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Pecha Kucha Cincinnati comes full circle at CAC

The visionary presentation format that is Pecha Kucha (pronounced “peh-chak-cha”) is back with its fifth evening of Cincinnati area speakers that have something to say. Friday, March 19th, PK Volume 5 will be held at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) from 6pm to midnight. Pecha Kucha, Japanese for “chit-chat,” is a format of sharing ideas designed to move the speaker along at a quick page and get their message across in a succinct and interesting way.

Each speaker gets 6 minutes and 20 seconds to present their information. They show a series of 20 slides, and get 20 seconds to speak about each particular slide. This style prevents the presenter from getting stuck on one point, and allows the audience to remain interested and engaged throughout.

Pecha Kucha is an international movement dating back to 2002, but the Cincinnati chapter is just over a year old. Its inaugural event was held at the Contemporary Arts Center in February 2009, and has since hosted events at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and most recently a breakfast meeting for professionals at the METS Center in Northern Kentucky. The upcoming event at the CAC has PK Cincinnati founder Greg Lewis excited.

“We’ve got a pretty good representation from students and faculty at both the Art Academy and University of Cincinnati,” said Lewis. “One stand out presentation I’m really looking forward to is Jim Rauth, who has written a book about mannequins from all over the world.”

So far the majority of PK presenters have been architects and design professionals, but the reality is that anyone can be a presenter. “We’re really trying to diversify outside of architecture and design. We are trying to reach into science, medicine and philosophy,” explained Lewis who emphasized that the point is to have an interesting story to share, and from there, the presentation topics are limitless.

Pecha Kucha Night Volume 5 is Friday, March 19 at the Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Cincinnati (map). Tickets are $8 for CAC members and $12 for non-members. You can order tickets online or at the door. The doors and art galleries open at 6pm, presentations run from 7.45pm to 9.30pm, and the after party is from 9.30pm to 12am.

CAC Pecha Kucha photograph by Scott Beseler.

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Arts & Entertainment News

2010 Bockfest Photos

Two weeks ago today, the 2010 Bockfest celebrations kicked off at Mecklenberg Gardens in Corryville. The festival celebrating the coming of bock beer, among other things, carried on through the weekend and attracted thousands of visitors to Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

Visitors came to celebrate Cincinnati rich brewing heritage, explore historic churches and breweries in Over-the-Rhine, take part in the Bockfest’s many festivities including the parade from Arnold’s Bar & Grill up Main Street through Over-the-Rhine, and drink lots of beer. The fair weather brought huge crowds out to this year’s festival, and Cincinnati photographer and historian Jake Mecklenborg (no relation to Mecklenberg Gardens) was there to capture it all.

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News

South by Southwest conference comes to Cincinnati

The nation’s largest interactive conference takes place today in Austin, Texas, but the newly-formed New Press Club is helping bring the conference to local interested in interactive media with the first-ever “South by Southwest by Cincinnati” which will tap into the South by Southwest conference being held in Austin.

Event organizers say that for one hour, and possibly longer, South by Southwest by Cincinnati attendees will be able to hear some of top thinkers and most influential people in the world of interactive media. Those attending will even have the opportunity to ask questions of these individuals and get the latest news about what is developing in the industry.

“Greater Cincinnati has one of the most active social media communities in the world,” said Joe Wessels, New Press Club founder and board member. “This event provides an excellent opportunity for those in Cincinnati to get a cut of the action in Austin and bring some of that knowledge back here without leaving home.”

The live discussion will start at 5:30pm at Mainstay Rock Bar tonight in downtown Cincinnati (map), and will include a networking and social time immediately after the live discussion. The event is free and open to anyone who wants to come, and those with Twitter accounts are encouraged to follow @NewPressClub for live updates.

Mainstay Rock Bar exterior photo by 5chw4r7z.

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Neighborhood Summit Recap

Over 600 concerned local citizens turned up at last weekend’s Neighborhood Summit, Step Two in involving the public in Plan Cincinnati, a new comprehensive plan being drafted by the City. While the meat and potatoes of the event were the small-group sessions focused on seven “Project Elements” (Housing and Neighborhood Development; Economic Development and Business Retention; Transportation and Transit; Health, Environment and Open Space; Historic Preservation; Urban Design; and, Arts and Culture) the highlights of the day were the two featured speakers: Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Anthony Williams JD, former Mayor of Washington D.C.

Williams’ talk was a straight-forward explanation of the Washington D.C. Comprehensive Plan that he oversaw in office, and while his delivery utilized dry wit and the invocation of insights from our Founding Fathers, it was Bernstein’s presentation that fascinated outright, striking at some of the key issues Cincinnati must address with its Comprehensive Plan.

Bernstein spoke predominantly on the drawbacks of an automobile-centric transportation network and two points especially stood out. First, he shared a graph charting the rise and fall of gas prices, followed by a graph almost perfectly shadowing the first line, but on a lag of about six months time: the rate of foreclosures. Our level of fuel dependency is dependent on our living locations, to the point where many people are just plain stuck when gas rises to excruciating price-points.

Expanding on that idea, Bernstein then demonstrated how chasing lower housing costs out away from a city’s center could actually wind up crippling a household’s financial flexibility. Since transportation costs are largely a function of the distance one lives from work, social and educational opportunities, the two expenses ought to be looked at together, and Bernstein showed that in a “Drive Til You Qualify” market — areas that are chiefly auto-dependent — a commitment to suburban and exurban life is also a commitment to increased transportation expenses.

Bernstein demonstrated that, on average, a household saving $6k in monthly housing costs ends up sinking up 77% of their income into housing and transport, combined. Spend that extra $6,000 to live closer to where you learn, work and play, and the average household could end up with over 50% of their income still in their pockets — money which can then spur growth in a diverse local economy. Preemptively addressing the mass-transit critic, who might scoff at New Urbanist cities such as Portland, Bernstein quipped, “People who maybe don’t travel a lot think, Oh, Portland, they’re a ‘fuzzy’ kind of people. Well, yeah: they’re fuzzy all the way to the bank.”

After Bernstein spoke, citizens weighed in on the Project Elements in their respective small groups, offering opinions on how initiatives should be prioritized, and brainstorming ways to achieve goals such as being “a city with inviting and engaging public spaces” and having “economically diverse, mixed-income neighborhoods.”

Even after three such hour-long sessions, the real work is ahead; over the next six months working groups will meet to turn the initial feedback from the Neighborhood Summit into strategies aimed to realize each element. The working groups are open to all. Visit PlanCincinnati.org for more information.

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News

Fringe Festival party at the Know Theatre – 3/13

The Know Theatre is hosting a launch party for the Fringe Festival’s new website, and will be making several important festival announcements this Saturday, March 13. “Fringe for a Night” will get started at 6pm with happy hour drinks, followed by the debut of the new CincyFringe.com at 6:45pm, a special encore performance of David Gaines’ wildly popular 7(x1) Samurai at 7:30pm which will be followed by more socializing and drinks.

The new website was designed by Matt Steffen of Enin Productions and built by Shawn Mummert of Cincinnati Creative Partners.

“We’ve needed a website overhaul for a while. The stars finally aligned when Shawn and Matt agreed to help create a new site for us. They are both amazing at what they do and have been so generous with their time on this project. I’m so pleased to have them as a part of our Community,” says managing artistic director, Eric Vosmeier.

The launch party and Fringe Festival line-up announcement is free and open to the public, but tickets will be required for the encore performance of 7(x1) Samurai which was one of the most attended shows in Fringe Festival history and winner of the 2009 Critic’s Pick award.

“I had the greatest time at the Cincy Fringe Festival last summer,” says David Gaines. “So when Eric Vosmeier called me in DC to ask if I would come back for one special performance only, I said I’d be delighted to. I’m looking forward to a return engagement in the city that brought me the warmest and fullest audiences of my whole year’s touring.”

Tickets for 7(x1) Samurai are $12 in advance, $15 the day of the show and can be purchased online or by calling the Know Theatre (map) at (513) 300-5669.