Right Now Downtown

LATHER ON THE FUN

Leave your finger paints at home, but grab a couple bucks and your artistic side and head on out to the Columbus Arts Festival in the Discovery District this weekend.

For more than 40 years, festival organizers have created a gallery-like setting in downtown providing a weekend-long gala, which celebrates visual arts, music, poetry and local food.  This year the Arts Festival kicks off summer on Friday, June 4 and continues into Sunday.

While we were all shoveling snow and dreaming about spring, a panel of experts in a blind jury process sorted through almost 1,000 applications and selected the best of the best to deliver more than 200 artists to the festival this summer.  Don’t miss the work of 28 Ohio artists, including 10 from right here in the Columbus area.

If you want to buy Buckeye-proud, look for works by Deborah Close (jewelry), Dylan and Amy Engler (glass), Amy Kaye Taylor (painting), Paul Palnik (printmaking and graphics) and Michael Rozell (glass).

“It is exciting to have so many wonderful artists return, but there will be a lot of new faces as well,” said Leah Alters, Festival Director.  “The work represented this year is not only both incredibly strong and incredibly diverse, but there’s something at every price point.”

Woo hoo!  There really is something for everyone, and it’s nestled in a haven of art already downtown with the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus State and Columbus College of Art & Design all close by.

Almost 230 mini-art artists, check.  Continuous entertainment, check.  Hands-on activities for the entire family, check.  Local foods, comfy sneakers, extra sunscreen, check, check, check.  What are you waiting on?  Lather on the sunscreen and discover the fun.

SPEECH SPEECH!

Have you seen the Street Speech newspaper vendors, hawking their wares on downtown corners?

If you’ve purchased a paper, you already know what it’s all about.

If you’ve walked on by, here’s a risk-free chance to learn a little more about the newspapers and the program.  As it turns out, the publication is the best education that one slim buck can buy.

Street Speech is published by the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.  The vendors you’ve met are local homeless people.  They are participating in a program that blends education and employment:  selling the newspapers offers work experience and it generates a little income.

The sellers aren’t the only ones getting an education.  As readers, we can learn valuable lessons too.  According to Coalition member and Outreach Specialist for Discovery Special Improvement District, Jim Rose, “Some of the articles are from national sources, some are locally written.  A number of authors write from the perspective of being homeless – or formerly homeless, while others take advocacy positions.”

Its diverse content makes the newspaper especially interesting – so much so that the group has increased distribution exponentially.  Only 400 copies of the first Street Speech were printed; these days the group turns out 8,000 – 10,000 copies per month.  Each vendor invests twenty-five cents per copy, and sells them to patrons for one dollar.

You can support the program by buying a copy of Street Speech, and there are many other opportunities to get on board with the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.  Their great work is possible only with the help of many volunteers.   To learn more, check columbushomeless.org.

One of the things I really love about urban spaces is the element of surprise, especially when walking.  Stumbling the first time upon Basi Italia in a Victorian Village alley, for example, is a delightful shock.  Franklin Avenue in Discovery District is a totally unanticipated treat.  If you look above J. Gumbo’s at Gay and Pearl, you will unexpectedly see mannequins in mini skirts looking back at you from the second floor window.

Independent businesses offer that same element of surprise.  You never know what to expect when you walk for the first time into a Dine Originals restaurant, for example, except for a great experience.

Few local developers understand the value of surprise better than Jeff Edwards.  He has completed only about 15% of his planned Gay Street condominiums, yet his one-block neighborhood between Fourth and Fifth streets already contains many unexpected treats.  They include a lush courtyard with a fountain and little patios that lead to garden apartments half a flight of steps below the sidewalk.

What other surprises are worth discovering?

WHERE’S MY

You may have heard the television spot featuring the voice of our country’s President asking, “Where’s MY moon, my levy… my dream?”  He’s referring to community opportunities to serve and make an impact.

This weekend, your moon is right here in the Discovery District when the Columbus Arts Festival arrives on June 5, 6 and 7.  Believe it or not, it’s the volunteers that make this event especially successful for the city and its guests.  You don’t need to be artistic to help out, but you do need a big smile.

According to the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Emily Swartzlander, helping hands can still get on board through early this week at the organization’s Web site.  She says, “We have all kinds of activities for volunteers to help with – they can ‘booth sit’ for artists, help our hands-on art activities folks, work the information center, sell souvenirs and more.”

Want an even more influential role in the festival?  Every January, the festival launches a search for new committee members to help with event planning.  It’s a bigger time commitment, but it’s a great group and lots of fun.

And what good would volunteering be, without some accolades?  Swartzlander is quick to give kudos to the volunteers, “Our volunteers are the true power behind the Columbus Arts Festival, making sure everything runs flawlessly throughout the weekend.  This is a huge event, and we couldn’t make it happen without them.

More info at www.gcac.org/fest/.