Ingenuity Cleveland is thrilled to announce IngenuityFest 2024: Era of Ascent, taking place September 27–29 at IngenuityLabs in St. Clair-Superior. In 2024, Ingenuity is entering its twentieth year, and will TAKE FLIGHT all season long. What started in 2004 as an annual, traveling festival has become a staple of Cleveland’s arts and culture landscape, showcasing the region’s rich artistic, innovative, and technological assets.

Dedicated to a celebration of flight in all its forms, along with a massive recent expansion that will allow Ingenuity to “spread its wings,” this year’s weekend-long festival will feature a mix of hands-on activities for all ages; multiple stages filled with music and dance performances; and plenty of opportunities to interact with innovative and immersive exhibits that explore the human fascination with flying from a scientific, artistic, historical, and technological perspective.

Since moving from an annual festival to a year-round model with a shift beginning in 2016, Ingenuity has been focused on contributing to a collaborative culture of creativity and innovation across Northeast Ohio. This strategic shift led Ingenuity to co-found the Hamilton Collaborative and launch IngenuityLabs as a permanent home in the 300,000-square-foot former Osborn Manufacturing building. Since then, Ingenuity has established the IngenuityLabs Incubator program, providing space, tools, and resources to artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators looking to “cross a threshold,” using their art to serve community needs. IngenuityLabs also houses a 300-plus volunteer collective, the Ingeneers, comprised of individuals from all backgrounds who meet weekly to vision, build, and create.

Community has been at the forefront of Ingenuity’s work since moving to St. Clair-Superior, with a commitment to bringing unique, accessible, and creative experiences to Cleveland’s diverse communities. Ingenuity is proud to serve as a key programming partner on a range of events across town with organizations like the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation, Downtown Cleveland Inc., the Cuyahoga Land Bank, Western Reserve Historical Society, Brite Winter, Cleveland Leadership Center, and more.

In late 2023, Ingenuity began a new chapter, making permanent the vision piloted in their 2017 lease and strategic plan with a new ten-year commitment and expanded year-round footprint for IngenuityLabs, opening up more than 100,000 square feet of additional creative space as a centralized and accessible home for innovation in Cleveland. This expansion will double the capacity of the IngenuityLabs Incubator from 25 to 50 resident members, and introduce new creative spaces for performances, educational programming, and more. IngenuityFest 2024 will feature exciting new spaces to explore throughout the newly expanded footprint.

At IngenuityFest 2024: Era of Ascent, guests can expect to find performances of all types, with everything from local and touring DJ’s and live music sets, including indie rock, hip-hop and electronic dance music; to aerial and dance performances; comedy shows & spoken word poetry; a headlining collaboration between Tesla Orchestra & Crooked River Circus; and so much more!

In addition to unique performance spaces, original works, and hundreds of exhibitors, performers and artisans, IngenuityFest 2024 will welcome new and returning festival villages including Mechanique Biotique, Dream Destinations, Makers Mecca, Ideation Station, and the fully immersive projection landscape Lunar Landing, plus exhibits like The Untold Stories of Flight, dedicated to shedding light on lesser-known narratives around Ohio’s rich history of, and contributions to, flight.

“Era of Ascent is the perfect theme for IngenuityFest 2024, as we enter our twentieth season with a period of committed growth, expansion, and a drive toward organizational maturity,” says Executive Artistic Director Emily Appelbaum. “Ingenuity has been on an upward trajectory since launching the Hamilton Collaborative and becoming a year-round organization in 2016, and we have recently confirmed a ten-year lease, bringing permanence to our mission and work in St. Clair-Superior and Northeast Ohio’s creative landscape. We can’t wait for everyone to experience our expanded vision and plans for our best festival yet!”

Get your tickets in advance and save!

Early Admission Weekend Passes only $10, now through August.

Regular Weekend Passes only $15, September 1 through the festival weekend.

Or… become an Agent of Ingenuity and secure your spot at all of Ingenuity’s events throughout the year!

Tickets and Agents of Ingenuity Memberships available at bit.ly/eraofascent.

Partnership opportunities for Cleveland businesses of all kinds are still available! Please connect with Marketing & Development Manager Emma Morris at emma@ingenuitycleveland.org for more information.

IngenuityFest 2024: Era of Ascent is presented with major support from The George Gund Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Ohio Arts Council, The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation, Thompson Hine, UB Greensfelder, Case Western Reserve University, Turner, Gilbane, Swagelok, and many more.

There is still time to get involved! Ingenuity hosts free community arts workshops all summer long on Thursdays (6-9 pm) and Saturdays (2-5 pm) through the festival! Join the Facebook group and email list for all the latest updates!

INGENUITY CLEVELAND
IngenuityLabs at the Hamilton Collaborative
5401 Hamilton Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
216.589.9444
info@ingenuitycleveland.org
Facebook: Ingenuity Cleveland

EVENT:

IngenuityFest 2024: Era of Ascent, September 27-29. 6pm-1am Friday, 1pm-1am Saturday, and 1-6pm Sunday at IngenuityLabs at the Hamilton Collaborative, 5401 Hamilton Ave., Cleveland 44114