And then it will be gone So catch it this week while you can. Parma’s The Current Year celebrates Record Store Day this Saturday with a party and pierogi. The City Club hosts a panel on “The Changing Landscape of the Arts in Cleveland.” CPT’s DanceWorks kicks off four weekends of movement works. Poets will respond to surrealistic art at Heights Arts’ Ekphrastacy session. It’s a big week for music in our region. Bobby Selvaggio is releasing his 12th album at Blue Jazz+ in Akron with a large lineup of musicians to help him celebrate his son’s 25th birthday. The Polka Hall of ..read more

Sun 4/21 @ 3PM The Cleveland Composers Guild ends its 63rd (!) season with a concert that foregrounds the mission it’s had since the beginning: presenting new music by contemporary composers.  Five of the pieces on the program will be new, performed by Cleveland’s Factory Seconds Brass Trio — trumpeter Jack Sutte, horn player Jesse McCormick and trombonist Richard Stout, all members of the Cleveland Orchestra and on the faculty at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory). They’ll be joined by guest pianist Christina Dahl, professor of piano at Stony Brook University. There’ll be four additional wor ..read more

Fri 4/19 @ 5-9PM While there are few big openings this month, there’s never an off month at 78th Street Studios Third Friday with plenty of ongoing shows, including Flourish: A Celebration of Urban and Elegant Botanical Beauty at E11even2; Jenniffer Omaitz’s Where Love Lives at Gallery 202; and Rebecca Cross’s Mapping the Sensorial at HEDGE Gallery. There is a new show — at last — at the ARTneo space called The Cleveland Salon 1920-1924, featuring NE Ohio artists who were exploring new styles in painting.  Be sure to check the new maker shops and small businesses at the back of the RAMP ..read more

Fri 4/19 @ 7:30PM Sybarite5 isn’t your traditional string ensemble, although they play traditional instruments: violin (2), viola, cello and double bass. It does play classical music, so to speak— much of it new music commissioned for the group — but it drenches it in a variety of other sounds, described in its bio as “an intoxicating cocktail of post-genre musical goodness.” Its most recent album Collective Wisdom, released last October, is a mélange of material: premieres of commissioned works, improvised pieces, electronics, Armenian folk tunes and an arrangement of a tune by Americana/blu ..read more

Sat 4/20 @ noon-4PM Once again, Kent’s Standing Rock Cultural Arts celebrates Earth Day with its 18th annual Earth Day Festival and Block Party in downtown Kent. There’ll be live music with Cameron Mack from 1-1:30pm and Zina from 1:45-2:30pm, followed by music and a parade led by Canton’s EN-Rich-Ment Drum Line. And from 3:30-4pm Bonnie Mango from Kenya will lead an open drum jam — bring your percussion instrument. There’ll also be a $100 prize for the best animal or “eco hero” costume. There’ll be eco-friendly vendors, refreshments, art displays and tables from environmental organizations ..read more

Thu 4/18 @ 7:30PM Vertigo Dance Company is a contemporary dance ensemble founded in 1992 in Jerusalem, Israel, where it also has a dance school and offers inclusive community workshops. The company will conclude DANCECleveland’s 2023-24 season with a new evening-length piece called Makom, created by the company’s artistic director and co-founder Noa Wertheim. Makom, they explain, means “place” in Hebrew — either a real or imaginary location, a spiritual refuge or a home. They describe it as a quest to restore equilibrium in a world out of balance, a mission that undoubtedly hits close to home ..read more

Sat 4/20 @ 7:30PM Sun 4/28 @ 3:30PM The Cleveland Chamber Collective has re-organized with some familiar faces from the local chamber music scene (violinist Emily Cornelius, flutist Linda White, pianist Eric Charnofsky), some newbies (violist Brian Slawta, cellist Trevor Kazarian) and returning musician percussionist Dylan Moffitt. It will perform its first concert with the new ensemble at Cleveland Heights’ Disciples Christian Church, where it will premiere Ty Alan Emerson’s Oath Breaker, which it describes a requiem-like piece that’s “a 60-minute journey of anger, grief, and hope, striving ..read more

Fri 9/6-Sun 9/29 The Cleveland Photo Fest, which was founded in 2019 by three area photographers — Herb Ascherman, Laura D’Alessandro and Jim Szudy —  has announced the location, dates, lineup of shows and special events for this year’s 5thannual CPF (of course it skipped 2020). It will again take place at the Bostwick Design Art Initiative at 26th and Payne, whose numerous galleries offer opportunities to mount multiple shows. It opens on Friday, September 6 at noon, and a free public reception in the evening with music by the New Sons of Erie at 7pm. The gallery shows will be on view t ..read more

Sat 4/20 @ 6:30PM GroundWorks Dance Theater is one of Cleveland’s best-known and longest-running dance ensembles, founded in 1998 by artistic director David Shimotakahara. Over the years it’s performed works by a diverse group of established and up-and-coming choreographers, and thrilled audiences with its exciting contemporary dance performances. This weekend, dance fans and patrons will have the opportunity to support the company’s future at its 16th annual It Takes Two! gala benefit in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Ames Family Atrium. Tickets come at a variety of levels including a VIP coc ..read more

Fri 4/19 @ 6-9PM Art reinvents itself with new blood taking inspiration from past accomplishments. That’s the idea underpinning the show Ready, Set, Relay!, a multidisciplinary exhibition curated by 17 Cleveland Institute of Art students drawing from art works in the Progressive Art Collection. To prepare for the show, the students, all of them juniors in CIA’s The Role of the Artist as Producer course, devoted a semester to researching the work in the collection and making new work that responded to what they discovered. Among those who work they drawn upon are such noted artists as Kara Wal ..read more