Wednesday, February 25, 2009

New Views: Exploring Nostalgia through Photography

CreateHere is excited to unveil New Views, a gallery exhibit featuring work by MakeWork grant recipients Dana Shavin and Daryl Thetford. The show explores the theme of nostalgia—both public and private—through pieces based in photography.

Shavin, a writer and mixed-media artist, exhibits pieces from A Better House. In this series, Shavin combines original text with photo transparencies to discuss the idea of “home” and the significance of physicality in our private lives.

Thetford, a photographer, displays collage images that combine vintage signage and Americana relics. These pieces combine objects that, though they may have lost their cultural familiarity over time, serve as entry points into a public nostalgia and help rewrite our collective sense of history.

CreateHere will host a gallery reception for New Views on Thursday, March 12, 2009 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The event will feature a cocktail hour and an open mic venue.

In exploring the theme of shared history—and the revision thereof—CreateHere asks participants to forget everything they know about open mic night. Filmmakers and visual artists are encouraged to attend, in addition to poets, storytellers and musicians. Rethink what it means to share.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Celebrate ChattanoogaWorks: Photo Scavenger Hunt from 6 to 7 pm

Tonight, CreateHere hosts the launch party for ChattanoogaWorks, a photography campaign to get you talking about the people and places that make this town tick. We’ll be sending droves of Chattanoogans out to document their community during an hour-long photography scavenger hunt.

Here’s how it works: We’ll give you a list of 10 adjectives, and then we pass the creative reins over to you and your digital camera. Think the new Warehouse Row sign is “Transcendent.” And who could blame you, really? Nab a photo, and bring it back to the CreateHere Studio, where we’ll showcase the results over local foods and tunes from DJ k[7].

A little birdie told us you might want to marinate on those adjectives. But if anyone asks, we didn’t tell you…

bright | palatable | stellar | effervescent | communal | tragic | cryptic | glitzy | raucous | crisp | lucky

ChattanoogaWorks Launch Party
CreateHere Studios
55 E Main Street
6-9 pm

Sunday, February 15, 2009

ChattanoogaWorks Launch Party | Friday 2.20.09

Join CreateHere for the launch of ChattanoogaWorks on Friday, February 20, 2009, from 6 to 9 pm at CreateHere’s 55 E. Main Studio.

ChattanoogaWorks is an on-going campaign to elicit city love from residents. This photography campaign features user-submitted images in an online gallery and celebrates our city, from many flattering angles. Amateur and professional photography is welcome in this showcase project: we’ll feature cell phone submissions next to digital SLR shots.

The event begins with a Chattanooga photo scavenger hunt from 6 to 7 pm. Bring a digital camera, and be ready to show us how Chattanooga works.

The evening continues at CreateHere, where we’ll showcase the results of the scavenger hunt, serve favorite staples from local eateries, and groove to music from DJ k[7].

Next Friday’s party kicks it all off, but ChattanoogaWorks will accept submissions throughout the coming months. This is a way to celebrate all that Chattanooga is right now, and what it means to be a “local” today.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

CreateHere Video Series: Celebrating Chattanooga Doers

CreateHere is made up of many, many people. In an effort to capture and share our stories—your stories, really—we’ve taken it upon ourselves to record testimonials from different programs. We’re looking for SpringBoard participants, MakeWork recipients, LeadHere fellows, merry Mainx24ers, gallery exhibitors and ArtsMove artists, like Lisa Cutler.

Lisa, a purse designer and one of many Fort Negley All Stars, sat down to talk with us about her work, her home and what the ArtsMove program means to her.

Know someone you’d like us to talk to? Shoot an email suggestion to Veronique Bergeron, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

George T. Hunter Lecture Series presents John Merrow

Join the Benwood Foundation, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies, and CreateHere for a lecture by John Merrow, education correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Mr. Merrow is an accomplished writer and op-ed contributor to numerous newspapers including USA Today, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. This is the second lecture in the 2009 George T. Hunter Lecture Series.

A life-long educator, Mr. Merrow has taught at the junior high, high school, college, and graduate level. He is founder and president of Learning Matters, a non-profit, award-winning production company focused on producing outstanding reporting about American education.

Mr. Merrow will speak in Chattanooga about his observations regarding the progress of public education in the United States.

The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall located inside the Fine Arts Center on the UTC campus. All lectures are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Directions and more information on the George T. Hunter Lecture Series are available at www.benwood.org.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Chattanooga Tree Plantings, Courtesy Take Root

One of the easiest ways to “go green” these days is to support tree plantings. Take Root, a Chattanooga-based non-profit, helps residents make real investments in their neighborhoods by planting trees throughout the downtown area. Visit their website to support this green, truly green, initiative, and to empower the next generation of urban tree planters.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Call to Artists: Outdoor Sculpture on Main Street

The Public Art Committee, on behalf of the City of Chattanooga, is currently accepting proposals for the second in a series of two rotating outdoor sculpture exhibitions installed along the sidewalks of Main Street. Celebrating public art is a huge part of the Southside’s revitalization, and supporting initiatives like this one proves to the world that Chattanoogans, on the Southside or otherwise, value artists as important members of the urban community.

The city will select six sculptures to adorn Main Street, beginning at the corner of Market and extending to the Baldwin Street intersection. Works will be on display for 24 months, and must be durable and able to withstand public interaction.

All proposals are due to the city on March 20, 2009. Additionally, Main and Mocha will host an artist workshop on Saturday, February 21, from 1 to 3 pm.

Download the request for proposals here.

Monday, February 02, 2009

CreateHere Resource Guides: Finding Insurance When You’re Self-Employed

At CreateHere, part of our mission is to equip Chattanooga’s creatives and entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed. Accordingly, we are proud to release a helpful resource guide and video which deal with the difficult task of contracting insurance when you’re self-employed.

The Necessary Tools
Healthcare is an essential, though difficult, addition to any creative’s toolbox

The stress of finding insurance is often reason enough to give-up on the whole enterprise. The epic quest for affordable coverage requires bravery, discipline and an appreciation for music of the “You’ve Been Put on Hold Indefinitely” genre. Of course, the high cost of even the most basic medical treatments testifies to the importance of reliable healthcare, but with the investment of time—and of course money—required, it can be difficult for the self-employed to justify the hassle. A little know-how can get you started in the right direction.

First and foremost, there’s the government. Many programs, both federal and state, exist to pay for your healthcare costs, though you may find that qualifying for Uncle Sammy’s dollars requires an extenuating circumstance. Cover Tennessee provides healthcare for children and seriously ill individuals who have been denied healthcare elsewhere. Those over 65 can benefit from Medicare, and low-income families have Medicaid at their disposal. Most notably, CoverTN, one of four divisions in the Cover Tennessee network, finds ways to insure the employees of small businesses across the state.

As an individual seeking healthcare independently, it’s helpful to think outside the box. Let’s imagine you’ve been employed by A Company Fortunate Enough to Find a Genius Like You, Incorporated, which has generously provided you with a benefits package that includes healthcare. Because this company is staffed with 800 or so other geniuses, you all get cheaper insurance rates. You benefit, collectively, from your individual employment.

Enter the private group provider, a type of organization that simulates a large company for the purposes of providing insurance to its members. Group providers connect artists with bunches of uninsured brethren, i.e. your fellow geniuses. The idea is that there is strength (and discount) to be had when these bundles of artists approach insurance companies as a collective, rather than as individual policy-buyers. Enrolling in a private group provider gives the shopper access to rates that those working for larger companies enjoy. Enjoyment whilst shopping for insurance. It’s genius.

There are a few names in the private group provider industry worth knowing. With Freelancers Union, members have access to health insurance as well as dental, disability and term life policies for the particularly ambitious. Fractured Atlas, a provider some 50,000-members strong, can also connect artists in Tennessee with an appropriate healthcare plan through Aetna. And there’s Assurant Health, which helps with financing your healthcare and works with several nation-wide insurance companies providing both short- and long-term policies.

Goodness, it sounds so easy, but the buyer beware: insurance companies recommended by group providers are not legally bound to accept group bids. While Freelancers Union and Fractured Atlas have enormous clout because of their sheer size, it’s still not a sure thing. Ever.

Should you so choose to forgo insurance, there are many prescription assistance programs operated by non-profits and pharmaceutical companies. The government is also willing to offset prescription drug costs from time to time.

And then there’s the jive. Mercifully, many providers and advocacy groups offer resources for learning the romantic language of health insurance—and there are volumes dedicated to its pursuit. This proves incredibly helpful since different companies provide different types of coverage: you can do some powerful comparison-shopping when you understand the jargon. Hit me with an HAS for my PPO, you’ll tell them, you genius.

Keep in mind, even the most well-informed smooth talker can come up against major pratfalls. Age, medical history and income can all play a decisive role in whether or not you qualify for healthcare and how much it will cost should you score a policy. Additionally, it gets tricky when you want to insure yourself as well as a partner, family member, or group of employees. But you’re not alone in your search for affordable healthcare, little genius. That much, if only that much, is certain.

Securing healthcare coverage is a daunting responsibility for the self-employed. This Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) will host a forum entitled “Health Insurance Options for Artists.” For more information, visit AVA’s website.