Dave & Busters permits approved, anticipated to open early 2025
The famous slogan of Dave & Busters is Eat, Drink, Play, Watch Sports, and Bloomingtonians will soon have their opportunity to do so after approval by the Monroe County Alcoholic Beverage Board. Dave & Busters plans to convert the 30,000 square foot former Bed Bath & Beyond location on College Mall Road in Bloomington. The plan is to open the doors in Winter of 2025. This will be the 3rd Dave & Busters in Indiana.
Public Meetings on Indiana Avenue Safety Improvements Set
To increase safety, connectivity, and accessibility along the Indiana Avenue corridor around downtown and the Indiana University campus, the City of Bloomington is considering protected bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian crossing improvements, and bus stop improvements.
The City of Bloomington will host public meetings later this spring and summer to gather feedback on potential infrastructure improvements to create a safer corridor for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. The first public meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at 5:30 pm at the Sample Gates to discuss project scope and objectives.
The Indiana Avenue corridor has experienced one of the highest amounts of severe traffic collisions in recent years within Bloomington. Since 2018, there have been nine traffic collisions along this corridor resulting in severe injuries or fatalities. In its current state, there are gaps in the bicycle, pedestrian, and transit network that can be improved. With the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries, this project is a crucial step toward allowing all street users to travel through Bloomington safely and comfortably.
Public Outreach Schedule
- Public Meeting #1 – Project Scope & Objectives: Tuesday, June 11 at 5:30 pm at the Sample Gates
- Rain Date: Wednesday, June 12 at 5:30 pm
- Public Meeting #2 – Preliminary Design Review & Feedback: Tuesday, July 16 at 5:30 pm
- Rain Date: Wednesday, July 17 at 5:30pm
- Public Meeting #3 – Further Design Review & Feedback: Tuesday, August 13 at 5:30 pm
- Rain Date: Wednesday, August 14 at 5:30pm
Public input is critical to the City’s efforts to enhance roadway safety. In addition to the public sessions on the Indiana Avenue project, Bloomington residents are invited to provide feedback online using this survey form: https://arcg.is/1Cqiae
For more information about the Indiana Avenue Safety Improvements project please visit: https://bton.in/inave.
Nine Organizations Receive $20,000 Grants to Support Arts Programming for Older Adults
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) announced today that nine arts organizations have received training and grant funding through Lifelong Arts for Arts Organizations, a program that promotes arts and creativity services for adults ages 65 and older. Nine organizations from around the state will each receive $20,000 to host programming for older adults, supported by the Indiana Arts Commission in partnership with the Family and Social Services Administration, and made possible by a grant provided by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in partnership with E.A. Michelson Philanthropy.
The organizations receiving funding, and the projects they will support, include:
- The Honeywell Foundation, Inc. (Wabash, IN) – Senior Perspectives: Observational Art Class
- Iibada Dance Company (Indianapolis, IN) – Seasoned Feet
- South Shore Arts (Munster, IN) – Every Generation: Without Limitations
- Art Barn School of Art, Inc. (Valparaiso, IN) – Art Within Reach: Drawing and Creative Watercolor
- Fort Wayne Dance Collective, Inc. (Fort Wayne, IN) – Apple City Dance Project
- Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette, Inc. (Lafayette, IN) – Playback: Moving Through Our Memories
- Heartland Sings Inc. (Fort Wayne, IN) – Timeless Tunes for All Singers
- ArtMix Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) – Narrating with Colors
- The Jack & Shirley Lubeznik Center for the Arts (Michigan City, IN) – 2D Art and Design
Fort Wayne Dance Collective will be working with the Renaissance Pointe YMCA on the Apple City Dance Project, which will provide 8-week dance sessions designed specifically for adults ages 55 and up. Each dance session will be focused on creating a welcoming and fun environment where participants will learn a variety of basic dance steps in different styles, while having input on music selection, and the chance to work as a group to create movement inspired by their lives.
ArtMix’s program, “Narrating with Colors”, is an introductory painting class designed to combat social isolation and build community for aging adults with and without disabilities. Throughout the eight-week session, attendees will learn foundational painting skills while engaging in weekly group discussions about the story of their life. The culmination of the class will be a collaborative mural that weaves the artists’ stories together.
This Week in Hoosier History
1902 Herman B. Wells, President and chancellor of Indiana University, born in Jamestown, Indiana. He was the eleventh President of Indiana University Bloomington and its first university chancellor. He was pivotal in the transformation of Indiana University from a small, locally oriented college into a world-class institution of higher learning through expanded enrollment, recruitment of new faculty, construction of new buildings, new program offerings, and campus beautification projects.
For more local news . . . Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson