Burning River Foundation and Fresh Water are sponsoring a photo contest in honor of the 45th Anniversary of the last burning of the Cuyahoga River. In anticipation of the upcoming Burning River Fest, we want to see your best water-themed photos -- from the winding Cuyahoga River to majestic Lake Erie -- that show how far we’ve come since that fateful summer of 1969.

Any teenager with a smartphone and some ingenuity can record a song and download it to SoundCloud or YouTube. But Cuyahoga Community College’s recording arts and technology program prepares students for all types of positions within the audio industry.

After decades of population loss, cities like Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh are now growing faster than the rest of their metro areas. Urban developers are trying to attract the right amenities to support the new wave of urbanites. So what’s needed to sustain a dense and vibrant city? The answers might surprise you.

Terri Pontremoli has a vision for the Tri-C JazzFest's first foray into summer. The event director imagines thousands of Clevelanders gathered in the newly chandeliered U.S. Bank Plaza, enjoying the early evening sunshine and a host of free outdoor music events. Close by, Playhouse Square's multiple indoor venues are packed with genre enthusiasts whose finger-snapping exuberance has helped make JazzFest the must-attend extravaganza that it has been for the last 34 years.
 
Whether this vision comes to life or not will be determined when the festival's 35th installment hits its first note later this week, marking an official shift from an annual 10-day event in April to a single summer weekend, June 26-28.
 
The new schedule is an experiment for the annual affair by Cuyahoga Community College, one made necessary by practical reasons and a desire to help transform downtown into a warm weather music destination.
 
"We think Cleveland is ready for it," says Pontremoli.
 
Read the rest of the JazzFest feature here.

Graphic design is a form of visual storytelling, where a few well-crafted images can speak to the viewer in a language more powerful than words. Cuyahoga Community College's graphic design program helps students to harness that power for themselves, with the story they're telling going straight into their portfolios. 

Prior to accepting the publisher position at Fresh Water, DiDonato spent several years helping to develop new orginaztions like the Cleveland Water Alliance. DiDonato will be looking at new ways that this publication can interact with the community, boost its marketing presence and do an even better job of drawing out story ideas from our readers and stakeholders.

Issue Media Group publications such as 83 Degrees in Tampa, Confluence in Denver and Model D in Detroit cover "what's next" for urban centers. In this recurring feature, we highlight the top stories in urban innovation from across our national network of publications.

There has been a flood of new businesses that tout the city through an assortment of Cleveland-themed apparel and products or by integrating the city name right into the company’s branding. Many point to the recent recession as the dawn of this entrepreneurial movement, which coincided with a newfound pride of place.

Artists are often the first to move into urban neighborhoods, and also the first to move out when rents escalate. Yet in the post-recession landscape, many communities are working with artists to transform blight, engage residents and reimagine their neighborhoods.

As the West Side Market’s new manager, Amanda Dempsey is stepping in at a time when the treasured public market is receiving unprecedented attention -- both good and unwanted. But throughout it all, she says, the focus must remain on the bond between the century-old icon and the city that embraces it.

Everybody has those days when they just don’t feel like going to work. But some employers offer perks that make coming to work a little less painful. From all-you-can-eat snack bars to pursuing outside interests on company time -- and free beer! -- these companies help make coming to the office a little easier to swallow.

For today's top talent, the job market is only one thing to consider when choosing a place to live. Young professionals increasingly desire a vibrant city to plug into, a creative place where they can network with like-minded people, and a dynamic place where they can land their next job.

The new Westin Hotel downtown features more than 1,500 works of art by local artists. The exterior boasts a 30-foot mural of the Cuyahoga River Valley, while the lobby contains a large art installation by artist Olga Ziemska. In this slideshow, Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski offers a visual tour of some of the artwork.

With a culture of collaboration, a willingness to adapt and a focus on creating the kind of urban environment that attracts creative talent, the Steel City has moved from gritty to green and is now poised for the next wave of growth.

Welcome to the latest round of Lab Chat, in which we try to demystify the often complex field of biomedical research. Today, our well informed post-doc takes on commercial drug development, specifically, why the heck does it take so long for prescription drugs to move from lab to local pharmacy?
 

Area schools are offering entrepreneurship education to high school, middle school and even elementary school students. Aside from the extra cash, entrepreneurship teaches skills that will last a lifetime, including self confidence, time management, problem solving and creative thinking.

It's been four and a half years since the first edition of "Moon Handbooks: Cleveland" was published. Considering all that has taken place in Cleveland during that time, author and Fresh Water managing editor Douglas Trattner says that for the second edition, which was released this week, he went back to the starting gate.

Sometimes, even the most adventurous resident can grow a little too comfortable living in the same city after a while. But one can always find something new to discover if we just dig a little deeper. Lucky for us, a number of smartphone apps will help the explorer in all of us get reacquainted with the city we call home.

There's more than one way to get around Cleveland. As more and more alternative transportation options like Lyft, Uber and pedicabs enter the local market, residents are discovering that it's increasingly becoming easier to leave the wheels at home. Fresh Water took them for a test drive.

Issue Media Group publications such as Pop City in Pittsburgh, The Line in Minneapolis and Soapbox in Cincinnati cover "what's next" in urban centers. In this recurring feature, we highlight the top stories in urban innovation from across our national network.