Cleveland, Ohio

:For the Cleveland area, see Greater Cleveland.

Culture of Clevelanders

Five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland is University Circle, a 500-acre (2 km²) concentration of cultural, educational, and medical institutions. University Circle is a result of Cleveland's industrial might from the past and the vast wealth philanthropists like Rockefeller and Severance showered upon the city. These include Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Severance Hall, home to the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the United States' major orchestras. Some of the other institutions located in University Circle are the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Children's Museum of Cleveland, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and University Hospitals of Cleveland. The Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland Playhouse and the Health Museum of Cleveland are located nearby.

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Cleveland is also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located downtown close to Lake Erie. The museum's building was designed by I. M. Pei. In the 1970s a number of bands generally described as protopunk or pre-punk were formed in Cleveland, including The Dead Boys, Electric Eels, Rocket From The Tombs, and Pere Ubu.

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The Great Lakes Science Center is located next to the Hall of Fame. Other nearby attractions include the Steamship William G. Mather Maritime Museum, a restored Great Lakes bulk freighter built in 1925, and the USS Cod, a World War II submarine.

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Performing Arts

Despite Cleveland's blue-collar past, the city has been a firm supporter and nurturer of the performing arts since its inception. The wealth of industrial titans that called Cleveland home gave birth to a variety of ballet, theater, opera, symphony, and other performing art companies that make their home in Cleveland, both in University Circle and Downtown Cleveland.

Related Topics:
Performing arts - Ballet - Theater - Opera - Symphony - Downtown Cleveland

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Cleveland is home to the Cleveland Orchestra, widely considered one of the finest orchestras in the world, and often referred to as the finest in the United States. It is one of the so-called "Big Five" major orchestras in the United States. The Orchestra plays in Severance Hall during the winter and performs at Blossom Music Center at the Blossom Music Festival during the summer.

Related Topics:
Cleveland Orchestra - Big Five - Severance Hall - Blossom Music Center

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Cleveland's former resident ballet company, the Cleveland Ballet, was operated as a joint company between San Jose, California, and Cleveland for a number of years, but the Cleveland operations of the ballet ceased operation in 2000, and the company left the area for a permanent home in San Jose. Since 2001, Cleveland and Playhouse Square have been served by Ohio Ballet, which serves as both a resident company of the University of Akron and Playhouse Square Center in downtown Cleveland.

Related Topics:
Cleveland Ballet - San Jose, California - Ohio Ballet - University of Akron

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The Cleveland Opera performs at Playhouse Square Center as well. The Cleveland Opera is entering its 30th season as a company in 2005. The opera was founded in 1976 by David Bamberger, Carola Bamberger and John D. Heavenrich, and presented Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Rossini's The Barber of Seville in its opening season.

Related Topics:
Cleveland Opera - Puccini - Madame Butterfly - Rossini - The Barber of Seville

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Cleveland's theater scene has been thriving since the city came into its own as an industrial power. The city has the distinction of holding a variety of theaters, companies, and shows within its performing arts community. Downtown includes the vast Playhouse Square Center, and there are other theaters throughout the east and west sides of the city. Cleveland plays host to traveling Broadway shows as well as local productions throughout the year.

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Cleveland is home to Playhouse Square Center, the second largest performing arts center in the United States (Lincoln Center in New York City is the largest). Playhouse Square includes the State, Palace, Allen, Hanna, and Ohio theaters within what is known as the Theater District of Downtown Cleveland. Playhouse Square's resident performing arts companies include The Cleveland Opera, Ohio Ballet, and the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The center also hosts various Broadway musicals, special concerts, speaking engagements, and other events throughout the year. In the fall of 2005, the Idea Center will open, which will be the studio and corporate home of ideastream, Cleveland's combined public television and radio operation. The Idea Center will be housed in One Playhouse Square, an office building rewired for audio and video broadcasting, in standard- and high-definition formats. Notably, One Playhouse Square was originally used as the broadcast studios of WJW Radio, where disc jockey Alan Freed first coined the term "rock and roll". The Idea Center will serve as performance space on Euclid Avenue as well, with freely available space to dance companies and theater groups that agree to teach classes on their craft.

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Other theaters in Cleveland include:

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Theatrical companies located in Cleveland include:

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Festivals

Cleveland is home to many festivals throughout the year. Cultural festivals such as the annual Feast of the Assumption in the Little Italy neighborhood and the Polish Festival in the Slavic Village neighborhood are popular events. Cleveland hosts an annual parade on Saint Patrick's Day that brings thousands to the streets of downtown. In addition to the cultural festivals, Cleveland also hosts the CMJ Rock Hall Music Fest, which features national and local acts, including both established artists and up-and-coming acts. The city recently incorporated an annual art and technology festival, known as Ingenuity, which took place on the streets of downtown on September 1–4, 2005. Ingenuity was a unique festival in that featured a combination of art and technology in various installations and performances throughout lower Euclid Avenue. Both the Rock Hall Music Fest and Ingenuity will return in summer 2006.

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Media

Sites of interest

Shopping opportunities in Cleveland can be found at The Arcade, The Galleria at Erieview, Tower City Center, and the West Side Market. Sports facilities in the city include the Cleveland Browns Stadium, Jacobs Field, Quicken Loans Arena (formerly Gund Arena), and Wolstein Center (formerly the CSU Convocation Center).

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Other attractions are:

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Professional sports

Cleveland's professional sports teams include the Cleveland Indians (Major League Baseball), Cleveland Browns (National Football League), Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association), Cleveland Barons (American Hockey League), and Cleveland Force (Major Indoor Soccer League). Annual sporting events held in Cleveland include the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland, the Cleveland Marathon, and the Ohio Classic college football game. From 2002 to 2004, the city hosted the Gravity Games, an extreme sports series.

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Cleveland has always had a thriving sports scene. Cleveland has long been known as a "football town" and Jacobs Field holds the Major League Baseball record for consecutive sellouts (455). The Browns dominated the NFL from 1950 to 1956 and the team's franchise is one of the most storied in football, though it last won the national title in 1964 and has never won the Super Bowl. The team recently hired a general manager and new head coach, giving the city hope that its football curse may be lifted shortly. The Cleveland Indians last reached the World Series in 1995 and 1997, though they lost to the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins, respectively, and have not won the series since 1948. Recently, the Indians nearly made it to the Wild Card had they not been defeated by the Chicago White Sox. Despite this however, the Indians' most recent season has rejuvenated support by Clevelanders for their Tribe.

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Aside from football and baseball, the Cleveland Cavaliers are currently the hottest ticket in town thanks to LeBron James, the number one overall draft pick of 2003 and the city's current highest hope for a sports championship. The city's recent lack of success in sports have earned it a reputation of being a cursed sports city, with ESPN validating this fact by proclaiming Cleveland as its most "tortured sports city" http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=tortured/cleveland.

Related Topics:
LeBron James - Draft pick of 2003 - ESPN

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At the 2005 Major League Soccer All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio, the MLS commissioner announced that Cleveland was one of several top areas in contention for an expansion team in 2007. Cleveland fielded an NHL team, the Cleveland Barons, in the 1970s. The franchise was later merged into the Minnesota North Stars and the city was left without major league hockey to the present day. Former Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund was a part owner of the San Jose Sharks, the present-day minor league Barons' NHL affiliate. This has also contributed to Cleveland's lack of NHL hockey. With Gund's interest in both the Cavaliers and arena sold to Dan Gilbert, Cleveland is now free to explore fielding a team in the future, via expansion or relocation of an existing franchise.

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Cleveland has two adult women's amateur ice hockey teams, the Cleveland Blues, sponsored by beermaker Labatt and the Cleveland Crusaders. The Cleveland Blues are members of the Pennsylvania-Ohio Women's Ice Hockey Association(POWHA), an adult level travel hockey league. Though the Blues finished last in their first season in the POWHA (founded in 2002), they have won the last two championship playoff tournaments, beating the Kent Twisters for their first POWHA Championship held in Cincinnati in 2004 and Central Pittsburgh in 2005 held in Kent, Ohio. They are the first and only repeat champion in POWHA history.

Related Topics:
Labatt - Cincinnati - Kent, Ohio

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◄ Cleveland, Ohio: Education

Cleveland, Ohio: Transportation ►

~ Table of Content ~

►	Introduction
►	History
►	Geography
►	Demographics
►	Cleveland government
►	Economy
►	Education
►	Culture of Clevelanders
►	Transportation
►	See also
►	External links

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