The directors of arts organizations meeting with Cleveland Foundation arts program officer Kathleen Cerveny should remember to congratulate her on her victory in the recent Haiku Death Match, presented last week by Heights Arts as part of its Joy of Text festival. Cerveny came out on top against six other competitors. In the final round, it was her against Geoff Landis, who had been wearing a kimono but stripped to his T-shirt as the competition intensified. Cerveny notes that, while the rules were somewhat lax regarding the definition of haiku, all of hers actually did contain 17 syllables, a seasonal reference and a cutting word. No one will ever know to what degree her first-round "bye" contributed to her victory. As MC Marcus Bales noted, Landis did not get a "bye," and may have "run out of material."
Cuyahoga Arts and Culture will host a workshop on how organizations that offer performances, exhibits and other arts experiences can get some assistance through the organization's Project Support program. "Making the Case: The Building Blocks of a Good Project Support Application" takes place 2-4 p.m. Monday, November 10, at MOCA Cleveland (8501 Carnegie Ave.). The workshop is designed for representatives of organizations that are eligible for a 2009 Project Support Grant from CAC. It's free, but registration is required. Go to cacgrants.org or call 216.535.8303.
If you're frustrated by the fact that salsa and merengue are the only kinds of Latin music you can find these days on the radio, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has just the performance for you. The big band's first concert of the season will include diverse Afro-Cuban styles - like son montuno, benbe, bolero and samba - and take a look at how Latin-American and Brazilian music influenced American jazzmen such as Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz. The program stars Ricardo Flores as soloist on percussion. A native of Cleveland, Flores has played with many of Ohio's university jazz groups, and these days he's professor of percussion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The performance is at 8 p.m. Saturday at Beck Center for the Arts (17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood). Tickets: $30 at the door. Call 216.521.2540. - Michael Gill
