Early next year, Cleveland will have a new mayor for the first time in 16 years.

Last month, 4 term mayor Frank Jackson announced that he will not be seeking re-election.

It no longer 'is what it is'. Big change is in the city's immediate future.

Even before the announcement of the incumbent stepping aside, we already had several challengers join the race, and that field has increased exponentially, with the possibility of others still to join.

Already announced are current and former members of Cleveland City Council, including Zack Reed and Kevin Kelly, established politicians including State Senator Sandra Williams, past candidate Landry Simmons, Jr. and up-and-comers like Ross DiBello and Justin Bibb.

And as of last evening a former mayor is back in the running, with the announcement from Dennis Kucinich that he's joining in.

As the summer heats up, so will the race . Additional candidates have until June 16th to file paperwork, and to turn in signatures from supporters.

Campaigning will intensify, and the candidates will make their case in likely more than one debate in the months to come.

The field will narrow to two after the nonpartisan September 14th primary. The general election is scheduled for November 2nd, 20 weeks from today, but until then - we have a lot of candidates - and a lot of issues to discuss.

On today's show, Senior Reporter Nick Castele joins us to discuss the early outlook for the Mayoral race.

Later in the program, we'll go behind the scenes of a new documentary from Ideastream Public Media that spotlights artist Roy Lichtenstein, his wife Isabel, and the time they spent in Northeast Ohio.

David C. Barnett and Mary Fecteau, who produced, wrote, filmed and edited the documentary, will discuss their work.

Avis Berman, who is part of The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation will also be with us to provide more context about the Cleveland connections to Lichtenstein.

Guests:
- Nick Castele, Senior Reporter, ideastream

- David C. Barnett, Senior Arts Reporter, Ideastream Public Media

- Mary Fecteau, Senior Producer, Ideastream Public Media

- Avis Berman, Writer and Historian, The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation