Cleveland Cultural Collaborative

Neighbors in the University Circle area of Cleveland, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History and The Western Reserve Historical Society are joining together to form the Cleveland Cultural Collaborative, in an effort to enhance operational efficiencies among the three institutions and improve visitor services. While such collaboration is much talked about, it is generally not acted upon on in a substantial way. As a collaborative, the institutions intend to make a contribution to improving the community by creating learning opportunities that are based on collections, knowledge and engaged experiences. Each of the institutions has served Cleveland for many years. The Western Reserve Historical Society, featuring a history museum, genealogy library, the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum and two historic mansions was founded in 1876, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, with its outstanding collections in a dozen disciplines of international importance was established in 1920; the Cleveland Botanical Garden in 1930. In 2003, it completed a major addition, opening the Eleanor Armstrong Smith Glass House, recreating two biomes.

Lord Cultural Resources was selected after a competitive bidding process to carry out a study to help plan the implementation of the Cleveland Cultural Collaborative. This groundbreaking study to identify and implement opportunities, in which the institutions can effectively partner, was completed following extensive research, workshops and analysis.

The Collaborative has functioned successfully for several years, with its own Executive Director, and has recently been extended to the entire University Circle area.