08252014Mon
Last updateFri, 22 Aug 2014 3pm

Arts-mad expat couple launch easy-to-use online cultural calendar

Lake Chapala met all of Joe and Jenny Smith’s criteria for retirement. Not only were the climate and cost of living better than Indiana, the culture-focused couple were drawn to lakeside by the scope of the local arts scene.

“The only problem,” said Jenny Smith, “was that there was no one spot where I could find all I wanted to know about local artists or a convenient place with information about all of the upcoming arts events.”

The former director of the Arts Council for Southwest Indiana, Jenny eventually found that the best solution to her dilemma was to build and launch a new website where everyone preparing cultural or arts-based events could load their own information into the easy-to-use calendar.

Working with husband, Joe, a ceramics sculptor and potter who retired last year from his position as head of the art department at Indiana’s Oakland City University, Jenny now has artechapatlan.com up and running. The site is cleverly designed so that visitors can easily browse the comprehensive site by the sections devoted to music and dance, theater, poetry, written art, visual art and more.

There’s even a section devoted to the “Extraordinary Stories – Unlikely people. This month the Smiths are relating in that section the story of 17 women in Veracruz who struggle to provide food every day for migrants passing through their area on the north-bound train.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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