Art Finds A Universal Home
Colby College Museum of Art
5600 Mayflower Hill Drive
Waterville, Maine
Grand reopening July 13
ELABORATELY CARVED BRONZE TRIPOD STRUCTURES FROM FOURTH CENTURY B.C.
CHINA
LANDSCAPES BOTH WISPY AND HAZY, LUSCIOUS AND RICH.
EERIE MINIMALIST ETCHINGS OF MOROSE WOMEN IN BLACK; CROWDED BALCONIES IN AMSTERDAM.
STILL-LIFES; HUNT SCENES; IRREVERENT SCULPTURES; CONTEMPORARY MIXED-MEDIA BRANDISHING ITS MIRROR ON SOCIETY.
This menagerie of work, crossing centuries and context, mediums and meaning,
will soon enrich the walls of the expanded Colby College Museum of Art, which is
set to open its new 26,000-square-foot Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion on July 13.
With its unveiling, it will become the largest art museum in Maine, composed of
five wings, nearly 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, and more than 8,000
works of art. “We want to be a destination for people interested in not just
American art, but contemporary art,” said Sharon Corwin, the museum’s Carolyn
Muzzy director and chief curator.
The $15 million project was born in 2007, when Peter and Paula Lunder promised
to gift their expansive collection of more than 500 pieces to the school; the
impressive cache of work was amassed over three decades and represents a wide
spectrum of American art in painting, mixed media and sculpture, from the
classical and richly-detailed John Singer Sargent, to the abstracted realism of
Edward Hopper, to the ethereal, often moody James McNeill Whistler.
Read the entire article in our magazine pages...
View original link (and other great stories about art in New England) here.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Disc golf gaining speed
Get up and Go
Fans find disc golf a game for the season
June 27, 2013
EASTON — Let’s get started: Position yourself at a 90 degree-angle from your target.
Plant your feet in a comfortable, wide stance. Swivel your body, cross your throwing arm laterally across your chest — then release and follow through.
This is the basic drive — or starting/distance shot — in disc golf, known less formally as Frisbee golf.
You might be thinking: Frisbee? That’s easy, right? Played it in my backyard as a kid.
Disc golf is a burgeoning sport that is similar to a typical game of golf: Flying discs are used to tee up, drive, shoot mid-range, and putt, all with the goal of landing a shot in a ground-mounted, chain-draped basket using the smallest number of throws (or strokes, if you prefer). Games are typically 9 or 18 baskets, and players work with a variety of discs that range in size, weight, and thickness, (and feature uniquely beveled edges to cut different swaths through the air).
As DeAngelis explained while showing off his collection of discs in a spectrum of colors, “it’s not a standard Frisbee you’re used to throwing.”
Like many, the North Easton resident got into disc golf in high school as a “natural progression” from Ultimate Frisbee (which operates more on the principles of soccer) and good old-fashioned golf. Since then, he’s become part of the committee that keeps up an 18-hole course at Borderland (www.borderlanddiscgolf.com), as well as the New England Flying disc Association, which has about 500 members throughout the region, as well as parts of New York and New Jersey. The nonprofit hosts numerous events, and also provides grant money to help improve and establish courses.
“It’s all about getting more people involved in the sport,” said DeAngelis.
And more players are, indeed, letting the Frisbees fly. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association (www.pdga.com), its members in the United States have increased from 8,304 in 2003 to 18,089 in 2012. Likewise, the number of courses nationwide has nearly tripled, growing from 1,512 in 2003 to 3,762 in 2012.
Meanwhile, there are ever more prevalent local, regional, and national tournaments, as well as both male and female pro sponsored players. Borderland was recently the location of a popular “Spring Fling” tournament on June 8 and 9 that attracted 77 male and female players, with the top prize fetching $215.
New England has more than 80 permanent courses, according to the New England Flying disc Association. Twenty-four of those are in Massachusetts, peppered throughout the state, from Amesbury, to Athol, to Barnstable, to Conway. Borderland is one of the more popular destinations, according to numerous ratings sites, as is Maple Hill Disc Golf in Leicester, which is set to host the 2013 Vibram Open in August, described as one of the sport’s premier amateur tournaments in the world.
As for the sport’s inception: It’s about as easy to track as a drive lost in the brush. According to the Disc Golf Association (www.discgolf.com), it has waxed and waned in one form or another since the advent of flying discs in the late 1940s. But it wasn’t until the late 1960s and early 1970s that it started to (quite literally) take off, spurred by Ed Headrick of California, who designed and installed the first course, coined the sport’s name, invented the first target, established the first tournaments, and founded several governing bodies, including the Disc Golf Association, Professional Disc Golf Association, and Recreational Disc Golf Association.
Today’s enthusiasts say they are drawn to the sport for numerous reasons — most notably, the competition, relaxed atmosphere, and camaraderie.
“Everybody I’ve met so far, I’ve been happy to shake their hand,” said 34-year-old Tavis Dunne of Fall River, who regularly plays with his two brothers, 26-year-old Dylan and 14-year-old Kealan, and their dad, 58-year-old David.
He described the aerodynamics, strategy, innovation, and skill involved, and a “finesse” and beauty in watching a great player work a course. All told, “it’s a laid-back, very therapeutic environment. There’s nothing better.”
And as fellow player Jonah Kurman-Faber, an 18-year-old from Sharon, noted, it’s a sport that can be whatever you make it.
“You can take it as seriously, or as non-seriously, as you want,” he said, pointing out that some people are incredibly competitive, while others are decidedly nonchalant. In any case, it’s a “great time to catch up with friends, a great bonding experience, and great for all ages.”
And he promised one thing: “If you give it one chance, you’ll be hooked.”
That has certainly been the case for the Dunnes; they try to play every day, whether on a course like Borderland, or a homemade one they created adjacent to their homes in Fall River.
Ultimately, they all agreed, it allows them to be together as a family in a non-cloistered, non-stressful setting.
“I wanted to be closer to my kids, have a good outlet without invading,” said David, sweaty from a walk up the green at Borderland, black baseball cap corralling a gray ponytail.
All in all, he described it as “frustrating fun.”
Dylan, who got his family into the sport, was introduced to it while living in Florida, where one day a group of buddies “said they were going to go throw Frisbees around in the woods.”
It took him 14 drives to get the disc to finally go straight — and when that happened, he described the feeling of being “hooked.” Now, he’s able to throw a drive about 500 feet, and is described as being in the “professional” class by the Professional Disc Golf Association.
His youngest brother, Kealan, hopes for that distinction, as well. “You can have a great future in the sport if you start young,” he said, a bag stuffed with 21 discs of various designs and colors — yellow, orange, purple, red — plunked at his feet.
The crew was just back from a round at Borderland on a picturesque Sunday afternoon. Groups of players traversed the park’s two woodsy courses cloaked with willows, maples, and pines, pockmarked with rocks, and often emerging into wide green fields. Some baskets were perched precipitously atop boulders; others were obscured by a maze of trees; one was set against a backdrop of the park’s 1910 three-story stone mansion with its intaglio of vines.
“It’s a relaxing alternative to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise,” Kurman-Faber said after finishing up, calling it an “interactive hike.”
And if you’re just beginning?
DeAngelis suggested using lighter-weight discs — widely available in starter packs found at most major sporting goods stores — that offer better control and more consistent shots.
And when throwing, “don’t move too much, keep it simple,” he advised.
If you stick with it, you’ll eventually need to carry a wide range of discs — just as a golfer keeps a cache of numerous clubs — typically toted in a rectangular, shoulder-slung bag.
“As you get better, you’ll want to have the right disc for the right shot,” DeAngelis explained.
You’ll probably also progress to more sophisticated moves; advanced players gain more power and momentum by taking lead-up steps, or grapevine-style runs, before releasing.
But above all, DeAngelis and others stressed, don’t get discouraged.
“We were all horrible” at first, said David Dunne. “Practice is half of the game.”
How to play disc golf
June 27, 2013
Some basic rules:
Play begins at each hole with players taking turns throwing/driving from the designated teeing area.
Courses are generally 9 or 18 holes.
SOURCE: Professional Disc Golf Association
Original story link here.
Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe
Jason Dore played a round of disc golf during the finals of the 2013
Borderland Spring Fling held at Borderland State Park in North Easton.EASTON — Let’s get started: Position yourself at a 90 degree-angle from your target.
Plant your feet in a comfortable, wide stance. Swivel your body, cross your throwing arm laterally across your chest — then release and follow through.
This is the basic drive — or starting/distance shot — in disc golf, known less formally as Frisbee golf.
You might be thinking: Frisbee? That’s easy, right? Played it in my backyard as a kid.
But consider disc golf the evolution — and revolution — of what you know of the simple backyard game.
“It’s still considered a niche sport, not a lot of people know about
it,” said Matt DeAngelis, president of the nonprofit New England Flying
disc Association (www.nefa.com), after a Sunday-morning round at Borderland State Park (www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/borderland). “But every day, we see new faces out here.”Disc golf is a burgeoning sport that is similar to a typical game of golf: Flying discs are used to tee up, drive, shoot mid-range, and putt, all with the goal of landing a shot in a ground-mounted, chain-draped basket using the smallest number of throws (or strokes, if you prefer). Games are typically 9 or 18 baskets, and players work with a variety of discs that range in size, weight, and thickness, (and feature uniquely beveled edges to cut different swaths through the air).
As DeAngelis explained while showing off his collection of discs in a spectrum of colors, “it’s not a standard Frisbee you’re used to throwing.”
Like many, the North Easton resident got into disc golf in high school as a “natural progression” from Ultimate Frisbee (which operates more on the principles of soccer) and good old-fashioned golf. Since then, he’s become part of the committee that keeps up an 18-hole course at Borderland (www.borderlanddiscgolf.com), as well as the New England Flying disc Association, which has about 500 members throughout the region, as well as parts of New York and New Jersey. The nonprofit hosts numerous events, and also provides grant money to help improve and establish courses.
“It’s all about getting more people involved in the sport,” said DeAngelis.
And more players are, indeed, letting the Frisbees fly. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association (www.pdga.com), its members in the United States have increased from 8,304 in 2003 to 18,089 in 2012. Likewise, the number of courses nationwide has nearly tripled, growing from 1,512 in 2003 to 3,762 in 2012.
Meanwhile, there are ever more prevalent local, regional, and national tournaments, as well as both male and female pro sponsored players. Borderland was recently the location of a popular “Spring Fling” tournament on June 8 and 9 that attracted 77 male and female players, with the top prize fetching $215.
New England has more than 80 permanent courses, according to the New England Flying disc Association. Twenty-four of those are in Massachusetts, peppered throughout the state, from Amesbury, to Athol, to Barnstable, to Conway. Borderland is one of the more popular destinations, according to numerous ratings sites, as is Maple Hill Disc Golf in Leicester, which is set to host the 2013 Vibram Open in August, described as one of the sport’s premier amateur tournaments in the world.
As for the sport’s inception: It’s about as easy to track as a drive lost in the brush. According to the Disc Golf Association (www.discgolf.com), it has waxed and waned in one form or another since the advent of flying discs in the late 1940s. But it wasn’t until the late 1960s and early 1970s that it started to (quite literally) take off, spurred by Ed Headrick of California, who designed and installed the first course, coined the sport’s name, invented the first target, established the first tournaments, and founded several governing bodies, including the Disc Golf Association, Professional Disc Golf Association, and Recreational Disc Golf Association.
Today’s enthusiasts say they are drawn to the sport for numerous reasons — most notably, the competition, relaxed atmosphere, and camaraderie.
“Everybody I’ve met so far, I’ve been happy to shake their hand,” said 34-year-old Tavis Dunne of Fall River, who regularly plays with his two brothers, 26-year-old Dylan and 14-year-old Kealan, and their dad, 58-year-old David.
He described the aerodynamics, strategy, innovation, and skill involved, and a “finesse” and beauty in watching a great player work a course. All told, “it’s a laid-back, very therapeutic environment. There’s nothing better.”
And as fellow player Jonah Kurman-Faber, an 18-year-old from Sharon, noted, it’s a sport that can be whatever you make it.
“You can take it as seriously, or as non-seriously, as you want,” he said, pointing out that some people are incredibly competitive, while others are decidedly nonchalant. In any case, it’s a “great time to catch up with friends, a great bonding experience, and great for all ages.”
And he promised one thing: “If you give it one chance, you’ll be hooked.”
That has certainly been the case for the Dunnes; they try to play every day, whether on a course like Borderland, or a homemade one they created adjacent to their homes in Fall River.
Ultimately, they all agreed, it allows them to be together as a family in a non-cloistered, non-stressful setting.
“I wanted to be closer to my kids, have a good outlet without invading,” said David, sweaty from a walk up the green at Borderland, black baseball cap corralling a gray ponytail.
All in all, he described it as “frustrating fun.”
Dylan, who got his family into the sport, was introduced to it while living in Florida, where one day a group of buddies “said they were going to go throw Frisbees around in the woods.”
It took him 14 drives to get the disc to finally go straight — and when that happened, he described the feeling of being “hooked.” Now, he’s able to throw a drive about 500 feet, and is described as being in the “professional” class by the Professional Disc Golf Association.
His youngest brother, Kealan, hopes for that distinction, as well. “You can have a great future in the sport if you start young,” he said, a bag stuffed with 21 discs of various designs and colors — yellow, orange, purple, red — plunked at his feet.
The crew was just back from a round at Borderland on a picturesque Sunday afternoon. Groups of players traversed the park’s two woodsy courses cloaked with willows, maples, and pines, pockmarked with rocks, and often emerging into wide green fields. Some baskets were perched precipitously atop boulders; others were obscured by a maze of trees; one was set against a backdrop of the park’s 1910 three-story stone mansion with its intaglio of vines.
“It’s a relaxing alternative to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise,” Kurman-Faber said after finishing up, calling it an “interactive hike.”
And if you’re just beginning?
DeAngelis suggested using lighter-weight discs — widely available in starter packs found at most major sporting goods stores — that offer better control and more consistent shots.
And when throwing, “don’t move too much, keep it simple,” he advised.
If you stick with it, you’ll eventually need to carry a wide range of discs — just as a golfer keeps a cache of numerous clubs — typically toted in a rectangular, shoulder-slung bag.
“As you get better, you’ll want to have the right disc for the right shot,” DeAngelis explained.
You’ll probably also progress to more sophisticated moves; advanced players gain more power and momentum by taking lead-up steps, or grapevine-style runs, before releasing.
But above all, DeAngelis and others stressed, don’t get discouraged.
“We were all horrible” at first, said David Dunne. “Practice is half of the game.”
How to play disc golf
June 27, 2013
Some basic rules:
Play begins at each hole with players taking turns throwing/driving from the designated teeing area.
The next throw/drive resumes from the location where
the thrown disc landed (as with golf). Players again take turns
throwing/driving down the course (generally with the person farthest
away from the basket going first, and so on).
To “hole out,” or land a disc in the basket at the end
of each hole, players take turns throwing, or essentially “putting,”
again from the spot where their disc last landed. The thrown disc must
come to rest supported by the chains and/or the inner cylinder of the
basket tray to be considered valid.
As with golf, each hole has a “par,” and the goal of players is to meet or exceed that. The fewer throws, the better.Courses are generally 9 or 18 holes.
SOURCE: Professional Disc Golf Association
Original story link here.
Impulse buying? Try "Impulse saving."
Turning impulse buys into savings
Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Graffiti of a different kind...
‘Yarn bombing’ artists strike with colorful pop-up display
By Taryn Plumb | Globe Correspondent
June 16, 2013
As dusk was settling in, a group of graffiti artists struck in Ashland — but not in the way you might expect.
Armed with clews of yarn, they transformed a series of utilitarian light posts into colorful, whimsical, eye-luring structures.
It’s called “yarn bombing,” “guerrilla knitting,” or “graffiti knitting” — wrapping and otherwise decorating everyday structures with yarn under the cover of night. As executed by the group Ashland Creative, the phenomenon can be expected to pop up in unexpected places all over town this summer.
“For a lot of people, it just appeared,” said Dana Cox, one of the artists involved with the first explosion of color that appeared in front of the Ashland Public Library earlier this month. “It’s something to stop and think about, wonder about.”
It is a worldwide movement — the first international
“yarn bombing day” was observed on June 11, 2011 — that has emerged in
the last decade, with elaborate designs hitting bicycles, statues,
trees, steps, parking meters, phone booths, and subway interiors,
filling potholes, and even draping entire buses and military tanks in
various countries.
In its local application, though, Ashland Creative wasn’t completely
rogue. Organizer Andrea Green sought approval from selectmen, Town
Manager Anthony Schiavi, and library trustees, and also notified the
police force on the night of the “bombing,” so they wouldn’t be
apprehended as vandals. The group’s plan for its “Ashland wrap-it-up art project” is to decorate various structures in town — from benches to mailboxes to bike racks — every few weeks, according to Green, a mixed-media artist who runs Starting Line Studio on Cross Street.
“It’s nonpermanent, not destructive, really more about the process of doing it, and the process of people discovering it,” said Cox, a creative director by trade. “We really want to activate [downtown] and make it more creative and interesting.”
Which comes down to the group’s main motive: To help, if in a small way, reenergize the former factory town.
As Green pointed out, there are many community-building endeavors burgeoning in Ashland, including a community garden, farmers market, Ashland Creative — with more than 200 members, and dreams of eventually opening an arts center — and the playfully titled “Off Center for Wild and Disobedient Creativity,” started by local artist Julie Nardone in September 2011, and now with a base of 225 members from across the area.
“The greater goal is to build community, giving Ashland residents more worthwhile reasons to spend time together in our town, thereby helping to grow the local economy,” said Green.
Nardone, who also took part in the yarn bombing, described it as one step in a “whimsical” plan to attract more people downtown, foster “old-fashioned conversation,” and promote arts, creativity and culture in the community.
“It’s a conversation starter about public art and public participation,” Nardone said in an e-mail. “It’s something different, out of the ordinary. It makes folks sit up and take notice. So many of us spend our days sleepwalking, doing the same routine, following the generic blueprint we get handed at birth. An art project that appears out of nowhere pulls us into the present, back in the wonder of our own lives, flips on our alive selves.”
Using colorfast acrylic yarn — less inclined than wool to run when it gets wet — the small group set about decorating roughly a half-dozen light posts in front of the library on the evening of June 5. The decorated structures feature bands of fuzzy red and lime green, alternating stripes of turquoise and purple, and motley bows and loops in bold colors.
“We improvised, creating whatever designs came to mind,” Nardone said of the artistic process. “I started out doing one pattern and my subconscious took over and I ended up doing something else.”
And the response? Curiosity from both adults and kids, the latter of which have named their favorites and been more than happy to explore their texture.
“People have just been delighted to see the way ordinary functional objects have been transformed into fun, interesting works of art,” said Green, noting some people have admitted to being oblivious to the lamp posts, despite having passed them multiple times, before the yarn bombing caught their attention.
“People often have the perception that art has to be seen in museums,’’ Green said, “but amateur artists can create it, and it can still entertain.”
Original story link.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
Friday, June 14, 2013
LGBT-friendly businesses "standing on the right side of history."
OutGrade reviews LGBT-supportive businesses
Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
W. Marc Bernsau
The gay and lesbian community has many prominent figures and proponents on the national level — but Travis Lowry and Conor Clary didn’t see a whole lot going on at the community level.
So the two self-described straight allies began the site OutGrade, which launched in January and allows users to review the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered friendliness of various businesses. (An earlier version of the site had launched under the name Rainbow Chronicle in early 2012.)
As Lowry explained, the goal of Cambridge-based OutGrade is to “bring change on a local level to empower a prominent and powerful community.”
OutGrade users can search by place, category or neighborhood, and rate restaurants, bars, grocery stores and numerous other businesses anything from “the most unfriendly,” to “smugly unfriendly,” to “neutral,” to “ludicrously gay friendly,” and also comment on their experiences.
The site then aggregates reviews and calculates scores of 5 to negative 5, which appear on colored pinpoints on a map running the spectrum from red (the worst) to green (the best).
For businesses, meanwhile, the site offers a managed listing service that allows them to communicate with reviewers, place ads, post images and information about deals and sales, and claim endorsement badges. OutGrade is also running a pilot program with 20 LGBT-supportive businesses which, for a small fee, receive highlighted listings, improved search results and featured blog posts.
The startup is currently focusing its attention on Boston, and features several thousand reviews of hundreds of businesses, according to Lowry. Although he didn’t offer specific numbers, he did say that the site has a few thousand users. There’s also an iOS app available, and an Android app forthcoming.
With three employees, OutGrade is supported by $135,000 raised from friends and family in 2011, and is currently working to raise a $500,000 seed round.
Lowry, who came up with the idea for the site in 2010 after nationwide attention was drawn to a rash of gay teen suicides, said he and Clary opted for the platform of a review site because established sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor have “proven that community-driven reviews will change the behavior of businesses.”
And just as it allows the LGBT community and its allies to voice their opinions and experiences — good, bad and neutral — it also enables businesses to take a stance of support. The site lets businesses “publicly stand on the right side of history,” Lowry said.
That’s the case with Long’s Jewelers in Burlington, one of the companies involved in the pilot program.
“We have always been supporters of the LGBT community,” company marketing manager Allison Fraske said in an email, noting that, because jewelry is typically a large purchase, online reviews have become crucial to their business.
“On the subject of trust, we believe OutGrade will be a great source to help ease pre-shopping anxiety of anyone from the LGBT community who is concerned about the acceptance level of a business,” Fraske said.
Going forward, the startup hopes to use its seed funding to launch in three cities and grow to 100,000 users, Lowry said.
Ultimately, though, he sees enormous, wide-reaching potential for the site, noting that a long-term goal is to eventually introduce it to the developing world.
“We want to highlight the fact that this is something that’s applicable outside of Boston,” he said. “It’s applicable nationwide (and) worldwide.”
Original story link.
So the two self-described straight allies began the site OutGrade, which launched in January and allows users to review the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered friendliness of various businesses. (An earlier version of the site had launched under the name Rainbow Chronicle in early 2012.)
As Lowry explained, the goal of Cambridge-based OutGrade is to “bring change on a local level to empower a prominent and powerful community.”
OutGrade users can search by place, category or neighborhood, and rate restaurants, bars, grocery stores and numerous other businesses anything from “the most unfriendly,” to “smugly unfriendly,” to “neutral,” to “ludicrously gay friendly,” and also comment on their experiences.
The site then aggregates reviews and calculates scores of 5 to negative 5, which appear on colored pinpoints on a map running the spectrum from red (the worst) to green (the best).
For businesses, meanwhile, the site offers a managed listing service that allows them to communicate with reviewers, place ads, post images and information about deals and sales, and claim endorsement badges. OutGrade is also running a pilot program with 20 LGBT-supportive businesses which, for a small fee, receive highlighted listings, improved search results and featured blog posts.
The startup is currently focusing its attention on Boston, and features several thousand reviews of hundreds of businesses, according to Lowry. Although he didn’t offer specific numbers, he did say that the site has a few thousand users. There’s also an iOS app available, and an Android app forthcoming.
With three employees, OutGrade is supported by $135,000 raised from friends and family in 2011, and is currently working to raise a $500,000 seed round.
Lowry, who came up with the idea for the site in 2010 after nationwide attention was drawn to a rash of gay teen suicides, said he and Clary opted for the platform of a review site because established sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor have “proven that community-driven reviews will change the behavior of businesses.”
And just as it allows the LGBT community and its allies to voice their opinions and experiences — good, bad and neutral — it also enables businesses to take a stance of support. The site lets businesses “publicly stand on the right side of history,” Lowry said.
That’s the case with Long’s Jewelers in Burlington, one of the companies involved in the pilot program.
“We have always been supporters of the LGBT community,” company marketing manager Allison Fraske said in an email, noting that, because jewelry is typically a large purchase, online reviews have become crucial to their business.
“On the subject of trust, we believe OutGrade will be a great source to help ease pre-shopping anxiety of anyone from the LGBT community who is concerned about the acceptance level of a business,” Fraske said.
Going forward, the startup hopes to use its seed funding to launch in three cities and grow to 100,000 users, Lowry said.
Ultimately, though, he sees enormous, wide-reaching potential for the site, noting that a long-term goal is to eventually introduce it to the developing world.
“We want to highlight the fact that this is something that’s applicable outside of Boston,” he said. “It’s applicable nationwide (and) worldwide.”
Original story link.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Alexanderia the Great!
Please check out (and support!) Alexanderia the Great's audition from this week's "America's Got Talent."
From Medway, Mass., she's one of the world's only female escape artists, and she's doing things that no one else has ever attempted. She is a truly talented and inspiring woman (and a mother of three!).
Here it is.
Also, here's an additional video with comments from the judges:
Howie Mandel: "This was the best escape artist that I have seen. I think Houdini has been reincarnated. Harry, Harry, is that you?"
Howard Stern: "Home Run, A+, this is a tough thing to pull off, and you pulled it off."
From Medway, Mass., she's one of the world's only female escape artists, and she's doing things that no one else has ever attempted. She is a truly talented and inspiring woman (and a mother of three!).
Here it is.
Also, here's an additional video with comments from the judges:
Howie Mandel: "This was the best escape artist that I have seen. I think Houdini has been reincarnated. Harry, Harry, is that you?"
Howard Stern: "Home Run, A+, this is a tough thing to pull off, and you pulled it off."
Friday, June 7, 2013
Taking on the "activation challenge"
Promoboxx: Helping clients work with retailers
Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
W. Marc Bernsau
While spending time at his family-owned package store as he grew up, Ben Carcio experienced first-hand how big brands interact with retailers selling their products.
And — particularly in the digital age — he knew the process could be improved.
So in 2010, he co-founded Boston-based Promoboxx, a startup that helps companies work with retailers to market their products.
Promoboxx largely deals with what Carcio calls the “activation challenge.”
“It’s one thing to create marketing materials,” said Carcio, the company’s CEO. “It’s another to create marketing materials that retailers get excited about and want to participate in.”
Promoboxx is an online marketing platform; through a Web-based dashboard, brands can select retailers or groups of retailers to participate in and customize campaigns, and, through Promoboxx’s retailer messaging platform, send them checklists of marketing tools and reminders to share via social media, their website or email blasts. They can then view charts and graphs of engagement levels, campaign views, social shares, and lead counts.
One big campaign Promoboxx’s platform powered was for Chevrolet prior to Super Bowl XLVI; that effort allowed 6,000 Chevy dealers to share the company’s Super Bowl ads prior to the game via various online channels.
At Canton-based Reebok, using Promoboxx “allows us to stay consistent with how our brand looks and feels at all times,” said Bethany O’Dell, Reebok’s U.S. associate trade marketing manager.
Along with focusing the message, the Promoboxx approach has allowed clients to get more feedback from retailers, which ultimately can be used to make the campaigns better, O’Dell said.
Promoboxx has also dedicated resources to helping retailers in times of need. In April, the startup launched the BacktoBackBay initiative, which worked to raise the profile of the dozens of retailers affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. Many of them had to close down during the ensuing investigation into the bombings, and Promoboxx pitched in by providing the retailers with free marketing tools, listing them on the BacktoBackBay site, and helping to initiate a recent “pub crawl” at a number of the restaurants and bars affected.
Ultimately, BacktoBackBay has engaged more than 200 affected retailers, Carcio said.
“We’re a Boston company at its core,” he said. “It’s critical to give back to the ecosystem.”
A participant in the 2011 session of TechStars Boston, Promoboxx now employs 22 and is supported by $2.25 million in seed funding. Investors include LaunchCapital, Boston Seed Capital, SK Ventures, CommonAngels and Stage 1 Ventures, as well as dozens of angel investors.
One goal for the future is to focus on franchise groups, Carcio said, and eventually expand to serve smaller brands that don’t necessarily fit into the firm’s current fee structure.
Although e-commerce is undoubtedly becoming more of a part of our lives, Carcio points to U.S. Census data showing that physical stores still account for 95 percent of retail sales. Thus, manufacturers have no choice but to support brick-and-mortar retailers, he said.
“Frankly, buying things in stores is never going to go away,” Carcio said.
Original story link here.
And — particularly in the digital age — he knew the process could be improved.
So in 2010, he co-founded Boston-based Promoboxx, a startup that helps companies work with retailers to market their products.
Promoboxx largely deals with what Carcio calls the “activation challenge.”
“It’s one thing to create marketing materials,” said Carcio, the company’s CEO. “It’s another to create marketing materials that retailers get excited about and want to participate in.”
Promoboxx is an online marketing platform; through a Web-based dashboard, brands can select retailers or groups of retailers to participate in and customize campaigns, and, through Promoboxx’s retailer messaging platform, send them checklists of marketing tools and reminders to share via social media, their website or email blasts. They can then view charts and graphs of engagement levels, campaign views, social shares, and lead counts.
One big campaign Promoboxx’s platform powered was for Chevrolet prior to Super Bowl XLVI; that effort allowed 6,000 Chevy dealers to share the company’s Super Bowl ads prior to the game via various online channels.
At Canton-based Reebok, using Promoboxx “allows us to stay consistent with how our brand looks and feels at all times,” said Bethany O’Dell, Reebok’s U.S. associate trade marketing manager.
Along with focusing the message, the Promoboxx approach has allowed clients to get more feedback from retailers, which ultimately can be used to make the campaigns better, O’Dell said.
Promoboxx has also dedicated resources to helping retailers in times of need. In April, the startup launched the BacktoBackBay initiative, which worked to raise the profile of the dozens of retailers affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. Many of them had to close down during the ensuing investigation into the bombings, and Promoboxx pitched in by providing the retailers with free marketing tools, listing them on the BacktoBackBay site, and helping to initiate a recent “pub crawl” at a number of the restaurants and bars affected.
Ultimately, BacktoBackBay has engaged more than 200 affected retailers, Carcio said.
“We’re a Boston company at its core,” he said. “It’s critical to give back to the ecosystem.”
A participant in the 2011 session of TechStars Boston, Promoboxx now employs 22 and is supported by $2.25 million in seed funding. Investors include LaunchCapital, Boston Seed Capital, SK Ventures, CommonAngels and Stage 1 Ventures, as well as dozens of angel investors.
One goal for the future is to focus on franchise groups, Carcio said, and eventually expand to serve smaller brands that don’t necessarily fit into the firm’s current fee structure.
Although e-commerce is undoubtedly becoming more of a part of our lives, Carcio points to U.S. Census data showing that physical stores still account for 95 percent of retail sales. Thus, manufacturers have no choice but to support brick-and-mortar retailers, he said.
“Frankly, buying things in stores is never going to go away,” Carcio said.
Original story link here.
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