OK, pop quiz: Pat Halloran, Chris Karlic, Jeff Bush, Kenny Anderson, Dominic Farinacci. What's the connection? They're all gifted jazz musicians who've left Northeast Ohio for NYC in the past few years, continuing in the tradition of older Cleveland jazz heroes like Tadd Dameron, Jiggs Whigham, Joe Lovano, John Fedchock, and Byron Stripling. What can we do differently to keep them and their cultural value here in Cleveland?

Not much. Although there are plenty of musicians (mostly jazz players), who make a good living in Cleveland, they're mostly supported by teaching jobs at local colleges which are competitive and hard to get, and those few that make a living exclusively from playing spend most of their time traveling either to gigs outside the metro area or with road bands. The Cleveland entertainment market just doesn't support enough jobs for musicians; in order to get jobs recording jingles and soundtracks and playing high-dollar concerts, they have to leave Ohio usually for NYC. Halloran plays with Blood, Sweat and Tears; Karlic plays with the Allman Brothers; Anderson plays with Shiela E; Farinacci studies with jazz superstars Warren Vache and Wynton Marsalis; all play in a variety of NYC big bands and jazz groups.

Which isn't to say that there aren't plenty of great jazz musicians in town: Ernie Krivda, Paul Ferguson, Jack Schantz, Joe Hunter, and Dave Morgan have all earned international repute from Cleveland through recordings, touring, and even word of mouth - Harvey Pekar is one of several Cleveland jazz critics who write regularly for national publications. But they've settled here mostly because they love Ohio or have family here, economics don't really play into their decisions.

Contrast the Cleveland jazz community with the Cleveland dance community - not only are there far more dance companies in Cleveland than there are jazz bands (in fact, Cleveland Public Theatre, the region's principal dance venue, can't even squeeze them all into a season anymore) but dancers don't seem to split for NYC as often. Three principal reasons: there's more dance work than music work in Cleveland, thanks to the wider appeal of dance in general, and the low cost of recorded music; high-paying dance work in NYC is even more competitive than music work; and most importantly, NYC dance companies lose money all season, except for their tours outside the City (why do you think the Great Lakes cities get so many NYC companies on tour?).

What lessons can we draw from these examples? First, there are subdivisions in the arts community, depending on art form, that reward different economic incentives (musicians and dancers need regular live performances to pay the bills, but less performance-oriented arts, like painting and filmmaking, can ship their products elsewhere for sale and exhibition), so that the 'unified arts community' touted by local pundits in the recent Convention Center debate is more fractured than some think. Second, there are some areas in which Cleveland will never be nationally competitive; LA will always have the edge in filmmaking, despite the efforts of cities like Baltimore and Vancouver to attract business; NYC will always have more and higher-paying music studio work, even though Nashville and LA have been trying for decades.

Third, and most important, performing artists are drawn to Ohio for non-economic reasons: family, culture, and education. Some of Cleveland's best young players, like the players in the Up Ensemble, and the youngest sidemen in Ernie Krivda's big band and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, all live in Cleveland because of the schools, culture, and family roots in the area. They survive in Cleveland because they're talented and hardworking, but they choose Cleveland because it's a pleasant, stimulating, and grounded place to live and work. Focusing on those unquantifiable attributes is difficult, especially for politicians and business leaders who are used to measuring progress in statistical terms, but it's what will keep Cleveland fertile and viable as the artistic capital of the Great Lakes for the next generation of artists and art-friendly citizens. From Cool Cleveland cultural commentator George Carr GCARR@gsfn.com

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