[NEohioPAL] From Sue Johnson. Cleveland Schools' arts guru Tony Sias to take the reins of Karamu House

[sue holland johnson via NEohioPAL]

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Karamu House, home to Karamu Theatre for the past 95 years, has a new resident.
On Sept. 11, Tony Sias, director of arts education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, is leaving Ohio's second-largest school district to serve as president and CEO of Karamu House, the storied arts and cultural institution that has anchored the corner of Quincy Avenue and East 89th Street for 100 years.Sias also served as artistic director of Cleveland School of the Arts and has helmed the popular All-City Musical, a co-production with Great Lakes Theater that annually brings 50 students from 20 schools together to perform a full-scale production in Playhouse Square, for more than a decade.He replaces interim executive director Patricia Egan."We are delighted to have Tony lead Karamu into its [next] 100 years," said Karamu board President David M. Reynolds in a statement released earlier this week. "He is a top talent in the arts and education field, and he truly underscores the renaissance Karamu House is experiencing."Sias has had a long, creative relationship with Karamu Theatre, directing notable plays there including Gail Parrish's award-winning one-act "Elevator" in 2001, the Ohio premiere of the political satire "The Trial of One Short-Sighted Black Woman vs. Mammy Louise and Safreeta Mae" in 2007 and "Eclipse: The War Between Pac and B.I.G." by Karamu's onetime writer-in-residence Michael Oatman in 2010.He has also trod the boards, appearing in the Karamu production of "Crumbs From the Table of Joy," by Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage, in 1999.Sias' appointment received a standing ovation from artistic director Terence Spivey. "Tony is a great force who will definitely support the theatre, but most importantly, arts education," Spivey told the Plain Dealer. "[He's a] very strong arts administrator. We can now bring arts training back to Karamu under a leader who loves young people."In taking the reins of Karamu House, Sias leaves one challenge – spearheading the arts education for some 50,000 students in an urban district – for another.It's no secret that funding and leadership struggles have taxed the historic black community and arts organization – once considered a national model of excellence – for years.Leading Karamu "means having an opportunity to rebuild trust with the community in Cleveland and nationally," the incoming CEO said in the release. "It means becoming the citadel of African American cultural arts in this country." 
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