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Arts & Entertainment News

‘Cincinnati Drive-By’ creatively tours the Queen City’s urban core

In an attempt to capture the many changes taking place in Cincinnati’s urban core, Zachary Herche decided to do what it is he is passionate about and make a video of the city.

“Production and editing is my passion,” said Herche. I think Cincinnati is a beautiful city and I wanted to show as much as I could of it by driving around.”

Herche lives in Mt. Adams and is attending the University of Cincinnati’s acclaimed College Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he is studying Electronic Media. He currently works for Prime Productions and says that he wanted to capture some of the city’s historic architecture and collection of bridges over the Ohio River.

“It is interesting to see some of the transformations happening around the city recently,” Herche continued. “It seems like there is so much in the works here, and I’m excited to see it all come together.”

Cincinnati Drive-By features the song “Grace Kelly” by Mika in the video.

Categories
Development News

Significant visual progress being made at Smale Riverfront Park

Major progress has been made on Cincinnati’s new central riverfront park since project manager Dave Prather last delivered an update. Thanks to a $20.75 million private donation, the park is now named the Smale Riverfront Park in honor of Phyllis W. Smale and her family who donated the large sum of money.

The Smale Riverfront Park now also appears poised to host portions of the decommissioned USS Cincinnati submarine which has long been sought for display on the Ohio River. Furthermore, Prather says that an announcement will soon be made on a new hotel to be constructed adjacent to the park as part of The Banks development.

In Prather’s video update he also highlights the progress on the Moerlein Lager House which now includes a tower crane as vertical construction progresses, and the Schmidlapp Event Lawn which is nearly complete.

Surrounding the event lawn are mature Red Maple trees which were purchased by Cincinnati Parks two years ago and prepared for planting. The event lawn itself is largely complete and is awaiting final granite installation and the shade structure for the event stage which will include photovoltaic solar cells atop it.

The demolition of the old Merhing Way has also been completed along with the demolition of the former wall along the Ohio River. The result of those two demolition projects, Prather says, is now improving the visual connection with the river.

Other notable updates are that the Walnut Street Steps are taking form and are aligning with Walnut Street. The steps will then connect activities at the upper level of the Smale Riverfront Park to those lower at the Women’s Committee Garden. Prather also says that the slab for the interactive will be poured soon, and that the cascading water feature spilling down from a glass overlook will also take shape in the near future.

Categories
Development News

First phase of Cincinnati Riverfront Park quickly becoming reality

The first phase of The Banks has made dramatic progress in 2011, and has even welcomed its first residents and businesses over the past one to two months. Meanwhile, the new $120 million Cincinnati Riverfront Park (CRP) has also seen significant progress made on its first phase of work.

Project manager Dave Prather gives another visual tour of the construction progress at the CRP, and specifically highlights the rise of the Moerlein Lager House, demolition of the old Mehring Way, Jacob G. Schmidlapp Stage & Event Lawn, Women’s Committee Garden and the Walnut Street Fountain & Steps.

Most noteworth, Prather says that the first elements of the park will be completed by the next video update, and that the event lawn will be recognizable within two weeks. The event lawn will host its first public concert on Thursday, May 26 from 5:30pm to 9pm during Riverfront Fusion.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Keith Haring opening night dance party at the CAC

Opening nights have routinely become huge events at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in downtown Cincinnati. The architectural masterpiece completed at the corner of 6th and Walnut Street allows visitors to enjoy cocktails, DJ entertainment and mingling on the ground-floor level, while enjoying the new and permanent exhibits on the upper levels.

Each new major opening night celebration brings something unique, with the Shepherd Fairey party being one for the record books as thousands poured into the CAC and surrounding areas. On February 25 the CAC welcomed new exhibits by Keith Haring and Jimmy Baker, and the party was yet another big draw for the museum.

One of the features of the opening night party was a video booth where party-goers were welcomed to enter and show off their dance moves. The end result is an entertaining and artistic. The video was edited by David DeWitt, and features “Hello” by Martin Solveig (ft. Dragonette). Enjoy.

 

Categories
News Transportation

Make Cincinnati’s Frequent Transit Map a reality by donating online

In January, Nathan Wessel debuted a new transit map for Cincinnati’s Metro bus service. Wessel developed the map to simplify transit ridership and hopefully encourage new riders to utilize the system. Now he is looking to take the map to the next level and actually get the thing produced by raising money through Kickstarter.

Kickstarter claims to be the “largest funding platform for creative projects in the world” and helps raise millions of dollars through tens of thousands of donations every month. The micro-fundraising strategy is one first popularized and mastered during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

The website only works though if the project raises its fundraising goal within its allotted time. If the goal is not reached then no money exchanges hands. In the case of Wessel’s Frequent Transit Map for Cincinnati, he is looking to raise $1,200 which will produce more than 30,000 copies of the 3.7-inch squared carrying map.

People like those featured in the video, produced by Wessel, who would like to see his product become reality can pledge money online through Kickstarter. Individuals who pledge more than $5 will get a copy of the produced map. Additional tokens of appreciation will be given to those who contribute more, and are explained in detail on the project’s fundraising page. All pledges must be made by Wendesday, April 20 at 3:15pm.