on a sliding scale.
In addition to the art, food vendors and craft beverages will be available. Hours for the event will be 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday; 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday; and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Kids 12 and under are free.
For more information, go to ingenuitycleveland.org.
Editor’s note: IngenuityFest is an advertising partner with The Land.
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