The Cleveland Museum Of Art's Summer Solstice Party

     Page One Hundred.
     Today's blog has nothing to do with food or children. It has nothing to do with the new kid whom I'm working with. It really has nothing to do with anything except for a party I went to last night.
     As I've mentioned in the past, I live in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Heights, an old, gracious, inner-ring suburb, to be exact. I've talked about how Cleveland is substantially larger than most people realize. And I've talked about the unusually broad ethnic communities who live here and serve food here. I've also implied that there's great wealth here. Well, I'm not going to imply great wealth in today's blog.
     By the mid-19th century, Cleveland had so many rich people it was crazy. John D. Rocky lived here for much of his life. (His summer home was just about a mile from where I live. But, it burned down prior to World War I, I think. Also, John is buried about one half mile from my apartment. His grave is right next to President Garfield's.) And many, many other super rich folk lived here and built their homes on Euclid Avenue, one of our major thoroughfares. After the Civil War and before the turn of the 20th century, Euclid Avenue was considered by many international travelers to be the most beautiful road in the world, outside of Paris. Though only two of those homes still exist today, the legacies of most of those families still exist heavily in Northeast Ohio, read: financial endowments. Our arts and cultural institutions are so wealthy you simply wouldn't believe it.
     The Cleveland Museum of Art is just finishing up a near decade-long expansion. Literally. Imagine a museum expansion that's taken nearly ten years to complete. The entire Freedom Tower in Manhattan will take less than that from start to finish. The museum was established in 1913 with the original building being completed in 1916. It added on in the late fifties, then again in the early seventies. And it was large in the first place. So, in the late nineties, they decided that they couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to add on again. But this time they wouldn't just add a little shack onto the back. Oh, no, no, no. They decided to tear down the '50's addition, add a three tier attached parking structure, add two additions that, kind of, mimicked the '70's addition creating a, sort of, square building with a courtyard in the middle, then cover that courtyard with glass thereby creating the largest public atrium in Ohio. This atrium is one acre large and surrounded on four sides by galleries. So essentially, it's a football stadium with art where seats ought to be. Cost: almost 400 million. But, thankfully, our museum is one of the most heavily endowed art museums in America, so they can afford it, thank you very much. International architectural critics are hailing it a gem and a masterpiece, rivaled only by the art inside. It really is stunning. This is also the most lavish arts and cultural project in Ohio's history.
     They shut the entire building down in '05, to begin the project and the museum was completely closed for about three years, slowly reopening little pieces, parts, corners, nooks and crannies starting in 2008. The last section, yet to open, will be the large Chinese galleries, around Christmas of this year.
     In 2009, they held a party on June 21st to celebrate the opening of various galleries that season. (Perhaps they were opening the American contemporary art galleries? I can't remember.) That party got five thousand attendees so they decided to make it an annual affair. Last night was the fifth Summer Solstice Party and it's considered one of Cleveland's hippest parties. They fly in various dj's from around the world. Those dj's spin in this location or that. Then, they have live world music playing on this stage or that. So there's music and dancing and drinking and merriment and art galleries until 1AM. All in all, it's a pretty wild night and people really look forward to it. They sell out every year (fast) and I won't be surprised if they decide to sell closer to seven or eight thousand tickets next year. Lord knows, they have the space. Apparently, some upper echelon people at the museum are already fighting to make the party larger.
     Last night was my third year volunteering at the Museum Solstice Party. Oy!!! Actually, it wasn't too bad. Years two and three, I conducted surveys and entered people in raffles. Last night, I worked the will call table. People really were well-behaved and pleasant. There were just soooooo many of them. It was a mad house, but then, it is every year. So I do know what to expect. It really is very fun.
     Always, on the Sunday after the Solstice Party, the museum is barely open. It opens late and some of the extra services don't open at all: the restaurant, store and certain high maintenance galleries. This is because the entire staff is there until 2AM the night before, working the party. But instead, right now, and for the next couple of days, the museum's completely closed 'cause they're filming the next Captain America movie in the atrium. Just as well, those guards need the sleep.