Now that FRONT and CAN Triennial both have ceased operation, what is—or could be–Cleveland’s emblematic arts festival, the one that could contribute to the brand of the city beyond its immediate surroundings, and could draw visitors to town for an iconic experience? I mean, holding aside the constant presence of a world class orchestra and art museum constantly presenting internationally noteworthy performances and exhibits, and holding aside the Broadway series and all the rest at Playhouse Square. Have you heard the buzz about Cincinnati’s Blink festival, a long October weekend of light projection filling downtown blocks and extending across the Ohio river to Covington, Kentucky? I’m going to check it out in 2024. Are you?

Ingenuity 2024 is building a case for that role, which is surprising and impressive in part because it has survived for 20 years, but also because when it looked like it should have called quits (remember that anemic and storm-plagued year at Voinovich Park?) it not only endured, but rebounded and has flourished in healthy ways. That’s not simply due to finances (though a grant from the NEA won’t hurt), but because it has found inclusive leadership and a permanent home. Executive artistic director Emily Appelbaum gets credit for both of those factors. After wandering from East 4^th Street to Playhouse Square, to the Detroit Superior Bridge to Port Authority warehouses to Voinovich Park, it took up residence in  the adaptive re-use of a massive, former manufacturing facility on Hamilton Avenue, between East 53^rd and Marquette. Much as we loved the wandering years, especially on The Bridge, having a permanent home has been key to their success. They built year-round activities there, and a team of volunteers and a network of partnerships, whereby the creative community steadily occupied more and more space. Does that sound like Cleveland? Here’s hoping that can be sustained, no matter who owns the building.

The event James Levin and Thomas Mulready founded with a big vision and a similarly big injection of cash from the Cuyahoga County Commissioners (remember them?) came with the same kind of hope that more recently preceded the FRONT Festival—that it would put Cleveland on the cultural map in a new way, building on the legacy institutions with an appeal to new generations: The intersection of Art and Technology. That never quite lived up to the iconic promise, except perhaps when it was on the Bridge, and that was more about Cleveland’s infrastructure than the festival itself.

But Appelbaum has evolved the vision. A festival that once worked hard to show off cutting edge technology, and sometimes struggled to connect that to artistic application, has become much more analog, and much more steampunk, and has engaged many more creative people.  With its year-round home and production activities, it’s also become less like a Brigadoon, and more like a manufacturing town.  It has become more diverse and embraced a much broader range of the culture.

Consider:

The building has enabled Ingenuity Labs—a space dedicated to incubating small, creative and maker-oriented businesses, which have become collaborators in the festival.

There’s a team of people known as the Ingeneers: a year-round, creative collective that builds interactive installations and essentially makes the event happen.  Again, Emily Appelbaum gets the credit.  Her efforts are hugely enabled by a stalwart Cleveland event production crew, including Chuck Karnak and Andrew Kaletta.

Friday night got started with a partnership, PechaKucha Night Cleveland, Vol. 42—which had presenters as diverse as bird photographer Robert Mueller (who talked about how he began to photograph birds), dancer Christina Lindout (who discussed dance as language for ideas that words can’t convey), music producer Dave Kennedy (who reeled off something like twenty things anyone could do to support local music), and architect Chris Maurer (who asked “What if we could plant a seed and grow a building?” But then talked about the realistic possibilities of using fungus and plants to create new, environmentally sustainable building materials that have the capacity to capture carbon and help the environment instead of hurt it).

Several of the region’s most accomplished and active African American painters—straight-up, old school painters—were highlighted on the first floor.  We enjoyed seeing works of Robin Robinson, Jerome White, Anna Arnold, and Kim Woodson, and talking to them all. They painted live during the festival.

The grassroots effort that aims to build something new in the wake of FRONT and CAN Triennial—the Quest for the Fest—got involved via a Works in Progress projection and a booth to engage new participants.  We’ll be watching that grass-roots, open-source model for launching an arts festival to see what comes of it.

The Maker’s Mecca was filled with vendors of all kinds: From Cleveland merch to perfume.

The event did include plenty of installations that specifically employ technology: there was a larger than life, four-player game, a bit like the old-school, self-defensive Asteroids arcade game—but this one was made with a pixel driver projecting light through a matrix of illuminated, gallon milk jugs. There was a teeter totter connected to a pump and a system of valves, driving a fountain to climax. There were robots like dogs. There was lots of techno music.

The great lineup of bands–from pop rockers like Snarls to techno with horns from Jon Dixon—plentiful and rockin’–didn’t distract from all the rest. Even during headliner sets, the whole festival was filled with people taking in other people’s projects. We loved hearing the psycho cumbia energy of Hello 3D, and the garage rocky guitar and drums duo The Super Babes.

Ingenuity 2024 felt great and engaged a big cross section of Cleveland’s creative community. It provided an everywhere, everything, all at once experience a person could wander for hours—for a whole weekend—without taking it all in.  It felt like something the city needs. But is that enough to set it apart, to make someone drive a hundred miles, or get on a plane to see it? Probably not yet, honestly. But the pieces and the potential are certainly there. We’re looking forward to next year.