Tag: young professionals

Categories
Business Development News

New video takes critical look at Over-the-Rhine’s recent progress

A new video published on Vimeo entitled OTR: On the Rise looks at Cincinnati’s historic neighborhood and the progress it has made over recent years. The video, produced by Jeremy Heslup, also takes a critical look at the neighborhood and visually illustrates how much more work needs to be done.

Heslup interviews a prominent Over-the-Rhine street performer; a planning profession from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning; a musician from the Cincinnati Symphony; and a Cincinnati police officer who has been working in the neighborhood for years.

Those interviewed seem to concur that one of the largest hurdles facing the historic neighborhood is a perception that it is not a good place to be in Cincinnati. All of those interviewed were also inspired about the recent progress and seemed to be hopeful that Over-the-Rhine will soon get over the proverbial hump as more and more residents and businesses move into the neighborhood.

One of the most striking features, of the video, is the vacant buildings captured on film. With Over-the-Rhine being one of the nation’s largest and significant historic districts, it shows just how vulnerable the neighborhood is. One storm, one negligent property owner, one fire, or one crass developer could mean the end for hundreds of buildings in Over-the-Rhine.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business News

Newly formed Creative Society seen as a forum for new ideas

Debbie Dent, owner and creative director of marketing firm Aim Straight Up and event space Venue 222, has a vision for creatives in Cincinnati. After her own company, Willow Group, folded in 2009, Dent bounced back a year later and opened Aim Straight Up after working with her husband Wade to convert their building on 14th Street in Over-the-Rhine into an event and meeting space.

As a sidearm of Aim Straight Up, Debbie decided to help establish a forum for the rapidly growing number of people in the Cincinnati area who are passionate about new ideas and want to contribute, even and especially those who are underutilized in the job market. Thus the Creative Society was born.

“With the economy in the crapper, people losing their jobs, closing or downsizing their businesses and getting paid less for the work we all do, we can become discouraged and stop thinking and acting creatively,” Dent explained. “We lose track of people we enjoyed being with, drop the groups we belonged to and activities that we participated in. And often we lose track of our creative selves.”

Dent noted that in the Cincinnati community there is a flux of passionate people with lots of new ideas to share. “The creative spirit is alive and growing rapidly in Cincinnati,” Debbie shared. “There is an infectious new energy all around. We are lucky, for a community of our size, that have all types of creative people and talent represented. We have a Creative Society.”

Debbie’s motive behind the Creative Society was a way to informally gather people who enjoy being creative and wish to be around and connect with others who value creativity. Currently the club has over 200 members on its Facebook page, with 110 of them scheduled to attend a lunch catered by nearby MOTR this coming Wednesday to make connections and share ideas about what the group can accomplish as a vibrant and passionate collective. The lunch will take place at Venue222 (map).

The goals will be determined by the group as a whole, but the assumption is that members of the group can meet anytime online and physically every other month at a different location to get to know each other, swap ideas, help make connections for each other and create. “Collectively we become a creative think tank that can help be an agent of positive change for Cincinnati,” said Dent.

This month’s lunch will include a creative exercise to “Express your vision for a Creative Cincinnati in 2011,” with plenty of art materials and canvass space for attendees to get out their ideas in an innovative manner.

It’s not just visual artists of graphic designers that have exclusive access to the Creative Society, though. According to Dent, anyone with passion and an idea is as good as a card carrying member.

“Everyone is creative. It’s through our creativity that we make a difference in our lives, the lives of others and our city. It’s in times like these that creative thinking and action is needed even more. “

Categories
Business Development News

Popular mixologist to settle in with establishment of her own in Over-the-Rhine

Molly Wellmann has finally settled down. After several years of flitting from bar to bar, private party to private party, dazzling the public and educating Cincinnati about the art of cocktails, Wellmann has committed to a serious relationship with one the most successful bars in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

The ownership at the Neon’s Unplugged has acquired Japp’s, located at 12th and Main streets in Over-the-Rhine.  Once a former 19th century wig store, then turned restaurant in the mid-90’s, the storefront has sat vacant for many years. Together with Michael Redmond, John Back, and the other partners at Neon’s, Wellmann hopes to restore the space into a new venue where patrons will be able to enjoy affordable, authentic craft cocktails.

The 1,700 square-foot bar and lounge area has “solid bones,” according to owner and head designer John Back. “The space is going to stay formal yet accessible,” he explained. “The basement has a ton of memorabilia, both from the original hair store and stuff from Main Street’s heyday in the 90’s.”

According to ownership, the space needs much work, especially replacing or refinishing the floor, but the end result will be something resembling a classic 19th century cafe, evoking the pre-Prohibition old saloon spaces without attempting to be a period place (no handlebar moustaches here). Like the old time saloons, Japp’s will also sell speciality locally made desserts as well as tobacco products, though the space will not have an in-house kitchen.

“We have a lot of classic things from the turn of the century, but we’re still in the modern era,” Wellmann explained to UrbanCincy. “We want to pay homage to both. It will be the same with the cocktails – acknowledging the past, but with a new twist.”

According to Wellmann, the cocktails will stick to classics ranging from the 1700s to 1950s. She also plans on staying away from infused liquor. The hope is to make as many house-made cocktail mixers as possible – for example, in-house grenadine and fresh squeezed juices.

When it came to the location and the idea of restoring another neighborhood icon, it just seemed to make sense to Wellmann, Redmond and Back.

“Think about what is happening here in Over-the-Rhine, right now. This revitalization is the result of well thought out change, and it’s amazing to be included. Look out the front door [of Japp’s], and there’s 12th Street, like a grand avenue ahead of you,” said Redmond. “You look out over 12th Street and end at Japp’s. It’s a pretty awesome location!”

The ownership group hopes that having two bars in close proximity will open up more opportunities to improve other parts of the neighborhood – including parking, wayfinding, and lighting. They say this will make them become even bigger advocates for the community and 12th Street district.

Goetz Alley in the back of the new bar provides a potential for outdoor space, and a visual connection to Neon’s, the sister bar. Many of the guiding principles that makes Neon’s a popular neighborhood spot will carry over to Japp’s.

“When we first opened Neon’s, early on we decided that we were always going to offer value proposition,” said Back. “The price of a Jack & Coke at Japp’s will be the same price as a Jack & Coke at Neon’s.”

Wellmann was quick and emphatic to point out that the main cocktail list will all be priced under $10.  She says that patrons will have the option to buy a $10 to $12 drink, but that it will be the exception, not the norm.  The group is also excited to expand the community’s palate without emptying their wallet’s by bringing in a wider variety of little-known beers and alcohols.

Hours of operation have yet to be set, but the ownership team is offering an optimistic timely for a soft opening in early summer 2011.  They also said that the establishment’s operations will run in conjunction with Neon’s.

“Ultimately, the Japp’s experience will be understated, accessible elegance,” says Molly. “There will be the same neighborhood feel that everyone loves at Neon’s, but it won’t be a place where you get hammered drunk. You bring your out of town friends to show off the neighborhood, to display one of Cincinnati’s best sides.”

Stay up-to-date by following Japp’s on Twitter @Japps1879.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Urbanist movement rises anew in Cincinnati a decade after civil unrest

In 2002 the concept of urbanism arguably hit an all-time low. The city was recovering from civil unrest that wreaked havoc on inner-city neighborhoods the year before and caused economic boycotts, urban neighborhoods were suffering from severe disinvestment, urban populations were in decline, and the City’s Planning Department had been cut by then Mayor Charlie Luken.

Today, however, the state of urbanism in Cincinnati is very much different. The civil unrest of 2001 has led to massive police reform and a focus from major corporations on those most struggling inner-city neighborhoods. Investment in urban neighborhoods has become a priority of recent political leaders and urban populations are increasing all over Cincinnati. Also during that time the Planning Department has been restored along with the creation of the Office of Environmental Quality, and the development of the City’s first comprehensive plan in decades.

In addition to the formal progress that has been made, there is a diverse group of urbanists that have organized around common beliefs and goals that are looking to improve Cincinnati’s urbanism.

“Urbanists believe that great historic cities are the highest achievement of the human spirit and once again ought to be the preferred places to live for America’s most talented and productive people,” explained University of Cincinnati adjunct planning professor, and co-founder of the Urbanists, Terry Grundy. “Urbanism, as the term is used in Cincinnati, is an intellectual, cultural and political movement which promotes this point of view.”

As Grundy puts it, the urbanism movement emerged in Cincinnati shortly after the civil unrest took place in 2001. He says that a group thinkers, civic leaders and philanthropists came together to reflect on what had happened in the city and decided that something needed to change.

“The trajectory, if allowed to continue, would have inevitably led to the ‘Detroit-izing’ of Cincinnati. This was a prospect those thinkers were not prepared to accept, and they have ever since been promoting a ‘place of choice’ ideology for the city.”

Most recently that thought movement has led to the Soapbox Speaker Series which is co-sponsored by Soapbox Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati’s Niehoff Urban Studio and The Urbanists. The intent, Grundy explains, is to provide opportunities for people who share the urbanist perspective, or who are interested in learning more, to network and come together to learn and share ideas.

The first speaker series event held in uptown Cincinnati’s Corryville neighborhood focused on how the city’s food scene has supported urbanist outcomes through things like local food sourcing, food trucks, street vendors and more. The next speaker series event, to be held on January 5 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, will focus on philanthropists of urbanism in Cincinnati.

“These are people who moved into and did development work in historic neighborhoods that had declined and, by their example, encouraged others to take a chance on those neighborhoods,” Grundy said.

The event will feature a panel of Sean Parker, Beth Gottfried, H.C. Buck Niehoff and Dave Abbott.

“Urbanism, like all emergent movements, needs to be backed up by resources if it is to be successful in promoting its ideas and pursuing its concrete development strategies. The individuals, on this panel, have been willing to direct their foundation’s investments to activities that are urbanist in intent.”

Those interested in attending the third Soapbox Speaker Series event (map) – Patrons of Urbanism: New Ambitions for Public-Private Partnerships – are encouraged to register in advance for the free event. Organizers say that a happy hour reception and light food will be provided by Fresh Table, and that a $2,500 FUEL grant will be awarded to one lucky applicant.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Transformative visual art event changes urban landscape, gathers Cincinnati community

Back when the temperatures were a bit warmer, and the sky a bit sunnier, more than 1,500 people gathered with ArtsWave on a six-block stretch of 12th Street in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. The residents, visitors, and workers alike worked together to create a half-mile long stretch of visual art.

Known as Paint the Street, the project gathered a diverse collection of people that painted the street according to chalk outlines drawn by local artists earlier that morning. Since the painting occurred on Sunday, September 26 much of the art has worn off, but those passing through the urban neighborhood today can still see remnants of the project months later.

UrbanCincy writer Jennifer Kessler participated in the event and published her photographs on the site shortly after it took place. While at Paint the Street Kessler noted that the sense of community and involvement was palpable and that the event was one that was truly inspiring for her.

“Being there in person, the highlight of the event was the enthusiasm and joy painting a mural on the street brought to participants and observers alike,” Kessler described. “The street was shut down to vehicle traffic for the day and crowds of Cincinnatians, old and young, black and white, walked slowly in the street taking in the colors and working together.”

The event also attracted a variety of street performers and artists from Xavier University, Walnut Hills High School, School for Creative & Performing Arts, Cincinnati Ballet, and Pones, Inc.

Those who were unable to participate or view the visual art production in its entirety are now able to view a time-lapse video, of the event, put together by Cincinnati-based Lightborne in partnership with Soapbox Cincinnati.