Pecha Kucha

Showing up on a whim from a new friend’s suggestion after a long bike ride and a couple beers, I went for the first time to a Pecha Kucha last Friday.
PK are held in 3 – 4 times in each city and each year and consist of 20 brief presentations from local artists, inventors, and thinkers about their ideas and projects [topics ranged from local photography, book cover designs, green architecture, and stories from touring with a Pakistani rock band]. Intellectually stimulating, it’s like a cool college lecture although none of the talks blew my mind. The talks (I arrived shortly before the intermission), each occurred one at a time, were hit and miss, which is comforting because each talk is limited to 400 seconds each [6 minutes, 40 seconds] and 20 images.
The last Pecha Kucha [a week ago from today] was at the Courtyard at the Hoyt Block. The space resembles open-​air urban architectural ruins with rising concrete steps [utilized as seats here] one side, ivy on one on the brick walls, and is surrounded by 4 brick buildings off of West 6^th. Unless you work in one of the surrounding buildings, this parcel of land is an unknown gem and should sorely be used again. (Private parties? a projector screen to show movies? A beer garden ?!) The sunset was amazing here. Pecha Kuchas are held at different venues and any future Pecha Kucha event space will probably pail in comparison to this one.
The event was also very nicely priced, a $ 2 suggested donation, [hell yes!] plus drinks [beer, wine, and non-​alcoholic ones] with suggested donations at $ 3 or less. I was surprised to find many in the audience dressed to the nines for the event.
Pecha Kucha is an event that perfectly blends intellectual stimulation [which, since leaving college, I sorely miss] in a social atmosphere (done by selling drinks, keeping a time limit for each talk, and putting this on a Friday night) all at an affordable price !
I’m excited to see more events like this in Cleveland and I’ll be marking down to go to the next one (no date set, although probably will be in the next couple months).