It’s been more than 14 weeks since journalists requested the receipts to Cleveland’s $3 million investment, the Transformative Art Fund. In addition to CoolCleveland and Axios, I have made multiple public records requests asking for a single receipt documenting how money was spent.

This story has struck a nerve on many different levels, but I want to be clear: Spending money on art is so important. So, when the city announces that it has invested $3 million in federal COVID-19 relief money, it’s reasonable to want to see the fruit from that tree. 

The project that concerns me the most is Kumar Arora’s involvement with the viral social media account, I’m From Cleveland. Under the name For Art’s Sake, the project received $465,343, one of the largest awards given across just seven projects. 

Mayor Justin Bibb also contracts with I’m From Cleveland to help reach residents about city business. It’s been more than a week since I reached out for clarification on their – and Arora’s – relationship with the city. I have not heard back.

Instead, the city re-released the same limited records about all seven projects funded by TAF. The city has also been unresponsive to requests for quarterly reporters 1-3 and has yet to quantify the fund’s impact, including how and where the money was spent. 

In its final report to the city, For Art’s Sake claimed it spent 100% of its funding in the local economy. Last month, the spokesperson for the project, Rhonda Brown, touted this fact to Cleveland City Council.

It wasn’t true. Even without any records, minimal research into the festival’s headliner shows that he lives in New York.

Will you help me release the records? Request that the city release the complete records for the Transformative Arts Fund and address discrepancies in how the money was spent: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]. 

In the meantime, here’s the limited number of records released by the city.

Thanks for reading,
Dakotah

Are you “a friend of Dorothy?” Follow the yellow brick road to Superelectric Pinball Parlor on Monday, June 1. No previous pinball experience required.

Friends of Dorothy is a LGBTQIA+ pinball league for anyone looking to get out of the house, learn a new skill, and meet some new people. Starting June 1, Friends of Dorothy plans to meet biweekly at Superelectric in hopes of building a bigger community of queer people who love pinball.

“I'm just here for fun. If I had fun, I won. That's my mentality.” Kelly McGowan, one of the organizers behind Friends of Dorothy said.

McGowan has been playing pinball for more than a decade, and met fellow pinball competitors Sarah Kunz and Joey Gentile at Superelectric, where Gentile is also a bartender. Both McGowan and Kunz are also members of Belles and Chimes, the city’s league for women and nonbinary pinball players.

As the city’s first queer-centered pinball league, Friends of Dorothy is designed to be supportive and welcoming to everyone, regardless of identity or pinball ability.

“If you’ve never played pinball, this is the perfect way to learn a game,” Kunz said. “You start to learn the language of the board because the lights are telling you what you should be doing.”

Friends of Dorothy is also a chance to introduce more people to some of the city’s top scoring players, such as Valencia Kelly, who is ranked 5th out of nearly 600 players registered with Cleveland’s Pinball League. A number of her trophies decorate the shelves of the pinball parlor.

“[Kelly is] one of the best players that I’ve seen in my mind and I’ve only been around [pinball] for two years,” Gentile said. 

People who join can expect to meet other queer nerds who just want to help you get good – or better – at pinball. 

“If you really give each machine a shot, it's telling a story,” Gentile, who is also a writer and actor, said. “I'm like, each game is telling its own thing, because you have a different objective, you have a different way to do it.”

Someone who is a “friend of Dorothy” is considered queer, and the phrase dates back to the success of the Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland’s portrayal of Dorothy Gale. Throughout her career, Garland was an outspoken advocate for the queer community, further cementing herself as a queer rights icon. 

Kunz said the name is also a reference to other queer icons named Dorothy, such as Dorothy from Golden Girls and Cleveland’s own Dorothy Dandridge. 

The league’s first meeting is set for Monday, June 1 at Superelectric in Gordon Square at 7:30 p.m. Superelectric charges $8 for unlimited pinball and there is no additional cost to participate. If you want to read the league’s code of conduct, click here.

Mostly monsters, mostly cute.

This show is such a buried treasure. 

Summer Camp Island is just plain cute. In the same way that Adventure Time focuses on Finn and Jake, this show follows Oscar the elephant and Hedgehog the, well, hedgehog. The two best friends think they are going away to summer camp, but they are really going to an island inhabited by teen (?) witches! The show has lots of adorable side characters and cool cameos, such as Elijah Wood, Whoopi Goldberg, Melanie Lynskey and Paula Poundstone, to name a few.

Summer Camp Island is another Cartoon Network show that got annihilated by the Warner Brothers/Discovery merger in 2022. (It’s nothing like Infinity Train, which I recommended last week.)

If you can stand crappy pop-ups, you can watch it for free here.

One of my first favorite “local bands” was Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside from Portland, OR. I saw them live several times, and it was always a blast. Untamed Beast (2013) is the band’s second album, and essentially its last. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about how so much music sounds the same these days. I feel pretty confident in saying that Sallie Ford has a signature voice that is so full. 

The album is truly unapologetic, opening with “They Told Me”, which is every angry girl’s anthem:

The album balanced more aggressive songs with softer ones, for example, “Shivers” or “Paris.” It’s a true time capsule of the special indie music sound before it went everywhere. Sallie Ford’s music will always remind me of a simpler time, aka Portland circa 2013.

You can watch Nimona on Netflix (2023) or read the graphic novel (2015) that inspired the animated film. It’s a silly but powerful story about Nimona, who is half girl half… something else! It’s been a good while since I’ve seen/read Nimona, so this is honestly also a reminder to me to re-visit it. I loved both, though the nerd in me wants to tell you to start with the book.

Stop using AI to make your flyers! Instead pay your local artist, even if it's a small amount. One artist is recruiting people to make flyers for free or low cost. Honestly, I’ll even make you a flyer if it will get you to stop using AI to make graphics.