As we look forward to 2021, it might serve us well to remember how our community responded with remarkable resilience and resolve to the challenges we faced — and continue to face — in this exceptionally challenging year. Limestone Post’s talented and dependable contributors kept us informed on many of the important topics of the time. Click here to read about LP’s Top Stories of 2020.
Abattoir Gallery, at 4th and Rogers streets in Bloomington, will exhibit across mediums while maintaining a safe space for LGBTQ+, Black, and brown people, says its lead curator, Gnat Bowden. Writer Ian Carstens attended the soft opening and says Abattoir “is an open door to the streets of Bloomington to challenge its anti-Black, anti-LGTBQ+ realities.” Click here to read about Abattoir Gallery.
Although Limestone Post Magazine launched in 2015, this month we’re celebrating our one-year anniversary as a nonprofit! What a year. Despite the challenges, we’ve continued publishing important stories and have made progress in other significant ways. We’re carrying that momentum into 2021 with renewed hope and enthusiasm. Click here to read about Limestone Post’s past, present, and future.
“IU 2020” is a documentary series that began in 2016 and follows 12 Indiana University students during the entirety of their undergraduate careers. Jennifer Piurek, director of communications and special projects at IU’s Office of the Provost, wrote about the students and the project — and the free screening on December 8. Click here to learn about “IU 2020.”
Lotus Education & Arts Foundation is known for its vaunted world music and arts festival each fall, but Lotus’s other programming serves people year-round. Lotus Blossoms, the education program it runs throughout central and southern Indiana, enriches the lives of children as well as the adults who help make the programs happen. Click here to read about Lotus Blossoms.
The annual “Sense of Place” project by students at The Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship shows “a sliver of each student’s identity,” writes student Richelle Elkes. But each student’s video, she adds, “gives the viewer a greater understanding of the young people in the community and how their values affect the community of Bloomington.”
Click here to read about the project and watch their videos.
Water volume in the Ohio River is expected to increase by 30 percent over the next 50 years. But a 600-acre park being developed in southern Indiana will turn the inevitable flooding into an attraction, making it “the first climate-resilient park in the Midwest.” Click here to read the story by Beth Edwards of the Indiana Environmental Reporter.
Held on the first Friday of each month, Gallery Walk is an iconic, one-of-a-kind event in Bloomington — a chance for friends and family to meet downtown, take in some of the area’s best art, and enjoy one of the most vibrant cultural hubs in the Midwest. Talking with the artists in any of the 12 galleries, no one walks away from Gallery Walk without exploring what’s fresh and new in the local art scene. Click here to read about all the galleries in Gallery Walk.
Limestone Post’s food sage, Ruthie Cohen, settles a domestic dispute by offering us recipes inspired by her daughter Leigh, the last of the Cohen kids to be featured in her column. Ruthie says Leigh “embodies the essential ingredients that ignite: a zest for life, a fire in her belly, a brash sizzle, and a subtle hint of sweetness.” Click here for Ruthie’s Leigh-inspired recipes.
‘Paper Pavilions’ is a group exhibition of Midwestern artists, showing virtually and physically at the 411 Gallery in Columbus, Indiana. Curated by Sean Starowitz, the City of Bloomington’s assistant director for the arts, the exhibition allows artists to set the tone for the future of public art. Click here to read a review from writer and photographer Ian Carstens.
With Cardinal Stage’s Nest Generation Initiative, people under the age of 35 can see great theatre for free. Theatre lovers introduce young adults to the high-quality performances in Cardinal’s Mainstage productions by sponsoring people who have registered for the program. It’s a risk-free way to experience the best shows in town. Click here to see how to register for the Nest Generation.
Building equity and supporting community access to healthy food are at the heart of the People’s Open Pantry, a new initiative under the aegis of the People’s Market, writes Ellen Wu. But starting a pantry during a pandemic takes dedication and planning. Wu talked to several of the people involved in the effort.
Click here to read the story.
Krista Detor and Dave Weber’s artist retreat, The Hundredth Hill, has served since August as a theater residency for a troupe of recent graduates from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Not only has the group created two productions but they will also perform them for live audiences — an all but unheard-of feat in theater during the pandemic. Click here for the story.
How can the culture, heritage, and history of Bloomington and Monroe County possibly be portrayed in all its diversity and richness? Through paintings, illustrations, photography, poetry, and in-depth stories. Limestone Post’s A Sense of Place includes the work of dozens of local writers, photographers, painters, poets, and other artists. Click here to get a glimpse inside.
Before becoming a local political powerhouse in Bloomington, Charlotte Zietlow and her husband, Paul, spent a year in Czechoslovakia as part of an educational exchange program. She says in her new memoir, “Minister’s Daughter: One Life, Many Lives,” with Michael G. Glab, that the experience proved American democracy was worth fighting for. Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
Art galleries are adapting to ever-changing conditions during the pandemic. Photographer Paige Strobel visited several local galleries to find out how they are welcoming visitors — in-person, online, or both. “While the world looks different and extra precautions are in place,” she writes, “one can still experience the incredible artists and artistry this town offers.” Click here for Paige’s story and photos.