The arts festival is July 27-29. The beer tasting immediately follows on Aug. 4, from 4 to 8 p.m., but there is some respite before the annual Gala in September.
Museum board vice president Christy Griffith said Ken Cagle is running day-to-day operations while the board of trustees oversees all administrative duties.
The trustees did not announce any immediate plans to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Lisa Simpson Lutts.
Lutts resigned March 29 from the position after five years in that role. She was the second executive director to lead the museum.
She was chosen following a two-month nationwide search to replace Joe Hamilton, the founding executive director of the museum that opened to the public Sept. 11, 1999.
Financially, the museum is in a down year, Griffith said recently. The main sources of operating income are character sponsorships and fundraising associated with the annual Gala.
“The 2011 Gala event, while successful, did not meet projected budget and to date there are three unsponsored characters. These fictional characters tell the story of the history of the Ocoee Region, incorporating real history characters into their dialogue,” she said.
“The board of trustees is tirelessly raising funds and cutting expenses.
“The board is focusing on sponsorships, membership growth and programming. There have been many positives that have occurred over the last year, one being the expansion of grant opportunities to the museum and the rejuvenation of The Museum Guild.”
Griffith said the museum center is bouncing back with the direction of the board of trustees, the hard work of its excellent staff, commitments from members and sponsors and the more than 24,000 people who visit the museum each year.
The Five Points Arts Festival is July 27, 28 and 29 in downtown Cleveland. The festival will boast three dozen artists and a host of activities and events for families and art lovers.
A Friday evening preview party will kick off the weekend with the opportunity for early bird shopping and live music by hammer dulcimer musician Agene Parsons, and a chance to bid on a rare, out-of-print book on the history of Cleveland.
Art and fine crafts from the talented group of painters, jewelers, carvers, wood turners, metal and glass sculptors, photographers and the museum’s 1924 American LaFrance fire truck will be on display all weekend on Inman Street.
Festivities begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at First Street Square where the Cleveland Youth Arts Initiative will offer free make-n-take art projects for children. The weekend includes live music, food, special offerings from merchants, lawn games and sidewalk chalk-art competition.
Events begin Sunday morning at 11 in the museum courtyard where the public might “Catch-A-Bite” at the Sunday brunch offered by Catch Bar & Grill. There will be more make-n-take art projects, lawn games, and sidewalk chalk-art competitions until 2 p.m. Artists will be on hand from 11 until 5 p.m. inside.
For more information, please visit www.museumcenter.org.
