Fresh Water Cleveland has a nice little piece on a group dedicated to livening up the dead storefronts in downtown Cleveland with art.
That may be how this movie begins, but Robert Carillio and Joan Smith aim to change how it ends. They are the dynamic duo behind Cleveland Storefront Art, a small but mighty collaborative that has already begun rewriting the script. By filling the windows of vacant downtown storefronts with works of visual art, the pair is crafting a brighter landscape.
[snip]
“It’s one of those things that bother you,” says Smith of downtown’s vacant storefronts. “Kind of like plastic bags in trees.” While she admits that getting those irritating blue slips of plastic from branches isn’t always possible, filling windows with visual interest is.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2011.
You can add cherries and whip cream to a bowl of crap to make it look good. It will still taste like a bowl of crap. Hiding it does not fix it!
Why people got to be so negative all of the time?! That type of attitude and mentality is what keeps Cleveland the way it is. I’m glad some people have enough sense to actually want to take pride of where they live and make it look nice and try to take the city into a different direction of where it has been as of lately.
With all the close storefronts downtown, they can complete entire comic book story. As for negative attitude, point the finger to the Cleveland City Counsel that always makes it near impossible to move forward and only looks to padding it’s own agenda. Good example the MedicalMart. We have no need for it. Make the lakeshore front a priority and make it a place where people want to be, not a eyesore of a place the no one wants to be near. Cleveland City Counsel need to wake up.
I agree with d3bs, the negativity needs to end before a positive future can begin. mas71 keep blaming whoever you want as long as you never have to look in the mirror, right?
Funny how there is always someone frothing at the mouth to take an otherwise positive story and turn it into a negative on these forums.
The first post is a testament to this and says this program does not change anything. First, I ask, what are YOU doing to create a more positive marketing impact downtown? Are you one of the Debbie Downing many in this area who are its worst enemy and offer nothing? It is one thing to constructive criticize, another to “de-structive” criticize.
The former implies a building, or construction of improvement and offers viable ideas to make a given situation better. The latter suggests to “tear down” or “de-construct” and offers NOTHING to make a given situation better. For to long our area has been full of whiny turds-in-the-punchbowl.
Secondly, I want to say that the intent of the program is to make vacant historic downtown storefronts more marketable and inspiring to a potential tenant. It offers local artists a chance to feature their products in such a showcase and thus generate support for local and small independent merchant economies.
Another advantage is that it is better than having a dirty “for rent” sign in the window which simply looks bad and does nothing to promote better up-keep of older storefronts. There is also a safety component in that the displays help to lure pedestrian foot traffic away from their isolated districts. This is done in other cities and it is great that it has taken seed here. If you want to sell a house or car, you stand a chance of selling quicker and perhaps for more, when it is polished up as best it can be.
So, I really beg to differ with the first post because it is pathetically wrong….It DOES make a difference because perception plays a key role in marketing your city!