Creative Fusion

The Cleveland Foundation's International Artist-in-Residence Program

"Creative Fusion" is a multi-year initiative to bring accomplished artists from diverse cultures to Cleveland for extended periods of time. These artists will be embedded within existing cultural institutions to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences across sectors, populations, ideologies and modes of creative expression.

Want to learn more?

Click to listen to a panel discussion on Creative Fusion from an edition of WCPN 90.3 FM's "Around Noon" program. The Cleveland Foundation's Kathleen Cerveny was part of that panel. You may also:

• Read about Creative Fusion's first year in this special publication.
• Download the request-for-proposal document for nonprofits interested in participating in the program
• Download the application preview and "Help For Your Residency" planning guide
• See the press release announcing Creative Fusion  
• Kathleen Cerveny often writes about Creative Fusion in her "arts&ideas" blog 
• Listen to a podcast about visiting artists in the program.

The artists of Creative Fusion

2011

George Seremba

Case Western Reserve University, Cuyahoga County Public Library, and the Cleveland Foundation welcome visiting writer and Uganda native George Seremba, who will live and work in Cleveland for two years as part of the foundation’s Creative Fusion International Artist-in-Residence Program.

An award-winning actor and playwright, Seremba has authored several plays. His notable “Come Good Rain” relives his political protests in Uganda and his botched execution attempt by the military intelligence, leading him to seek asylum in Kenya, then in Canada, and finally in Ireland.

Seremba, who received his doctoral degree in drama from Trinity College, Dublin, will spend the next two years teaching at the university (African plays, playwriting and methodology classes in the English department), offering public programming through Cuyahoga County Public Library, and writing and launching new works on Cleveland stages.

• Read his biography 
• Listen to an interview with WCPN’s Dee Perry
• Watch this interview on Cool Cleveland

Christian Schmitt

Chilean architect and design artist Christian Schmitt came to Cleveland in April as part of the Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion International Artist-in-Residence Program. While in Cleveland, Schmitt is meeting and working with area architects, manufacturers, artists, and students to develop and build a prototype of a replicable structure or product that can be manufactured in Cleveland and sold nationally or internationally.Schmitt’s six-month residency is supported by the Cleveland Foundation, Playhouse Square, the Kent State Urban Design Collaborative, Cleveland Public Art, and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, and collectively this group has launched a unique program, called Cleveland tm (teach + make). 

Schmitt currently is a professor for the College of Architecture at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, where he is leading the university’s reconstruction plans for cities destroyed by the 2010 earthquake in south Chile.

• Read his biography 

2010

Sevi Bayraktar

Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio and the Cleveland Foundation teamed up to bring professional Roma (Gypsy) dancer and teacher Sevi Bayraktar from Istanbul, Turkey, to Cleveland in 2010. Bayraktar believes the creativity of dance can be used to assist in developing effective solutions for community issues. She incorporates her knowledge of dance and theater with arts-based education methods focusing on at-risk youth.

Bayraktar earned an undergraduate degree in political science and international relations, and has received her certification in racism and discrimination education. She is completing a master's degree in sociology at Turkey's Bogazici University.

Learn more about Sevi Bayraktar:

• See what Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio has to say about her
• Listen to an interview with Bayraktar from WCPN's "Around Noon" show

Serpil Sevgen

Serpil Sevgen is a visual artist from Istanbul, Turkey.  She specializes in the ancient Turkish art form of paper marbling.  She is also an education planner and psychological counselor and has worked for the Turkish Ministry of Education for 12 years.  In her educational work, Ms. Sevgen uses the arts to help both students and parents develop positive relationships with each other and to address issues of peer violence and social exclusion.  She was one of the Turkish artists participating in the 2008-08 U. S. Department of State cultural exchange program with Cleveland artists and the Turkish Ministry of Education, which brought the arts to hundreds of marginalized youth in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods
Serpil was hosted by Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio in 2010. While in Cleveland, Serpil shared her international perspective and passion for visual arts and youth development through a variety of engagements, including:

• Teaching Turkish arts and culture in the YA summer internship program, ArtWorks.
• Working with Young Audience artist Carol Lynn Mitchell.
• Collaborating with Morgan Art of Paper Making Conservancy and Zygote Press to share unique Turkish paper marbling techniques.
• Public visual arts workshops and events, details to be announced.
  

See her paper marbling technique in action in this blog post.

Özen Yula

The Cleveland Foundation partnered with Cleveland State University and Cleveland Public Theatre to bring internationally acclaimed Turkish playwright and director Özen Yula to Cleveland in 2010. Yula is regarded as one of the world's most daring avant-garde theatrical artists. His collected plays have been published in five volumes and translated into more than 10 languages. His work is characterized as dark, comical, visually daring, and at the forefront of controversial issues of social justice and human rights.

During his nine-month residency in Cleveland, Yula engaged university students in theatre and the social sciences and worked with Cleveland Metropolitan School District students and other urban youth, professional artists, and the general public. He created two original works during his stay, one of which was a world premiere professional production.

Learn more about Özen Yula:

• Read his biography
• Read reviews of his work here and here
• Read a story by Özen Yula

Creative Fusion: A one-year retrospective

Read about Creative Fusion's first year in this 16-page book, with information on the program, its artists, and their impact.

News about Creative Fusion artists

The premiere of Ozen Yula's play, Don't Call Me Fat, hit the stage at Cleveland Public Theatre on October 8, the culmination of his nine-month residency in Cleveland. Read Plain Dealer theatre critic Tony Brown's wrap-up of Yula's time in the States: 

Sevi Bayraktar in action

 Sevi Bayraktar leads a at Cleveland State University. 

Sevi Bayraktar (center) works one on one with a fellow dancer

 Creative Fusion director Kathleen Cerveny with Özen Yula