New Akron Arts & Education venue opens with concert and masterclass by New York-based jazz vocalist

A new venue called the Creative Arts Collaborative Center is opening in Akron, which “will host all kinds of art events that will bring students, professionals and community members together to experience the creative process of art with educational and performance elements.” project executive director, jazz saxophonist and director of the faculty of jazz studies at Kent State University, Bobby Selvaggio.

Selvaggio says he and Akron developer Tony Tropp are the driving force behind the project, located inside a former synagogue now called the Highland Square Universal Meeting Space, located at 133 Merriman Road in Highland Square.

“We are committed to complementing other arts ventures in Akron with a unique space, a unique mission that will support the local art scene and national and international artists,” he says. “All forms of art; performance, visual arts, movement/dance, theater and technical arts. We will build on this concept for the first two years.”

Selvaggio is also a booker at Akron BLU Jazz+, another Troppe project. Explaining the connection between the two venues, Selvaggio said, “We are both under the umbrella of the BluJazz Masterclass Foundation, a 501c3 organization. BLU Jazz+ focuses more on concerts than educational and performing activities.”

The Creative Arts Collaboration Center opens this week with its first ever event, a quartet show featuring New York-based jazz vocalist, songwriter, teacher and bandleader Michelle Lordi, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Matthew Parrish and drummer James Johnson .

Lordi will hold a free master class at 16:00; then a concert with tickets at 7. Tickets can be bought here.

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