A team of developers, city officials and UC administrators have big things in mind for Uptown. This week in Soapbox, key members of this visionary group speak to the motivations, aspirations and potential payoffs for the mega-development they are spearheading.
You'll see Jerry Springer the day he was elected mayor. And Pete Rose the day he was banned from baseball. And Morgana the Kissing Bandit, best known for her on-field displays of affection, walking through downtown Cincinnati wearing just a bikini and flanked by security guards.In 33 years of work as a photographer for The Cincinnati Post, Melvin Grier captured images with heart and soul. Beginning April 30, one of the largest collections of his work, "White People: A Retrospective" will be exhibited at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center. Grier, who has often found himself the only black man in the room at Greater Cincinnati events, says the show offers a new perspective on his body of award-winning work. "Through the years we have seen various studies of black people done by white people, but to my knowledge never the reverse," says Grier, 69, whose photos have been published in Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, US, Ebony, Jet and Advertising Age. Of the more than 60 images in the show, Grier has a hard time picking favorites. Among the celebrities and politicians, though, he says one of a woman at the Butler County Fair wearing a political statement written on a reconstructed box on her head stands out in his memory. "It's kind of like having a protest sign attached to your head," he says. "It was great because it was something different."Grier's ability to photograph "something different" in a wide range of situations has helped him garner awards from the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and United Press International. He was the 2004 Robert Duncanson Artist In Residence at the Taft Museum and has had his work displayed at the Arts Consortium of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Art Museum, among other venues.While this exhibit, and a companion narrative by award-winning author and journalist Kathy Y. Wilson, address race and the politics of being seen, for Grier, each image reflects his passion for his work. Behind the lens, his focus has always been clear. "The only thing I ever thought about was the photograph," he says.Do Good:• Get a sneak peek. Visit Melvin Grier's website for more information about the Cincinnati photographer and his work. • Support the show and the Kennedy Heights Arts Center. Make a donation or volunteer for one of the center's many programs.• See 'White People.' The show runs from April 30 through June 4, 2011.By Elissa YanceyPhoto courtesy of Melvin Grier
When Marsie Hall Newbold visited the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired offices for work, she felt a familiar tug. Within weeks, she had signed up to take a pronunciation test and revisit a volunteer effort from her past: reading the newspaper aloud to those with visual impairment."I like the people that we serve as volunteers," she says. "You tend to get to know the people you are reading for. The CABVI is a big family."As the CABVI celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, Newbold joins with other volunteers and members of the community whose lives have been touched by the Walnut Hills-based non-profit. Since its beginnings as a show where adult blind men made brooms and mops, CABVI has provided services to more than 100,000 people. CABVI's programs range from helping parents whose children have visual impairments learn how to cope and thrive to adaptive computer skills training to manufacturing items for the visually impaired. Newbold's role reading newspapers through a telephone voicemail system, once part of a separate Radio Reading Service, has been part of CABVI since 1998. In the last year alone, CABVI increased its annual service load by 55 percent. Thousands more people of all ages are expected to face vision impairments in the year ahead, along with the resulting problems with transportation, employment and regular access to information.Providing access to news and local stories gives the sweet-voiced Newbold renewed inspiration as well as satisfaction. "I'm excited about doing it again," she says.Do Good:• Read out loud, make a friend. CABVI's current reading needs include both on-air and in-person positions.• Make a Facebook friend. Check out what the non-profit is doing whenever you update your status.• Join the 100th birthday party on Fountain Square. On May 4, 2011, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., CABVI celebrates its centennial with music from the Clark Montessori Steel Drum Band and the Ohio State School for the Blind Marching Band. By Elissa Yancey
Michael J. Sharp sat at the back of the college classroom, contemplating sticking a pencil through his eye. He knew his students were smart, but their speeches in this introductory public speaking course were, well, boring.On and on they droned, and the more he listened, the more Sharp wondered: "What would happen if students in college public speaking courses started making speeches that actually mattered?"That's when Sharp, a professor at the University of Cincinnati and the director of the new Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, decided to make his class a new kind of educational experience. Instead of having students read theory and make speeches about their lives, he would have them read theory and listen to representatives from local non-profits talk about their work in the community. He would assign student groups to create presentations about the non-profits, to design an event to raise awareness and maybe even funds. And he would have them execute them all as part of their class."The idea is to have students use what they are learning to enact change in their world," says Sharp, who is also a doctoral student in the college's College of Education Criminal Justice and Human Services. "The response has been tremendous."All across the region, Sharp has built a reputation as an expert facilitator, teacher and listener. He recruits representatives from non-profits to pair them not only with his own classes, but with hundreds of other classes across the university. He has overseen the growth of Service Learning at UC by hundreds of percentage points."I see Service Learning as a triangle in which the three sides represent the community, the faculty and the students," he says. "Service Learning connects the three, with all parties teaching and learning through the process."Full disclosure: As a Journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati, I teach a range of Service Learning courses and serve on the Service Learning Advisory Council. Do Good:• Watch the video. Learn more about Service Learning by hearing what its practitioners have to say.• Make a connection. Find resources and great stories.• Facebook it. See if your non-profit might benefit from the expertise of UC's faculty and students. By Elissa Yancey
At the Cincinnati Observatory Center in Mt. Lookout, you can see the oldest professional telescope in the country any day. But March 26 offers an opportunity to see rare images, some of which no one has glimpsed for more than 100 years."Through the Looking Glass," an old-fashioned slide show presented via a period projector, offers a look back in time to earlier night skies, telescope construction, humor and history. The glass plates have weathered decades - some show key figures of the observatory's past while others reflect events long gone by, including Halley's Comet.It's a good excuse to visit the observatory, known nationally at the birthplace of astronomy, and its two historic buildings. The main building, an 1873 Samuel Hannaford design, houses the newer 16-inch Clark telescope. The smaller building dates from 1904 and holds the older 11-inch Merz and Mahler telescope. The smaller building's cone-shaped dome is part of a room specially designed for comet-hunting.Do Good:• Reserve your spot for the slide show. Shows are scheduled for Sat., March 26 at 7 and 8:30 p.m., and Mon., March 28 at 7 p.m., with an additional show possible if demand is great. Call Dean Regas, 513-321-5186, to reserve your seats.• Plan a visit. Whether you stop in during the day to see the sun or on a public tour night, you're likely to discover something new and interesting at the Cincinnati Observatory Center. • Keep the observatory strong. Every donation helps keep entrance costs low and maintenance levels high.By Elissa YanceyPhoto courtesy Cincinnati Observatory Center
Just in time for the warm spring weather, a new pop up shop on Main Street will bring the wares of eleven artists and designers into the Final Friday mix.The PopShop Group, founded by three local women, is taking over the space at 1301 Main Street and filling it with locally designed clothing, accessories, books and home goods displayed in a terrain constructed from cardboard and brightly-colored duct tape. The Final Friday PopShop will also have do-it-yourself stations with ready-made designs that gallery walkers can use to make their own goods - like a purse or backpack - from recycled materials.One of the shop's organizers, Tamia Stinson, said the shop intends to bring exposure to Cincinnati's artist-entrepreneurs, and let them test the downtown/Over-the-Rhine market."Oftentimes we come across people who are interested in opening their own business, and obviously Main Street is one of the more creative areas of the city," Stinson said. "So it's a really good opportunity for people who are exploring doing something bigger for themselves to get a good idea of what shoppers might expect, and what it would take to open a storefront down here."Stinson's two partners in the project are Jessie Cundiff, a ceramicist who is a partner at MUD on Main, and Catherine Richards, art director and program manager of the Future Blooms program. Stinson said the three first met through the Merchants on Main group, which promotes commerce in the Main Street District of Over-the-Rhine. Stinson said they hope to hold the PopShops every month from Spring through Fall.This week's PopShop will feature goods by a number of local designers, including clothes from the Brush Factory, books by Katie Louvre and jewelry from Hark and Hark. Other vendors include Carla Rabbit, Saint Lexi, Katie Swartz, Dulcet Design, The Sarah Center and the 4th Street Boutique.The Sarah Center is a program at St. Francis Seraph that supports women who make their own jewelry and clothing, and provides a venue in which they can sell them. The 4th Street Boutique is a high-end thrift and vintage shop that funds Dress for Success, a program that provides interview attire for low income women who are seeking better employment.The Final Friday PopShop opens Friday from 5 to 10 p.m. with music and "treats" and will also be open Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. During Saturday's hours the shop will become a studio, with vendors demonstrating their work on-site. From noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday the 4th Street Boutique will hold a trunk show to benefit Dress for Success.Writer: Henry Sweets
Like any successful metro area, Greater Cincinnati has a strong and growing international community making a mark on local culture, business and education.Now the Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council has launched a website to link those organizations, and their work. The site, "Global Cincinnati: Gateway to the World" aims to offer a one-stop shop for the region's international and interethnic organizations, as well as to give them wider exposure throughout the community. "Globalcincinnati.org is a way for any citizen in Cincinnati to get in touch with global resources and engage in global forums to improve their business, coursework, or career," said GCWAC Executive Director Erika Dockery. "Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council is the center of excellence for international education and citizen diplomacy in the Tri-state."The site includes links to foreign chambers of commerce, businesses and trade associations as well as non-profit and educational organizations. There's also a section listing local experts with knowledge of specific fields, like history or language, along with their contact information. They can be reached for media interviews or speaking engagements.Perhaps the most dynamic portion of the site is the events calendar which will be constantly updated with a wide variety of international educational, cultural and business events across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.The Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council is a longstanding, non-partisan organization founded in 1923 to build "global understanding and promotes international awareness through education, information and exchange of people and ideas."The site is just part of the council's web outreach. You can also follow the organization on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Greater Cincinnati World Affairs CouncilYou can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites
American Impressionists didn't have to travel to Europe to find scenes worthy of their loose brushwork. Some followed the masters of the form and visited Giverny and Barcelona. But Lewis Henry Meakin found inspiration in Cincinnati's Mt. Auburn.One of his paintings, Mt. Auburn Above Hunt Street, Cincinnati, is part of a unique supplementary show currently on display at the Taft Museum of Art downtown, American Impressionism from Cincinnati Collections.A supplement of sorts to the museum's featured traveling exhibition, American Impressionists in the Garden, the show of pieces borrowed from local collections reinforces the notion that great works of art can be integral parts of daily living. Collectors from around the region, from Northern Kentucky to Hyde Park, lent pieces for the exhibit. The American Impressionists in the Garden exhibit features 40 works by artists including John Singer Sargeant. The show from Cincinnati collections not only features the Mt. Auburn piece, but also works by Paul Ashbrook and Dixie Selden. Together, the shows tell the story of American artists inspired by European counterparts, but striving to make their own mark on the Impressionist style. Being showcased in the former home of Anna Sinton and Charles Phelps Taft makes the connection with local collectors even more appropriate."This is a nice reminder that there is really great art in people's houses," says Tricia Suit, marketing and communications manager. The show of works from Cincinnati collectors runs through April 24. The American Impressionists in the Garden show runs through May 15. Do Good:• Join the cause. The Taft Museum Facebook cause, that is. You can log on to give time, money or share the beauty of this local treasure with friends from around the world.• Get hip on YouTube. Learn more about the Taft and its programs via the museum's YouTube channel.• Make an origami bunny. Visit the Taft for free April 10, courtesy of ArtsWave, and enjoy a day of programming that includes an origami session from noon until 2 p.m.By Elissa YanceyImage courtesy of the Taft Museum of Art
When Larry Bennett isn't busy chairing UC's Fire Science and Emergency Management program, he has discovered another kind of "rescue" work that helps fire victims in a very personal way.Twice a month, Bennett takes his Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Bruce, to Shriners Burn Hospital for Children in Clifton, where patients and staff alike find joy in the gentle and loving companionship of a pet. "Some children are in wheelchairs, some are confined to beds that are rolled out of their rooms and some are walking," Bennett says. "They get to pet and hug the dogs. The children often share stories about their own pets."As a volunteer for Therapy Pets of Greater Cincinnati, Bennett takes his work with young patients to heart. He has even developed stickers with Bruce's smiling face that he leaves behind for patients and nurses who gladly keep a piece of their special visit close to their hearts.Founded in 2004, Therapy Pets of Greater Cincinnati trains volunteers and screens pets to visit acute, rehabilitation and palliative healthcare facilities, group homes and schools throughout the region. More than 200 volunteers regularly take their dogs, cats and birds to share unconditional love with those who need it most. Therapy pets visit people and patients of all ages as part of informal Animal-Assisted Activities or work toward specific goals with Animal-Assisted Therapy. Some dogs are specially trained to be part of the Reading Education and Assistance with Dogs (READ) program in schools and libraries. At Shriners and nursing facilities, in hospitals and schools, a friendly pet walking the halls can lighten even the darkest moments. But therapy with pets is about more than feeling good in the moment. Scientific researchincludes both anecdotal evidence and full-scale studies that show pet therapy works. For example, it can lengthen children's attention spans, increase their physical activities and even improve their communication skills. For Bennett and other therapy pet owners, though, the therapeutic benefits flow both ways. Do Good:• Be part of the team. Find out how you and your pet can become approved pet therapy teams.• Get inspired. Brighten your day by reading testimonials from pet therapy teams. • Check with the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to find out about the next Pages and Paws program.By Elissa Yancey
It's been a busy year at the new Erich Kunzel Center for Arts Education, the sparkling downtown campus of Cincinnati's School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Beyond their performances and demanding schedules, students have enjoyed another year of master classes, private lessons and special sessions with visiting and resident professionals thanks to the Mayerson Foundation's Artistic Excellence Fund. Fledgling dancers stretched and spun with the Cincinnati Ballet's internationally known choreographer-in-residence, Adam Hougland, whose contemporary reimagining of Igor Stravinsky's classic "The Firebird" will be performed March 18 and 19.In April, visual arts SCPA students will hear from Jimmy Baker, a Northside-based artist fresh from his first solo show at the Contemporary Arts Center.All year, young musicians have enjoyed private lessons and public performances with members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's renowned Brass Quintet."The purpose of the Fund is to help ensure that the arts education taking place in the new facility is as world-class as the facility itself," says Jeff Seibert, grants officer with the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation.Since it began in 2009, the Fund has introduced SCPA students to master classes with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, pianist Gabriela Montero and violist Nokothula Ngwenyama. Future collaborations are in the works with musicians in the MusicNow Festival and WCET. Seibert has been surprised both by the generosity of artists who enjoy sharing their talents with SCPA students and "the dramatic and nearly immediate impact on students' level of artistic excellence when they come into contact with extraordinary master artists."In the $72 million facility, the vision of learning by engaging performing professionals in the educational process, has always been part of the plan. "Although Erich (Kunzel) didn't live to see the fruition of his vision, his spirit is present whenever the talented SCPA students strive for the level of artistic excellence that embodied Erich's lifelong work," Seibert says.Do Good:• Get brassy. Attend a free concert at SCPA by the Mayerson Brass Ensemble-in-Residence, March 23, 7 p.m.• Catch a rising star. Mark your calendar for the 25th Anniversary Corbett-Mayerson Awards at SCPA, May 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., with a free performance following dinner and entertainment. Proceeds of the $50 dinner benefit the non-profit Friends of SCPA. Email Karen Dorn for more information.• Support your local artist. Attend an art show or a concert, buy an original painting, take piano lessons. Repay their generosity with your own. Need inspiration? Watch this!By Elissa YanceyPhoto of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg working with SCPA students courtesy of Scott Beseler.
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