With 500 artists from 40 states and 6 countries under their belt, this collaborative gallery space generates some of the most thought-provoking and dynamic art shows in the region. Now that its bold, five year mission is drawing to a close, Gallery Project ponders what's next.
The current economy isn't an excuse as much as it is an opportunity for the folks at Running Fit."Our greatest growth has been in the midst of this horrible economy," says Randy Step, who co-own Running Fit with Steve Angerman. The two longtime friends and lifetime runners (click here for Step's blog Obsessed Runner) have been at the helm of the company for 25 years.The Ann Arbor-based firm that focuses on running-based gear and events has enjoyed some of its best success in the last few years. Its gross sales have increased 15 percent in each of the last three years, while the event side of the business (think 5K races and the like) has grown exponentially at the same time. "Our events are fun and quirky," Step says. "It's what we’re known for." Running Fit's email list is now 40,000 people strong, allowing the company to hold more running events and classes than ever before. It has also expanded its staff to 100 people and a couple of interns to accommodate that growth. While a few of those new hires have been on the retail level, nearly a dozen are working out of the company's new headquarters in the old Church of the Nazarene on Jackson Road.Step and Angerman plan to expand their offerings at their new headquarters to include Yoga for runners and sports massage. That all means more job opportunities at the company, which is also looking at opening new retail locations within the next couple of years.Source: Randy Step, co-owner of Running FitWriter: Jon Zemke
The North Campus Research Complex's future isn't just about cutting edge research and spinning off University of Michigan technology. The old Pfizer campus' immediate future also includes a role in Michigan's emerging film industry.The feature film "Trust" will begin production at the facility in November. The movie, which stars Clive Owen and is being directed by David Schwimmer, is expected to shoot much of the movie in the largely empty 30-building campus on the city's northeast side."They're going to stage an airport scene and FBI headquarters scene there," says Lee Doyle, director of the University of Michigan Film Office. "They can do everything there and never leave the complex."The film crew plans to hire students as both production assistants and extras. It will be the first jobs at the complex since Pfizer finished pulling out of the region last year. The university bought the campus to expand its research facilities and expects to create a few thousands research-based jobs within the next decade as it fills out the space.In the meantime, it looks like Hollywood could have a temporary home set there. The university expects to make the campus available as long as it convenient for the researchers who will use it.Source: Lee Doyle, director of the University of Michigan Film OfficeWriter: Jon Zemke
Thirteen is the lucky number for the University of Michigan. That's how many federal grants the university recently received for stem cell research, totaling $6.8 million in federal stimulus cash."That money will certainly accelerate stem cell research at the University of Michigan," says Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology. "It will go towards all sorts of stem cell research."The money represents a 15-20 percent increase in overall funding for both adult and embryonic stem cells at the center's laboratories. That translates to more research positions and new research projects.Michigan recently lifted restrictions on stem cell research, specifically allowing embryonic stem cell research to move forward. With these grants also come new and different stem cells for U-M researchers to study. Some U-M researchers will use induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. These versatile cells are adult cells that have been reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells.This is the latest federal stimulus research grant the university has received this year. It has scored 260 different grants, accounting for more than $100 million in extra research funding.Source: Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell BiologyWriter: Jon Zemke
Patient interaction is about to become both real and virtual thanks to a partnership between the University of Michigan and a Madison-based medical software development firm.Medical Cyberworlds is working with the University of Michigan and University of Virginia medical schools and Tigar-Hare Studios of Los Angeles to create "Mastering Professionalism" and "Teaching Humanistic Communication in Virtual Reality". The technology will allow medical students to practice patient interaction."Basically, we are helping to create a virtual reality training tool for medical students," says Debra Power, president of Ann Arbor-based Power Marketing and Research, which is creating the first focus groups for the project. "Students go through training to learn how to break bad news, and this tool will allow them to interact with a virtual patient."U-M Medical School Prof Michael Fetters is one of the co-founders of Mastering Professionalism and Teaching Humanistic Communication in Virtual Reality, which is being funded with grant money from the National Cancer Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health.The focus groups will use students from U-M and the University of Virginia this fall. Source: Debra Power, president of Power Marketing and ResearchWriter: Jon Zemke
Who could make the Anal-Oral Issues Kitty (check out the video in the link) fun for the whole family? Ypsilanti's Dirty Bros. Quality Productions of course.(...and, yes, we know our headline has a double negative)Excerpt:Dirty Bros. Quality Productions is a creative group consisting of visual artists, musicians, video artists and other creative professionals. The group collaborates on multimedia art projects; curates exhibitions and events that showcase local and international talent; stages public performance art happenings; and has created a number of music videos, web promos, and commercials. Each individual has their own artistic interests and technical skills; however, the group shares certain sensibilities, and they find it highly beneficial to collaborate on each other’s projects, give each other feedback, and coalesce together as a singular unit — like a family.The Dirty Bros. started in 2005, when founders Chris Sandon and Jason Lee Starin teamed up to curate Giant, a large multimedia exhibition and music event at the 555 Gallery in Detroit, which featured “everyone from outsider artists that I knew when I lived in Chicago to professors at the U of M, all together in the same show,” Sandon explains. An impressed exhibition visitor asked, “What are you guys?” he remembers. “Jason off-handedly said, yeah, we’re the Dirty Brothers,” which he later admitted was a European electronic band, according to Sandon. With a little creative titling to avoid any kind of infringement, the name Dirty Bros. Quality Productions was born.Sandon explains that he likes the idea of Dirty Brothers because “I always wanted brothers to work on stuff with. I think guys working on stuff together has its own charm to it. It also had this idea of working hard. We’re all kinda of blue collar guys who also work in art and aren’t afraid to get dirty. It also has this sort of locker-room humor that we all share.”Read the rest of the story here.
Ann Arbor is at the top of the list when it comes to adopting fuel-efficient hybrid technology for public transit.Excerpt:If you wonder whether hybrid-electric vehicles will ever catch on, simply ask one of the millions of people who ride in them every day.Hybrid-electric buses, that is.Transit systems from New York to Taipei, and from Ames, Iowa, to Ann Arbor, Mich., are adding hybrid buses at a rapid clip. New York, by far, has the nation’s biggest fleet of hybrid buses, which run on electricity and diesel fuel, with nearly 1,000 in all five boroughs, most in Manhattan.Read the rest of the story here.
An Ann Arbor researcher is playing a key role in keeping the water clean in Toronto.Excerpt:Bacteria resistant to some antibiotics have been found in Toronto tap water, a University of Michigan scientist says.The water remains safe to drink, he said, but the finding raises the possibility that disease-causing bacteria will pick up the resistance genes.In the United States, researchers have found bacteria that have evolved to become resistant to some antibiotics in some municipal water supplies.At his lab in Ann Arbor, Mich., microbiologist Prof. Chuanwu Xi showed a stack of petri dishes, some filled with yellow dots of bacteria that should have been killed off by antibiotics. The source of the bacteria was drinking water from several communities in Ohio and Michigan.Read the rest of the story here.
The former home of a longtime staple for Ann Arbor-area youth, Pinball Pete's, went up in flames last weekend and the AnnArbor.com takes a look back at it's colorful history.Excerpt:I came to Ann Arbor for the first time in 1976 and played a few games of pinball at Mickey Rat's, and then spent a lot of quarters during college playing pinball around town from 1985 to 1995. Here's a partial timeline of pinball in Ann Arbor with some personal memories mixed in. It's missing a lot of details; please fill in what I'm missing below in the comments, and I'll work the edits in to complete the story.A vacant pinball parlor on South University, once the home of Campus Pinball and later Pinball Pete's, burned last Saturday. The neighbors had said that loitering and vagrancy were a problem at the building which had been boarded up for some number of years. The building, owned by the Tice Family Partnership, had once been on the market, but in 2004 there were no takers for the asking price of $1.2 million.Read the rest of the story here.
The University of Michigan's football team isn't the only group of students practicing all week for Saturday.Excerpt:You see them every Football Saturday. The Big House erupts when they take the field. They perform as a flawless unit in which all individuals are constantly aware of where they are on the field, what their next move is and everything that's happening around them. They practice daily even in the harshest weather and undergo extensive training. They are some of the University’s most talented students. And no, they’re not on the football team.The Michigan Marching Band has been a crucial part of the University’s fabric since 1896, and for many football fans, the band is just as important to the Big House experience as the game. The band is collected, cohesive and professional when we see it on the field. But we all know that the complex halftime shows don't just happen with the wave of the drum major’s baton. What goes into producing a new show each week? And how is the band so damn good? It all rests on the effort and dedication of its members.Anyone who lives south of Hill Street has probably heard the Marching Band brazenly practicing every day. And anyone near Elbel Field at 4:45 p.m. on a weekday will hear the sound of drums pounding in unison while brassy scales grow louder and louder over thumping rhythms. Practice begins each day with a half hour of music rehearsal. The band members usually receive their show music several days before gameday so they have sufficient time to memorize their parts. Read the rest of the story here.
Our Partners
Common Ground Is Brewing
Support local stories and receive our signature roast straight to your door when you join at the Standard level (or above).
Drink Better, Read Local
