Exercising your civic muscle in Cleveland just got easier. This week The City Club of Cleveland is taking its infamous gong, symbolizing free speech and open dialogue, on the road for The City Club Outdoor Summer Series. Beginning this Wednesday, July 9, four Wednesday forums will take place at Playhouse Square Plaza, at the corner of East 14th Street and Euclid Avenue.

Since 2016, the City Club has offered the series for free and it’s open to everyone. Playhouse Square Plaza—across from The City Club—is easily accessible and walkable for many who live or work downtown.

“We started because we wanted to have free events where all guests are able to just come and hear what’s going on in Cleveland,” says Jerome Sheriff, communications and project manager at the City Club.

The City Club of Cleveland 2024 Summer Series at Playhouse Square Plaza.During the month of July, the Wednesday forums will feature some of the region’s leaders who will discuss what makes Cleveland unique. Topics include Superman, local arts, random acts of kindness, and the future of the city’s waterfront.

Forum organizers encourage attendees to bring their own lunches and meet under the Playhouse Square chandelier. Sheriff encourages attendees to consider participating in the question and answer portion of the program, which traditionally makes up the second half of the forum.

“We always want to make sure we give space for the community to ask questions. Without the community, there’s no City Club,” says Sheriff.

Preview of first forum: Superman!

The upcoming “Superman” movie was filmed in Cleveland last summer 2024. Ahead of the film’s theatrical release on Friday, July 11, the City Club kicks of its Summer Series on Wednesday, July 9 with a timely panel discussion featuring Bill Garvey with the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and Valentino Zullo, board member for the Siegel and Shuster Society—an all-volunteer nonprofit organization with a mission of commemorating and celebrating the creation of Superman in Cleveland.

The panel will explore what it takes to bring Hollywood to our city, with insight into how the Greater Cleveland Film Commission worked for more than a year to make sure the six-week production of “Superman” was filmed in northeast Ohio.

Attendees will also learn about the local Superman creators—Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster—and how they’re being honored in their hometown.

In 1933, the two Glenville High School students created the Man of Steel character we have come to love. Superman was the first comic book superhero. Now, the character and creators are part of a City Club’s conversation to celebrate the legacy and expand additional opportunities for filming, art, and community.

“I love the City Club,” says Zullo. “I love what it does. I love that it stands for freedom of speech, and I love that it’s invested in thinking about these ideas in Cleveland.”

Zullo’s career overlaps with his role on the board of the Siegel and Shuster Society, giving him unique insight to share with the City Club audience. He’s an assistant professor of English at Ursuline College where he is also a co-director of the Rust Belt Humanities Lab. His fellow colleagues at the lab are interested in how civically and publicly engaged the humanities—English, philosophy and history—can be leveraged to improve Cleveland’s reputation and identity.

“Conversations around ideas can spur economic development,” Zullo argues. “They can spur regional change and some of the investment is in thinking about the city as an idea. I think City Club does a great job of getting us to think about things in a different way.”

Zullo adds that culture can also impact Cleveland’s development.

As a big Superman fan, Zullo says he is excited to talk to City Club attendees about a Superman tribute to be unveiled this summer. The society is constructing a permanent 10-foot stainless steel Superman statue set 18 feet in the air.

Models of bronze statues of Jerry Siegel, Joanne Siegel, and Joe Shuster, which will be unveiled at the Siegel & Shuster Superman PlazaSuperman will appear as though he is flying through a planned Superman tribute plaza in front of Huntington Convention Center. There will also be life-size statues of Shuster, Siegel, and Joanne Siegel, who was an original model for Lois Lane. A date will be announced soon.

“We’re really excited about it,” says Zullo. “It’s going to pay homage to two of Cleveland’s greatest sons—Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster—and it’s recognizing that Cleveland is, and will continue to be, a place that exports culture to the rest of the world.”

Zulo says he is looking forward to participating in the City Club’s 2025 summer series. “Clevelanders have great stories to tell, and they will inspire others around the globe just like Superman did,” he says.

Series Schedule:

The City Club Outdoor Summer Series meets on Wednesdays in July from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Playhouse Square Plaza.

• July 9: Cleveland is the New Metropolis – A Superman Forum!
• July 16: Supporting the Arts of Cleveland – BorderLight Festival is Back!
• July 23: From Acts to Eats: The Power of Kindness and “Something Good” with Ricky Smith
• July 30: Cleveland to Coastland: Connecting our Waterfront’s Future