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Regardless of age, we welcome you to join us for arts education classes that are available for students (Pre-K to 12th grade) to lifelong learners. From dancing to acting to singing to filmmaking to costume design, Karamu Arts Academy has something for everyone. In 1915, a pair of Oberlin College (in nearby Oberlin, Ohio) graduates opened a settlement house in an area of Cleveland called “The Roaring Third,” located at the corner of East 38th Street and Central Avenue. With incredible vision, Russell and Rowena Woodham Jelliffe set out to establish a common ground where people of different races, religions, and social and economic backgrounds could come together to seek and share common ventures. In contrast to the success of In Abraham’s Bosom, the play Stevedore in 1937 was met by adversity.
Karamu Arts Academy
In 1920 they sponsored the Dumas Dramatic Club, which was renamed the Gilpin Players, after the noted black actor Charles Gilpin in 1922. A theater was acquired adjacent to the settlement in 1927 and named "Karamu," Swahili for "a place of joyful meeting," a name adopted by the entire settlement in 1941. In the 1930s the Gilpin Players established a collaboration with Karamu alumnus LANGSTON HUGHES, giving premieres of several of his plays. In 1940 a modern dance troupe from Karamu trained by Marjorie Witt Johnson won the praise of Life magazine for its appearance at the New York World's Fair.
Karamu House’s five-show 2023-24 season to kick off with Lynn Nottage’s ‘Clyde’s’
Among notable performers who refined their craft at Karamu and later found success on Broadway, in Hollywood, and at stages and concert halls throughout the world were Ruby Dee, Ron O'Neal, Robert Guillaume, and Imani Hakim. One of the most treasured of Karamu's productions was the annual holiday presentation of "Black Nativity," a play by Langston Hughes. Day celebration and encouraged a candid public discussion of relevant issues in "talk-back sessions" preceding select performances. Karamu House plays host to a variety of community programs throughout the year that are designed to engage all members of the community while providing arts experiences that honor Black culture. This is a collection of Karamu House photographs from the Cleveland Press Collection and others, showcasing the settlement's activities, including the theatrical productions, as well as a collection of WPA art produced at Karamu and collected by Russell and Rowena Jelliffe.
Asian Art Exhibits Now at Cleveland Museum of Art
To be a premiere professional theatre producing socially relevant entertainment, while delivering innovative, culturally responsive arts education programs for life-long learners. To produce professional theatre, provide arts education and present community programs for all people while honoring the Black experience. In the heart of Cleveland, Ohio, neighborhood settlement Karamu House has stood since 1915 as a symbol of community and artistic innovation. Founded as the Neighborhood Association, but most commonly known as the Playhouse Settlement, the space was created by two white social workers, Rowen and Russell Jelliffe, who sought out to produce plays with interracial casts for the community. With the support of the Second Presbyterian Church, they began these productions in 1917. Most importantly, addressing the issues people of color have experienced by communicating through art, has demonstrated the importance of these problems.
Karamu 2023/2024 Productions
Although Karamu experienced great success, unfortunately, Karamu House burned down in 1939. Western Reserve University (now CWRU) offered the use of their Eldred Theater for Karamu’s actors and actresses to perform in. This was an enormous help to Karamu, because its art produced at that time would not be lost.
Karamu during the 1920s and 1940s was an influential forum for exploring racial themes that defied racial biases and amplified (or elevated) Black people’s perspectives. This formative period fulfilled the Jelliffes’ dream to set the stage for Karamu to remain an essential Cleveland institution. Karamu House offers a variety of arts education programming in facilitated and on-demand virtual course offerings. Additionally, Karamu offers online corporate training programs for diversity, racial and equity inclusion programming..
Karamu Arts Classes
Harlem became the largest American urban area to be predominantly Black, and African Americans wished to change their identity and be free from racial oppression. People who performed in the Harlem Renaissance included Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, and Langston Hughes, among many others. Because of the Great Depression, unfortunately, the Harlem Renaissance came to an end, but its influence persisted. Actress Minnie Gentry, Terrence Howard’s grandmother, also performed on the stages here. Even Emmy and Grammy award winner Robert Guillaume, of the TV show Benson, graced the stages along with Cleveland native James Pickens Jr., from Grey’s Anatomy, and the great actress, poet and playwright, Ruby Dee. Hughes, known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance, had a special relationship with the theater and the Gilpin Players, who produced many of his plays.
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Mandel Foundation awards $4 million challenge grant to Cleveland's Karamu House - WKYC.com
Mandel Foundation awards $4 million challenge grant to Cleveland's Karamu House.
Posted: Fri, 14 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
From its inception in 1915, Karamu House has been a leading performing arts center that provides theater, music, dance, and art classes. Karamu began as a settlement house and has evolved into a full-fledged American cultural center. The time between the 1910s and the 1940s laid a firm foundation for fulfilling Karamu’s mission.
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Karamu also announced the reopening of its newly renovated Arena Theatre on October 13. The 100-seat venue will be used for special programming and arts education performances. Founded in 1915, Karamu House is a place of joyful gathering (the meaning of ‘Karamu” in Swahili), where people from different races, religions, and economic backgrounds come together through the arts. Recognized as the oldest, producing African American theatre in the nation, Karamu House is continually cited as one of Cleveland’s top four treasures—and featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and listed on the U.S.
Karamu House provides arts education to hundreds of children and adults each year during the fall, spring and summer semesters. The Karamu Arts Academy includes classes and lessons for children and adults, alike, in drama and theatre, vocal performance and music, dance, and more. For decades, Karamu House has created long-lasted partnerships with local school districts from around the Northeast Ohio area to enhance the schools’ arts programming—through field trips to workshops to customized arts education programs.
Karamu has a breadth of community programming, including music, lectures and workshops. And with his deep knowledge of arts education, Sias has developed the mastery model for its arts education, which is central to Karamu’s mission.“We offer a sequential, mastery-level arts education program, that’s rigorous,” says Sias. Karamu’s Summer Arts Intensive is available to 6th–12th grade students, but they have programming opportunities for all ages. Presently, it is a respected not-for-profit, presenting concerts, theatrical and dance performances, film screenings, and education and community outreach programs.
With the appointment of Margaret Ford-Taylor as executive director in 1988, Karamu attempted to return to its multicultural roots as a metropolitan center for all races while fulfilling its "unique responsibility" for the development of black artists. In May 1994 Karamu joined with BANK ONE to open the Karamu Community Banking Center within the Karamu complex. Along with the Jelliffes, Charles Gilpin was another very significant force in the development of Karamu. He was a black actor who came to Karamu to perform in a production of “Emperor Jones” by Eugene O’Neill in the 1920s. By performing at Karamu, Charles Gilpin helped advance Karamu’s goals of alleviating social inequality and the promotion of interracial art. Over its ninety years history, Karamu has cultivated a well-deserved reputation for nurturing African American actors.
In 2016, Karamu laid off 15 staffers, including longtime artistic director Terrence Spivey, in a dramatic cost-cutting move. Shortly thereafter, the IRS revoked Karamu’s precious tax-exempt status, saying it had not received a tax return from the nonprofit for three consecutive years. Since its opening, LHT has produced over 135 plays and musicals from the classics to experimental works. Continuing on Hansberry’s values for inclusivity, LHT prioritizes the work of Black and femme-identifying playwrights. Lorraine Hansberry became the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway when her play A Raisin in the Sun premiered in 1959. The young playwright died in 1965 from pancreatic cancer, leaving behind an unforgettable legacy that is honored across the country, especially with the establishment of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (LHT) in San Francisco’s theatre district in 1981.
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