Inspired Freelancer

Are you Taking Advantage of Cleveland's Music Scene?

Ok Clevelanders, are you taking advantage of all that Cleveland's Music Scene has to offer? Do you even know what I'm talking about? I have to wonder after Friday night. On Friday night, Cantores Cleveland had a free concert at the Christ Episcopal Church in Shaker Heights. The concert featured early music by Wise, Gesualdo and Byrd and integrated the visual image and the spoken word into the experience. It was by far one of the most beautiful performances I've heard in a while. And given that I am an active and avid musician, that's saying something.

Early music is not always beautiful in performance. It's not particularly easy and requires both musicianship and excellent vocal technique. The artists of Cantores had both, and a number of times during the performance the soaring soprano lines or the fluid inner melodies raised goosebumps on my arms. The entire concert I sat there, running the visual projection portion of the show, and feeling especially proud to be in any way associated with these skilled musicians and artists.

There was only one disappointing aspect of the evening for me, and that was the turnout. The concert was (amazingly) free of charge and yet the church pews were not full. As the freelance marketing specialist for the group this might have been a bigger blow to me, but still. I had sent out hundreds of emails, forwarded the press release and begged the Cleveland media to list the performance. Even with listings on cleveland.com and elsewhere, the turnout was not as I had hoped.

10 Reasons Why Cleveland Rocks...

Ok, I should be working right now. In fact, if you're one of my clients and I owe you something, don't worry, you'll still get it on time. I just had to pause and respond to a survey that listed Cleveland as one of the 10 worst places to live and some of the discussion that followed. I'm not going to bother comparing Cleveland to other cities on the list - each has its own pro's and con's, and I don't purport to be an expert on Denver or San Diego. Instead, I'd just like to give you 10 reasons why Cleveland rocks my socks off.

The other reason I'm stopping to write this post right now is that I actually planned to write it before I even read George Nemeth's tweet. The other night I was talking to a friend of mine at a rehearsal. She is originally from another country (I apologize for not remembering which right now), and she asked me why I wanted to stay in Cleveland. It wasn't hard to explain at all, and I felt very inspired by our conversation when she told me she agreed!

These are also the 10 reasons why my husband and I will stay here, even though either one of us could do our job from basically anywhere in the country (and yes, that also has to do with the fact that our family lives here, at least on the days when we like living near them). Without further ado - here they are...

1. Regionalism

Cleveland Plus has it right! One of the things that makes Cleveland such an awesome place to live for me is our connection to a greater region. I actually live in Copley, Ohio, which is just north of Akron. Why, then, do I say I live in Cleveland? Because I'm in Cleveland constantly. I have clients in Cleveland (yes, I found some!) and friends in Cleveland. I'm a Cleveland State University Alumni (and a current student as of last week). I sing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. Because Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown are so close to one another, I have a huge playground! I can perform as a musician in three major metropolitan areas and I can work in one and live in another. Because we have such a large group of people living in "Northeast Ohio" or the Cleveland Plus region, we have a huge local consumer base for our businesses, a large group of potential donors for our non profits and many businesses to fulfill our needs as consumers. Regionalism rules.

2. Accessibility

Say what you want about the traffic on Rt 77 (and trust me, I know, I used to drive it EVERY day), Cleveland is a completely accessible city. If you've ever fought the traffic in L.A., you know what I'm talking about. In Cleveland, it's feasible to live 40 miles outside the city and work downtown. It's also easy to attend a concert, find parking near the sports game and travel from the heart of Downtown to University Circle. And, if there's an accident on one of the major thoroughfares, you should be able to find an alternate route. I know a lot of people are afraid to travel to downtown, but don't be! I was terrified at first, but then, as an on-campus resident at CSU's Viking Hall, I became intimately acquainted with all parts of downtown, any 24-hour cafes/deli's/businesses in the area and all the great art and culture institutions. We also have "ride with a smile" trollies - come on - how cool is that? I love traveling around downtown using the bus system - it is so convenient.