Braids 2025 FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
Travel from Airport
Train:
You can take the Red Line Stokes / Windermere train from the Airport Station to the conference, departing at the Little Italy/University Circle stop. The previous stop is Cedar/University. From there it is a 20-minute walk to the dorms or you can order an uber or taxi.
Taxi:
A taxi from the airport will cost between $25 and $60.
https://unitedcabcle.com/index.html
Uber is also available: https://www.uber.com/global/en/r/airports/cle/pickup/ using the destination of 1623 E 115th St, Cleveland, OH for the dorms.
Checking in
Dorms:
Pick up your dorm cardkey at Wade Commons bldg. from 8:30am to midnight. There is a 15 min loading zone on street parking on 115th street, in front of The Village at 115, between houses 4 and 5 when you check in. The Wade Commons is on the opposite side of the street, accessible via a foot path.
When you check in, your name will be checked against the list provided.
Wade Commons
North Residential Village
11451 Juniper Rd, Cleveland, OH
Parking:
Pick up your pre-paid cardkey(s) also at Wade Commons building. Parking is approximately $30/week. Each lot requires a parking cardkey with $25 refundable deposit. If you wish to park and have not indicated that to the Braids 2025 team, please contact braids2025@outlook.com.
There is a parking garage for the dorms (lot 46) and another close to the classrooms (lot 29) giving you access to both Tinkham Veale and Thwing. The parking garage near the classrooms has restricted spaces, so we will limit parking here to people with mobility issues and day trippers. We will be emailing everyone who requested for parking on their registration a link to pay for parking online in advance of the event. Parking cannot be booked until after May 5.
Registration at the Conference:
Registration is on Sunday, from 4pm to 6pm in Tinkham Veale (TVUC), Senior Classroom Room on first floor near to the Information Desk. See building location details under Classroom section. At 6pm we will have a welcome meeting also in TVUC in Ballroom A.
There is some on street metered parking on Bellflower Road. If you have already received your parking keycard for Tinkham Veale you can park in Lot 29 Severance Garage under the building.
Registration includes picking up your goody bag, containing great stuff and more information, and your name badge, which is your admission ticket to the Botanical Garden and should be worn for classes, events and meals. If you cannot attend registration, please designate a friend/dormmate to pick up for you and let us know by sending an email to braids2025@outlook.com.
Dorms
We are in The Village at E 115th, Houses 6 and 7 (1623 E 115th St, Cleveland, OH), which are on the north end of The Village complex.
Access to the building, the dorm and your dorm room are all via cardkey. Please consider stashing your cardkey in your badge holder, so it is always handy.
The dorm rooms assigned for the conference will include the following items: bedspread/blanket, top and bottom sheets, pillow and pillowcase, bath towel, hand towel, washcloth, floor mat. The bathrooms have soap, but you may wish to pack other consumables such as shampoo, Kleenex, etc. There is a grocery store walking distance from the dorms where you can stock up on snacks and other necessities.
Each unit has a common room and kitchen with full-size refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, and microwave. There are no televisions or pots/cutlery or consumables such as dish soap, dish cloths or paper towels. These can be purchased at the Plum Market, 11473 Euclid Ave, which is walking distance from the dorms.
On the first floor of both dorms, there is a common room with a television and laundry room (free but bring HE laundry soap and dryer sheets) on the first floor of each dorm.
Use “Village at 115- House 6 and 7” in to navigate via google maps. There is a 15 min on street loading parking between Houses 6 and 7.
Dorm parking is in Lot 46. When in the garage, park at the farthest end from the entrance near the elevators. When you leave the parking garage, walk around the sports hall on your left to Houses 6 and 7.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is available throughout the campus through the “CaseGuest” network . This is an unencrypted open access wireless network and requires registration every 4 hours through a Web browser which requires you to agree to Acceptable Use Policy. It is internet service only.
Classrooms/Lectures
Workshops and lectures will be in 2 locations: Thwing and Tinkham Veale (TVUC). The two buildings are next door to each other. The information desk and notice board are on the first floor in TVUC.
Morning lectures are in the Thwing Ballroom on the 2nd floor in Thwing.
Thwing
11111 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH
Tinkham Veale University Center (TVUC)
11038 Bellflower Rd, Cleveland, OH
Both buildings are a 10 to 15-minute walk from the breakfast cafeteria or dorms. The campus green link bus also runs between the dorms and classrooms.
Equipment
Rental Equipment:
If you have requested rental equipment, this will be provided in the Senior Classroom, 1st Floor, TVUC. For classes on Monday and Tuesday, please see Beth Hardy on Sunday between 4 and 6pm. You need to pay $15 per day for the equipment and this should be paid in cash on the day. Return the equipment to Senior Classroom on Tuesday at 4pm.
For Thursday and Friday classes, please collect your equipment either between 8.00 and 8.30 on Thursday from the Senior Classroom or between 9.30 and 10.00 am. This equipment must be returned to the Senior Classroom on Friday at 4pm.
Your Equipment:
If you wish to bring your equipment to TVUC it can be stored in the Senior Classroom (where you register) until Monday morning. If you have indicated that you need help with transporting your equipment, we will contact you separately. There is no access to other classrooms until 8 am on Monday morning. Please make sure it is labelled so that you know which is your equipment.
On Monday night and Thursday night, equipment can be left in the classrooms which will be locked.
On Tuesday afternoon, if you do not wish to take your equipment back to the dorms, it can be stored in the Senior Classroom, 1st Floor TVUC until Thursday morning when it must be collected.
PLEASE NOTE: The Senior Classroom will be used for classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday so equipment must be removed promptly.
Events
We have a lot of things planned. See our schedule HERE:
The instructor exhibition is at the nearby Botanical Garden. Your event name badge gives you unlimited admission to the Botanical Garden during the conference. It is walking distance and accessible via the campus Green Link bus.
On Tuesday, there will an additional talk at 5:30 pm on the Cotsen Collection, Washington, DC https://museum.gwu.edu/cotsen-textile-traces-study-center . There are about a hundred textile objects at the Textile Museum and the Cotsen Center that have been identified as belonging to the Braid category. At the Cotsen Center, they recently identified a textile from Syria which had a tablet woven border. Many of our textiles require further analysis and identification of the braid methods used, and we welcome scholars and research.
This talk will be followed by Social Bingo. Each participant will receive one Bingo Card. Each square on the card will have a description, like “Someone who has never been to Cleveland before”. You need to find a person who fits the criteria and put their first name in the block to claim the square. When you have completed the card, return it to the organizer.
If you have any items of interest to others or techniques you would like to share, there is an opportunity for this at this time. This could be a show-and-tell, where you can share your work or some special technique that has proven useful in your work or demonstration/mini-workshop if there are others who would like to learn.
Wednesday is an open day. If confirmed in your registration, you might have a “behind the scenes tour” of the Cleveland Art Museum or transportation and entry to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. In addition, there are 3 tours for the Cleveland Art Museum, at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30pm, that require no sign-up, and will start from Art Gallery 234 inside the museum. Otherwise, there are a lot of things to do within walking distance of campus and the link is HERE:
On Monday and Thursday, there will be a Marketplace from 6.00pm to 8.00 pm and you will have the chance to purchase items from tutors, attendees and other vendors. Don’t forget to bring lots of cash because foreign tutors will not be able to take card payments.
On Friday evening we will hold a Silent Auction, an attendees’ exhibition and our closing banquet in the Thwing Ballroom.
For the Silent Auction, all the items are displayed with a bid sheet. Each bidder writes down the amount you are willing to pay with each bid increasing in amount and the final bidder winning. The Auction will end at 8.30 and then the winners of each item will be notified. If you have an item you would like to donate for the Silent Auction, please contact Bob Galivan: braiderBob@gmail.com.
Meals
For those staying in the dorms, meal service starts with breakfast on Monday and ends with Saturday breakfast. For day trippers, meals start with Monday lunch and end with Friday’s banquet dinner. For everyone, dinners (except for the Friday banquet) and Wednesday lunch is on your own.
Breakfast:
Breakfast will be cafeteria style (continental breakfast) in the in the Leutner Commons food hall from 7am to 8.15 am for anyone staying in the dorms. You need to display your name badge for entry. This is a 5-minute walk from the dorms.
1619 Mistletoe Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Lunch:
Lunch is available to all registered attendees and will be served in the Thwing Ballroom from 12:30 – 1:30pm on class days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday). There is no lunch provided on Wednesday.
Coffee/Tea service:
Coffee and tea will be available in the Thwing Ballroom at 11 to 11:30am for our morning break and again at 3 – 3:30pm for our afternoon break with cookies.
There are also food kiosks in TVUC and the Jolly Scholar a casual dining restaurant, in Thwing to get additional drinks/food for snacks and other meals. These facilities are at your expense.
Dinner:
Dinner each night except Friday’s banquet is on your own. The banquet is open for all attendees and will start at 6pm. It will offer with a cash bar, attendee exhibition, live band and silent auction. Dinner service will begin at 7pm.
We will have a separate document flyer with restaurant/grocery choices for your dinners. There are several options on campus and many just off campus within walking distance. The nearest supermarket is Plum Market Kitchen, at 11473 Euclid Ave. Their hours are Mon – Sat 8 am – 8 pm, Sunday 8am – 5 pm. They offer grocery items and prepared foods for takeout.
Meals on your own:
In your goody bag, we will provide a listing of restaurants near/on campus. Campus also provides restaurant advice: https://case.edu/dining/where-eat and https://case.cafebonappetit.com/
There is also a nearby grocery store (7-minute walk 0.3 miles) https://www.plummarket.com/cle/ :
Plum Market Kitchen
11473 Euclid Ave
Hours: Mon – Sat 8 am to 8 pm and Sunday 8 am – 5 pm (as of 4/26/25)
Arriving early/staying late
For those who registered for extra days prior and/or after the conference, follow the same check in procedures for the dorms and parking. No meals are provided outside of conference days.
Campus general info
Interactive map: https://webapps.case.edu/map/
We will be providing additional maps of classroom locations, etc. here:
Google Maps displays all our buildings, so you can use its maps to navigate to and within campus. If you are walking, make sure you select walking (instead of driving or public transportation) as the walking paths are often shorter and more pleasant than walking along the roads.
Public Transportation:
- There is a campus bus (free) that can transport you from the dorm to the classrooms and back. The Green Link will take you between the dorms and classrooms. It runs every 20 min from 6am to 6:30pm. To see a live tracker of the bus location: https://casewestern.transloc.com/routes and select the green link route. This route also provides access to the Botanical Gardens and the Cleveland Art Museum.
- The Health Line municipal bus route (fare is $2.50 per trip) has stops on Euclid across from Thwing, a 5 min walk (0.2mi) to Tinkham.
https://www.riderta.com/routes/healthline - Little Italy/University Circle Rapid Station (red line subway) is a 15 to 20-minute walk (0.5mi) to The Village at 115, House 6 and similar to Tinkham. This line connects to the airport also.
https://www.riderta.com/facilities/littleitalyuc
Parking:
Parking is available for those who indicated they wanted it when you registered. You will be able to order your parking permit after May 5, 2025. Your parking fee (approx. $30) will give you access to lots 46 and possibly 29. Each lot requires a unique cardkey which for a $25 refundable deposit. There are several lots open to visitors (without a cardkey) where you pay by the hour/day.
Lot S-46
- Lot S-46 (near dorms, for the DiSanto football field which is along the backside of the dorms) You MUST have a parking cardkey for this lot as there is NO visitor parking. It is a 4 min walk to our dorms.
Lot S-29
- Lot S-29 (near Tinkham Veale and Thwing, off East Blvd) for classroom access. This is the Severance Concert Hall parking garage. This parking garage also has a pay per use visitor (no cardkey) option for $14/day where you take a ticket upon entry and pay on exit. If you have a cardkey, DO NOT take a parking ticket. This is the garage for day trippers or those who are unable to walk between the dorm/cafeteria and our classrooms and needs to be booked in advance because spaces are restricted.
11172 East Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44106
Money:
At the conference, all transactions will be in US dollars unless both parties agree otherwise prior to the transaction to an alternate currency like British pounds.
Please bring cash for the marketplace and to pay for class materials. At the marketplace, US-based instructors/vendors may accept credit cards, but our international visitors will require cash.
Most payments on campus, restaurants and grocery stores will accept credit cards, cash and often apple or google pay.
On or near campus there are several ATMs:
- Tinkham Veale University Center
- Leutner Commons Dining Hall
- Euclid Avenue, next to Subway
There are several ATMs at the airport.
Keeping in touch:
There are various ways of keeping in touch with everyone and to check on any changes.
WhatsApp:
There will be a notification community set up to send out notifications, to include a daily schedule and any last-minute changes. Another optional chat community is available to allow participants to communicate with each other. These will be available in early May.
Facebook:
A Facebook group, Braids 2025 Attendees, has been set up for everyone attending. All are welcome to join and post photos during the conference of all activities
Information Board:
There will be an information board in TVUC, 1st Floor near the Information Desk with details of where workshops are being held and any other information.
Email:
You may ask questions not answered in the FAQ and website here: braids2025@outlook.com