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Cleveland Performance Art Festival (PAF)

The Cleveland Performance Art Festival (or Performing Arts Festival) was started by Thomas Mulready in 1897 at the Cleveland Public Theatre. From 1988 to 1999 (and in 2003) the festival operated as a separate 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It quickly became a staple of Performance art in the United States. As part of the festival many provoking performances were displayed and performed throughout Cleveland. A special collection of Case Western Reserve University was dedicated towards the festival including transcripts, videos performances and records of reporting about the festival. Performing at the PAF in Cleveland was regarded as a high honor among peers in the scene and internationally as over 100 artists from almost 30 countries performed over the years. On the other hand general media outlets, like the local FOX 8 usually displayed the fest as an absurd and obscene get together of crazy people.

Notable Performances

The Cleveland PAF is the only place or organization that hosted at least one performance from all of the NEA Four at some point. The Blue Man Group also performed in 1990, some years before it ventured to New York and eventually became an international sensation. The latter may be less representative of the otherwise more abstract and provoking performances that were often publicly perceived as indecent.

(Insert videos from special collection.)

See Also

Detailed physical records from all festivals have been archived in the Special Collections of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University. A list of the available materials can be found at (insert) and http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/speccoll/PAFshelflistdetailed.html respectively. CWRU is currently working to create a digitized Special Collection for the Festival.