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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council <br />Tuesday, January 19, 2010 <br />Page 2 <br />A number of years ago, we decided that as an arts organization one of the things we needed to do <br />was provide arts and services where people want to consume them. We found recently in a ) <br />Cleveland Foundation survey that 80% of our audience, the people that consume services <br />including our classes, do it outside of our building in Novelty. Novelty's only about 8 miles <br />from here and he bets not everyone's been in Novelty, correct? <br />The reality is Mayfield Village offered a wonderful opportunity when this building was <br />purchased and refurbished. It's probably one of the best kept secrets around. He tells people <br />about this building because we are here quite a bit, Joe would you agree? <br />Joe Saponaro replied, absolutely. <br />Mr. Grover continued, our meetings and our opportunities to perform for the community and <br />come together. Mr. Grover tries to tell people that Mayfield Village is an example of a place <br />that's got a vision, creating a place and a space for people to consume the arts which is what our <br />business is, in a comfortable setting. Seven years ago, and thank you to you, Council President <br />Buckholtz, Mayor Rinker and Council, you had the foresight to create a space, he is an actor as <br />well, that as a performer, he can tell you was awesome, where you can really commune with <br />your audience. It's a 180-seat theater and we do some really wonderful work. <br />Mr. Grover would like to just tell you what's coming up. What we did want to do was to make <br />sure we were providing a continued high standard of value to this community through our work <br />and particularly in the next several months. Next month for example, and all the people in the <br />community are welcome, we want you to be here, the world premiere, or the Cleveland premier <br />rather, of a musical called, 13. It's been done on Broadway. It's going to be done by an all <br />teenager cast. He is told it's an awesome piece. We have a dance concert with our Spanish dance <br />program which is a heritage dance program known throughout the country in April. And in this <br />facility in mid-April for three weeks there's a production of a play called, "Eat". It's not about <br />food. It's a Cleveland premier. It represents what I am trying to get to as I summarize my <br />comments. It's a play about eating disorders in adolescents. In fact 15% of the today's youth in <br />the Junior High School environment are affected by some degree with an eating disorder. It <br />could be evidenced in anorexia, bulimia, or something else. The point is we are producing a play <br />in your facility here that's also going to have after every play a post-performance discussion by a <br />professional clinician who's an expert in eating disorders. We have actually gotten sponsors from <br />the Cleveland Center for Eating Disorders, the University Hospital Geauga Medical Center, <br />Medical Service Companies and Fairmount Center who have helped underwrite this. This is <br />going to create an opportunity for the people to come and see this show. We are encouraging <br />everyone, kids, parents, teachers, to come and experience an hour play that's going to be through <br />our professional theater with post-play discussions by leading clinicians in the area, a very <br />sensitive area, that frankly touches many people including some people in my own family. <br />Mr. Grover hopes that's evidence of the kind of work; we are not just doing things like "The Odd <br />Couple". We have received grants to be able to take this to schools and we hope to take it to <br />Mayfield Schools here as well as schools throughout the inner and urban area and outer ring for <br />the 10, 11 academic year. Our objective is to take it to a minimum of 10 schools which means