| Newsletter Feb. 2011 Serving Bloomington and Monroe County |
National Survey on Independent Business Shows Sales Way Up for Cities with Buy Local Organizations  By Una Winterman
Local First Indiana
The National Retail Federation reported a $4 billion spike in consumer spending at the beginning of the Holiday Season this year, but very few of those goods were actually made in America. NPR reported this discrepancy in a Marketplace story in Nov. 2010, when they talked to Michael Mandel, the editor in chief at Visible Economy, who argued that "holiday spending is largely for things that will worsen the trade deficit, add to our debt overseas and create bigger problems in the future."
The answer? Shop Local-as local as possible: local food, local goods, and local charities, supporting local jobs, local entrepreneurs, the local economy, and the quality of life we all enjoy in Bloomington. Read more here. |
Local First Indiana Sustaining Member
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Coming and Going: A Transient Collection of Bloomington Art
The Lodge
101 E. 6th
March 5, 6pm
free
Coming and Going: A Transient Collection of Bloomington Art, a multimedia art exhibition featuring works of artists with some current or former connection to Bloomington, premiers at The Lodge. "Bloomingtoncentric" 2D and 3D works from a broad range of artists representing Bloomington's past and present visual art community will be on display and will range dramatically in nature, reflecting the motley pool of contributing artists.
In developing the exhibition, organizers Diane Knoll and Lori Canada wanted a vehicle for showcasing artists who are still living and creating in Bloomington and those who have sally forthed to other destinations, far and near. "I was really missing some amazing artist friends who recently relocated," explained Diane Knoll, who has called Bloomington home for the last few years, "and thought it would be great if we could put together a show that includes those folks as well as artists still in town."
Sponsors for the show include Local First Indiana and Upland Brewery. Read more here and see the list of artists here. |
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Bloomington, Surrounding Area Receive Low Ranking on Indie City Index
by Martin Sorge, Local First Indiana Research and Technology Coordinator
Earlier this month, the researchers at Civic Economics, in partnership with the American Booksellers Association, released a study measuring the strength of independent retail across America.
The researchers created an index that measures the proportion of total retail sales captured by independent retailers in the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). An "index" of 100 is the national average proportion of independent retail to chain sales. MSAs with an index higher than 100 have a healthier than average independent retail sector. Bloomington (the MSA includes Green, Monroe, and Owen counties) ranked 245th out of 366, with an index of 87.4-lower than the national average. Read more here.
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New Local First Indiana Members!
See the full list of Local First Indiana Members in our Directory |
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 The Atlas Bar
209 S. College
812.334.4435
Your new favorite place.
"We have set out to create a place where you can have a great time. We have plenty of tasty beer, top shelf liquor and great bartenders to serve it up. There are some nice places to sit and you can enjoy playing darts, shuffle board, and skee-ball all while listening to music you love on our kick ass jukebox."
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Nature's Crossroads New Online Seed Catalog
Gardeners, check out Nature's Crossroads gorgeous new online seed catalog. They have a great selection of locally grown, locally adapted seeds. |
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 Panache Dance gets new logo and Facebook page
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Bloomington Playwrights Project
27th Annual Mini Play Festival
Theme: "Straight From the Headlines"
Performances: Feb 27, 2pm & Feb. 28, 7pm
$8 at the door
107 West 9th St.
It began with a contest. Then there was a camp. Now here come the shows! Announcing performances of the 27th annual MiniPlay Festival, a night of plays written and performed by local students between 3rd grade and high school.
The seeds of the MiniPlay Festival were planted back in December 2010, when over 250 local students, armed with only the newspaper and a wild imagination, submitted short plays to the MiniPlay Contest following the theme, "Straight from the Headlines." Every submitted play was inspired by a real newspaper article - anything from the classifieds to the front page was fair game! The winning plays illustrated how well a student crafts an original story, characters, and setting based upon their newspaper article. The topics of the winning pieces ranged from stolen art to bacon flavored soda (and everything in between).
Click here for more info. |
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Bloomington Playwrights Project
Local Playwriting Contest
Bloomington Playwrights Project Local Playwriting Contest
The 2011 AwareFest: War & Peace will enlighten audiences through productions pertaining to conflict and conflict resolution issues on global, national, local, or institutional levels.
AwareFest Local Playwriting Contest
Seeking 10-minute plays written on the theme of "war & peace"
Playwright must reside, work, or attend school in Monroe County, IN
No submission fee
$100 Prize for first place and full production in 2011 AwareFest
Due by 5pm on Friday, May 13th 2011
Submit to literarymanager@newplays.org
Click here for more info. |
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Boxcar Books Turns 9!
Boxcar Books celebrated its 9th birthday on Feb. 11. with a dessert party. Thanks for 9 great years of book selling, unique, exemplary fundraisers, and support of the Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project. Bloomington is a better place because of you. |
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By Hand Gallery Showcases MCCSC Young Artists
Feb. 2 - Mar. 9
101 W. Kirkwood, suite 109
In Celebration of Arts Week, By Hand Gallery is showcasing art that has been created by Monroe County Community School students this year. The theme is, 'Arts Teach' and our public school art teachers have gathered together a collection of exceptional art from elementary, middle and high school students. This is a great opportunity to view the art of some of the many talented young artists from this community. March is National Youth Art Month so come see the outcome of art in education. |
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Landlocked 5 Year Anniversary!
Bishop
Mon, Feb. 21, 9pm
Paul Collins, Half Rats, and Charlie & The Skunks
$5 at the door, come into Landlocked can pick up a FREE TICKET to the show (while they last.)
18+
The first week of March is Landlocked Music's FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We are so excited that we're throwing our own party and doing it early, too. Living legend Paul Collins has been crafting power-pop gems for decades as a solo artist and in bands like The Nerves, The Breakaways and The Beat. You might know The Nerves from the original version of "Hanging on the Telephone", later made famous by Blondie. Bring your stamped ticket stub back to Landlocked and redeem it for $1 off any new or used CD or LP. Undeniable pop hooks for an unbelievably great night of music - you will not want to miss this! For those out of town, portions of the show will be broadcast live on WFHB, streaming online and on your stereo, starting at 11PM.
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Paper Crane Hosts Show and Tell Event
Feb. 19, 7pm
Free, open to all
401 W. 6th
Paper Crane is teaming up with the Bloomington Storytelling Project to present a "Show And Tell" event at 7pm on February 19th! Storytellers will be expected to bring along an object of personal importance - a figurine, a music box, a postcard -the possibilities are endless! -and will share a true story in which that object plays a role.
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Stranger's Hill Farm Now Accepting Members for 2011 CSA
Join now to get fresh, organic produce every week for 22-24 wks, all grown at the Stranger's Hill Farm just 6 miles from downtown Bloomington! New in 2011, they are offering two convenient in-town pickup locations in addition to pick up on the farm. Home delivery is also available, and they hope to offer cut flower shares to interested members. Full shares (enough for 3 - 4 people) cost $650 or about $28 / week, and half shares (enough for 1 - 2 people) are $375 or about $16 / week.
Click here to see a photo slideshow of some of the weekly portions (half share) during the growing season.
Sign up and find more information here. |
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Upland's Ari Ri Imperial Red Ale Out Soon!
Snow, sleet, and ice have reigned supreme in the Uplands during the months of Winter Warmer and Schwarz, but the The Ard Ri (High King in old world Gaelic) will return once again in late February, and he decrees an end to winter!
Our signature St. Patty's day brew gets its distinct color from roasted barley used in the brewing process, and we've stepped up the malt and hops to make this imperial version of the style. It is slightly sweet with a complex malt character, balanced by a large hop addition to make it perfect for the big beer lovers and hop heads alike.
Find it on draught and in 22oz bottles starting in late February. |
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Building Local Living Economy Ties to Education
by Martin Sorge, Local First Indiana Research and Technology Coordinator, written for BALLE
"Research shows that a movement becomes powerful when its pioneers connect, develop shared goals, build joint platforms for strategic communications and advocacy, and start to be viewed as a 'class,'" BALLE Executive Director Michelle Long wrote in a previous blog post. I believe higher education has already taken notice of the local living economies movement-and they are excited to watch our networks innovate. The next step is to identify how educational and local living economy leaders can work together. Read more here.
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Local First Indiana Sustaining Members
click on the logos below to link to the webpages
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The Center for Sustainable Living is the Fiscal Sponsor for Local First Indiana
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Our Annual Tag Sale is Going on Now! We have a wonderful selection of artwork that we have discounted 10%, 20% 30% Wooden toys, fused glass, wooden pen and pencil sets, blown glass and musical instruments are some of the many items on sale. On sale now through March 15th. Don't miss it!
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Sign up for Twisted Limb Paperwork's Newsletter
Get updates on specials and they will plant a tree for you. Sounds like a good exchange. Sign up here. |
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Local First Indiana Decal |
Become a Member of Local First Indiana Today! Bloomington residents want to shop local and we aim to make that easier!
Benefits
Window decal,
Cooperative Marketing Campaigns
Benefit from our consumer education plan that tells residents why it matters to shop locally,
Access to network of over 22,000 local, independent businesses throughout the U.S. through our affiliation with BALLE.
Listing in our online directory
Twitter and Facebook postings
Monthly Newsletter
Prices
$10 a year per employee,
min. $35, max. $350.
Part-time employees count as half.
Sustaining Members
Sustaining Member Benefits: Promotion at Local First Events, on our website, and in our monthly newsletter. Size of logo or business name will correspond to size of contribution.
For more information about becoming a member, please visit our website here.
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Local First Indiana Steering Committee
Una Winterman, Founder
Martin Sorge, LFI Resource and Technology Coordinator
Brian Winterman, Indiana University Libraries
Sheryl Woodhouse-Keese, Twisted Limb Paperworks |
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