Branding + Design : For Good

Ben Eilerman says he realized his love of architecture during his adolescent years at Covington Catholic High School. 

As a professional in the field at Hub+Weber, he has the opportunity to engage in educational outreach with other students who have that same appreciation for art at the same age he did.

Hub+Weber’s latest venture, which not only engaged students in artmaking but also gave them real-world experience, involved Holmes High School’s graffiti club and visual communications class. 

Located in Covington since the firm’s founding nearly 40 years ago, Hub+Weber relocated for the first time last year. Though it maintained its roots in the area, the firm moved from its old home on Greenup Street to the city’s former train station on Pike Street. 

“Behind it are the old passenger stairs up to an elevated rail line, and that area is largely abandoned,” Eilerman says. “[It had] that kind of urban decaying aesthetic to it that we were drawn to, and we wanted to use that space and address it from our standpoint, and then also to start to make the city aware of it.” 

So Hub+Weber reached out to the Center for Great Neighborhoods, who put the firm in touch with Donny Roundtree, the visual communications teacher at Holmes. 

“We talked to him and saw that this was a great opportunity to bring his students down and do a real-life project and build it into something bigger, as far as his curriculum goes,” Eilerman says. 

So the two joined forces to provide students with the opportunity to create an eight-foot by 16-foot graffiti art mural. 

“The students explored different techniques so each of the panels read as an individual panel, and as it draws into the center, it starts to be defined more as a singular mural,” Eilerman says. “It has the background of the Covington skyline across the back, and then it has two trains coming out of the center from a tunnel with the word ‘Pike’ in the middle.” 

Eilerman says the area surrounding Pike has undergone a renaissance over the past few years, so the firm wanted to find a way to contribute by livening up the area while also reaching out to a local school district. 

The mural is currently on display inside the building, and a week ago, the students showed off their work at a gallery opening hosted by Hub+Weber. They received feedback from local designers who gave advice about what it means to “take the arts into a profession,” Eilerman says. 

This month, the mural will inhabit its permanent home—below the underpass where it will be visible from the sidewalk and street for all to see. 

“They spent about six months or so on this,” Eilerman says. “We really acted as a client—they brought the sketches and they talked about what their vision was, and we talked about what ours was, and they had to mesh that. They had to provide a proposal for their work—and I think it was a big benefit to the students.” 

Do Good: 

• Support the arts in your local school district. 

• Support Holmes High School's Nordheim Gallery.

• Like Hub+Weber on Facebook. 

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

It only took Tom Callinan a few months to realize how much he missed the community and connections he had built in Cincinnati. 

Callinan—who served as editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer for eight years and then as the McMicken Professor of Journalism at the University of Cincinnati’s journalism program—tried to retire, but the lifestyle just didn’t work out. He traveled to his home in Arizona with the intention of finally taking a break from his long-time career as a communicator. He took up golfing to occupy his time, but he says it simply wasn’t rewarding. 

“I just woke up one morning and thought, ‘I love Cincinnati,’” says Callinan. “One of the gifts of being the editor of the paper is you get to know a lot of people. So connections are currency, and I know people, so what can I do to put that to good use?” 

So Callinan returned to Cincinnati and founded Charitable Words, an organization that functions as an intern-placement program, which helps students gain real-world job experience as they put their skills to use at small nonprofits in the community. Then they, too, can better fulfill their missions and strengthen their messages. 

“What I see in the nonprofit world is there’s such a need, but the audience is so fragmented—you can’t just get a story in the paper, and Twitter and Facebook have become noise, so communication’s really essential,” Callinan says. 

One of Charitable Words’ most recent matchups, and the one that Callinan is most proud of, is the pairing of Charitable Words Scholar Tia Garcia, a UC student who works as the multimedia editor at The News Record, with Melodic Connections, a local nonprofit that provides music therapy to students with special needs. 

“They have this wonderful program—not a lot of people know about it—and what a wonderful story to tell," Callinan says. “It’s just an amazing matchup to me because it’s small enough that she will make a huge difference, and I just love it. I’m not sure there is another internship program that thinks that way.” 

Callinan’s aim is to turn Charitable Words Scholars into a community—a family—that will function as a microcosm of what he, and others from outside the Cincinnati area, view as the makeup of this city. 

“I moved here from Phoenix, and the term I use is, ‘That was a crowd, not a community,’” says Callinan. “A lot of people doesn’t make a community, and here, it’s amazing. Every place I go, I tend to know someone. It’s like a small town, but it’s not. It’s a metropolitan area.” 

At workshops and presentations across the country, Callinan says Cincinnati is recognized as a “really special place,” with a model that other cities look to replicate, for the purpose of achieving social change through collective action. 

“It really strikes me as I travel around," Callinan says. "There’s the old cliché that people in Cincinnati don’t appreciate how good they have it; they’ve got inferiority complexes and whatnot, but people who move here are astonished at how wonderful the city is and that anyone would think it’s not a world-class city."

There are currently six Charitable Words Scholars, but the vision is that there will be hundreds. In the coming months, Callinan will form an advisory board with professionals from a variety of industries who can serve as mentors to interns so they can better achieve nonprofits’ missions; and Charitable Words will become much more than an internship-placement program that serves community organizations. 

“What I’d like to do is become a family,” Callinan says. “We’d have an annual service day; maybe we’d have a party. These Charitable Words Scholars would stay together over the course of time, network as friends and continue to make a difference. That’s my wish for it.” 

Do Good: 

• Connect with Charitable Words by liking and sharing its Facebook page.

• Contact Charitable Words if you're seeking an internship and have a passion for humanitarian efforts.

• Reach out to the organization if you would like to support an intern in his or her placement.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

In 1995, a small group of retired business executives came together with the intent of giving back to their community by investing their time and talents in work that would assist nonprofits. Now, nearly 18 years later, Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati is the recipient of an $85,000 award that will help more than 130 volunteers provide low-cost, high-quality strategic thinking, planning, training and coaching to other nonprofits in need. 

The recent funding will help the ESCC implement its Community Benefit Business Model, which, according to Andy McCreanor, executive director and CEO of the organization, is a model that has essentially always existed within the nonprofit, but has now been refined and strengthened. The model helps nonprofits maximize results so that they may receive additional funding to better fulfill their missions, which ultimately works to improve the communities they serve.

“It enables investors to get more out of the nonprofits that they’re investing in, and secondly, it helps the nonprofits because we’re affordable," says McCreanor. "We’re merely a vehicle so that the community gets the benefit that they’re trying to get."

The ESCC has worked on long-term projects with more than 500 nonprofits in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana since 1995, including most recently the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. ESCC also offers a 10-month program at its Nonprofit Leadership Institute each year; and at its culmination in June, more than 100 nonprofit leaders from Cincinnati will have graduated. 

McCreanor says that because of the recent economic downturn, nonprofits have suffered and organizations are reevaluating and assessing their goals and missions.

“We’re here to help,” he says. “If you’re struggling out there, it really doesn’t cost anything to talk about what you’re dealing with, and if in fact there is a way for us to help, it’s going to be done at a very low cost, so it’s kind of the best of all worlds.” 

Do Good:
• Sign up to attend classes at the Nonprofit Leadership Institute.

• Volunteer your business skills and experience to serve other nonprofits.

• Reach out to the ESCC if you are a nonprofit that could benefit from its services.

By Brittany York 

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Jim Guthrie and his wife Deanna Heil have lived in Newport for about 20 years. The dynamic duo of architects met while studying at UC’s DAAP. While they planned a life far west of the town of their alma mater, a poor job economy left them little choice but to bloom where they were planted.

Now Guthrie, who works for Hub + Weber Architects, and Heil, who started City Studios Architecture in OTR, are in their second home and raising three kids, aged 16 to 10. Guthrie took over as chair of Art Off Pike this year. In anticipation of this year's festival Sept. 30, Soapbox asked him to share his thoughts about the event and its latest incarnation.

Q: How did you get interested in Art Off Pike in Covington--I mean, you're a Newport guy, right?

A. I attended AOP a few years ago for the first time. The second time I participated as an artist—I dabble as an inner-demon catharsis.

I volunteered on the committee last year. And this year, I was thrust into the Chair position because I stood still when someone asked, "Who wants to be Chair?" Everyone else took one step backwards. 

Q: Explain what it is for readers who haven't experienced it before. 

A: Art Off Pike is an urban street festival celebrating artists and downtown Covington. It was created by the Westside Action Coalition (a neighborhood coalition) eight years ago as an event (an ice cream social) capitalizing on local artists living and working in Covington and has grown from there.

This year, we'll have more than 70 artists displaying their wares for sale, between $10 to $400 generally.

We'll also have an area for kids art activities called "Picasso's Playground" which will be run by area arts organizations. You'll find coloring, water color, collage, doll making, bubbles, ice cube painting, hooping, finger painting and ceramics.

Q: What's new about the celebration this year?  

A.    This year there will be coffee!!! And lots of food. Both of which were painfully absent last year. We've signed up Deeper Roots Coffee, C'est Cheese, Cafe de Wheels, Lime, Yankee Doodle Pretzels and streetpops.

Q: What role have you played in the festival?

A: I'm the chair ... so I do everything that I can't get anyone else to do. But mostly organizing and occasionally begging. We have a great committee of folks - Natalie Bowers with the City of Covington, Jean St. Jean with My Nose Turns Red, Joan C. Lee (community leader), William Dickson with Haney, Chris Henry (community leader) and Chris Meyer.??

Q: Can you talk about the AOP posters a bit? 

A: The posters, and all the collateral material really, grew out of an effort to distinguish Art Off Pike from other art festivals. 

We wanted to recognize the urbanity of Covington instead of apologize for it. We wanted to recognize the beauty in the grit. So, we made an effort to make every piece of collateral material as authentic and real. 

We started out mailing "save the date" baggies to 100 of our best friends which contained hand stamped and numbered cards. We handed out business cards that were the same (stamped, signed and numbered). We walked around Pike and Seventh Streets in Covington (where the event is held) and took pictures of the cool things we noticed. We printed these images on corrugated cardboard. 

Each poster is individually spray painted, signed and numbered. There are eight copies of five versions for a total of 40 (41 actually).  These were distributed to the area businesses and supporters that love us. I'm particularly proud of the posters and have to thank William Dickson and his firm Haney for helping us out.??

Q: When was the first time you heard about/went to Art Off Pike? What was your impression? 

A: It was like a yard sale for artists. And there's a certain amount of cool to that. It wasn't pretentious. It was a community. We want to grow ... but we don't want to lose that.??

Q: Describe Covington's art scene and how Art Off Pike fits in with it.
 
A: Art and Culture are so important to cities - particularly the urban cores. You may have read recently that the Covington Arts District as a city designated zone no longer exists, but the arts initiative is absolutely alive ... just evolving, unrestricted by boundaries. Covington has recently been recognized by the governor's arts and cultural district certification.

Covington's Mayor and Commission fully support the arts both personally (with their wallets) and politically. It's a recognition that Arts and culture do impact the bottom line economy. Covington is unique in that it has a city supported and staffed Gallery at AEC, but also many other arts organizations including Baker Hunt, Carnegie, Behringer Crawford, Madison Theater, Madison Event Center, concerts at the Basillica, the Ascent, public sculpture; and private groups like Bldg Gallery who regularly bring in international artists for shows and public art projects.

AOP is the original arts event that Covington's Full Spectrum was based on. Capitalizing on all the artists - ceramists, painters, playwrights, musicians, singers, performers, living and working in Covington. 

?Q: Anything you think people should know about the art scene in Northern Kentucky that they don't know already? 

A: It's there. I think the different incarnations, designations and zones and the disintegration of those zoning designations can confuse people. I think it's not where it needs to be; not where it will be. It has to come from within, and there are some energetic people working on fostering the artist community and it's going to happen (inside Covington joke).??

Do Good:

• Show AOP some love on Facebook.

• Make a day of it. Attend the festival Sept. 30.

• Check out more Covington neighborhood action at the Center for Great Neighborhoods.
 
Compiled by Elissa Yancey
 Follow Elissa on Twitter

While you never get a second chance to make a first impression, sometimes you do get a second chance at funding an innovative project that could transform a community, beginning with its storefronts.

The CoSign project is just that. What started as a broader grant application to ArtPlace America for several city neighborhoods became more personal for Northsiders after the city-wide application went unfunded.

Undaunted, partners in Northside and the American Sign Museum, with funding from the Haile/US Bank Foundation, are moving ahead with the project.

What better way to draw shoppers to Northside’s eclectic streetscape than creative, coordinated signage?

As part of CoSign, local businesses, visual artists from across Cincinnati and professional sign fabricators will design and install a critical mass of new signage along Hamilton Avenue, with an expected launch date of Nov. 23, this year’s Black Friday.  

CoSign will fund most of the costs for commissioning, permitting, fabricating and installing the signage.  
Eric Avner, vice president and senior program manager with the Haile/US Bank Foundation, explains the appeal of supporting business/artist collaborations.  

“We wanted to do multiple things at once,” Avner says. “Help the sign museum, help local business districts gain vitality; and give the creative sector of Cincinnati more opportunities to make a living.”  

Northside’s business district and enthusiastic community support made it a logical pilot location.

As the primary grant recipient and fiscal sponsor, the American Sign Museum will provide content specialists by staffing two training workshops in August for artists and business owners. The project also pulls from the organizational talents of ArtWorks, which will help coordinate the artists and their work.

The museum will also assemble a judging panel to review and decide upon the best signage proposals from business/artist teams. The brand-new sign museum space at 1330 Monmouth Street will house the new signage before it is hung on Hamilton Avenue.  

Little Things Labs, a social/cultural innovation idea laboratory that problem-solves with municipalities to create better places to live and work, is assisting the Haile Foundation with CoSign’s development.  

Josh McManus, lead inventor at the lab, sees the Sign Museum as an integral partner.

“Our hope is not just 10 signs but a newfound attention to the benefits of great signage,” McManus says. “That’s why the American Sign Museum is such a perfect partner to work with on this project.”

CoSign will be documented so other communities can replicate it and broadcast their own creativity and collaborative spirit through signage.  

Do Good:

• Look: For a call for artists to participate in this project; contact ArtWorks for more information.

• Visit: The American Sign Museum and enjoy its new space and interactive signage displays. 

• Like Northside on Facebook to keep up with the project and other activities in the neighborhood.

By Becky Johnson

Art is all around us, or so goes the mantra behind iSpyArt, a mobile app that turns Cincinnati into a virtual exhibit of all things beautiful and strange.

As the ArtsWave sampler continues, more and more event-goers can discover the power of this free app that lets iPhone and Android snap photos of art in their worlds, then upload them to a web gallery that the general public can see and share via Facebook, Twitter and even the giant screen on Fountain Square.

“We're looking for those moment of serendipitous art,” says Rebecca Bromels, director of communications with ArtsWave.  We get photos of architecture, desk doodles, everything. It really expands everyone’s idea of what art is and how it enlivens the space.”

ArtsWave keeps the gallery interesting by commissioning a new show, asking contributors to send in photos based a on theme. The theme for February is heart of Cincinnati. Every Tuesday, ArtsWave polls their favorites picks and runs them on the LED screen at Fountain Square.

“We’re trying to support all kinds of art in all kinds of places,” says Bromels. “It's really important for people to be aware of art and to be on the lookout for art in their community.”

The app has attracted attention. Appolicious, a national site, wrote about its initial release and CityBeat named iSpyArt "Best Arts App."

“People find it fun. It’s a good time,” says Bromels. “People are looking for a little bit of happiness and iSpyArt a way of experiencing that.”

Do Good:

• Download: Download the iSpyArt app on your iPhone or Android today and start making art.

• Donate: Supports ArtsWave by helping them fund art projects in Greater Cincinnati. Donate here.

• Share: Follow ArtsWave on Twitter and Facebook.

By Ryan McLendon

The Big Pig Gig is back – just in time for the World Choir Games this summer, Cincinnati will have a chance to share a special public art installation centered on the humble pig as an icon of the city’s heritage. Beginning in May and throughout the summer, visitors to “Porkopolis” and locals alike can delight in lovable, giant, colorful custom designed fiberglass pigs installed throughout downtown.

The Gig is an ArtWorks project in partnership with C-Change Class Six and promises to be a highlight to the summer of 2012. The last time Cincinnati got its pig on was in 2000 when more than 400 one-of-a-kind pig designs graced downtown streets. According to ArtWorks that installation brought an estimated $170 million to the local economy. Now that the Gig is back, look for the 2012 installation to please crowds and showcase the city to visitors from all over the world.

The Big Pig Gig is, of course, a tribute to Cincinnati’s history as a major center for hog packing in the 1800s. “The pig is an important part of Cincinnati’s history,” says Carol Buckhout, marketing and development for ArtWorks. “The first reaction people have to the pigs is to smile.” After the Gig, pigs continue to represent Cincinnati as a fun, friendly and exciting place to be.

The pigs will be displayed from Music Hall to Fountain Square – and everywhere in between – clustered around the World Choir Games. The installation is set for display throughout the summer, and there are plans to place some of the pigs along the route for The Flying Pig Marathon May 6. “People should expect a wonderful range of creativity and wit with the designs,” says Buckhout. “Some will take their inspiration from the countries represented at the World Choir Games.”

One of the best things about the Big Pig Gig is that everyone can participate. Whether you’re an artist, sponsor or admirer everyone will have the opportunity to become part of what was in 2000 one of the most successful public art installations in the nation, according to ArtWorks. Sponsors are still needed, and varying sponsorship levels are available depending on the level of support you can provide. In addition, ArtWorks can match sponsors with artists, allowing sponsors to choose from designs already submitted.

“The Big Pig Gig is an opportunity for Cincinnatians to ham it up, get creative and get involved in public art,” says Buckhout.

Do Good:

•    Sponsor an artist or school. ArtWorks can match sponsors with artists.

•    Design a pig. Artists have until January 23 to submit design proposals.

•    Spread the word.

•    Go see the pigs!

By Deidra Wiley Necco

Three University of Cincinnati Industrial Design students are empowering and educating students at Hughes High School through a footwear design studio as part of their senior thesis, the TREAD Project.

Charley Hudak, Vanessa Melendez, and Jince Kuruvilla, are fifth-year industrial design students in the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning and have been networking for nearly five years to bring TREAD Project to life.

The design studio was somewhat inspired by a program at Carnegie Mellon University, Sneakerology Course, which focuses on the culture and history of sneakers, not design.

In its first year as a footwear design studio, the TREAD Project became part of UC's ID curriculum thanks to the support of Dale Murray, associate professor and coordinator of Industrial Design, and Phyllis Borcherding, associate professor and coordinator of Fashion Design and Development. After the success of its initial year, the design team decided to share the project at the high school across the street from UC's Uptown campus.

The TREAD Project is a seven-week design student for 25 Hughes students who meet for three sessions per week. The last session each week features a footwear industry professional, including representatives from Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Jordan, Toms Shoes, Vans and more.

In classes, students learn how to design with markets in mind, solve design problems and creatively sketch their concepts of the perfect shoes, which they will present to a panel of experts on the last day of the studio, May 25.

"It gives them a different opportunity to realize their skill sets can be applied to any problem," Melendez says. "They're using different thinking skills to solve problems instead of memorization or standardized tests."

The project has particular significance at Hughes, where the dress code allows only black or white shoes. The students' shoe brands become a way for them to express their personalities.

While the studio teaches students about footwear design, it also inspires them to take more active roles in their lives, including getting to school every day, applying to college or landing a job after graduation.

"There are opportunities that not all of these students are aware of," Hudak says "Creative problem-solving goes beyond the education and design process."

Hudak and his partners, all of whom are graduating this June, hope to expand the curriculum into a working non-profit model that could be replicated nationwide.

Do Good:

• Support the Tread Project. Donate money or supplies so tread can continue to teach inner-city students.

• 'Like' Tread Project on Facebook.

• Get informed. Visit the Tread Project online to learn more about the progress and see cool pictures, too!


By Jayna Barker
Follow Jayna on Twitter @jaynabarker.
http://www.jaynabarker.com

Photo courtesy Tread Project