by David C. Barnett
The Cleveland Orchestra will step outside the confines of Severance Hall and spend several weeks doing outreach activities in the city's Hough community, this summer. The Orchestra will partner with the Cleveland Museum of Art for its "At Home Residency" in Hough, which sits within a few blocks of both institutions. A variety of music and visual art activities are scheduled to take place from June up through a free community concert in August.
The Orchestra's new Executive Director Andre Gremillet points to the neighborhood residencies as an important way to create new connections between the musicians and people across the region.
"It's all about how do you make more of an impact," says Gremillet. "How do you make a difference as an orchestra in the community where you are?"
Hough resident Mansfield Frazier is happy to see them come. He built a working vineyard on an abandoned city lot, and his "Chateau Hough" is one of the numerous sites hosting Orchestra ensembles this summer.
"We're their neighbors," he says, "and I think it's great that they start getting out of their cocoon and reaching out to the community."
The Slavic Village and Detroit-Shoreway communities have also hosted these musical visits, as has the city of Lakewood.
