Arts + Culture
Cleveland's collection of world-class arts institutions would be a boon for a city of any size. For nearly a century the Cleveland Museum of Art has served as one of the finest galleries in all the land, recently made all the better thanks to a just-completed $350-million transformation. Rubbing shoulders with the museum for the past 100 years has been the Cleveland Orchestra, which delights fine-music fans at home-base Severance Hall. Toss in the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Institute of Music, Playhouse Square, Cleveland Public Theatre, Museum of Natural History, Cleveland International Film Festival, the Rock Hall, live-music clubs, and funky galleries too numerous to name, it is clear that art, indeed, lives here.
The Short.Sweet.Film Fest opens its 15th year this week, showcasing 338 short films from 26 countries across 33 programs at Atlas Cinemas Shaker Square. The festival has grown from a small basement gathering to a platform for independent short filmmakers. Highlights include Women in Focus, featuring 29 films directed or produced by women.
Cleveland's annual Brite Winter festival landed in the Waterloo Arts District last weekend, offering a much-needed winter escape with music, art, and community celebration. Brite Winter has been the winter arts and culture scene for more than 15 years, and photographer Reuben Kutash documented the 2026 version on Saturday.
Lake Erie Ink and Cleveland Museum of Art will host the 14th annual Kids' Comic Con with free workshops, seminars, and events for young artists. The three-day event at CMA's Clark-Fulton Community Arts Center includes virtual programming with Nickelodeon storyboard artists, a teen cosplay party, DIY workshops, and craft talks—all in a space where young comic enthusiasts can learn, create, and connect.
Photographer Jason Toth is partnering with Opus 216 founder and violinist Ariel Clayton Karas to produce "The Smallest Concert in Cleveland," in Toth's 78th Street Studios space. With limied space, the March 6 event will feature improvised original music by Opus 216 ensemble members, The passion project is the realization of Toth's dream to create special musical experiences.
The mythical Kurenti symbolically chased away winter at the 14th annual Cleveland Kurentovanje parade down St. Clair Avenue and the festival at the Slovenian National Home. Photographer Reuben Kutash documented the parade, bocce games, and live music before the Kurenti retreated for another year.
The annual Brite Winter festival will ignite the Waterloo Arts District this Saturday, Feb. 21, with more than 30 bands performing on stages, interactive art installations, fire pits, and local food vendors. Headlined by local favorite LoConti, the festival starts at 2 p.m.
The Cleveland Botanical Garden's annual orchid show heads to the Wild West his year with "Orchid Rodeo," featuring more than 3,000 orchids throughout its glasshouse biomes. The exhibit challenges fallacies about orchids' fragility while celebrating their resilience in harsh environments.
Hundreds of Northeast Ohio residents gathered at Asia Place in AsiaTown last weekend to celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Fire Horse. FreshWater photographer Reuben Kutash captured the festivities at Asia Plaza, documenting the community's vibrant cultural celebration.
Literary Cleveland and partner organizations this week are launching a year-long celebration honoring the legacy of author and Lorain native Toni Morrison, the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The celebration kicks off in Cleveland on Feb. 18 at Karamu House, followed by monthly events throughout Ohio exploring Morrison's 11 novels.
Local blues legend Wallace Coleman didn't begin his music career until his early 50s, but has spent nearly four decades touring internationally, playing with other legends, and recording seven albums. The musician celebrates his 90th birthday tonight with a free concert at The Sixty6 in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood.
Cleveland Public Theatre concludes its annual Test Flight play development series with "The Exit Door," a new work by Nathalie Bermúdez presented by Teatro Público de Cleveland. The play explores migratory grief through the story of a woman trapped in an unnamed airport, blending realism and magical elements to reflect the emotional cost of migration.
Last weekend, photographer Reuben Kutash documents people attending the Kurent Jump at the Slovenian National Home—awakening the Kurenti and kicking off a week of events leading up to the 14th annual Cleveland Kurentovanje festival this Saturday, Feb. 14. The day will include music and Slovenian food in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood.
The AsiaTown neighborhood will celebrate the Lunar New Year and the rare Year of the Fire Horse this weekend at Asia Plaza with cultural performances, lion dances, food vendors, and family activities. The Fire Horse represents a period of dynamic change and high energy. The free event welcomes everyone to experience Asian culture and traditions through arts, performance, and food.
"Between Worlds," a contemporary photography exhibit featuring three Cleveland-based artists, is now on view at the Cuyahoga County Public Library's Chagrin Falls Branch. With traditional photography, mixed media, and AI hybrid imagery showcased, the works explore themes of light and darkness, personal and cultural existence.
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland launched its 2026 season recently with four new exhibits exploring themes of nature, memory, survival, and responsibility. Guests at he opening reception engaged enthusiastically with the immersive installations by KING COBRA, Sky Hopinka, and other artists.
Cleveland Public Theatre's Test Flight program allows local playwrights to develop new work in front of live audiences and gather real-time feedback. The program gives artists creative freedom and practical support. 2026 Test Flight features "Boxed," a dance theater piece by Elizabeth Pollert that uses movement and cardboard boxes to explore how people are labeled and confined by identity categories.
Cleveland Kurentovanje kicks off this Saturday, Feb. 7, with the Kurent Jump at the Slovenian National Home. The mythical Kurent creatures will be summoned from slumber to chase away winter and usher in spring. The Jump includes traditional Slovenian food, music, and a special lager from Collision Bend Brewing Company.
Ceramic artists from Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State University, and the University of Akron explore clay as a sculptural and architectural medium, rather than functional vessels in The Sculpture Center's new exhibit, "Surface and Structure: Contemporary Ceramics at the Edge of Form."
The Museum of Contemporary Art (moCa) Cleveland opens its new season this week with four exhibitions that explore humanity's relationship with the natural world through diverse artistic lenses. The exhibits resist simple narratives about environmental crises to offer various perspectives on trauma, responsibility, and repair of ecosystems.
FreshWater writer Jill Sell is inspired by one of the memorial benches established by the Toni Morrison Society's "Bench By The Road" project. Sitting in the winter cold, Sell reflects Morrison's powerful characters and themes while connecting them to personal memories of childhood discrimination.