(upbeat music) - [David] 78th Street Studios is home to dozens of Northeast Ohio artists and art galleries.

On the next applause, we warm up inside this old Cleveland factory space now an art Mecca, plus you'll see the beauty and strength of the black hair exhibit on view in Kent and an applause performance by Mourning [A] BLKstar with the song, "If I can, if I may".

Al that and more on the next round of "Applause" ♪ Chasing pleasure ♪ ♪ Is the perfect measure ♪ (jazzy music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" an Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the coolest foundation.

The Stroud Family Trust, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

(jazzy music) - [David] Hello, welcome to Ideastream Public Media's award-winning arts and culture show "Applause".

I'm your host, David C. Barnett.

Once a month on the third Friday, an old factory building on the near West Side of Cleveland comes to life.

Thanks to the artistic tenants of 78th Street Studios.

Let's go inside and wander around.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Dan Bush and I'm the owner and developer of 78th Street Studios.

This enormous arts complex here in the heart of the near West Side of Cleveland.

The building is actually a complex of five buildings interconnected.

There was actually the Baker-Rawling car carriage factory dating back to 1905.

American Greetings actually used the building for some production as I understand back in the '40s and then took it over leased the building in 1959 and remodeled it as their first consolidated world headquarters.

- Hi, I'm Hilary Gent.

I operate Hedge Art Gallery at 78th Street Studios.

78th Street Studios is located in the Gordon Square Arts district, so that we are the near West Side of Cleveland and I've operated Hedge Art Gallery here in the building for almost 13 years.

- Hi everybody.

My name is Margaret Dale, I'm co-owner of Googie Style Gallery.

Welcome.

People walk in and often will say, "What the hell is going on."

We buy and sell what we love and have a passion for.

So it's unusual decorative arts.

We are actually in the photo developing department for American Greetings and it's a huge complex of over 70 different studios and galleries and businesses where there's something for literally everybody at every price range.

- Hi, my name is Valerie Mayen and I am the owner and founder of Yellowcake Shop Clothing Company.

So I moved here in 2019.

What attracted me most was that it was a well known gem among creatives and artists and it was difficult to get into because most artists when they're in the building, they stay here for a very long time.

- Hi, my name's Dave Crider.

I'm an artist here at 78th Street Studios particularly in the Googie Style Gallery.

I'm a furniture design artist, as well as an artist that works with a lot of mixed media.

We have been in 78th Street Studios for about, I think, four years now.

It's a great networking possibility with a lot of the different artists here in this building.

Some of the best artists at Cleveland showcases are right here in this facility.

(upbeat music) - The real game changer was the genesis of Third Friday.

About 15 years ago, we threw a big party and we decided to make it quarterly.

The first third Friday was a spring event.

I catered it bought beer and wine.

We had about 250 people here and it's grown since then.

I stopped catering it at that point.

We were seeing traffic of roughly 2000 to 3000 people through the course of a four hour event every month on third Friday.

So the pandemics taught us to to certainly be patient, be caring, good neighbors.

You know, being what I would have to characterize as a public event it was very nerve wracking to reopen.

- Third Friday is our free public open house, art walk night, the entire building is open to the public and you can cruise through almost 60 plus creative businesses anywhere from fine art galleries, like Hedge to other studios.

So actually like Maker Spaces.

We have the museum for Northeast Ohio Art, interior design, graphic design studios, you name it.

There's a lot of that going on.

The pandemic taught us a lot of things.

Honestly, we had to adapt to some new business models and ways that we invited the public in.

It gave us an opportunity too, 'cause we were closed from March to June in 2020 to step back and look at our business model and ask ourselves a couple, you know, important marketing questions and address those, address some things that needed to be taken care of.

- It's kind of what is the the term?

You are the company you keep, you know so other creative businesses, edging on other creative businesses and we have a good comradery.

There's a support system, there's, you know, some unknown rules between business owners and creatives and we just we have a lot in common in terms of the way we run our businesses and the challenges we encounter.

And it's kind of just nice to be in the same boat, so to speak.

- I was looking for warehouse space, you know something with that kind of industrial chic feel, something that I could also, kind of carve out and make my own space out of.

I initially was looking for artist studio space because I'm an artist, I'm a painter.

And so when I was searching back in 2008 that's what I was looking for.

So, and I was also looking for a building that almost had the sense of a community built into it, so that if I were to, you know be an artist working in a space or an art gallery, operate in an art gallery that I would have other people to bounce ideas off of.

- I'm just grateful to be here, grateful to still be operating smoothly through, you know the last couple of years, everything we've been through and we're still have a lot of great opportunities ahead of us in the arts community.

And we're just happy to be here.

(upbeat music) - You can visit Third Friday next Friday at 78th Street Studios on Cleveland's near West Side.

Let's warm things up with a trip to Florida to take in the inspiring art of Tampa Bay's Junior Polo, who makes music with his paintbrush.

- My name is Junior Polo.

I'm a professional artist.

I do teaching and also get the local communities involved in art activities.

And I do a lot of public art also in the Tampa Bay area.

Yeah, that painting, you see it right here.

It's about like a young lady like when I was kid and I got a crush on her those flower represent me and her.

And then that dead branch it's like people keep us away from each other, like to really like to be able to see her to say things and stuff like that.

That branch represents that.

- [Interviewer] But this is your first painting?

- Yeah.

This is my first painting.

My world changed in the time.

You know, when I was younger, like when I was a kid I loved cartoon and grow up and I love landscape.

And after that, what changed everything it's when I start working with kids and I see the way they work and then my work changed totally.

It's like the kids teach me how to be an artist.

Lately I fell in love with jazz.

And now we can see, most of my artwork is based on music.

And sometime I have friends come over like who play jazz, like they play live.

And then I listen to the music and then get some inspiration some time.

For example, this piece, it's like the same thing, it's a jazz player.

And he explained to me something and then play music, he created music and I'm trying to create a piece for him like based on his piece.

Sometime just people say something and I heard what they say.

And I said, oh, that's it, let's try something.

And I can hear just word from somebody and we can just have a conversation.

And then you say something and I pick up something and I say, that's idea.

Let me try to create something with that.

My kids, sometimes they're funny.

They say something and they say, "Daddy, what about you do this, you do that."

I said, "That's a good idea."

And I use it too.

My inspiration is from all over.

I've been working with kids since I was 16 years old.

And then since I moved here in 2010, and then I decide to create a business, working with kids.

I don't think COVID have any impact negative on me like for creating, but economically, yes, because we have our business Veropolo, where we teach people.

We have to be one-on-one with people, and stuff like that, we work with kids, but now since COVID everything go down.

It's why I try to pick up a couple of classes online and then try to do it online.

But most of the time it's more interesting, you know to be face to face with people, talk to them, you know, it's difficult.

Like economically, yes, it's changed things, but that did not affect my ability to make art, to make something amazing.

(gentle music) If I'm doing a sculpture it depends on my environment.

What I find in my environment, I use everything I find around me.

For example, if I'm here, try to make something, create something, I will use everything in that room to create a piece of art.

Usually I put everything together, sometime I don't know what will happen because it's difficult for me sometimes to do commission work because I prefer to be free.

You know, when I'm working sometimes when people ask me, "Oh I want you to do something for me.

I want you to do this, I want you to do that.

That's will probably be difficult because when I'm working, I want to be free and happy.

If you like my work, let me be free.

You know, if you have a wall, something like that, let me be free.

I did a big giant mural in Clearwater inside a building.

What I used, I just used, because it's a building they were renovating.

And then they were throwing everything out and all those, like trash things, like pipe, piece of wood and everything.

And I put them back together and I created a big giant piece with that.

And then people were so happy.

It's because of that, people in Clearwater saw that mural.

And then the Clearwater Jazz Festivals, said man, we need to keep that.

And then they choose me to be the poster artist for the Clearwater Jazz Festival in 2015.

I was born artist.

They already asked me when I was a kid.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I would say, "Okay, I wanna be an artist."

But most of the time in my country, when you say you wanna be an artist, people say, "What?

No way."

I'll always be passionate about it since I was a kid, and then now I live through art.

- [David] MOCA, Cleveland is home for contemporary art in Northeast Ohio.

On the next round of "Applause" why MOCA is making diversity its mission.

Plus we meet the newest members of the PBS kids, lineup, Jelly, Ben, and Pogo, and a music therapist whose voice brings healing to any audience.

All this and more on the next round of "Applause".

♪ I've had my dream since I was 13 ♪ ♪ I became a nurse and I know ♪ ♪ What it means to respect life ♪ - [David] Hair has played a significant role in the lives of African Americans ever since arriving in this country four centuries ago.

On view now at the Kent State University Museum is an exhibit examining the art, history, and textures of black hair.

In early African culture, a person's hair was a symbol of power and their place in society.

Kings, soldiers, expected mothers, peasants were identified by their hairstyle.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade that brought thousands of Africans to this country changed that.

(upbeat music) - Black hair has been discriminated against since the time of slavery.

One of the things that was critical in how our hair was treated is what we were taught about our hair.

Slave masters at that time would actually refer to black people's hair as wool instead of hair.

And it was a way for them to be able to rationalize why they treated black people the way in which they treated us.

So they dehumanized, you know, who we were as black people along with not only our bodies, but also our hair.

- Ooh!

- Just hold on and suck it in!

- [David] Ridiculed and demeaned for having coarse thick hair, enslaved Africans hid their hair behind wigs and head rags.

- If you had a head wrap on it was, quote, unquote automatically you were also a slave and the head wrap also served as a way for black people to have a quick solution for their hair.

Because you know, back in those times they didn't have the amount of time that we have for grooming.

You know, they didn't have the correct utensils for grooming and so the head wrap became a way for them to be able to spend a little bit of time on themselves.

- [David] Some states enacted laws requiring African Americans to wear head wraps.

- The tignon law basically said that any freed black woman still were required to wear a head wrap even if you were free.

If you left the house you had to have a head wrap on your head.

And what they were trying to do was trying to discourage the white men to be attracted to the black women.

- [David] As a way to assimilate in a world where straight Caucasian hair was valued over course, black hair African Americans began to treat their hair.

- Black people started straightening their hair during slavery.

The first type of hair straightening that they would do is they would use clothing irons, you know, like the old clothing iron that you would put on a stove to heat it up.

And so the woman would place her head down on a table and straighten her hair out with the clothing iron.

That was something that was required of many of people that worked in the house.

- [David] As the need for black hair products grew entrepreneurs like Madam CJ Walker introduced products that promoted hair growth and the straightening of black hair with the use of a hot comb, the device was heated and ran through your hair to untangle it, making Walker the first black woman million in the U.S.

In 1909 inventor Garrett Morgan created the first hair relaxer to chemically straighten black hair.

- Black people were given tools to now maintain their hair.

So no longer were they using a clothing iron.

But by this time the French had invented a straightening comb that can then be put on a stove.

And then you could use the straightening comb to straighten your hair.

So Madam CJ Walker and others, they sold these Combs.

They would sell a set, so it would be the comb along with hair pomade and cleanser and other things.

And so they began to really, you know, start giving tools to black people so that they can take care of their hair.

- [David] Some praise these products while others criticize them insisting that they further the stereotype that good meant having straight hair.

♪ When I fall in love ♪ - The idea of straightening hair was even debated back then.

So while Madam CJ Walker and others were building these amazing businesses for black economy, there were people such as like Marcus Garvey was an activist who was totally against the idea of straightening the hair.

And he was even said to have said something such as, "Take the kinks out of your mind and not out of your hair."

- [David] In the 19th sixties, the debate over black hair came to a head as African Americans confronted issues of social injustice and discrimination and a hairstyle known as the Afro appeared.

It was a symbol of black power and challenged the notion of Caucasian-like hair as a standard of beauty.

- We were straightening our hair, we were doing what we were told in order to be employable, right?

But then once the civil rights era came and the black power movement came about, black people had gotten to a point where they were just like, I'm not doing this anymore.

I'm gonna just be me.

And society looked at it as a way to, you know quote unquote rebel, but really what it was was it was black people saying, I am proud of who I am and I am no longer gonna assimilate to the standard of beauty that you said that I have to live up to.

- [David] In the 1980s and '90s, actresses and singers like Janet Jackson, Cicely Tyson, and Whoopi Goldberg popularized, black hairstyles like braided hair, cornrows, and dreadlocks.

- Back then they called them big box braids and goddess braids is what they would call them.

And that was a huge influencer from Jamaican reggae music.

There was a lot of reggae artists that were coming out, Patra was one of the ones that at was a very famous reggae singer.

And everybody wanted to have their hair like Patra's and including myself.

- [David] Wearing these African American inspired hairstyles often came at a price.

In 1981, a court ruled American airlines flight attendant, Renee Rogers was not to wear braids to work.

Years later that ruling forced Hyatt Regency employee, Cheryl Tatum to resign after she refused to remove her cornrows.

More recently, high school wrestler, Andrew Johnson was forced to cut off his dreadlocks or forfeit his wrestling match.

- Black people unfortunately are still having to fight against discrimination regarding their hair.

And that's the reason why we have things such as the Crown Act.

The Crown Act was established in 2019, came out early July of 2019.

And it was a law put in place by California.

They were the very first ones and now around the nation you'll see other states starting to adopt this same Crown Act.

They put that law in place because black people were going into schools, they were going into institutions, such as employment, executive positions in corporate spaces and were being told that they had to change their hair in order to work in these spaces.

But things are starting to change, which is amazing.

And the reason why they're starting to change is because people are saying no, no more.

(upbeat music) - [David] Today, a number of films about black hair like "My Nappy Roots", "Bad Hair" and "Nappily Ever After" have given rise to the natural hair movement causing African Americans to think about the issues surrounding how they wear their hair.

- What's happening today is of like a smash up of things.

About 40% of women, black women are wearing their hair in its natural state.

The other 60% of black women are wearing their hair straightened, or and or wearing a weave or wearing a wig.

And, you know, in many ways, we are trying to still figure ourselves out.

I think at this particular time in our history many times black people are still trying to figure out our identity.

- [David] The exhibit textures, the history and art of black hair is on view at the Kent State University Museum through August 7th.

Mourning [A] BLKtar's latest album, "The Cycle" arrived at the start of the pandemic.

Yet the Cleveland band has soldiered through gaining a claim for songs like this one.

"If I Can, If I May" (upbeat instrumental music) ♪ Chasing pleasure ♪ ♪ Is the perfect measure ♪ ♪ Of how we live ♪ ♪ Heart to sleeve, common greed ♪ ♪ If I can if I may, yes, it's a woman ♪ ♪ If I can if I may, yes, again, I'm a man ♪ ♪ That's right, I'm a grown-ass man ♪ ♪ My heart has melted ♪ ♪ It's thawed out against the odds ♪ ♪ Shoulda figured that along this life ♪ ♪ I'd stand up straight for the love we made ♪ ♪ If I can if I may, if I can, if I may ♪ ♪ Let me love you ♪ ♪ My own damn way, my own damn way ♪ ♪ My own damn way ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ If I can if I may ♪ ♪ If I can, if I may ♪ ♪ Let me love you ♪ ♪ My own damn way ♪ ♪ My own damn way, ahh ♪ ♪ My own damn way ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Ahh ♪ ♪ You've been a dangle ♪ ♪ You bat those eyes, yeah ♪ ♪ Tell me, tell me, tell me ♪ ♪ Tell me how they want mine, yeah ♪ ♪ Let me love you, baby ♪ ♪ Let me love you, baby ♪ ♪ Let me love you, baby, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Let me love you, baby ♪ ♪ Let, let, let me love you ♪ ♪ Let me love you ♪ ♪ Let, let, let me love you ♪ ♪ My own damn way ♪ ♪ My own damn way, ahh ♪ ♪ My own damn way, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Let, let, let me love you, let me love you ♪ ♪ Let, let, let me love you, my own damn way ♪ ♪ My own damn way, ahh ♪ ♪ My own damn way ♪ ♪ Ahh, yeah ♪ ♪ Ahh, yeah ♪ - [David] Another round of applause is in the books.

Thanks for turning the pages with us this week.

Meet me back here next time for more tales of arts and culture from your friends here at Ideastream public media, I'm David C. Barnett (jazz upbeat music) (dramatic music) (jazzy music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" an Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the coolest foundation.

The Stroud Family Trust, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.