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How did this vacant parking lot become a space for public art?

The heart of rock n roll is still beating in Cleveland.

Even when under construction and chamber fest, Cleveland crushes a highly caffeinated concerto.

Welcome to applause.

Im Ideastreams Kabir Bhatia.

Some see abandoned parking lots as eyesores, but others see an opportunity.

Let's meet a group of artists bringing new life to an empty lot in Cleveland's Asia town.

This story is part of our ongoing series showing you how art comes together behind the scenes art across Ohio.

good Oh my goodness.

We are here because there's a lot of opportunities in this space.

Currently, it's being used as kind of a community gathering spot and as the recipient of the Transform Arts Fund, me and my team are excited to be working on a series of public art installations that Jordan Wong and the Sculpture Center, as well as a number of other community partners and artists, have been working on this site in Asia town to transform it literally from an empty parking lot to a space for cultural gathering, for meeting, for play and just for the neighborhood to be activated with people in it.

I have had the privilege to do several, you know, public art projects here in Asia town and to be able to share some of the things that I grew up, you know, seeing as a kid that resonated with me and also are part of my exploration.

You know, as far as cultural identity and belonging, to share that with the families and the residents, especially the kids in Asia town.

It's an honor.

It's a privilege.

So today is April 23rd, and we're aiming to finish the project before the end of September and have it connect with the Mid-Autumn Festival later this fall.

The project is called for those who call here Home Transforming Asia Town with an outdoor community space.

You want to think about it?

Based on previous conversations, we learned a sentiment from the community, specifically this one parents, that if you build only things for adults, it really leaves out the children.

However, if you focus on creating things for children, for kids, it actually brings the family together and therefore, you know, unites the community.

Our project is focusing on five public art and installations.

One of them is an entrance gate, which the community has voiced a desire for a landmark signifying a town a large scale lightbox.

It starts here in Asia town at night.

And you know, we want to create more safety and well-lit areas.

We're also focusing on elements of play in regards to these unique seating installations for seating, as well as ping pong tables and our planter series that we've invited three emerging Asian artists to create artwork for.

So our three selected artists are tall and.

Lydia Guan.

And Nikolay.

These three artists, they have their own distinct visual language and interests as far as like conceptual exploration.

But the three of them use color quite brilliantly and have strong, just abilities in drawing and and painting and image making.

I'm really interested in better representing the Japanese-American community, just because we're not being fully represented in our galleries and institutions.

So my initial idea was to paint a tiger.

Tigers aren't native to Japan anymore, but they still hold significance in Japanese art.

I relate to things through objects, and that's why I often do still lifes or have my figures holding something Japanese related.

I love the culture and Asia tone in the history, and I think it's important that we give back to our community within Cleveland, and especially on the East side.

We really wanted to revamp the space and to make it more welcoming and friendly to our local community.

You can see that it's a little rundown at the moment.

Art can change a lot and make people more excited about visiting Asian town.

Growing up and having immigrant parents, I think has really taught me to work hard and just be very passionate about what you do.

And in this piece that I'm making, it's actually about first generation Asian Americans and that familiarity of when you visit your hometown overseas.

I also want the birds to represent people in different backgrounds and environments that we grew up in, and that we're all connected as one.

For me, birds are huge symbol of just freedom and growth and the impact of just wildlife is a huge memory for me.

It's always been a dream to do something related to Asia Town, and I saw this opportunity come up and I just thought I would apply and just see what happens.

She's the master behind all the cooking.

She's the inspiration.

Growing up, I did a lot of cooking with my mom.

That's just something I like to do.

And I like to look at.

So I like to put that into my art.

When I see the food that my mom makes, which is mostly all Cantonese dishes that she grew up with, and she learned through my grandma aunties, it kind of passes down through me, and when I see that food, it just really makes me feel at home.

So I like to feel that in my artwork.

I'm very familiar with Asia talent.

Every weekend we would come and that's how I spent most of my childhood.

I love being in a group and collaborating with other Asian artists.

Growing up, I didn't have very many Asian friends around me and working with very skilled, very talented artists.

I'm very grateful.

It's late June and it's going well and we are very, very busy.

Drawing a lot of drawing.

You know, there is a big day celebrating all five public artworks.

Here is a town completed by me and my team for the transfer of arts fun.

It's also Mid-Autumn Festival here in the town.

So it's a lot of festivities and celebration for that.

It's a bit overwhelming to see everything come together and see the community really take a part of it, and we are really excited for this moment.

It's really great to see it all come together.

I think seeing it from the sketches and finally doing it in real time, like it all coming to life like, I mean, I feel very happy just seeing it all filled up with people instead of it just being empty.

The town did a really nice job.

I'm really happy with Gordon's lead and making this all come to life and then working with talent.

They did a fantastic job on their pots.

Artwork came out amazing.

We're just so happy that it all came together.

It has been a year and a half of planning and people are using the space exactly as we have intended.

This is like what the neighborhood has needed for a long time.

It's been incredible.

It's been an honor.

My hope is that this space will become a permanent park, and that this asphalt will be replaced by more nature, scape and green space.

For those who call here, home is part of Cleveland's transformative arts fund.

We'll tell you more about it later in the show.

In the meantime, you can check it out in person at East 33rd and Payne Avenue in Cleveland.

Have you seen the construction taking over Cleveland's lakefront?

That's right.

Another cultural institution has the expansion bug.

This time, it's the rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Idea stream Steve Late takes a tour to find out how to build onto a classic.

Me.

This is a really big project for the Rock Hall.

A major expansion has never been done before, and it's so difficult because we're talking about an iconic building designed by I.M.

Pei.

Well, the original building is phenomenal.

And, you know, we're thrilled to call it our home.

And remember, when the museum opened 30 years ago?

It was a pretty revolutionary concept to have a museum to rock and roll.

They weren't teaching rock and roll in college campuses like they are now.

It just wasn't the same.

And there was a conscious decision to create a world class museum building.

And I am Pei was that architect.

But as we evolved, it was time to create something that was a little bit more immersive and impactful to go beyond the artifact, to bring in more bold graphics.

I Am Pei is known globally for the elegant geometry of his buildings, this architecture.

The addition will play with that concept in a respectful way.

But there are trade offs because some of the classic views of the Rock Hall as as people knew it when it was new, will be changed.

And when we launched, a lot of our transformation work, the staff proposed expanding and we made a conscious decision that we were in this pyramid.

We weren't using it efficiently, and we said, let's use every inch of this pyramid efficiently.

And we've done that.

And now it's time to expand.

We've now lived in it.

We know the building, we know what we need, and we've incorporated that in the design work.

We're adding 50,000ft.

Is the new build.

So far, we've raised $169 million toward the project.

We deployed initial dollars to redoing some things in the pyramid that needed done.

New theater, immersive garage to play instruments, new cafe, new kitchen and food service, store redesign, new back end technology to drive all of our growth.

All that was an initial investment as part of those funds.

Then this expansion building will be a chunk of those funds, and we're keeping enough to redo the main exhibit hall when we're done with the expansion project.

And that will be a very exciting piece of it.

This incredible architectural firm practice for architecture and urbanism.

And they are the ones that came up with this great design for this building.

And we're doing some fun things that are multiple steps.

So in the Pei building, we've had our offices for the last 30 years underground and at this lakefront setting with zero visibility outside.

We're moving the offices to the new expansion.

People will see daylight.

They'll see sunrises and sunsets.

And the old office space is going to become a 6000 square foot.

Featured exhibitions.

Gallery.

The design that we settled on pays homage to pay, but it has its own identity, and it's bold.

I believe they complement each other.

When you look at the renderings and what's coming together, it's bold geometric shapes.

The pyramid is a pyramid with a rectangular tower with a round theater jutting out behind me.

The new building has this oblique space around granite drum, a triangular roof.

It feels like a whole bunch of geometric shapes that harmonize with each other.

And it's to us, it's dynamic and exciting in a very complimentary expansion.

I think ultimately, the addition is going to provide a far better visitor experience.

A lobby will reach out to the street at every side Avenue, meaning the visitors no longer have to walk across the front plaza here, which can be a little unpleasant in the winter.

Once inside, from the top of a grand staircase in free, open public space, you'll be able to look down to the Cleveland lakefront, which is something the Rock Hall really has obscured since it was originally built in 1995, because the building kind of turns its back to the lake.

We will open the expansion building at the end of next summer, and then we're going to redo the main exhibit hall and open that up the end of the following summer.

We're sitting here in October of 2025, and in October of 2026, the new expansion building will be completed.

And then in fall of 2027, the main exhibit hall redesign will be done as well.

And.

I Hey, everyone.

I just want to take a second.

Give a shout out to my life partner here.

My phone.

You might use your phone to take photos of cats.

I use mine to watch the PBS app.

You can get the app.

Scroll down and find all the great free movies programing, including multiple seasons of applause and our cousin show applause performances.

So check it out if you have any trouble with the app, give us an email at Arts at Idea Stream.

dot org.

Our trip to Cleveland's Asia town earlier in the show is just one of the ways the city is investing in art.

The Transformative Arts Fund is bringing art to many places.

Let's revisit another installation.

This one took over City Hall.

It's pretty cool.

You know, City Hall has such, like, beautiful architecture.

The walls are beautiful.

Like, this is a space where when you're in it, it feels like a museum itself.

So to have it turned into one like an almost overnight is really cool.

Mayor Bibb, as one of his objectives for me, was to create a space where individuals could come to the city of Cleveland and not only do what is necessary, but meet other people, engage with this amazing neoclassical building, and incorporate the arts.

So we chose six, you know, local black artists to really showcase and turn City Hall into a museum, which is really fun.

It's been just a really wonderful discovery.

Many artists here and others that just love coming to public space.

Free space.

Space that is theirs.

And enjoying art and seeing the different types of work that exist in our community.

So the Transformative Arts Fund is an Arpa funded project that allocated $3 million for public art projects for Cleveland artists, and it netted seven amazing art projects all over the city of Cleveland.

And they're in full swing.

And it's really exciting.

The awardee for this project is Kumar Aurora.

His project title is For Art's Sake, which is a collective of artists that are really focused on supporting and building the creator economy.

That got us to get out of our box and think, how can we actually change our city through the arts?

You know, what can we be doing to empower creatives around us?

And then most importantly, how do we leave like a longer impact and leave something behind?

So that's why it's called for art's sake.

We wanted to make sure that it is for the artists.

It is for art's sake.

This activation is Artists Run the Streets, which is a collaborative project between six amazing Cleveland artists.

When I think about artist from the Streets, it goes beyond just a slogan.

It really defines what has happening in Cleveland, from the rappers and the musicians to the poets to our artists.

Right.

And the idea is that they are here in our streets and they are here in those communities, and we need to promote and highlight them.

For me, artist runs the streets speaks for itself like a lot of what makes things cool, what makes things relevant is from the point of view of the creative.

Like.

I think we set a lot of the tone for a lot of things, and we also make the city as beautiful as we can.

So Labor and Legacy is the national theme aligned with the national theme of Black History Month, which is African in Labor.

And so that theme is really focused on thinking about the contributions that African-Americans have made to the labor force of the United States over the last 200 years.

I come from a blue collar family.

People in my family work some type of hands on occupation or some type of trade.

So I really wanted to focus on blue collar workers and the fact that blue collar workers make the city run, and a lot of them are breaking their backs and their hands.

And I remember my dad used to come home because he worked there for it.

He used to come home with broken fingers, just like working, you know, working on car parts, you know, is a lot that goes into making sure this country runs properly.

And I just wanted to acknowledge that the blue collar workers.

The series is the Cleveland Blues.

Each piece is named by occupation.

The construction worker, bus driver, farmer, a painter, the late night cook.

I have people that I documented and capture from school principals to local what I would consider blue collar workers, small business owners within the community.

So it's a wide variety of people, but I feel that all of these people's labor tie into building the legacy of the city fireman.

He he's my brother.

He's been a fireman for approaching maybe 25 years now.

They are tremendous, you know, heroes that do not wear capes.

The artists are being paid for their participation.

This is my first photo gallery that I'm a part of.

And to be compensated and stuff for that is amazing.

It's always nice to be a part of something where they consider how to compensate the artists.

As artists, we always want to showcase our work.

We always want the opportunity to network, but it's nice to acknowledge the fact that we put a lot of work and effort into what we produce.

It is a rarity, unfortunately.

I'm immensely grateful for it because, again, it's not something that you see all of the time, and I like that the pictures are going to be here for till the end of May.

I can invite people to come by, check them out themselves.

I got to bring my parents.

This is the first time they see any of my work printed, so that's amazing for me to have them here today.

We really wanted to make sure that there are ways we could make our artists more marketable, and also give them the tools needed to really grow their business.

And that's part of For art's sake is really just making sure that we can give them the runway to, to grow and become bigger.

The exposure is great because you get to see fans of photography and fans of the people that are in these images and also a part of this event.

So, you know, you got painters, creatives and stuff like that.

So we're all getting out from different people that we don't normally meet.

So that was a great thing because that gives us feedback and also a new audience to reach out to.

This is really amazing to see the work that was put into this by all of the parties.

And I think it looks amazing.

And just for the city, this is just great.

I really want Clevelanders to understand that there is a deep bench of artists across all spectrums, and coming in this space and seeing folks that you may not see in a museum that may not have yet made it to the gallery, but their work is as good and so having that opportunity to see that is really kind of just creating a total picture of what we have here in the city of Cleveland.

It's a quest for black excellence.

On the next applause.

A Cleveland artist brings his journey of self-discovery to the stage.

girls All of this just started pouring out everything that I wanted to say for years.

I didn't even know that all I needed was the permission.

But you don't need permission to get in a groove with the Labrada brothers.

All that and more on the next round of applause.

How do you want?

I feel if you didn't enough to.

Would you still waste another year before you set your life on fire?

Get up.

Let me know.

Go for me.

thanks for watching this round of applause, my friends.

I midia stream public media is Kabir Bhatia as we say goodbye.

Here's a coffee house concerto from the 18th century by JS Bach.

If you enjoy a good cup of coffee, you should love this caffeinated concerto from Chamber Fest Cleveland.

Production of applause and ideastream.

Public media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.