- [Narrator] Production of "Applause," an Ideastream Public Media, is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Kabir] Coming up, poetry by Cleveland area students inspires artists to create new works.

Meanwhile, the art and poetry of two Cleveland legends inspires a new exhibit curated by students.

And a group of Northeast Ohio musicians share their passion for the folk songs of Italy.

It's that time again, my friends, welcome to another round of "Applause."

I'm Ideastream Public Media's, Kabir Bhatia.

The sport of soccer and the art of poetry collide in America Scores Cleveland, a program teaching leadership and building character with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

In a collaboration called Inspired Art, local artists are creating work in response to students' poems.

- [Coach] Go bring that ball back.

- [Angela] The title of my poem is "We Are Sisters."

(gentle piano music) We are sisters, never break apart.

You're not just my friend, but you're my sister in my heart.

- I feel that this allows the kids to talk about things maybe that they wouldn't normally talk about, they can write about it.

It teaches them about metaphor and imagery and it provides this way for them to find avenues to express things safely, and realize that not only can that be okay but it can actually be celebrated.

And they are connected and other people do care and they are, you know, they are being heard.

- We stand up for each other.

Here's the thing with poetry, you have to express yourself with words.

And although you do that already, it's in a much deeper level, like you have to go and you have to really think about what you're saying.

You have to find that love inside you, to for writing and reading and creating.

(children shouting) (gentle music) - America Scores Cleveland started in 2004, and it started out in four schools, serving about 120 kids, and then grew into what we are today.

Which is 16 schools serving about 750 kids in the afterschool space and about 2000 kids each year through all of our other programming that we do.

So Inspired Art is a collaboration between our poet athletes and local artists here in Cleveland.

The local artists pick poems that the poet athletes have written throughout the year and then they bring that poem to life.

So being able to write an entire poem and then being able to have it come in form of artwork is a great way for our kids to see how impactful their words can be, and how someone else might interpret their own words.

- "We are sisters, we laugh, we cry together.

No matter how we look, we're always by each other.

Like a knot, we are always tethered.

We are sisters, we stand up for each other.

Our love is like a chain, it always sticks together.

We are sisters forever and ever."

(soothing music) - I chose the poem "We Are Sisters," and I chose that one because I felt a connection with it.

I think it's really well written and it is sincere and she really wrote some beautiful words about "We Are Sisters."

And it brought to mind my sister, so this is my sister.

I also have a little sister and we're very close, I have two daughters who they're very close.

But I also felt that it kind of portrayed a sisterhood of friends or teammates.

So I wanted to do something that kind of conveyed that feeling, that sisterhood could be among any group of women.

- It really called to me because I kind of grew up in that area, in the inner city area of Cleveland, and I always wanted to be a part of something that helped inner city kids with art in some kinda way.

Well, I don't have any sisters, but I do have close friends, and one of my close friends is kinda like my sister.

So I feel that connection, that bond, and I think that's what was calling in that poem, was that connection, that bond.

And that made me really think about if I had a sister.

- Since I go to an all girl school, we are always told that like you may not be sisters by blood and you may not be related, but you're still sisters.

You go to the same school, you're in the same class, you're friends.

- So this piece I'm calling it, "I Got You."

So it's like she's saying, I got you, I can take care of you, I'll help you.

Well, I do, I think, I think it's really important for kids to have an opportunity to really express themselves.

And I think if you ever go through and read the poems, you see that they really work on and tackle what's going on in their life, and express what's really going on in their life.

- I'm a professor at Ursuline College, in the graduate art therapy and counseling program, and we take our graduate students on service learning trips.

So by the end of the trip, as I'm sure you can imagine there is a quite a close bond between these, between the graduate students.

And I happen to snap a picture of a group of them and it just really spoke to me this picture, and I thought, well that's, that's sisterhood right there.

(upbeat uplifting music) - But they have a whole library of poems to pick from and they pick this one child's poem.

And I think that's really important for that child or that teen to recognize like your words spoke to someone.

And so it is important to keep writing and it's important to keep sharing your words, because you never know the impact they can have.

(group chattering) - If I had never joined soccer, I think I would be writing poetry only for assignments.

But now I think about poetry all day, every day, seriously 'cause just thinking about it helps me express myself more through creativity, and I feel like I am a sense of inspiration.

My purpose is more than to just like read poems and write them, and create them and play soccer.

I feel like my purpose is to inspire people and to help them be more creative themselves, not just me, but other people.

- Everything we do, soccer, creative writing, service learning is all about them learning about who they are, who their community is, being a team, being part of their school and wanting to do better in the community for themselves.

So I think that really brings Cleveland to life and just allows them to see there's a lot of good happening in the city, but also, you know, our city still has a lot of work.

And so it's this providing a positive outlet for them, while also giving them these tools and skills to advocate for themselves.

- It's that team spirit, it's that comradery, it's learning that accountability to showing up for practice because somebody else is reliant on you.

How you communicate with them, how you look after yourself, how that dedication comes out, and just learning that you have to put the effort in to get what you want out of something.

I see that in the kids a lot and they do make that transference to other things in their life where they realize, if I don't practice, if I don't know what I'm not good at, I'm not gonna get better at something.

And I think that's a really valuable life lesson for them.

So they're great.

Yeah, but they're phenomenal, I mean, these kids are amazing, you know, I learn from them all the time.

- [Coach] One, two, three.

- [All] Four.

(group chattering) - [Kabir] Some other students from Northeast Ohio are learning the ropes of art curation.

They're telling a forgotten story about two legends of Cleveland with art and letters.

Learn about the partnership of artist Elmer W. Brown and writer Langston Hughes, as we turn the pages of the children's book that never was, "The Sweet And Sour Animal Book."

- [Sabine] Langston Hughes, a noted poet, author and activist was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

(soft piano music) - Elmer Brown was a well-known African-American artist and illustrator.

He worked at the Karamu House, he was educated there also at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

He didn't graduate from the Cleveland Institute of Art but he made some important murals here and Cleveland.

And also, he was the first African-American to work at American Greetings.

It was at Karamu House that he came into contact with Langston Hughes.

- Between 1936 and 1939, sometimes called the Cleveland years, Langston Hughes had a close connection with Karamu House, and even premiered three of his plays here.

During that time, he got to know the people, the black artists who were active at the Karamu House, including visual artist Elmer W. Brown.

Brown and Hughes developed a friendship.

It was around then in about 1936, that Hughes and Brown got together to create a children's picture book.

Hughes wrote 21 poems and Brown created illustrations.

"The Sweet And Sour Animal Book" contains 21 poems, and for each of the poems except one, there were two illustrations that were done by Brown.

They are lovely, whimsical verses about various animals for children, that literally have the sweet and the sour in them.

"A lion in the plane roaming free as happy as ever, a lion can be.

A lion in a zoo, shut up in a cage, lives a life of smothered rage."

Scholar Michelle H. Martin, who wrote the book "Brown Gold," the definitive book of African-American children's picture books, really feels that this is an illusion specifically to the plight of African-Americans.

I think one of the reasons that Hughes still resonates today so much is because in spite of such adversity, there is that optimistic thread and expressed in such a poignant but very direct way.

- Langston Hughes tried very, very, very hard to get the book published for many decades.

- It seems like publishers liked it, but objected to things like the expense, and perhaps racism was a factor in it not being initially produced.

And the fact that nobody knew about them and that this wasn't our story to sit on that we really needed to get the story out there, it kind of lit a fire that I just knew I needed to get the story out there, so that people could know that this amazing Cleveland artist worked with this internationally known author.

For me, it's a great footnote in the history of Cleveland art as well as children's literature.

(slow music) - When I first heard about it, it was like I felt like I had been let in on the secret.

- Currently Under Curation is a program that it's run by the Cleveland Museum of Art, and it's through the Cleveland Foundation's Arts mastery initiative.

And it is meant to give teens real world experiences of doing exhibitions, community-based exhibitions, but really upping the bar having the really high quality exhibitions.

But it really is about this real world experience.

(gentle guitar music) - Oh, it's so cool, like this is the first time I'm seeing the pictures up on the walls.

- So what this exhibition is doing for the first time is looking back to that, approximately 1936 manuscript, and using those drawings, bringing Hughes verses and Browns illustrations back together on the walls in the gallery.

- It's like you're walking into the book, like you're holding a part of history that not only a part of history that everyone knows about, one that no one knows about.

Part of what I appreciate about his art is that in the pictures it's, you can tell it's like drawn for children, it's these very animated cartoonish pictures.

But then if you look at pictures like his World War II picture, his painting, it's a completely different style.

- He was involved in a style of art making that was oriented to representing people in ways that would be accessible to the general population.

- This has a really important place in the history of children's literature, as one of the very first, if not the first children's picture books both illustrated and written by African-American artists, that doesn't depict them in a racist or stereotypical way.

- The fact that Langston Hughes wanted to create a book for children that did not have the kinds of racist stereotypes that so much children's literature throughout the 20th century had.

And so, to have this kind of material and connect that to the backstory was really, really very important.

It deals with educating children from the standpoint of humanity.

The kinds of things that children need to learn are the kinds of skills that they will engage as they grow up as adults.

Learning about how it is that life isn't necessarily fair, sometimes you have disappointments, sometimes you have triumphs.

The fact that you have to be self-reliant and learning about that is something children's books do.

And so "Sweet And Sour" is really important in providing those kinds of lessons.

- I think it is delightful to behold.

It is such a thrill to get the story out there, it's been many years in the making and hopeful that it finds a bigger platform.

(gentle music) - [Kabir] You can visit the exhibit and a special reading room the kids have created at the 78th Street Studios on Cleveland's near West Side, through July 24th.

(upbeat music) A summit county car collector spotlights Japan's auto industry with the book, "A Quiet Greatness."

On the next "Applause," ride along with Myron Vernis as he highlights some of Japan's most astonishing automobiles.

Plus meet an artist from Nepal who's bringing her traditional techniques to Columbus.

And hear the vulnerable vocals of singer songwriter Emily Keener.

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

♪ But do you love me lately ♪ Let's turn our attention to music and meet a group of volunteer singers from the Gem City, who raised their voice and tribute to the great Johann Sebastian Bach.

It's the Bach Society of Dayton.

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Marc] And I think a lot of people will tell you, Bach's not my thing, or classical music isn't really my thing.

- Okay, here we go, begin.

- We wanna challenge those assumptions.

(choir singing) This is music that was written for kings, for royalty.

Come and listen to some of the greatest music ever written and maybe what you find is something that really you needed, that you didn't know you were missing.

The Bach Society is kind of a unique organization.

It is made up of entirely volunteer singers but we pride ourselves on singing at a professional level.

We come from literally from all walks of life.

And I like to think that we're filling a niche in the Dayton area that isn't already filled, in terms of classical music.

- The Bach Society of Dayton is really all about choral excellence and bringing that to the local community.

And I also think it's about being able to create collaborations with other groups within the community.

- The mission of the Bach Society of Dayton is to perform and promote the appreciation of choral music, both sacred and secular, and to nurture the next generation of choral singers.

- I think no matter what age you are, we all love music.

The main criteria for anybody is just, if you wanna sing.

I didn't ever feel any sort of pressure or any sort of constraint because I was younger.

It was just, I wanted to sing just like the person next to me who might've been older than me or not.

All sorts of people are members of the choir.

♪ Each time ♪ - It is not only Bach, we perform a lot of Bach but we also perform music of Mozart and Haydn and Handel, folk songs, spirituals, some acapella.

We also want to provide variety in our concerts and so we do collaborations.

We bring in dancers, we bring in choirs of young singers, brass groups.

(upbeat classical music) - Other cities and countries do have their own Bach Societies, and they're all just a little bit different but we're all, again, a little bit alike.

We all kind of have a common thread about choral excellence and this beautiful music and keeping it alive through the generations.

- Johann Sebastian Bach is probably the greatest composer.

Now, I'm gonna get a lot of pushback on that but his music is timeless.

- His music is so compelling and he was so inventive.

Sure you can say, okay, Mozart was the next generation and he looked to Bach as an inspiration.

But every musician since then has drawn on Bach's techniques, his instrumentation, his use of harmonies and counterpoint.

Those are all found in Western music ever since.

You'll find those influences through jazz, hip hop, heavy metal music.

If you talk to real musicians in those genres, a lot of them have actually been inspired by Bach's works because they're so methodical and reliable, and so very vital.

♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ (audience clapping) Four times a year, we'll have concerts at the Kettering Adventist Church.

Not everybody can make it to a concert, so we try to do a little bit of outreach.

- [Announcer] (indistinct) anthem is being performed by the Bach Society of Dayton.

♪ O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, what's ♪ - One of the projects that we've started a couple years ago is called Sing Dayton.

We'll go to a small venue.

The idea is to bring people from the community to come and enjoy socializing and singing.

There's zero requirement that you know how to sing, that you know how to read music.

♪ What would I do without your smart mouth ♪ And we're not doing lofty music.

We'll do pop songs and we'll sing for a little bit and then we'll take a break, and have a beer together.

I think it's really special and I think it really taps into a need.

And not everybody can be a Beyonce and not everybody can sing the high notes with Aerosmith, but certainly not everybody's accustomed to singing Bach either.

We just want people singing a joyful, soulful activity.

♪ All right, my heads under water but I'm breathing fine ♪ - I was in Bach Society during my gap year.

I loved getting to experience all sorts of new music.

I don't think "St. Matthew's Passion" was necessarily on my Spotify playlist, but singing it made me love it all the more.

♪ All of you, love your curves and all your edges ♪ (choirs singing) - I love music that I've never sung before and struggling with it and learning it, and rehearsing it, and then all of a sudden this amazing thing happens.

I don't know how it happens in your brain but then your brain just figures it out.

Especially stuff where we're singing in a different language and it's really challenging with pitch, and really challenging with rhythm.

And then it all of a sudden it just comes together into this beautiful masterpiece.

And when that happens, that moment, that is, that's the thing I love the best.

(choir singing) It is amazing, it's thrilling, it's satisfying.

I don't know that you can really get that anywhere else.

You know, coming together as a group, all of us from different walks of life, different occupations, and we work really hard and then there we are.

And then you create this beautiful thing and the audience is just, you can tell we're moving them.

It's, there's just nothing like it.

It's just indescribably wonderful.

And you may not know Latin, you may not know German, you may not know the piece, but I said, you are just really gonna be blown away by this.

- [John] Just give us a try.

Just come, come one time and you'll be hooked.

You'll wanna come back.

- [Kabir] Okay, gang, it's about time to pack things up and say goodbye.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's, Kabir Bhatia inviting you to join us for the next round of "Applause."

We leave you with the Italian folk music of Northeast Ohio musicians Alla Boara, who put a contemporary spin on the bygone folk songs of Italy.

Thanks for joining us, enjoy.

(singing in foreign language) (upbeat folk music) (singing in foreign music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Production of "Applause," an Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.