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(02/03/13 8:12pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With live music, DJ Doctor FeelGood, a photo booth and plenty of sweet snacks, Rhino’s Youth Center’s Chocolate Prom mimicked a high school dance Friday night.The Chocolate Prom, in its fifth year at Rhino’s, was a major fundraiser for the all-ages center, while also bringing together children and adults of all ages from across Monroe County. Rhino’s Assistant Director David Britton said he thinks the event is so successful because of its inclusiveness. “It’s a great event because we get people who go to school at IU, and we get older people with their families and we get teenagers,” Britton said. “It’s a very community event. People from the University come out and people who just live here come out.” Vanessa Cantrell, who attended the Chocolate Prom with her daughter, said she began bringing her daughter to the event because Rhino’s holds history for the family. Cantrell used to go to shows at the venue when she was younger. “I’ve been to other events over the years,” Cantrell said. “I’ve been coming here since I was 18, so around 18 years, which is part of the reason that I brought (my daughter) here. It’s part of the reason that I stayed.”In addition to DJ Doctor FeelGood’s performance, Rhino’s, which holds all-ages music shows regularly throughout the year, brought in live acts to perform at the Chocolate Prom. Busman’s Holiday, Taylor Campi and Friends and Lost Catfish also helped children and adults dance all night. Cantrell’s daughter Clara Hawkins attended the Chocolate Prom with friends from the Project School, a local private school, and said the Chocolate Prom is another way for her and her classmates to get together after school and have fun.“A lot of our friends just show up,” Hawkins said. “It’s like we can have a big dance party together.” With its close proximity to Rhino’s, Hawkins said The Project School utilizes the center frequently.“We have our talent show here every year,” she said. “I know some (students)have been in the talent show for four years.”Though Grace MacNeil’s family had never been to the Chocolate Prom before this year, she and her children said they went to the event because they had been fans of Rhino’s and its events in the past. “I have three kids — 17, 12 and 10 — and they can all come and have a good time,” MacNeil said. “I’ve come here for events. I’ve been here for bands, and I was in a dance troupe. We performed here a couple of times.”Supporting the arts, like MacNeil’s dance troupe, Hawkins’ talent show and the live music at the Chocolate Prom, is the aim of Rhino’s, Britton said. He said he believes the location of the center in a college town helps facilitate that goal. “Bloomington is a big arts community in general,” Britton said. “I think it wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t have the university. So the university helps to kind of create a community that supports the arts, and that in turn helps something like the Rhino to exist.” Cantrell said she agrees with Britton and thinks the Rhino fills a unique niche in Bloomington and Monroe County.“There is no other venue like the Rhino,” Cantrell said. “It is the gem in our community. It’s unlike any place even in other communities because they support a vibrant music community and they have a really vibrant community outreach program with their after school programs.”Events like the Chocolate Prom, as well as other music and community outreach events at the Rhino, make it an invaluable part of the culture of Bloomington, MacNeil and Cantrell said. “I think it’s great for kids of all ages to have a chance to socialize and have fun with their friends in a safe space,” MacNeil said. “The kids see all the college students all the time out and about and getting together with their friends, and it’s nice for them to kind of feel like a part of the culture of the town.”Cantrell said she agrees, and adds the inclusiveness of the Chocolate Prom and other events at the Rhino make it special for her and her kids. “They speak to a demographic that isn’t always spoken to by the normal venue,” Cantrell said. “The kids who come here are not the kids who play basketball or get into cheerleading. This is a place where they can fit in, this is a place where they can be safe, have fun, and they can explore their boundaries in a safe and healthy manner.”
(01/30/13 5:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For Bloomington Coffee Roasters and Brown County Coffee co-owner and roaster Nick Schultz, coffee roasting on a large scale has been a long time coming.Although it started out as a simple hobby for his family, Schultz’s product is now sold at farmers’ markets in Bloomington and retailers in both Bloomington and Brown County. Schultz’s coffee is part of Bloomington’s growing desire for local, fresh food. He takes steps to assure retailers and consumers that local food from Bloomington and Brown County lives up to expectations.“Our coffee has a ‘roasted on’ date on the bag, so you can tell when it was roasted,” Schultz said. “People don’t realize that coffee loses a lot of its flavor within the first few weeks of a roast. It also becomes more bitter.”Schultz said none of this information is new for him, because he began roasting coffee beans on his own before upgrading to larger machinery.“We started roasting at home, roasting our own coffee. From there, we progressed to a larger machine,” Schultz said. “After we started getting more business, we upgraded to a machine that can handle 50 pounds per batch.” Bloomingfoods' bulk food buyer Nicki Owens said the store began carrying Bloomington Coffee Roasters and Brown County Coffee to tap into the local food market, and the store’s partnership with local coffee roasters quickly grew.“We were really getting into local business,” Owens said. “We started with his packaged coffee, then started selling more of it in bulk.”Bloomingfoods also buys local coffee from Partridge and Quigley Coffee Roasting Company, Jameson Coffee and Quarrymen Coffee Roasting Company. Coffee, however, is not the only product Bloomingfoods strives to obtain from local sources, Owens said.“We’ve been bringing in a lot of local produce,” Owens said. “We’re bringing in more and more stuff, particularly in bulk, that is local.”In addition to retail sales at Bloomingfoods and other distributors, The Pourhouse Cafe exclusively uses B-Town Beans from Brown County Coffee. Assistant manager Tim Felton said using locally sourced coffee has benefits beyond freshness of product.“We know the person who roasts the coffee,” Felton said. “We can ask (Schultz) any questions we want. He makes the deliveries himself. He’s in shop. We can visit him at the farmers’ market. That’s a valuable thing for us. You’re not working as much with a slick salesman who’s visiting different coffeehouses.”Local business, Schultz said, is only one facet of his company’s success. The proximity to students at IU helps, too.“University kids are more conscious of quality,” he said. “They also realize that we buy premium coffee to support the third-world growers.”Felton said he agrees with Schultz and credits Bloomington with the success of The Pourhouse Cafe.“(Bloomington) caters to people interested in buying from a local roaster who has a lot of variety in what he does and more of a connection with the farms and the distributors that he’s buying the beans from,” Felton said. “That is popular here.”Schultz said that for his company and other Indiana coffee roasters, the differences in product for local coffees are measurable.“You couldn’t pull off our level of attention to detail if you were outside of Indiana,” Schultz said. “The only thing that keeps us in business is freshness.”
(01/28/13 5:30pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For Bloomington Coffee Roasters and Brown County Coffee co-owner and roaster Nick Schultz, coffee roasting on a large scale has been a long time coming. Although it started out as a simple hobby for his family, Schultz’s product is now sold at farmers’ markets in Bloomington and retailers in both Bloomington and Brown County. Schultz’s coffee is part of Bloomington’s growing desire for local, fresh food. He takes steps to assure retailers and consumers that local food from Bloomington and Brown County lives up to expectations.“Our coffee has a ‘roasted on’ date on the bag, so you can tell when it was roasted,” Schultz said. “People don’t realize that coffee loses a lot of its flavor within the first few weeks of a roast. It also becomes more bitter.”Schultz said none of this information is new for him, because he began roasting coffee beans on his own before upgrading to larger machinery.“We started roasting at home, roasting our own coffee. From there, we progressed to a larger machine,” Schultz said. “After we started getting more business, we upgraded to a machine that can handle 50 pounds per batch.” Bloomingfood’s bulk food buyer Nicki Owens said the store began carrying Bloomington Coffee Roasters and Brown County Coffee to tap into the local food market, and the store’s partnership with local coffee roasters quickly grew.“We were really getting into local business,” Owens said. “We started with his packaged coffee, then started selling more of it in bulk.” Bloomingfoods also buys local coffee from Partridge and Quigley Coffee Roasting Company, Jameson Coffee and Quarrymen Coffee Roasting Company. Coffee, however, is not the only product Bloomingfoods strives to obtain from local sources, Owens said. “We’ve been bringing in a lot of local produce,” Owens said. “We’re bringing in more and more stuff, particularly in bulk, that is local.” In addition to retail sales at Bloomingfoods and other distributors, The Pourhouse Cafe exclusively uses B-Town Beans from Brown County Coffee. Assistant manager Tim Felton said that using locally sourced coffee has benefits beyond freshness of product.“We know the person who roasts the coffee,” Felton said. “We can ask (Schultz) any questions we want. He makes the deliveries himself. He’s in shop. We can visit him at the farmers’ market. That’s a valuable thing for us. You’re not working as much with a slick salesman who’s visiting different coffeehouses.” Local business, Schultz said, is only one facet of his company’s success. The proximity to students at IU helps, too. “University kids are more conscious of quality,” he said. “They also realize that we buy premium coffee to support the third-world growers.”Felton said he agrees with Schultz and credits Bloomington with the success of The Pourhouse Cafe. “(Bloomington) caters to people interested in buying from a local roaster who has a lot of variety in what he does and more of a connection with the farms and the distributors that he’s buying the beans from. That is popular here,” Felton said.Schultz said that for his company and other Indiana coffee roasters, the differences in product for local coffees are measurable.“You couldn’t pull off our level of attention to detail if you were outside of Indiana,” Schultz said. “The only thing that keeps us in business is freshness.”
(04/27/12 3:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As the school year comes to a close, IU and the City of Bloomington are helping people recycle used electronics. The fourth annual Electronic Waste Collection Days will be May 11 and 12 at the Purple Parking Lot north of Memorial Stadium.Computers and computer equipment such as monitors, printers, headsets and USB drives are eligible for recycling during the two-day event. Cell phones and other handheld devices, audio, video and office equipment can be recycled as well.Chris England, IT manager for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and University Information and Technology Services employee, said SPEA uses the annual event to get rid of outdated equipment in a sustainable way. When SPEA is done using an electronic device, the school sends it to another school or department, or to IU Surplus, England said. He also said he encourages faculty, students and Bloomington residents to take advantage of the Electronic Waste Collection Days for both its economic and environmental benefits.“If we do send (a computer) to Surplus and they’re able to use that, we do get some amount of money back for the department,” he said. “More importantly, that equipment is being used, and that’s the environmental piece that is really close to the school.” England said any electronic equipment that is too outdated or broken to reuse should be recycled, which is where the Electronic Waste Collection Days’ environmental influence is evident.“Our hope is that that is better for the environment than throwing it in a landfill,” he said. England said because Bloomington is a college town, events like the Electronic Waste Collection Days are successful. “There’s so much technology at the school,” he said. “There’s so many people here using technology every day. Almost everybody on campus has at least one device.” England said since the lifetimes of computers and electronics are limited, there is a need to recycle almost all of them eventually, and events like this allow faculty and community members to do that. “There’s a need to make sure those are discarded appropriately or reused,” he said. “I think it’s just a perpetual replacing of computers.” While models of computers and tablets are passed down when newer ones are released, England said eventually this drops off as the electronics become too obsolete or old to be used effectively. The Electronic Waste Collection Days provide a funnel for that.England said the event proves beneficial for SPEA and other schools at the University.“For us, it’s a win-win situation,” he said. “Someone else can use (the old equipment), and it’s out of our hands. We can get rid of it, make some room and move on to the new technology.”
(04/10/12 1:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While some local residents and students remained in Bloomington last weekend, they had the opportunity to be transported to Greece through artwork. On Friday, as part of the community’s bimonthly Gallery Walk, local artist Elli Barnstone, originally from Greece, showed her collection “A Potpourri of Art” at the Venue Fine Art & Gifts. “This is what makes Bloomington unique and attracts people here,” Barnstone said. “The fact that we have the arts, not only with the University but in the town, too. I have worked a lot for promoting the arts in town.” Barnstone came to Bloomington in 1962, and she said the Gallery Walks are important for both the community and artists.“It’s very important because it is a festive occasion where people go out and look at the galleries,” Barnstone said. “That way, people can see a variety of art. We really have progressed with the arts tremendously since I first came to Bloomington.”Gabriel Colman, curator and owner of the Venue, said that in addition to benefitting knowledge of art in Bloomington, the Gallery Walks can help expand the way students think.“I think that art stimulates the mental process,” Colman said. “I think it expands the mind, and I think that anybody that’s willing to go to school is putting themselves in the position to expand their mind, so it very well goes hand-in-hand.” Barnstone said she draws inspiration from her backgrounds in both Bloomington and Greece.“I discovered that Indiana is very beautiful, so my paintings have to do with the grasses and trees and landscapes of Indiana,” Barnstone said. “But also, since I’m from Greece originally, a lot my paintings have to do with the sea and the water.” She said her works that mimic the sea are a direct result of her time spent in Greece, which she visits every summer.“The sea, the underneath life, has been haunting me with nostalgia,” Barnstone said. “I am a sea person. I decided to express the sea, beach, land and water in a different way. I chose collage as an experimental medium.”Colman said Barnstone’s international background is evident in her work.“She’s done a number of series that relate to landscapes in Greece, ranging from hillsides and mountainsides to aquatic features to actual hillside fires that they’ve experienced,” he said.Just as Barnstone said she draws inspiration from a variety of climates and cultures, the product of her inspiration, “A Potpourri of Art,” uses a variety of artistic mediums.“We’re calling this show ‘A Potpourri of Art’ because it covers a wide range of pastels and collages and paintings that she’s done in the past 20 years,” Colman said. “It’s generally abstract impressionism. It’s generally vibrant in color with visually dark undertones.” Barnstone said the opportunity to continue to produce art in Bloomington makes her feel alert both mentally and physically, and that she is grateful for opportunities such as the Gallery Walk. Bloomington’s next Gallery Walk is June 1. Nine downtown galleries participate in each walk, which is free to residents and students alike. Barnstone said that being an artist allows her to examine the world more closely, and this benefit of painting helps her in her everyday life.“What is beautiful about painting is it keeps you very informed when looking,” Barnstone said. “People don’t look very much. (Artists) look more intensely, and that’s beautiful.”