Friday, January 30, 2009

Christian Lander reading at Rock Point Books

Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like will be reading at Rock Point Books this Saturday night at 7:00 pm.

“If you’re looking for big laughs and a night of fun to help get over those post-holiday blues, look no further and mark your calendar right away for January 31! Los Angeles author Christian Lander is coming to speak to us about his book that CBS called ‘an uncannily accurate catalog of dead-on predilections.’”

Christian Lander reading
Saturday, January 31
7 pm
Rock Point Books
401 Broad Street

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Vote for Chattanooga in Southern Living’s Reader’s Choice Awards

It’s time to vote for the annual Southern Living magazine’s Reader’s Choice Awards, where you can nominate your favorite Southern destination. You are allowed one entry, per person, per day so vote often. Voting closes June 30, 2009.

Give Chattanooga the shout-out it deserves! Vote here.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

SpringBoard Panel Discussion: “Creating Effective Marketing Pieces”

This Thursday night from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, SpringBoard hosts the next installment of our Panel Discussion series. Focusing on proven strategies, “Creating Effective Marketing Pieces” will provide entrepreneurs with resources to get their services noticed.

“Creating Effective Marketing Pieces” will feature three expert speakers. John Sweet, founder and owner of Niedlov’s Breadworks, will provide an entrepreneur’s perspective; Steve Hamaker, co-founder of Southside Creative Group, will offer some practical insights, including a few dos and don’ts for creating effective marketing pieces; and Leslie Jensen-Inman, a local graphic and web designer, will offer advice on how to leverage digital media, including the Internet and social networking sites.

This event is free to graduates of the SpringBoard Business Planning Course, and $5 for all other attendees. Light refreshments will be provided by Niedlov’s Breadworks.

To RSVP, or to get more information on SpringBoard programs, contact Sheldon Grizzle at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or 423.648.2195.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Pecha Kucha Night at CreateHere

Pecha Kucha returns to Chattanooga this Thursday night at 6:20 pm. CreateHere will host this event—the second of its kind for our city—and food will be provided by Easy Bistro.

Internationally practiced, Pecha Kucha is a presentation style with unlimited possibilities. Presenters prepare twenty slides, each lasting twenty seconds, and six minutes and forty seconds later, the conversation takes off.

With a line-up of diverse presenters, the din and clatter of new chatter will make for a unique night. The dialogue starts now.

What: Pecha Kucha Night 2
Where: CreateHere, 55 E. Main Street
When: 6:20 pm

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Vote in the Hunter Museum’s “Art in Public Places” Project

Thanks to a generous grant from the Benwood Foundation, Chattanoogans will have the opportunity to select a new sculpture for the Hunter Museum of American Art that will be located at the new entrance of the Chattanooga Zoo.

Voting for the Zoo sculpture will be open until January 28. Members of the Chattanooga community may choose one of following three options for the site:

• Cougar 1 and Cougar 5 by Gwynn Murrill.

• A commissioned work by Brad Rude, similar to his work, Into The Calm II, depicting an animal carousel balanced on the haunches of a cow.

• The Troupe, a group of seven chimpanzee figures by Bart Walter.

The $1.2 million Art in Public Places grant from the Benwood Foundation will allow the Hunter Museum to acquire at least four outdoor sculptures for the Hunter Museum of American Art’s permanent collection. The works will be placed in public areas throughout the city, including the Zoo, Renaissance Park and Miller Plaza.

Vote in the Art in Public Places Project here, or by visiting the Hunter Museum website.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Chattanooga Spotlight: Ray Zimmerman in Bloomsbury

Chattanooga poet Ray Zimmerman recently received an exciting mention in the Bloomsbury Review, a literary journal published out of Denver. Contributing editor Jeff Biggers writes,

“Chattanooga poet and environmentalist Ray Zimmerman also touches on some of these themes in his wonderful new chapbook, Searching for Cranes. Combining memoir and naturalist insights in his verse, Zimmerman reminds me of a Southern Edward Abbey and Terry Tempest Williams; many of his poems such as ‘Glen Falls Trail,’ probe the symbols that ‘have outlived the moment,’ and where our defense of nature is often a matter of bearing witness.”

You can find copies of Zimmerman’s chapbook at The Grapevine on Broad Street. Additionally, a selection of his work is available through Vine Street Press. You can also find a brief profile at the Chattanooga Writer’s Guild website.

Double Spotlight: Christie Burns Featured in News

Christie Burns, a SpringBoard Business Planning Course graduate and ArtsMove artist, has received a bit of press buzz for the success of the Mountain Music Folk School’s most recent workshop. Burns, a hammered dulcimer player, is a teacher at the school, which provides instruction in traditional folk music, as well as a space for folk music lovers to gather.

This weekend, the school sponsored a workshop that hosted 30 novice musicians. By all accounts, the day was a total success. For more information on the Mountain Music Folk School, visit their website. To read about this weekend’s workshop, check-out the Chattanoogan’s Happenings.

ArtsMove Spotlight: John Petrey Featured at Saks

Seven sculptures by ArtsMove artist John Petrey are currently on display at Saks Fifth Avenue in Atlanta’s Phipps Plaza. The dress sculptures will be on display until February 10, and are grouped together in the store’s shoe department.

Photo courtesy Peggy Petrey

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Film Screening Rocks Main Street

Movie premiers aren’t just for LA anymore. This Thursday night CreateHere will host the local premier of Four on the Floor, a feature-length rock-comedy. The show is presented by Extra/Ordinary Films, a group of Tennessee-based filmmakers. Chattanooga natives Jon Russell Cring and his wife Tracy Cring wrote, directed, and produced this piece.

Four on the Floor follows a quartet of gentleman graduating from high school. They decide to form a rock band, but to support their rock-star ambitions, they have to maintain a car repair business. Of course, none of them have experience with automobile repair. They look for a mechanic to teach them a thing or two, who’s also willing to learn bass guitar.

The directors will both be availbe to answer questions before and after the screening.

What: Four on the Floor
When: Thursday, January 15 at 7:00pm
Where: The CreateHere studio, 55 E Main Street
Cost: Free!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

SpringBoard Spotlight: Woodworker Aaron Cabeen

Aaron Cabeen, owner of Cabeen Originals, was recently featured in the Times Free Press. Cabeen, a woodworker and graduate of SpringBoard’s Business Planning Course, was contracted to design all of the tables for the Southside’s new Terminal BrewHouse. Check out the article here, which discusses both the new pub and Cabeen’s impressive furnishings.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer-Prize Winner, to Speak at UTC

The Benwood Foundation, in conjunction with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies and CreateHere, is pleased to host Pulitzer-prize winning author and historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, as the debut speaker in the 2009 George T. Hunter Lecture Series.
 
Mrs. Goodwin is the author of several books including Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream and No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Home Front During World War II, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. Her most recent book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, reached number one on the New York Times Best-Seller List and won the 2006 Lincoln Prize. She is a frequent commentator on NBC and a consultant and commentator for PBS. 
Speaking just one week before the Presidential Inauguration, the topic of Mrs. Goodwin’s lecture will be “Lessons in Leadership from Abraham Lincoln.”

For more information on the George T. Hunter Lecture Series, visit the Benwood Foundation’s website.

What: Lessons in Leadership from Abraham Lincoln, a lecture by Pulitzer-prize Winner Doris Kearns Goodwin
When: 7 pm, January 13
Where: Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center

All lectures in this series are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and is on a first-come first-serve basis.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Shakespeare Chattanooga to Present Free Reading

Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night will be read by a top-notch cast at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre on January 8 from 8 to 11 p.m. The free event is part of a series of readings planned by Shakespeare Chattanooga.

“We don’t plan to do a full-scale production of this play,” said SC Producing Director Janis Hashe, who is directing the reading, “but we are reading the full text, and audiences rarely get a chance to hear a complete, unedited Shakespeare text.” She noted that SC will host a talkback after the reading and take questions and comments at that time.

“Twelfth Night is a very dark comedy in some ways, but it’s also very funny, and we hope both aspects will come across,” Hashe said.

What: Twelfth Night reading
Where: Chattanooga Theatre Center, Circle Stage, 400 River Street
When: January 8, 8-11 p.m.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Artist Mia Bergeron Discusses MakeWork Project

This morning’s edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press features an article on Mia Bergeron, a portrait artist currently working on “The Faces of Chattanooga,” an ambitious project undertaken with the help of a 2008 MakeWork grant.

Check out the full story, along with a video clip in which Bergeron discusses the project. Bergeron aims to paint nine portraits over the course of one year, each representing a different facet of Chattanooga’s diverse community.

Interested in pursuing a MakeWork grant in 2009? Applications will be available at our website on January 6.