CLEVELAND

Cleveland has an incredible theatrical infrastructure, ideal for supporting an ambitious theatre festival.

Cleveland's per capita arts attendance is among the highest in the nation. In fact, in a recent report by the Cultural Data Project (SMU/Arts), Cleveland ranked 5th among the nation’s leading cities for arts and culture, alongside New York, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Once dubbed "The Best Location in the Nation," Cleveland is located a day's drive or less from most major cities of the east coast and midwest USA. Our audience is here.

Playhouse Square is located centrally in downtown Cleveland and the largest performing arts center in the country outside of the Lincoln Center in NYC. Downtown Cleveland’s redesigned Public Square opened in 2016 as an open-air performance complex and was recently designated as one of 5 “Great Public Spaces” by the American Planning Association. Our venues are here.

With the world-famous Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Museum of Art, the vibrant Gordon Square Arts District, a nationally-recognized Cleveland Metroparks system and Lake Erie waterfront, plus large-scale arts events such as FRONT International and the biennial Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductions, Cleveland, and its surrounding neighborhoods, is already recognized as a cultural center, featured regularly on national “Best of” lists, including being named by National Geographic Traveler as one of the “Best of the World” cities to visit in 2018. People love it here.

“A festival like BorderLight creates reputational impact, affirming Cleveland’s place on the cultural map as a destination for the arts.”

- Dale Heinen, BorderLight Executive & Artistic Director

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