The Djembe Project

Midtown Wednesdays: A National Legacy of African American Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Myers University is the oldest institution in Cleveland. 125 years old!

I-Open presents weekly forums engaging others around transformational initiatives accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship. Social network maps are created weekly to learn more about how new ideas are exchanged. Maps are posted on this and other blogs. Forums connect others who may be unconnected or connect people better to each other.

This forum will develop an,
* Appreciation of existing Cleveland African American institutions long time efforts and,
* Re-Engage regional community around a new effort to benefit everyone

Suggested Goals:
1) Develop an (Open Source Economic Development) OSED process to accelerate NEO efforts to engage the African American community to,
2) strengthen social networks accelerating exponential innovation and entrepreneurship and
3) strategize next steps to strengthen existing efforts and look to the future

Summary of forum conversation: (this blog account does not include all the wonderful rich and insightful contributions attendees provided)

Moderator: Eugene Cranford, Moody Nolan: Cleveland youth need something to engage them in Cleveland to help them understand more about who they are and where they are from.

Speaker: Linda Henrichsen, City Planning Commission, talks about Cleveland history. In the early 1900's city planners and patrons decided to build the cultural institutions outside of the city. Over the years unique regional assets were built on the east and west sides of the city. Institutions can share assets. In Cleveland there are large museum as well as the small, and smaller funky museums - Linda shows us maps that point out locations. Museums today need to think about how they serve the public in new ways - some of the more successful museums offer different aspects of education for example. Cleveland has an unusal richness of cultural contribution from the African American community in politics, science and education. Each culture brings new experiences. Linda will pitch in if we need any help with maps.

Speaker: Nancy Nolan Jones, Exec. Dir. of the African American Museum, presents an overview of AAM long time contributions to Cleveland history. University Circle Inc. and the Hough Service Providers are strong supporters, providing education and marketing outreach. The museum's history is to preserve, exhibit and educate. African culture and civil rights movements in America are core topics. Nancy talks about the transition of the museum's mission over time. The Museum leaders believe the arts are the best vehicle for teaching. The Museum has presented and hosted celebrations and world leaders. There is a decline in school tours and funding. New directions: build a virtual presence, operate seasonally, begin an oral history project of Cleveland, develop a "classroom in the community", and seek partners for an "Online Journal". Pilot programs include a distance learning project to bring students on site virtually and a second annual Jazz series. The 100 year old Museum is powered by solar energy panels. The Board is facing a major renovation to bring the building up to LEED standards.

Speaker: Jerry McClamy, Exec. Dir., Karamu House gives an overview of the extensive historical contributions of Karamu House to Cleveland and its renowned place in cultivating national artistic talent.

Suggestions for future activites include designing a center that can serve kids and adults to learn...more than just a museum. Karamu is carrying forward the vision of the previous Director to shape Karamu as an African American Village in the community. Karamu is now purchasing property around Karamu to protect itself from encroaching ownership & development of the Cleveland Clinic. Before any entity will invest in organizations, they must answer what the economic benefits are. The institution is old with a gas bill of $11,000 for the month of December. This points to the possibility of tearing down the building - but this cannot be done as it is a historical landmark. To renovate the heating system only, the bill is $700,000. Karamu is putting together an economic impact study to bring visitors in. It would be good to have a place to house artists. Another idea is bring in pre-staged shows similar to EJ Thomas Hall. How do we maintain the current facility and expand services now? Karamu also runs two day care services and after school programs.

Q & A:
Q: How can museums, like League Park for example, collaborate with the other museums?

Q: What about the African American Museum Cultural Gardens?

Comment: All institutions are looking for funding. The Museum (AAM) has a surplus of public space. Raising dollars to support activites is a large part of ongoing efforts. African American Cultural Center and Library is another effort going on in Warrensville. The WVIZ and WCPN merger is one model of sharing resources.

Comment: To identify who the African American artists are in Cleveland would be helpful.

Comment: Managing older landmarks...the African Amercian community lost so many landmarks and is vanishing. The Black community thinks too often of consolidating. Need to think about maintaining our landmarks and strengthening facilities. How do we bring them into a level of state of the art facilities to better serve the community? How can we continue to develop home grown artists?

Comment: Sounds like facility is the primary issue - but in fact we need to think in terms of the sense of "institution" and what it means for the community and how to develop these spaces for future generations.

Comment: The County has a "Green Print" - which identifies the green spaces between the river and lake - this looks like a lace inside the "Emerald Necklace". What about instead of moving the African American community to look inward we look outward and establish such a lace overlay map of African American landmarks? Where are they? How are they connected? Where are they in the history of Cleveland? Kosiah House is an example - of a landmark that has been threatened to be torn down but should be re-invigorated.

...We have we started to reach out to some of the other African Museums (AAM)

...What about the African American archives that reside in the Cleveland Historical Museum? There is an enormous archive there - could these materials be made public and reside in a current or new center?

...We need to work on capacity building in the community. How do we get long term financing? These are the questions that need to be addressed. Everyone needs to participate. Bring out the history for everyone. We must tell both sides of every story and the third side too.

...There are deep differences between cultures that we tend to gloss over. Our (Amercian) understanding of commuity was brought from the African culture. These are deep culture differences that we all need to understand. It is very important to network the Cleveland institutions and history of the African American culture.

Next steps:
- Engage a community of commitment lead by the African American community (if you would like to participate contact betseymerkel@aol.com)
- Begin a mapping effort of historical African American sites and social innovation
- Next forum: April 12, Myers University, Chester campus, 5:00 to 6:45 PM Topic TBA

posted by Unknown @ 2:13 PM