You already know the importance of buying local and that Cleveland has some of the best shops in the land.  With so many lists of them, it would be silly to add our own, so here is a list of those lists that showcase the “buy local arts” scene (plus a few shout-outs). Share these with your friends, and do this holiday season the Cleveland way - with an arts twist.

Watching a kindergartner learn the alphabet by “dancing” her name with body movements. Hearing a fourth-grader thoughtfully and confidently explain what the vibrant colors in his painting represent. Observing the teamwork on display in a middle-school string ensemble.

When my wife and I lost our first child due to preeclampsia, I took what solace I could in writing. My journals of that time express the sorrow, anxiety and anger which came from discovering how incapable we are as a society to talk about child loss, especially men. These writings soon after became the source material for my solo performance ³I Hate This (a play without the baby)². Because I am a theater artist, creating this  work was simply the most obvious way for me to communicate my grief, by  telling our story on a stage, as a play, to be produced for a theater audience.

In my earlier guest blog for CPAC's Creative Minds in Medicine, I share Jory Aebly's story, who was a victim of violent crime, and a patient at MetroHealth.  

I have personally been able to see the results of the benefits of neurological music techniques, properly applied in rehabilitation with people who suffered brain injuries, strokes and spinal cord injuries. It has truly been a rewarding experience to watch patients here at MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute of Ohio, recover and live a full and productive life once again.

Studying anatomy was never something that I took seriously or practiced much in art school, which is strange, considering my new fascination is with detailed and gorgeous medical illustrations of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. They reveal what fragile beings we truly are, and yet the macabre and gruesome nature of the subject is surrounded by baroque columns and fussy drapery worthy of an aristocratic country house. Although they might be gorgeous, these illustrations were meant only for an elite set of physicians, not the patient. Today, technology has made it easier for patients to have a doctor show them what is happening, not just tell them. This is especially helpful for someone like myself, who thinks in pictures, not words.

A few years back, I made a presentation to a group of about 60 students from a professional practices class at one of our area universities. I had been asked to talk about CPAC and the resources available to individual artists in our community. It was an after-hours presentation, and as I know the topic so well, I didn’t invest a lot of time preparing for it. As the saying goes, you get out what you put in, and not surprisingly the presentation was a total bomb. There were students sleeping in the room and the overall engagement with me as a presenter was abysmal. I left feeling resentful…I had after all spent my personal time to make this presentation, the least they could have done was pay attention.

With all of the discussion surrounding the intersection of the arts and health I have to admit that I feel like for the last 20 years I have been living in the corner house where those streets come together.  From where I sit, our arts community is at the top when it comes to quality, effective, and innovative programming that affect the health and wellness of our residents.

My own social activism skills, honed at the age of 12, at St. Rose School had innocent beginnings. On May 4, 1970 hearing the news of the shootings at Kent State University I organized an impromptu peaceful “sit-in” on the playground during lunch hour.

Arts and culture is a part of our DNA. That was a key takeaway from a public opinion survey we recently commissioned about arts and culture in Cuyahoga County. Our artists and arts and cultural organizations are a huge source of civic pride, said residents; Cuyahoga County wouldn’t be the same without them. The idea that arts and culture is a treasured asset by many in the County isn’t new to us at CPAC, but it is reassuring to know that the community feels as strongly about arts and culture today as they did when we asked them to consider a public investment in our sector a number of years back. Arts and culture contributes significantly to our world class image, along with many of our other treasured assets, such as our parks, libraries and our healthcare community – just to name a few. And that world class image, without the world class ego, is something that Positively Cleveland seeks to capitalize on as it launches a new campaign to attract folks to our area.