Downtown

Downtown Cincinnati is the place to live, work, and play populated by restaurants, cafes, bars, arts and culture venues around every corner, plus a long-awaited and busy Kroger's that anchors recently-renovated Court Street Plaza. The downtown urban core is alive with programming, including music during the summer and ice skating in the winter, and features the largest living room 'television' in the region overlooking The Genius of Water at Fountain Square. Downtown has experienced dramatic expansion and population growth with residential developments, including condos and apartments in all price ranges, many of which boast scenic views of the hillsides and the river and offer unparalleled access to nightlife and recreation.

Engaging diverse communities at Kennedy Heights Arts Center

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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June 11, 2013

Ellen Muse-Lindeman, who has served as executive director of the Kennedy Heights Arts Center since 2008, says the work she does to help build community through the arts is the essence of why she loves the neighborhood in which she works and where she’s chosen to raise her family. Muse-Lindeman, who moved to Cincinnati in the ‘90s and now lives in Pleasant Ridge, lives within walking distance of the arts center and says she values her diverse and active neighbors. “The folks are really involved,” Muse-Lindeman says. And that’s evident through the center’s origin story. It was founded by residents who came together to save the historic Kennedy Mansion from demolition. They not only succeeded, but they turned it into an engaging enterprise for the community and others to enjoy. “That kind of spirit is the foundation of the arts center and still is a big part of what it’s about in terms of bringing people together,” Muse-Lindeman says. “Arts and culture build a stronger community and make a neighborhood a better place to live.” Each year, the KHAC engages the public in a variety of ways from exhibitions, classes, camps and even an annual artist-in-residence program. “We are really looking to not only present a wide range of media and different subject matter through our galleries, and to feature both regional artists and artists from outside of the region,” Muse-Lindeman says. “But in particular, we have a goal of presenting exhibits that create dialogue and that build connections between artists and communities.” The center’s current exhibition, Visible Voices, merges visual art with poetry. “We’ll be successful in this exhibit if we engage people in terms of not only experiencing the artwork, but also in connecting with one another,” Muse-Lindeman says. “That’s ultimately what we’re aiming to do, and to also really nurture that relationship between artists and their community and to provide opportunities to work and to encourage that ongoing collaboration.” Do Good: • View the current exhibition, Visible Voices, and attend an artist talk or poetry reading. • Donate to the Kennedy Heights Arts Center. • Volunteer at the center. 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.

LOC Card to replace the need for store loyalty cards

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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June 11, 2013

Today, it seems that every retailer has a loyalty card leading to wallets stuffed with disparate loyalty cards and the potential for confusion. Local startup LOC Enterprises hopes to replace the need for store loyalty cards with the launch of its LOC Card. The LOC Card is the first truly universal loyalty card that will not only allow consumers to stop carrying around handfuls of loyalty cards, but it will also allow them to manage all of their loyalty programs on one website. While shopping for his now 12-year-old son around Christmas 2011, LOC’s CEO and founder Jack Kennamer realized the hangups of loyalty cards. “I was standing in line at a sporting goods store, and I heard the cashier ask customer after customer if they had the store’s loyalty card,” Kennamer says. “Most people didn’t want one, but one lady decided to sign up for it, and I could see the guy behind her huffing and puffing while she filled out the registration form. And when the guy in front of me was asked if he had the store’s card, he held up his keychain and said ‘No room for you.’ I figured there had to be a better way.” After that experience, Kennamer spent hours researching loyalty cards and programs, and found that there wasn’t a “universal” loyalty card. “Consumers love to feel special and get free stuff and discounts, but it’s getting to the point where they have to work so hard to participate in loyalty programs,” he says. Kennamer’s company developed a 100-percent consumer-centric card that allows consumers to tailor how they want to engage with each retailer. For example, a consumer may want to interact with Kroger one way and Best Buy another, so they can pick and choose which retailers to provide with their email address. When a consumer signs up for the LOC Card, they’ll set up an account online, and anytime they go to a retailer that accepts the card, they swipe it once and they’re enrolled in that loyalty program. LOC’s website manages all of the loyalty programs for the consumer, so there’s only one email address and password instead of 100. LOC is working with the companies that handle the analytic side of loyalty programs to better service consumers. The company is also building relationships with individual merchants and getting great feedback about the LOC Card. The LOC Card isn’t just tailored to large businesses, though. “The problem small businesses have is they don’t stand a chance because they’re so far down the totem pole when it comes to loyalty,” says Kennamer. “With the LOC Card, you swipe your card at the retailer once and you’re signed up for their loyalty program. After that, it’s up to the consumer to come back, and the retailer can reach out and give the consumer personalized offers to start repeat behaviors.” The LOC Card isn’t available to consumers yet, but you can pre-register on LOC’s website. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

Relive the glory days with Legit Vintage

By Sean M. Peters

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Entrepreneurship

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June 11, 2013

Miami University graduate has dedicated most of his spare cash to financing his retail venture.

Vintage poster gallery moves to OTR

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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June 11, 2013

Jack Wood Gallery, a vintage poster gallery, recently moved to Over-the-Rhine from O’Bryonville. The gallery features vintage posters and graphic art from the late 19th century and early to mid-20th century. Jack Wood opened his gallery at 2039 Madison Road in O’Bryonville in Oct. 1998; in Feb. 2003, the gallery moved to the space next door. And exactly 10 years later, Wood found himself looking for a new location because his landlord decided to move her business into the gallery’s space. “When I first opened the gallery, I thought O’Bryonville was a good place for it,” Wood says. “But when I came to OTR, I knew it was the perfect place for it now.” From the middle of the late 1800s, Cincinnati was home to some of the most highly regarded printing companies in the world. The Strobridge plant used to be on Central Parkway, four blocks from Jack Wood Gallery’s new OTR home, which made it a perfect location for Wood's one-man operation. “The latter half of the 19th century was a significant time for the Cincinnati poster industry,” Wood says. “The neighborhood was alive, and 50,000 people lived in a 15-block area in OTR. Now, we’re getting the same kind of energy and activity here. It’s a real renaissance.” The new space, at 1413 Vine Street, has a similar layout to the old space, with two large windows that face the street and plenty of wall space inside to display posters. Jack Wood Gallery also offers archiving, photography, framing and matting and appraisal services. The gallery features a variety of prints for sale, including Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus images, the most significant collection of Strobridge posters in the United States, and World War posters from around the world. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

Cutting edge: Cincy Sharp keeps local chefs in fine form

By Andrew Welsh

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General

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June 11, 2013

Like a surgeon with his scapels, chef Chris Weist knows the value of a well-sharpened knife. His business, Cincy Sharp, caters to the city's top chefs as well as any food enthusiast in search of the perfect blade.

Good 100’s Josh McManus leads Cincinnati improvements

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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June 4, 2013

Josh McManus has been instrumental in implementing innovative programs and community improvement projects in Cincinnati, and he’s now considered a top 100 individual helping to move the world forward by doing, according to GOOD Magazine’s GOOD 100. McManus, who founded Little Things Labs, says he’s always been interested in the fusion of social good and economic productivity, so he leverages his two interests in ways that prompt community engagement and change. Over the past seven years, McManus, 35, has launched three place-based invention laboratories and more than 25 community improvement projects in Cincinnati, Detroit and Chattanooga, Tenn. SpringBoard Cincinnati, a nine-week crash course that helps participants take a dream or idea and, if feasible, bring it to fruition by starting up a business, and CoSign—the first project to move through Cincinnati’s lab Haile’s Kitchen—are two of the best-known McManus-inspired programs that have improved the city. “With CoSign, I think it gives an entirely new imagination of what signage in the public realm can be,” McManus says. “And it also has a direct benefit to the businesses in that they’re much more visible now.” CoSign paired local artists and signmakers with small businesses in Northside to bolster economic activity, and it’s these types of engagements that McManus says are necessary in order for individuals to keep up with industry and technology. “We’re not evolving as quickly as technology and manufacturing have, so I think we’re due a tremendous social revolution,” McManus says. “And in order to do that, you have to have these places where you experiment and try new things and you’re unafraid to fail, so the need for these laboratories comes from this new revolution I think we’re set for.” Do Good: • Like Little Things Labs on Facebook. • Apply with SpringBoard Cincinnati if you have a business idea. • Like CoSign 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.

Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council shares cultural experiences

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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June 4, 2013

Through education and exchange programs, in addition to efforts to engage the public in cultural events, The Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council works to make region to be a successful global leader. “We always say it starts with a handshake and an exchange of ideas to open up a really good relationship for people,” says Katie Krafka, GCWAC manager of operations and education programs. “So the more other people know and the more that Cincinnati is global, the more we can function as an international city someday.” The organization has broadened its reach over the past few years, Krafka says, as it only reached about 500 students in 2011. But in 2012, it reached out to more than 2,000 students. In 2012, the organization launched Global Classrooms, in which international students living in the city went to elementary school classrooms to share their cultures with others. “It’s more than geography, government, religion—we go in with coloring pages, music, food—and we talk about other cultures,” Krafka says. “It’s really impactful because students can relate to another student.” Though Global Classrooms is aimed at a younger audience, the GCWAC reaches out to all age levels, including adults. But its most unique program, Krafka says, is Model APEC, which is similar to Model UN, but focuses instead on Asian Pacific countries. “No other Council does this in the country,” Krafka says. “It’s when student teams claim a country, and they research a topic like water rights, land use, trading or security, and they get together with other claimed economies in other schools and they debate and pass resolutions.” Krafka says the nonprofit’s vision is for everyone in the region to have at least one international experience in their lifetime, whether it’s through an educational program or discussion, eating international food or gaining an international relationship by hosting a visitor. “We want every person to have a global mindset of some sort and be able to think more critically about the world around them,” Krafka says. “Once people meet someone from a different country and they can relate to them, speak to them, get to know them just a little bit, it breaks down these stereotypes and different walls we might not even know we have built up, so when you hear about things happening in other countries, you feel a lot more connected and sympathetic.” Do Good: • Like the Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council on Facebook, and keep up with upcoming events. • Support the GCWAC, and donate. • Contact the GCWAC and volunteer to host an international visitor for dinner or a short visit. 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.

Embracing inventiveness, providing opportunity at Shark Eat Muffin

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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June 4, 2013

Starting her own theater company is something Catie O’Keefe says she’s always wanted to do. “There’s that internal drive where you want that control for what’s being put on, or you want to see new things being developed,” O’Keefe says. Though that drive is nothing new, O'Keefe's playwriting ventures didn’t begin until she found she was getting bored with the characters she played in her high school’s musicals. So, she wrote new characters, and, at the age of 16, started turning them into plays. From 2006-2010, when O’Keefe was living in London and pursuing a master’s degree in playwriting, she started formulating ideas for her future company. And when she moved to Cincinnati, she decided it was time to move forward with her vision and make something happen. That something is Shark Eat Muffin Theatre Company. “Cincinnati has a big theater scene, but it’s mainly well-established companies, and there’s some new companies doing some well-known works. I wanted to give a focus to new playwrights and make it a learning experience in a professional environment,” O’Keefe says. Shark Eat Muffin’s first production enabled a McAuley High School student—now graduated—and an older gentleman whom she says had been writing a while but who had missed opportunities to take her class at New Edgecliff Theatre, to present their work on stage for the first time. “It’s really difficult to fill the gap of you having a reading of your play, but then what happens?" she says. "How many readings do you have before it’s finally put on stage?” Shark Eat Muffin’s second production this season, The Space Between my Head and my Body, made its United States debut Thursday at the 2013 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. O’Keefe wrote the play about six years ago, and it opened in London, transferred to the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was then published by an American company in 2011. “We did a lot of workshops about identity and that feeling of finding yourself—what you look at might not be what someone else sees when they look at the same thing,” O’Keefe says. Bringing her play from Europe to the U.S. is the first step in creating a company that fulfills O’Keefe’s goal of international fluidity for Shark Eat Muffin. “We’re kind of starting the beginning of a project where we bring a couple of actors from London to perform in Ohio and move in that direction of connecting different cultures and different people from different places,” O’Keefe says. “Bringing them together to perform great theater is our ultimate goal.” Do Good: • Like Shark Eat Muffin Theatre Company on Facebook, and tell a friend. • Attend a showing of The Space Between my Head and my Body at the 2013 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. • Support Shark Eat Muffin by making a donation. 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.

Community-based arts involvement with PAR Projects

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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June 4, 2013

When Jonathan Sears was 16 or 17, he says he was introduced to his saving grace: the idea that he could make a living by doing what he loved. “I wasn’t the most well-behaved student growing up, but I was always in to art,” Sears says. “I was always drawing and getting into trouble that way.” When his mother introduced him to graphic design, he says his interest was piqued. And that’s what he now wants to do for others with Professional Artistic Research Projects, which he co-founded in 2010. “There’s only elementary schools in Northside—there’s no middle school or high school programming—so things are kind of wide open,” Sears says. “A lot of the budding adults really don’t have good resources to tap into that can help further their education, help further their creativity. So the idea is to teach practical arts training—we’ll delve into things like website building, blog maintaining—things of that nature that can maybe spark some interest in creative fields, but aren’t necessarily only painting classes or only drawing classes.” PAR Projects consistently finds new and creative ways to engage the public in fine arts (for example, there is an “urban-sculpture-maze-of-corn-discovery-experience” in the works), with the ultimate goal being to secure funds for an Art and Education Center for Northside. Sears says the organization hopes to break ground, or at least have all funds secured by the end of the year. But construction will begin in September on a mobile facility, which will be part of the education center. It will function as a portable classroom and a gallery space. “For me, I see myself as one of those people who directly benefited from what I’m trying to give back,” Sears says. “There’s so many ways you can engage people with the arts—coordinating galleries and events or working in a museum—just different creative outlets we’re hoping to inspire.” Do Good: • Sign up for PAR Projects' email list. • Attend Brass Meets Bronze June 7-9 to support PAR Projects, the Constella Festival and the MainStrasse Village Association. • Support PAR Projects. 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.

Jobs available: Chill Shaved Ice expands

By Newsroom

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Development News

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June 4, 2013

Alia Ali’s business venture, Chill Shaved Ice Bar, began in June 2011 at Findlay Market. Her shaved ice stands out among the rest because the syrups are all natural. “I’ve always been in business,” says Ali. “I flipped cars in undergrad and imported jewelry after I graduated. I’m interested in health and wellness, and decided to marry business and healthy with Chill.” In order to expand her business, Ali looked at local organizations that offer business support to entrepreneurs. She was one of 10 finalists in Bad Girl Ventures last fall. And in November, she participated in business classes at Xavier, and then applied to Xavier X-Lab, which pairs businesses with MBA students. That session just wrapped up, but Ali plans to participate in the summer session as well. “I hope Chill continues to show people that natural and delicious can be in the same sentence,” says Ali. As of May 23, Chill added to its location options with a Smart car, more like a food car than a food truck, that currently sits outside Kenwood Towne Center's food court entrance, near Forever 21. This makes Ali's second year with a cart outside the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory. The expansion means that Chill is currently hiring. If you’re interested, contact Ali via Facebook or Twitter (@ChillShavedIceBar), or email her at chillshavedice@gmail.com or give her a call at 513-602-1697. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter