Join us on Saturday, August 21st at 8:00pm for a triple feature of terror at the Englewood Cinema! We’ll be showing DON’T GO IN THE WOODS, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD, and the original THE EVIL DEAD, plus plenty of retro trailer favorites! Tickets are only $10 at the door!
Free Funk Fest at Levitt Pavilion
Brink a blanket or lawn chair. Stan the Man Brooks will be the emcee and DJ for the event. The festival will also offer multiple food and merchandise vendors.
Cinderella Under the Stars
Grab your lawn chairs and join us for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella! All performances will be free and tickets are not required.
The timeless enchantment of a magical fairy tale is reborn with the Rodgers & Hammerstein hallmarks of originality, charm and elegance. Originally presented on television in 1957 starring Julie Andrews, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella was the most widely viewed program in the history of the medium.
Springboro Community Theatre will have a concession stand available for patrons. Donations are also greatly appreciated. Join us for a night of theatre under the stars!
$8 Million Grant Launches Northwest Dayton Partnership
Community leaders Thursday gathered at the Northwest Branch of the Dayton Metro Library to announce the launch of the Northwest Dayton Partnership, a collaborative, place-based effort to build economic and racial equity for Northwest Dayton’s children and the adults in their lives.
“The Northwest Dayton Partnership is the culmination of years of discussions and planning for how to improve outcomes for kids and families in this critical corner of our city. I am thrilled that this work is moving forward to intentionally focus on investing in existing community leadership and creating better outcomes for Black students. I’m grateful for the leadership of all of the partners involved and look forward to seeing this work come to fruition,’ said Mayor Nan Whaley in a written statement.
Commissioner Jeff Mims represented the Dayton City Commission at the event.
The Northwest Dayton Partnership brings together people and public and private sector organizations working together to dramatically improve results at a population level and reduce racial disparities by changing the status quo with sustained, systemic solutions, including:
- Taking a two-generation approach to building well-being by intentionally and simultaneously working with both children and the adults in their lives;
- Shifting power to deeply connected, primarily Black-led community organizations;
- Building high-quality early childhood education for children birth to age five;
- Creating quality K-12 schools that close opportunity gaps;
- Supporting community-based institutions’ racial and economic equity work; and
- Articulating and advocating for policy priorities developed with youth, families, and community residents to impact education and economic mobility
“We at Harlem Children’s Zone are committed to cradle-to-career models across the nation, and we have a generation of data to prove the effectiveness of place-based work,’” said Chief Executive Officer Kwame Owusu-Kesse in a written statement. “We are inspired by the Northwest Dayton Partnership’s impactful, on-the-ground work and are excited to see the effect on the future outcomes of young people here in Dayton.’
The Northwest Dayton Partnership community steering committee guides the work and builds upon community assets, including neighborhood associations, DPS neighborhood school centers, Dayton Metro Library Northwest Branch, Gem City Market, Omega CDC Hope Center, Preschool Promise, and Salem Avenue Reconstruction. Current steering committee members include Cheryl Garrett, Geraldine Pegues, Chad Sloss, Sharon Taste and Lauretta Williams, all of whom live or work in Northwest Dayton.
“The Northwest Dayton Partnership will enhance and further the existing work that educators, community leaders, residents, and organizations have done to remove barriers to equitable education and affordable daycare. Removing such barriers can elevate families above their circumstances and help children excel in and outside the classroom. The stabilization of families will result in the stabilization of our neighborhoods,” says Sharon Taste, who manages the Northwest Branch of the Dayton Metro Library in addition to serving on the Northwest Dayton Partnership steering committee.
As part of its Place Matters portfolio, national funder Blue Meridian Partners provides catalytic supports for the Northwest Dayton Partnership with a two-year, $8 million grant to develop a comprehensive six- to ten-year vision that aligns opportunities, bolsters the infrastructure critical for the community’s success and equips families to pursue their goals and thrive.
“We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Northwest Dayton Partnership,” said Founder and President of Harlem Children’s Zone Geoffrey Canada in a written statement. “We are looking for models around the country on how to effectively address the complexities of race, poverty, and education. The Northwest Dayton Partnership has the potential to serve as a model on how to address, and ultimately solve, these profound issues.”
Canada and the team at the William Julius Wilson Institute of the Harlem Children’s Zone work with Blue Meridian Partners to provide the tools and resources necessary to catalyze the success of place-based partnerships like the Northwest Dayton Partnership.
Learn to Earn Dayton serves as the backbone organization for the Northwest Dayton Partnership. As the backbone organization, Learn to Earn convenes the full set of partners and provides the partnership with core supports to achieve the partnership’s shared vision.
“Our job as the Northwest Dayton Partnership backbone organization is to accelerate the amazing work being done by deeply-connected community leaders and facilitate collaboration so that all the organizations in Northwest Dayton can work towards their common goals,” says Learn to Earn Dayton CEO Kristina Scott.
The Dayton Foundation provides the Northwest Dayton Partnership team members with technical assistance on capacity building, impact investing and leveraging philanthropic investment to support partnership goals.
“Blue Meridian Partner’s generous investment in the Dayton community comes at a critical time in closing the economic gap. Thanks to this grant, the Northwest Dayton Partnership can align and leverage resources, as well as increase linkages across agencies, to build equitable neighborhoods and improve life outcomes for area youth and families,” says Michael M. Parks, CFRE, president of The Dayton Foundation.
Learn to Earn Dayton fosters the success of all Montgomery County children from birth until they graduate from college or earn a high-quality credential. Our big goal is for 60 percent of Montgomery County’s working-age adults to have a 2-year or 4-year college degree or a high-quality credential by 2025.
Dayton Steel Exhibit Debuts
The work of Mike Elsass, one of Dayton’s most prominent and prolific artists, will debut this Friday at a first-of-its-kind art opening this Friday at the Dana L. Wiley Gallery, at 1001 East Second Street (B/C Entrance-Second Floor) in Dayton.
Experience Mike Elsass’ work in ways it has never been seen before in the special curation “Dayton Steel” debuting Friday, August 13 through October 17, 2021.
The exhibit will open to the public with a special event from 7-9 p.m. this Friday, during which new pieces will debut and be displayed in interesting and exciting ways that have never been seen before, putting new twists on the “brush before brain” philosophy that earned Elsass his reputation. The event is open to the public and will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres from acclaimed Chef Joseph Fish.
Elsass paints–and lives–by the philosophy that there are no mistakes, pushing people to embrace action before thought, and inspiring them to open their minds and engage with the unexpected. People get stuck in their own heads. Elsass forces them out. He never knows what he is painting until it’s done, and it’s usually more about the journey than the result.
Elsass has been one of the most generous and prolific artists in the history of Dayton, having invested $2.5 million into beautifying spaces, donating artwork and partnering with nonprofits to create meaningful experiences through art. Throughout the pandemic, he donated even more artwork to local businesses to be auctioned off, and exchanged artwork for donations to area nonprofits in an effort to keep the energy up in the region.
Mike’s art celebrates imperfection, bringing together what’s typically abandoned and forgotten into breathtaking statement pieces that capture emotion through composition. Often using materials discarded as garbage, Mike uses things like tar, oil, grit, silicate sand, spent whiskey mash–and this year, even some cicadas–to intentionally deteriorate his pieces before blanketing them with layer upon layer of paint in various colors.
Elsass’ enchanting and eclectic studio space now occupies 9,000 square feet of studio space at Front Street Galleries, which is also home to Dana L. Wiley Gallery, where Dayton Steel will debut on Friday.
The show will continue through Oct. 17, with a special artist talk:
IN THE GALLERY WITH MIKE ELSASS
SEPTEMBER 23RD, 7PM
Join Mike Elsass for a discussion on his artwork, process and how his artwork has impacted the Dayton community.
Please register for the Art Talk on Eventbrite. Limited seating available.
Blues & Roots Rock Extravaganza 2
Enjoy a fun night of local based Blues and Roots Rock with all proceeds benefitting the ongoing renovations of the Sorg Opera House. Fred Gillespie and the Swamp Bees, with special guests Ashley Baumgarten, Chuck Evans, and Randy Smith present a lively, take-no-prisoners mix of powerful musicianship, strong original material, blues, R&B and classic rock in a tight three-piece format featuring blazing lead guitar and strong vocals.
Baxter Takes On Turner in Congress Run
Baxter Stapleton, 32, filmmaker and Centerville native, announces at Centerville High School he is entering the race against Mike Turner for US Congress in the Ohio 10th Congressional District. “Politics tends to divide us but purpose tends to unite us. My purpose is to serve everyone in our incredible district,” Baxter said.
Baxter is an international speaker, activist, and Webby and MTV Video Music Award winning filmmaker having worked with clients like Apple and Disney. He grew up in Centerville attending Centerville City Schools and was inducted into the Centerville Education Hall of Fame in 2007. He attended Cedarville University where he was elected Class President majoring in Political Science and studied under Mike DeWine before DeWine returned to elected office. While at Cedarville he attended leadership training at the Air Force Academy. He then transferred to Wright State majoring in Urban Affairs and NonProfit Management.
A turning point came in 2007 when Baxter won a Kids Voting essay contest to attend the Dayton Region Fly In sponsored by the Dayton Development Coalition. He traveled to Washington with a delegation of leaders from our area and had a greater understanding of how the federal government can better serve our region. “It was during the Fly In that the dream to serve our district in Washington began and I started preparing myself for this moment,” Baxter said. “Our world is rapidly changing and if we do not accelerate to transform then we will lose as a region,” Baxter shared. “We cannot renew our minds to solve the big problems we’re facing in a new way if we keep carrying with us a lot of old trash.”
One of Baxter’s dreams was to show his films on the big screen at the Neon Movie Theater in downtown Dayton. He realized that dream for his 30th birthday in 2018. Today he officially launched his campaign to realize his next dream representing the Miami Valley in Washington.
His official campaign kick off is Wed, August 11th:
Artist Opportunity Grants Now Accepting Applications
The Artist Opportunity Grant Program is intended to provide financial assistance to Montgomery County artists to further their careers through professional development opportunities and through opportunities associated with new works. This program is made possible by funding from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District (MCACD) and is administered by Culture Works. The MCACD is providing $40,000 for the 2021-2022 cycle, and grants will range from $500 to $3,000.
The project or opportunity for which an applicant seeks funding must take place between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022. If the grant is to complete a project already in progress, it must culminate with a completed work in 2022. Projects anticipated to not be completed by December 31, 2022 will not be considered. Click here to read the full 2021-2022 Artist Opportunity Grant Guidelines.
PROGRAM GOALS
Artist Opportunity Grants help advance the careers of individual artists by supporting expenses related to specific, unique opportunities that have the potential to significantly impact an artist’s work and professional development. The purpose of these grants is to empower artists at critical stages in their creative lives. The goal is to assist artists in Montgomery County in furthering and innovating their work, to elevate the quality and raise the profile of individual artistic work in the region, and to help artists achieve their artistic and career goals through the pursuit of new works or professional/career development opportunities in the field, thereby making them competitive in the creative marketplace. Grants are intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, regardless of the level of his or her artistic career point (emerging, mid-career, mature) or genre.
2021-2022 TIMELINE
Monday, August 9, 2021 – Application opens.
Tuesday, August 31, 2021, noon – Virtual Artist Opportunity Grant Info Session for first-time applicants via Zoom. Register to attend here.
Friday, October 8, 2021 – Deadline to apply, 11:59pm EST
Mid-November 2021 – Virtual public panel meeting. Applicants will receive notification of their initial award status following the meeting. The panel’s funding recommendations must then receive final approval by the MCACD board.
January 2022 – Funding distributed to grantees.
December 31, 2022 – Projects must be completed.
New Middletown Beer Festival
What makes this event NOT average? Well this beer festival starts out in a beer garden with 10 breweries, live music by Tin Penny, and food trucks, and then morphs into a pub crawl throughout downtown Middletown to experience more amazing limited releases and special tappings in our local pubs and bars.
Shinedown with special guest Pop Evil at Fraze
Multi-platinum, record-breaking band Shinedown – Brent Smith [vocals], Zach Myers [guitar], Eric Bass [bass, production], and Barry Kerch [drums] – has sold more than 10 million albums and 10 million singles worldwide, earned 13 platinum and gold singles, 5 platinum and gold albums, 15 #1 Active Rock hits, and amassed more than 1.5 billion total streams. Each of Shinedown’s 25 charting singles on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs Chart has reached the Top 5 – an unparalleled achievement – and they hold the record for most Rock Airplay Top 10s ever.
Local Youth Theater Workshop Performances
The play — cleverly titled by the child collaborators PLAGIARISM IS FUN!: A MUSICAL (which is NOT a musical!), directed by D2D’s Philip Drennen — will be performed by said group of kids and their friends at the Brightside: August 10th & 11th, at 7pm both nights.
Bee Active 5k Fun Run
Come join us in a run, jog, or walk and help us support Behavioral Mental Health for children. With the added stress of COVID on our children, we can all do our part to help them get the support they need to… BEE Happy!
Harry Connick Jr. at The Rose
Harry Connick Jr. continues to establish himself as a best-selling musician, singer, composer, and a legendary live performer with millions of recordings sold around the world. Long regarded as one of America’s finest vocalists and pianists, Connick has exemplified excellence across multiple platforms in the entertainment world – in music, film, television, and Broadway.
2021 Midsummer Masquerade
The Midsummer Masquerade will happen once again at the Shipwreck Stage at the Ohio Renaissance Festival!
This year’s entertainment:
Robert the Barrrd
Stixen Stones
Troupe Roja
DJ Dr. Martin
DJ Splinter
Jameson’s Folly
Holly Berry – Bearded Queen
and of course the PB and J Circus as your hosts!
Back To School Tax Free Weekend Starts Tomorrow
Ohio will have a sales tax holiday from Friday, August 6, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. to Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.
During the holiday, the following items are exempt from sales and use tax:
An item of clothing priced at $75 or less;
An item of school supplies priced at $20 or less;
An item of school instructional material priced at $20 or less.
No. If a clothing item is more than $75, sales tax is due for the entire price.
The exemptions do not apply to clothing accessories, including briefcases, handbags, cosmetics, handkerchiefs, watches, sunglasses or jewelry. Protective equipment and sporting equipment are also not included. The sales tax exemption does apply to online orders purchased during the tax-free weekend.
DAI Now Open Thursday – Sunday
Beginning August 5, the Dayton Art Institute (DAI) will expand its hours to include Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The museum is also open on Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sundays, noon–5 p.m.
“The community has asked us for additional weekday hours, as well as evening hours, and today I’m pleased to announce that we will now be open on Thursdays,” DAI Director & CEO Michael R. Roediger said. “This provides guests with more opportunities to enjoy our current Special Exhibition, Changing Times: Art of the 1960s, as well as new Focus Exhibitions and our recently reopened Lange Family Experiencenter.”
The DAI will open two new Focus Exhibitions in conjunction with the expanded hours: Photography through Time, on view July 30–October 24, and Spotlight on Africa: Gifts from Dianne Komminsk, on view August 7–November 4.
Photography through Time explores the range of photographic processes and techniques within the Dayton Art Institute’s extensive photography collection. From early photographic processes to contemporary artworks, the exhibition will include examples of daguerreotype, cyanotype, albumen, gelatin silver, chromogenic, photogravure and inkjet photographs. Photography through Timepresents a rare opportunity to see these works. Supporting Sponsors for the exhibition are Norma Landis & Rick Hoffman.
A business leader and philanthropist, Dianne Komminsk (1944–2019) of New Bremen, Ohio, was a passionate collector of art. She collected contemporary art and antiquities, but her greatest interest was in the rich aesthetic qualities of art from Africa. Spotlight on Africa: Gifts from Dianne Komminsk will feature some of the more than 300 objects she has gifted the DAI during her lifetime and through her estate. Komminsk’s extraordinary collection of African art includes work from across the continent and, when combined with the museum’s holdings, helps strengthen a world-class collection of the art of Africa for the Dayton Art Institute. Supporting Sponsor for the exhibition is PNC, with additional support from Patty & Jerry Tatar.
Other exhibitions currently on view at the DAI include The Roaring (and the Quiet) 1920s, Bukang Y. Kim: Journey to the East and All by Myself: Japanese Creative Prints.
The DAI also recently reopened The Lange Family Experiencenter, the museum’s interactive gallery for all ages. The Lange Family Experiencenter currently features the exhibition ABCs of Art, a playful exploration of the artistic alphabet special to artists, makers and people who enjoy looking at art. An artistic alphabet can include media—or materials—and techniques, style and meaning, or visual elements such as color, line and shape. This “hands-off, brains-on” exhibition exposes learners of all ages to new art concepts and a dynamic variety of artworks from the DAI collection.
“The exhibitions we currently have are wonderfully diverse. They feature great variety, from ancient and traditional works of Africa to contemporary art made right here in Ohio. Even for our members who come to the DAI regularly, there is a lot of newly installed art to see and enjoy,” DAI Chief Curator & Director of Education Jerry N. Smith said.
In addition, the DAI’s popular Bob Ross Auto Group Jazz & Beyond series returns on August 12 with Soul Express, and informal performances on the museum’s historic Skinner pipe organ have resumed on the first and third Saturday of each month at 2 p.m. The DAI’s first in-person education program since early 2020, the Language of Art, will be held on August 14. Visit the DAI’s website for a full list of exhibitions, events and programs.
On Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 6-8, when the DAI will hold a special catalogue sale, featuring discounted catalogues from the museum’s permanent collection and past exhibitions, including some vintage exhibition catalogues from the 1950s & 1960s! Pictured above are just a few of the catalogues available, and everything will be priced at $4 or less. The sale takes place in the Leo Bistro area – look for the sign in the Rotunda.
General admission to the DAI, which includes access to the collection galleries, all exhibitions and The Lange Family Experiencenter, is: $15 adults; $10 seniors (60+), active military and groups (10 or more); $5 students (18+ w/ID) and youth (ages 7–17); free for children (ages 6 & younger). Admission is also free for museum members.
For more about planning a visit to the Dayton Art Institute, including the latest information about COVID-19 safety protocols, please visitwww.daytonartinstitute.org or call 937-223-4ART (4278). Connect with the Dayton Art Institute on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram andYouTube for additional information, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and exclusive offers.
