Arts and culture are essential components in a sustainable community and a vibrant region. They serve as measures of vitality of quality connected places. Help stress the importance of Arts and Culture at an upcoming Vibrant NEO Work shop. We need your help to define what we value and what’s most important to this region as we start to create a vision for Northeast Ohio’s future. We can only answer these questions together!

Arts and culture are essential components in a sustainable community and a vibrant region. They serve as measures of vitality of quality connected places. Help stress the importance of Arts and Culture at an upcoming Vibrant NEO Work shop. We need your help to define what we value and what’s most important to this region as we start to create a vision for Northeast Ohio’s future. We can only answer these questions together!

CPAC's third Arts and Culture Roundtable of the 2013 series will focus on Advocacy. On May 10 Kelly J. Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning officer for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA),will join the arts and culture community at the Cleveland Botanical Garden to discuss the idea of advocacy, how to do it right and what it can mean for arts and culture organizations as well as individual artists. The Arts and Culture Roundtable is a way for representatives from the arts and culture community to come together and discuss common concerns and solutions.

On Friday, May 17, 2013, the Cleveland Institute of Music presents Dr. José Antonio Abreu, the global visionary leader and social reformer. The event at CIM’s Mixon Hall features Dr. Abreu and CIM President Joel Smirnoff in conversation on stage followed by audience questions. Dr. Abreu is the founder and guiding force behind El Sistema, an extraordinary musical education program that has transformed the lives of more than 800,000 impoverished children around the world and here in Cleveland. He will be in Cleveland to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Join us for an hour of inspirational conversation with this remarkable educator, economist, and musician. A Conversation with Dr. José Antonio Abreu runs from 11:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m., seating is limited.

Everyday, artists are making the impossible a reality through there work. Now we are investing in them. To prepare for the 2014 Creative Workforce Fellowship application process for dance, literature, music and theatre artists, artists are invited to attend this free informational workshop. The staff of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture will walk participants through the online application. We'll outline the Fellowship application process, and we will take time to answer any and all questions. The Fellowship program is made possible by the residents of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

The hour long television special, produced by WVIZ/PBS, entitled "The Cleveland Orchestra: At Home in Gordon Square" airs Friday, May 24 at 9 p.m. as part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s inaugural “At Home” neighborhood residency in Gordon Square on Cleveland’s west side this month (the program encores on WVIZ/PBS on Sunday, May 26 at 7:00 PM). The production was taped live on May 16 as the culmination of the Orchestra’s week-long residency at Gordon Square. The program features The Cleveland Orchestra performing at St. Colman Catholic Church before a standing-room-only audience. The performance marked the first time The Cleveland Orchestra played on the west side of Cleveland since 1980. View a BBC news clip about the partnership at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22617217

A free educational seminar for attorneys and nonprofit leaders, Formation of a Nonprofit Organization will be presented by Todd K. Masuda, Esq. and Steven W. Day, Esq., of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Committee (VLA) of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. Nonprofits face many of the same complexities as commercial businesses, and sometimes more, but often lack resources. Reach Out is designed to provide pro bono legal services to an free law-related education for area nonprofit organizations whose missions focus on community service and who demonstrate financial need. For more about Reach Out, visit www.clemetrobar.org/ReachOut. For more about the VLA, visit www.clemetrobar.org/VLA.

On Thursday, May 30, SPACES, the Neighborhood Leadership Institute, Neighborhood Connections and Policy Matters Ohio invite Clevelanders to come weigh in on whether or not work in Cleveland is working for them, and to talk about ways to improve employment prospects in our region.

The forum is being held in association with Pull!, a community performance by internationally renowned artist William Pope.L and SPACES, coming to Cleveland June 7-9.

During Pull!, teams of Clevelanders will manually pull an 8-ton truck through the city—from North Collinwood to Ohio City—for over two days straight. Images collected from Clevelanders about what work means to them will be projected from the back of the truck as it is pulled through the city.

Pull! is a testament to the power of shared labor, and a chance to spark a city-wide conversation about what work means to Clevelanders. Join us in this conversation about jobs, joblessness and opportunities for improving employment in Cleveland, on Thursday May 30.

Everyday, artists are making the impossible a reality through there work. Now we are investing in them. To prepare for the 2014 Creative Workforce Fellowship application process for dance, literature, music and theatre artists, artists are invited to attend this free informational workshop. The staff of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture will walk participants through the online application. We'll outline the Fellowship application process, and we will take time to answer any and all questions. The Fellowship program is made possible by the residents of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Women’s career trajectory is often less straightforward than their male counterparts, requiring them to take a different path to reach career success. Research supports that when women use the same career advancement strategies as men it doesn’t lead to the same degree of success. In fact, it can backfire. Therefore women must intentionally and strategically carve a unique path for advancement within their organizations. Women accounted for 51 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2011 and 58 percent of university graduates in 2010, yet there is a startling lack of women in leadership positions. Providing the women in your organization with cutting edge, research-based leadership development can be a game changer.

Apply by July 1, 2013