The Folks Behind the Scenes
MEET THE INGENUITY TEAM
Executive Artistic Director
emily appelbaum
Emily joined Ingenuity in 2015, after returning to Cleveland from the Bay Area where she helped make places awesome through collaborative design, large-scale public art, earthshaking events, and outreach to underserved communities.
She has a degree in Architecture and Urban Studies from Yale, and she has a passion for creative place-making through artist involvement. She serves as Art Director for Brite Cleveland, and worked previously with LAND studio, City Architecture and Westlake Reed Leskosky (Cleveland); and (in San Francisco) American Steel Studios, the Box Shop and the late, great San Francisco Bay Guardian. She has been instrumental in visioning and bringing the Hamilton Collaborative to life.
Marketing & Development Manager
EMMA MORRIS
Emma is a Chicago-area native turned Clevelander after graduating from Baldwin Wallace University in May 2022 with a B.A. in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship. She joined Ingenuity in June 2022 with experience in marketing, social media strategy, and arts administration.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, Zumba, and spending time with her cats, Lemon, Larry, and Lady.
Programming & Sustainability Manager
russa wenzel
Russa is a Cleveland native who has spent the last decade overseeing all kinds of events within our city! With a strong passion for inclusive spaces and community engagement Russa first came to Ingenuity in 2018 as a Volunteer Coordinator, her role has since grown to Programming and Sustainability Manager- helping to grow Ingenuity's programming, Ingeneers and annual festival.
In her free time she enjoys kayaking and exploring the outdoors.
Site Coordinator
Arron Bound
Arron Bound is an Ohio City native, local artist, photographer and builder working in Cleveland. He joined the Ingenuity team in 2024 and works to support IngenuityLabs infrastructure, programming, and more.