The 21st Century's Perfect Storm?

The 63rd annual Indiana University Business Conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 11 March in the Indiana Convention Center, 100 South Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis. It is sponsored by the IU Kelley School of Business Alumni Association.

Titled "The 21st Century Perfect Storm", it will cover health care, energy and the environment. Conference speakers include David Brooks, Susan Dentzer, Amory Lovins, Bill McKibben, Michael A. Evans, Douglas Lattner and Michael G. Rippey.

Registration deadline is 24 February. For more information and the registration form, go to the website.

The Magic Has Gone

Macy's is closing its "underperforming" Lafayette Square Store. This shopping center definitely has seen better days. Gone from the mall are Sears, Penney's, Block's, Ward's, multitudes of smaller retail shops, and now the department store formerly known as L. S. Ayres & Co.

Historic Wishard Murals

In 1914, a group of renowned Hoosier artists painted murals for the benefit of patients at Wishard Memorial Hospital (then known as Indianapolis City Hospital).

The conservation department of the Indianapolis Museum of Art has been working to bring these murals back to their original condition since 2004, when they conserved a painting by Indiana African American artist William Edouard Scott.

Since then, the conservation of several works by such Indiana artists as T. C. Steele, Clifton Wheeler, J. Ottis Adams and Wayman Adams has been completed.

The exhibition includes a cleaned work by T. C. Steele, along with before and during treatment photographs, and a Carl Graf painting divided into partially cleaned and fully cleaned surfaces.

It opens 17 January in the IMA's Alliance Gallery, running through 29 March 2009.

Pictured is "Simeon and the Babe Jesus" by William Edouard Scott.

IMA Cuts Budget by $1.7 Million

The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) has announced budget cuts for the current fiscal year of $1.7 million because of the challenging economy, reports Inside INdiana Business.

IMA Chief Executive Officer and Melvin & Bren Simon Director Max Anderson says a museum-wide salary freeze and hiring "frost" are in place, meaning it will only hire on an exceptional basis. Anderson says no staff cutbacks are planned. Other cost saving measures include delaying the 100 acres nature park project until 2010 and possibly reducing museum hours.

King Dinner Celebration at IUPUI

Tickets are on sale now for the 40th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dinner sponsored by Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

The celebration, presented by the IUPUI Black student Union, will be held at 6 p.m. 18 January in the Cosmopolitan Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Indianapolis. Political activist and Black Entertainment Television host, producer and commentator Jeff Johnson (pictured) will be the keynote speaker.

Johnson, a Washington-based award-winning journalist, has been called the conscience voice of BET. He has served as national youth director for the NAACP and vice president for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Johnson presents lively commentary on current events during Tuesday broadcasts of the Tom Joyner Morning Show. He is to host a new BET talk show, “The Truth with Jeff Johnson,” scheduled to premiere this month.

The theme for the 2009 King Dinner celebration is “Acknowledging Our Past to Promote Our Future.”

Individual tickets are $25 for IUPUI students, $50 for IUPUI faculty, staff and alumni; and $60 for community guests. They are available in the Office of Campus & Community Life, IUPUI Campus Center, 420 University Boulevard, Indianapolis. For information, call 317:274-3931.

Annual Student Show

The annual student show continues through 25 January at the Indianapolis Art Center, 820 East 67th Street, Indianapolis. The show highlights student talent in beginning, intermediate, advanced, and professional categories. All current students were eligible to enter this highly competitive juried show.

Divisional and Best of Show winners will get the opportunity to exhibit in the Best of Student Show Award Winners exhibition in fall 2009. Artworks run the gamut, from printmaking to steel sculpture, with the best in all media is represented.

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time

Or, at least this Indianapolis Observer thinks that Girl Scout Cookie Time starts tomorrow, when scouts in the Central Indiana region start taking orders.

That's what it says in today's Indianapolis Star, but there's nothing on the council's website with any information.

The actual cookies will be delivered after 10 February, The Star says. Each box costs $3, and the proceeds are split by the troops and the council.