Conversations at
Studio 104A
The Alexander Westdale Forum Series
PART S I & II provided great learning opportunities to create an enriching and engaging experience. If you are interested in helping support the operations of future conversations, you can help make more conversations possible exploring diverse topics with proud and passionate Clevelanders. Contact Jason Toth to learn more about the roles you can play.
Let’s focus on bringing people together and having conversations. We must connect and engage with our neighbors, with eachother to see our shared humanity in one another.
I have the space, and I have ideas. I could use help with managing and execution the Alexander Westdale Foundation so Jason the artist can focus the core of his energy on being an artist.
CONTACT: JASON@JTOTH.ART
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The Great & The Crooked
Diving Into Cleveland’s waterfront, with Greg Deegan and John Perse of Teaching Cleveland
Series I - Part 2 of 3
The Great Lake Erie and The Crooked Cuyahoga are Cleveland’s greatest natural assets. Let’s talk about the vision that was and the vision we’re creating.
These evenings aren’t lectures or panels, they’re engaging conversations. Each session gathers a mix of historians, planners, artists, and community voices alongside everyday Clevelanders to wrestle with the questions that shape our city.
The series began in August with a near-capacity room, ages spanning from twenties to eighties, first-generation arrivals and families rooted here for over a century. What emerged was a dialogue both critical and hopeful, proof that people want more than soundbites; they want to think together about where Cleveland has been and where it’s headed.
Guided by Greg Deegan and John Perse of Teaching Cleveland, each talk blends historical insight with artwork that reimagines the familiar in vivid surreal color and composition, provoking questions, inspiring dialogue, and challenging us to think differently about our city and ourselves.
The visionaries behind Cleveland’s golden era were flawed, ambitious, and often ruthless, yet they left behind beauty and complexity that shaped generations. Together we will explore how those choices echo in our present and what it might mean to reclaim boldness without repeating their mistakes.
This is the start of an engaging conversation about creative thinking, civic imagination, and the role each of us plays in shaping what comes tomorrow.
The conversation begins here. Where it goes next is up to you.
About Teaching Cleveland
Teaching Cleveland is an educational nonprofit dedicated to connecting people with Cleveland’s history through storytelling, civic dialogue, and historical context. They help people understand where we have been so we can think more critically about where we are going.
Greg Deegan, Executive Director of Teaching Cleveland
John Perse, Research and Publishing AssociateConversation Two: The Great & The Crooked
September 2, 2025 | 5:30pm-7:30pm
The Great and The Crooked
📅 Wednesday, October 29, 2025
🕠 5:30–7:30 PM
📍 JToth Creative Studio | 78th Street Studios, Suite 104A
This second gathering turns to Cleveland’s lakefront — its history as landfill and industry, its role in civic pride, and its future as redevelopment accelerates. From the Browns stadium to Bedrock’s plans and Eagle Avenue Bridge, from preservation to progress, from mental health to everyday access, we’ll explore what it means to design our waterfront with intention.
Tickets: $15 general admission
Join the conversation. Buy tickets for the September talk on our Eventbrite page.
What to Expect
Active Participation: These evenings thrive on the mix of perspectives. Whether you speak or listen, your presence adds to the fabric of the conversation.
Framing Questions: Prompts shared in advance and at check-in to spark dialogue.
Creative Space: Each session ends with time to view the artwork in a new light, informed by the discussion.
Immersive Setting: The listening room opens with curated video and sound — an invitation to experience Cleveland differently.
Conversation at Studio 104A :
The Alexander Westdale Forum
I’ve always believed the best conversations aren’t the ones you expect, they’re the ones that challenge you, shift your perspective, and stay with you long after they end. That’s why I created The Alexander Westdale Forum.
Inspired by the salons of the past, this is a space for creative dialogue in my atelier at 78th Street Studios. It’s not a lecture. It’s not a panel. It’s an experience where history, art, philosophy and curiosity collide.
I wanted a space where people who enjoy meaningful conversation in pursuit of what is true about our shared experience, not what we think is right, can come together. Isn’t it about time?
— Jason Toth
Contact Jason Toth about The Alexander Westdale Forum.
If you have questions about the event, ideas for future series and interest in getting involved, or supporting the forum and its mission through contributions and/or grants. Fill out the form and we’ll be in contact with you shortly. Thank you!