“Parade the Circle is going strong and growing each year,” said Robin VanLear, CMA’s artistic director, community arts and creator of Parade the Circl. “This event is a true community catalyst. No where else in Greater Cleveland can so many individuals and groups, with a variety of backgrounds, come together under one explosive march of creativity. Parade truly showcases all the richness this region has to offer.”

“With the museum’s original 1916 wing reopening in June, it seems appropriate to look to the museum, the seat of the muses, and the origins of the creative process as the source of our inspiration for Parade,” in explaining the them said VanLear. “For most artists the creative process is very evolutionary. It is a chain of events, playing with a concept, fiddling around with that idea until it has clarified itself and then working up the courage to run with it.”

Parade the Circle features a dazzling procession of entries and musical ensembles by international and local artists as well as local schools, community groups, families, and individual participants. Parade focuses on artistic expression and creativity, featuring handmade masks, costumes, giant puppets and floats enlivened by dancers, stilt dancers and a variety of performers. The entries do not include written words, logos, motorized vehicles or live animals, and may not propagandize political or religious view points.

From its humble beginnings with only 125 participants and approximately 1,000 spectators in 1990, the annual Parade the Circle celebration has grown into an area-wide cultural event drawing tens of thousands of spectators and 2,000 parade participants. Despite the increased interest over the years, the event has remained true to its original purpose of drawing on festival traditions from throughout the world to help people of all ages and backgrounds create unique costumes and floats side by side with professional artists. -- www.clevelandart.org