Cleveland: Where Community Wealth Building and the Arts meet
April 29, 2026
Music and culture help to define a place.
In Cleveland, OH, there was a world famous a concert venue located in the Hough neighborhood called Leo’s Casino. On the stages of Leo’s appeared some of the most talented American rhythm and blues stars, many of whom were on their way to great international fame. This venue lives on in the memories of many Black and White Clevelanders who frequented this special place. Some were there as mature adults seeking a night out, others snuck in as teenagers to see their musical idols. It was a place of racial harmony that was created by a common love of amazing music.
Fast forward to circa 2021, when a local community development nonprofit was seeking ways to connect to the Hough’s residents. At one neighborhood meeting, the topic of Leo’s Casino came up as a fond memory of a Hough “jewel” from the past. Although it had long been shuttered, with a discount grocery store now sitting on the site, the memories lived on. Two of those longtime Hough residents, Ron and Maria Fuqua, decided to build on this enthusiasm to bring the spirit of Leo’s into something to be enjoyed today. That was the start of Leo’s Casino Arts & Music Collaboratory.
Ron and Maria Fuqua, August 2025 | Photo: Eric Floyd
Then on a fateful evening in March 2024, Mr. Fuqua and I met at a mixer for the community development nonprofit and its members. He had seen me onstage at an event, describing how Hough residents had not always been embraced by the business community there, and how that was changing. In our exchange I learned more about the “Leo’s revival” efforts, and shared The Democracy Collaborative’s Community Wealth Building (CWB) local economic development strategy. I think we both realized that there was a potential match. How can CWB build on culture to create a more democratic economy for Hough’s local residents and Leo’s stakeholders? So the story began…
CWB is a local economic strategy that we at The Democracy Collaborative coined around 20 years ago. We look for ways in which the community, and individuals who might have been left out of opportunities to participate fully in the economy, can do so. Capitalism by definition favors those who have capital, meaning money. So the benefits of the value created - when left to its own natural flows - go to whoever has the most capital. The problem is that everyone has not had the same ability to build capital. In fact, the U.S. government and some business practices have worked to prevent Black folks from amassing capital. Think slavery, redlining, land grabs, building freeways in the middle of Black neighborhoods, unfair labor practices. In CWB, we look for strategies that allow those who help create value to share more equitably and honestly in it. That looks like a few things, including worker-owned companies. It also looks like community land trusts, fair work conditions, locally oriented finance, as well as working with anchor institutions on progressive procurement strategies that keep dollars local.
Meanwhile, based on the community’s excitement about reviving Leo’s and experiencing quality live R&B music, Leo’s Arts & Music Collaboratory has continued its good work. They have produced a dozen concerts attracting over 2,000 attendees, recruited the former Leo’s band leader into the project, hosted networking sessions with local musicians, established a relationship with the local arts high school, collaborated with other Black history sites around town, created a space for multi-generational engagement among “old school” artists and talented performing artists in their 20’s and 30’s, and more. The younger artists have named the facility and neighborhood “Soul City”. On a shoestring and a prayer, the Fuquas have tapped into Leo’s energy and proven that the community wants this.
The more the Fuquas and I talked, the more we thought that the structure of CWB for an arts initiative would be a benefit to the Hough neighborhood, and serve as a demonstration of how this strategy can be productive in the arts and creative industries. In Cleveland there are valuable, key ingredients that we can build on. There is a genuine interest and affection from the community for restoring the spirit of outstanding R&B music, and of course, there is Mr. and Mrs. Fuqua’s enthusiasm, innovation and stick-to-it-ness for making the vision happen. Plus, the Collaboratory is now located in a property that they own, right down the street from where Leo’s Casino used to be.
The arts and creative industries are real industries, and a lot of money flows through them. Here in Cleveland, on the east side, you have University Circle with the orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the museums. To the west, you have the Playhouse Square development that has Broadway-quality live theatre. In fact, the arts constitute one of the faster growing industries in the state of Ohio. We are investing in research to quantify the local spending and trends for the arts. A CWB implementation that is focused on the arts and creative industries would figure out how some of the local artists who aren't necessarily part of the larger institutions could participate, grow and add value to what's already happening in that industry. The untapped potential here is to wisely invest in a comprehensive project that allows those who are creating the value to participate more equitably in it. This is a new way to talk about investing in the arts, compared with how philanthropy invests building museums, and orchestra halls, and show venues.
Our CWB/Arts effort is focused on Hough and the Leo’s legacy, seeking ways for the community and the artists themselves to participate in owning something that would offer arts in music and craft, and in the physical arts. The venues and enterprises would be owned by the community. Consider music therapy which combines the art industry with the medical field and something which hospitals are already spending money on. In Cleveland, many of the folks that are ageing and in need of medical care are African American and R&B is their music. Through our initiative, we could figure out how to create a music therapy entity owned by local artists in the community, featuring R&B, of course.
We’re calling our project, CWB/Arts Cleveland as a working name. We have some ideas about the various components as stated above, but now we need to develop a detailed plan.
We need to hire a dedicated project management contractor to help us explore the feasibility of various projects, document the current successes at the Collaboratory, and develop a long-term funding strategy.
So if you
are a person that remembers Leo's Casino and has enjoyed the benefits of having that major R&B music fixture in Cleveland
are a younger artist looking for a place to chill with your colleagues and to truly collaborate on projects
care about establishing a more democratic and equitable local economy
are a philanthropist that recognizes the power of the arts to build community
we want you at the table!
Support us here and/or get in touch jramiro@democracycollaborative.org