Briefs: Bike repair station, CAP grants, Grow-NY, Vitamin L

New bike repair station opens in Ithaca

Downtown Ithaca now has new infrastructure to benefit its robust cycling community. A new bike repair station was recently installed at 110 W. State St., Press Bay Court. The community bike repair station is equipped with the tools required for basic bike repairs and maintenance. Screwdrivers, wrenches, tire levels and an air pump ensure users can perform fixes that range from adjusting the brakes to changing a flat tire. The repair station also includes arms to hold a bicycle in place during the repair process. Plus, there’s a QR code affixed to the equipment for smartphone users to gain access to instructions on how to use the equipment. This new bike repair equipment in Press Bay Court was funded in part by the Sustainable Tompkins Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program with additional support from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA), Urban Core LLC, Bike Walk Tompkins (BWT) and GO ITHACA. The repair station is available to the public, is free to use and will complement downtown’s enhanced mobility efforts. In addition to the new bike repair station, the area offers multiple bike parking locations, including two dozen art bike racks sprinkled throughout the downtown and Collegetown areas. Officials from the city of Ithaca, DIA, BWT, GO ITHACA and Urban Core LLC celebrated the new station during a ceremony on Nov. 18 at Press Bay Court (shown above). “Bicycling is a popular activity for many of our residents and patrons,” said DIA Executive Director Gary Ferguson. “We’re happy to support cyclists by providing them with the tools they need to make quick repairs to their bicycles so they may travel around downtown safely. The new repair station is conveniently located near places where cyclists can enjoy shopping, dining, entertainment and services once they have completed their bike repair.” Pictured (from left to right): Ashley Cake, DIA Board of Directors president; BWT Director Margaret Johnson; Ducson Nguyen, City of Ithaca Common Council second ward alderperson; Ferguson; Tom Knipe, city of Ithaca director of economic development; John Guttridge, Urban Core LLC founder and managing partner; and Jennifer Dodson, Center for Community executive director.

 

CAP Grants

In October of this year, Community Arts Partnership (CAP) awarded $33,000 to 23 Tompkins County artists and arts organizations through two of CAP’s six annual grant programs. Specific Opportunity Stipend (SOS) supports the strategic opportunities of Tompkins County artists and arts organizations that will boost their careers or offerings to the next level. In the October (second round) of 2021 SOS funding, 11 artists and arts organizations received support: local writers Rebecca Barry and Kate Doyle; musicians Marc Robertson Luchs, Josh Oxford and Janet Batch; visual artists Grace Troxell and Erika Medina; organizations Theatre Incognita and Homecoming Players; theatre artist Emma Plotkin; and filmmaker Sue Perlgut. The ReStart grant is a one-time allocation of additional 2021 funds from New York State Council on the Arts for CAP to administer to Tompkins County artists and organizations. Funds were designed to jump start the return of live programming for Tompkins County audiences. Twelve artists and organizations received support: Circus Culture, Newfield Library, Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, the Senior Theatre Troupe of Lifelong, Beyond Art, Kenneth McLaurin, the Homecoming Players, Triphammer Arts, Elisa Keeler, Civic Ensemble, the Greater Ithaca Activities Center and the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble. CAP distributed $330,000 in 2021 through its six grant programs that promote and fund the arts in multiple communities throughout our county. “We are thrilled to have the resources to support and uplift the many cultural offerings in our communities,” said Robin Schwartz, CAP program and grant director. “Art is made better in a community of flourishing art, and flourishing art makes a better community!” E-mail Schwartz at programs@artspartner.org. To learn more about CAP and upcoming grant deadlines, visit artspartner.org.

 

Ithaca company Ascribe Bioscience wins $500,000 at Grow-NY

Empire State Development and Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement announced last week that the Ithaca-based company Ascribe Bioscience was one of two $500,000 award winners at this year’s Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit, a food innovation and agriculture technology business competition focused on enhancing the emerging food, beverage and agriculture innovation cluster in central New York, the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier. Marking its third year, the unprecedented competition once again attracted a group of exceptional start-ups and entrepreneurial talent from around the globe to compete in its two-day pitch competition and symposium. Every Body Eat — a company that makes, markets and sells delicious food that is free from the most common 14 allergens, corn and sugar — was this year’s $1 million winner. The award ceremony was held at the Oncenter in Syracuse on Nov. 16 and 17. “I want to congratulate all the companies that took place in the third round of the Grow-NY competition,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “This competition not only helps these companies continue to innovate but will further support New York state’s regional economies by drawing even more worldwide attention to our globally renowned food and agriculture industry.” Ascribe Bioscience uses naturally occurring signaling molecules from the soil microbiome to produce a novel class of broad-spectrum, non-toxic biopesticides that prime the plants’ immune systems to enhance resistance to pathogens and increase crop yields. In a previous Tompkins Weekly article (tinyurl.com/yj6qdk6g), Ascribe co-founder Jay Farmer shared his high hopes for the competition, and it looks like those hopes paid off. To learn more about Ascribe, visit its website at ascribebio.com. For more information about the Grow-NY competition, visit grow-ny.com. In this photo: Ascribe co-founders Farmer (left) and Murli Manohar stand together at the Grow-NY ceremony.

 

So long, farewell from Vitamin L

After 32 wonderful years, the Ithaca-based Vitamin L Project is coming to a close as an active organization. Vitamin L was founded in 1989 by singer/songwriter Jan Nigro and director Janice Nigro and became a project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA) in 2003. Its purpose has been to spread love and goodwill and to encourage positive character development through music by inspiring young people with positive messages that are meaningful in their daily lives. Vitamin L endeavored to reach and positively influence as many children as possible through their concerts, recordings and videos of character-building songs. Jan and the Vitamin L chorus performed 1,195 concerts at elementary schools, festivals, community events and conferences, reaching approximately 369,000 children and adults in central New York and beyond. Vitamin L’s meaningful messages have touched the hearts of countless more children around the world through Vitamin L’s five nationally released, award-winning recordings and through their music videos. Around 400 area youth, ages 10 through 20, sang with in the Vitamin L chorus, many participating for seven years, through middle school and high school. With the current pandemic, in-school concerts and maintaining an active, trained chorus is just not viable.  Vitamin L switched, instead, to music video production to get their important messages out and completed 15 new videos that will continue to be available on their YouTube channel, youtube.com/c/vitaminlproject/videos. Vitamin L songs will also continue to be available on Spotify, iTunes and Songs for Teaching. Founders Jan and Janice give thanks to CTA, as well as all the advisory board members, singers and volunteers who have worked with Vitamin L. They give special thanks to all of their generous individual supporters, as well as several foundations, including The Park Foundation, The Triad Foundation and The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust. Vitamin L offers a heartfelt “thank you and goodbye” via its final music video, “I Want to Say Thanks.” In this photo: Vitamin L Project members (clockwise from top center) Andy Lockwood, Anneke Wittink, Josiah Rawlings, Christian Henry, Mwape Sokoni, Bella De Lemos, Saba Weatherspoon and Marnie Perry sing in the music video for “I Want to Say Thanks” by Jan Nigro. View the video at youtu.be/Gw5UKiUYQMA.