Month: May 2011

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Weekend wrapup

If ever there was a weekend to go out and celebrate Cincinnati’s urban core, this would be the one to do it. Lots of great events happening – check it out!

* Tune-in Park – May 6, 7pm-12am – Far-I-Rome Productions (of the OTR Skate) is presenting a big music event at Burnet Woods and Arlin’s. It’s $5 for access to both venues, and you can catch sets from The Minor Leagues, The Ohms, Buckra, Skeetones, Ford Theatre Reunion (Lexington, KY) and more.

Since Far-I-Rome does it big, we’ve also got art installations (Bunk, Ant Farm Collective and others), food vendors (Habaero, Cafe de Wheels, Toppers Pizza) and of course, beer (Moerlein, Mt. Carmel, Hudepohl). Local beer, food, tunes in an underutilized park space… a great combination!

* Crafty Supermarket – May 7, 11am-6pm – Clifton Cultural Arts Center – Crafty Supermarket is back for round four with over fifty local crafters from seven states with wares and goodies for sale. The first one hundred shoppers in the door get a swag bag. Food will be available from La Terza Coffee, Dojo Gelato, Sweet Peace Bakery, Picnic + Pantry and Fireside Pizza.

There will be screen printing demonstrations and local DJs from ProjectMill spinning tunes. This is the perfect opportunity to get Mom something local for her big day.

* Upstairs Downstairs Historic House Tour – May 7, 1pm-5pm – Cincinnati Preservation Association and Architects Plus will present the annual “Upstairs, Downstairs” Historic House Tour showcasing architecturally significant houses on Grand Vista Avenue in Pleasant Ridge. Advance reservations are required. Tickets are $25.00 for members and $30.00 for guests. Tourgoers will receive an informative program with historic profiles of each house. To make a reservation or receive an invitation, call 513-721-4506 or email to info@cincinnatipreservation.org.

* Ride With Confidence – May 7, 1pm-2pm- Park + Vine, 1202 Main Street
Learn the law of riding your bike on Ohio’s roadways and strategies for protecting your right to ride as a bicyclist from Steve Magas, Bike Lawyer, 1 p.m.

Steve’s presentation touches on the history of bicycling in America, several criminal cases where motorists were prosecuted for hitting cyclists, and hot button issues impacting cyclists today. Space is limited to 25. $5 suggested donation benefits Queen City Bike. RSVP bikelawyer@aol.com before May 6. For more information about Ohio’s Bike Laws and Steve’s bicycle law practice, visit www.OhioBikeLawyer.com.

Last but not least, don’t forget about the Fourth Anniversary party Saturday, May 7 at Below Zero!

Crafty Supermarket image via Mixie Studio

Categories
News Transportation

Local transit map exceeds expectations

In less than six months, Nate Wessel has helped bring change to Cincinnati’s transit system. After debuting his bus-riding basics map on UrbanCincy earlier this year, Wessel launched the project on crowdfunding site Kickstarter in April. People from Cincinnati and around the world responded to the design, and in 30 days the initiative had raised twice its initial goal of $1,000.

In five days, the Transit Guide raised over $1,200. By the deadline, over one hundred donors had given $2,105 to help print and distribute the pocket guide to bus riders all over Cincinnati.

Wessel also had an opportunity to interface with donors and solicit feedback on the map’s design during the fundraising period, and the updated version is better than ever. Described as a diagrammatic illustration of the Greater Cincinnati area’s transit system, the guide shows conceptually where, when, and how one can travel by bus.

It’s nearer to New York City’s Subway Map or that of London’s Tube in design than to the more literal and more difficult to read maps of most Midwestern cities like Akron or Cincinnati.

Like the New York map, his new map for Cincinnati highlights the important frequent and convenient transit lines over services that are infrequent, specialized or too complex to readily apprehend. Lines are spaced for easier reading, and line thickness indicates how long one can expect to wait for the next bus. The most frequent lines have buses that come every ten minutes in each direction for most of the day. The thinnest lines have service every 1 hour or slightly better.

The map does not include routes that only run during rush hours to serve commuters, since these have a relatively limited application. The back of the map will answer some common questions for people who have never been on the bus before, point out peculiarities of specific lines and highlight major routes and bus stops in Downtown.

The funds from the project will be used to print and distribute more than 30,000 pocket-sized copies of the map and several hundred posters to organizations and businesses in the area.

“I particularly hope to get maps in the hands of students, young professionals and recent immigrants and visitors to Cincinnati,” said Wessel. “As it is, people who are new to the city, or just unfamiliar with the transit system face an enormous hurdle in trying transit for the first time.”

He believes many in the city would utilize the bus service if they understood it better – where and when the buses go. The local transit authorities have tried, but not completely succeeded in making their maps user-friendly.

Wessel admits the current transit system is not perfect, but it is pretty good. “My goal is to allow people to see what good service exists, and where it can take them,” he explained. “This way users can better understand the system that serves them and to begin to see public transit as a realistic transportation option.”

Nate will be giving a talk at the Contemporary Arts Center on May 23rd to further explain the project.

Updated Cincinnati Transit Guide map provided for UrbanCincy by Nate Wessel.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

43rd Annual Duveneck Art Show displays local artist works

This Mother’s Day, over 50 local artists will be represented at the 43rd Duveneck Memorial Art Show in Covington. The free show will take place from 12pm to 5pm, Sunday at the George Rogers Clark Park on Riverside Drive, near the foot of the Roebling Suspension Bridge.

Live banjo music will be played throughout the afternoon, and food will be available through the Twin Bistro of Covington. Attendees can browse, listen to music, purchase art, and vote for their favorite artists.


2010 Duveneck Award winner Joe Stewart, with event chairs Jon Moeller and Lisa Sauer. Photo provided.

Original artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, graphics and fine crafts will display and sell their work, and compete for awards totaling $3,000. Judges include gallery owners, teachers and other art professionals. This year’s winner is Joe Stewart

The art show is the largest annual project of the Northern Kentucky Heritage League, which reconstructed and beautified the park in 1969. “It’s a beautiful little setting,” said NKHL’s president Dick Murgatroyd.

The annual event honors Frank Duveneck (1848-1919), a Covington-born painter who studied and worked in Europe before returning to the area, where he taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. His work can be seen in museums worldwide, and at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Development News

Framester takes event photography to the next level

Chances are, if you have a Facebook account, you’ve seen the pictures floating around your friends’ feeds. High quality photo booth style pictures, perfectly capturing the essence of an event or party. This phenomenon is the brainchild of local entrepreneurs David Dewitt and Adam Kleshinski. It’s called Framester.

The philosophy behind the event photography company is that, given the circumstances, every person wants the chance to show their creative, spontaneous selves… and to take the perfect picture. The self-timed setup – a camera, a backdrop, and a little red button – allows party goers to create their own portraits in a way that traditional event photographers can’t.

DeWitt, a former DAAP student at the University of Cincinnati, set up his camera one night at a friend’s party in 2008, and was taken aback at the response it received. “It took a lot of trust, to leave my lighting and camera equipment up all night, but no one messed with it,” David explained. “My friends loved it, and it turned into something bigger.”

Through various connections around town, DeWitt took his setup to local philanthropic events over the next year, experimenting with props, backdrops and photography techniques. Bars and parties began to hire him as a special addition to their shindigs- tagging and sharing the pictures on Facebook helped gather name recognition for the venues, as well as give everyone kick-ass profile pictures.

DeWitt and Kleshinski connected near the end of 2010, where the Xavier MBA graduate saw a business opportunity that couldn’t be passed up. “I couldn’t believe it was just [DeWitt],” said Kleshinski. “I knew it could be something bigger.” The two worked through a business plan, and launched the Framester brand in the beginning of May.

“The goal now is to expand through the Cincinnati area,” explained Adam. “We want it to expand organically, and with 2.5 million people in the region, there’s a lot of room for growth here. Things are changing and moving in the right direction. Cincinnati is a base of ingenuity and entrepreneurship and good business – it’s a great market.”

The duo feels that Cincinnati is a perfect test market – a microcosm with enough diversity to try out different things as they tweak the business model and prepare to grow.

The difference between Framester’s services and any huckster with a camera is the professional level of quality and attention to detail for each event – no two are alike. The service naturally offers a distinctive brand marketing advantage to event sponsors and venues by levering advances in social media technologies, and former clients have seen immediate results in collecting contact information from their attendees along with targeted brand exposure.

Ultimately, Framester is helping to celebrate and showcase the momentum that is driving Cincinnati forward. Kleshinski and DeWitt both say it’s been incredible watching the amount of energy building in Cincinnati’s urban core.

“For too long there’s been this theory that Cincinnati is boring – there’s nothing fun to do here,” said DeWitt. “We know that’s not true – and we’ve got the pictures to prove it.”

CityBeat Best of Cincinnati Party photo provided by Framester.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

OTR Urban Kickball League gears up for second season

After a successful first season, the Over-the-Rhine Urban Kickball League is back for round two. The league, established by UrbanCincy in fall 2010 and run with help of community members, aims to create a relaxed, fun atmosphere where neighbors and friends get to know each other better and integrate into the community, making the neighborhood safer through play.

The new season will have up to 16 teams with up to 15 players each playing four nights a week. The past season saw 12 teams go head-to-head in friendly competition that often involved kids from the neighborhood participating in the games.

This year’s league play will run from June 6 through August, with playoffs beginning near the end of August. Teams will take turns to referee opposing teams, with play Monday through Thursday, games at 6pm and 7pm, located at Cutter Playground behind the former School of Creative & Performing Arts building (map) on Sycamore Street.

While some aspects of the league will change, the core remains the same: having fun and improving the neighborhood. If you are interested in forming a team this season, please Like the League page on Facebook and download the sign up form today.

Teams must fill out all forms, including liability waivers, and submit them along with admission fee ($5 per person) to The Famous Neons Unplugged between now and May 15.

Fall 2010 OTR Urban Kickball League photo by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.