Tony George: Out

It's a developing story, but it seems that Tony George's family has turned on him. Or, rather, turned him out as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, "This afternoon’s announcement that Tony George no longer would be president and CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other companies owned by the Hulman-George family had been anticipated for more than a month."

Anthony Shoettle goes on to say, "George will remain on the board of Hulman & Co. and focus on making the IRL profitable. A management team comprised of veteran IMS executives W. Curtis Brighton and Jeffrey G. Belskus will head the Hulman-George companies effective July 1."

There's more on IBJ’s motorsports blog, The Score.

Children's Museum Hosts King Tutankhamen Exhibit

OK, so it's only the B team (the A team exhibit opened at the same time in San Francisco) -- but, Indianapolis is the smallest market to boast an exhibit of "Tutankhamen: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs". The show opened Saturday (27 June) at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, 3000 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, and runs through 25 October. (Photo from Wikipedia)

It's pricey -- adult tix for weekend visits are $30 -- but something you're not likely to see outside Egypt (or, outside the other Tut exhibit touring the U.S.). Surprisingly, it's not a money-maker for the Children's Museum. According to Kathleen McLaughlin's article in The Indianapolis Business Journal this week, proceeds will go first to Arts and Exhibitions International of Aurora, Ohio, the show's for-profit producer. Only when their costs are covered will the museum begin to share in the profits.

However, hosting the show is for more than monetary gain, according to Jeffrey Patchen, the museum's CEO. The publicity around hosting King Tut is priceless, as Indy is the smallest market for either exhibit in the U.S. Being able to host the show stems from the relationship between the Children's Museum and the efforts of Suzanne Mubarak (Egypt's "first lady") to open a museum for children in Cairo. Patchen and other members of the staff have made several visits to Egypt. Indy's museum is consulting -- gratis -- on the "guts" of the Cairo museum: designing the exhibits. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, insisted that the Tut show make an Indianapolis stop -- he, himself, came to the opening last weekend.

This Indianapolis Observer was disappointed in the show. Sure, the 120 artifacts (1/3 of which are from King Tutankhamen's tomb) are beyond fabulous, but the signage is minimal. Even the audio guide (an extra $7 for adults) is sketchy, providing sentences of description rather than paragraphs of context for the handful of objects it covers. Egypt's pharoahnic period is far more complex than visitors will learn from this exhibit. Although it's supposed to place King Tut in context, it seems more to magnify his short reign (1333–1324 BCE). Historically, it was a footnote -- it's important primarily because his tomb was one of the few not to be completely plundered by grave robbers over the millennia.

New Orleans Table

An exhibit of paintings by Melissa Sarat opened today (28 June) at the Indianapolis Art Center, 820 East 67th Street, Indianapolis (that's her "Evangeline", pictured at right).

Ms. Sarat will be there in person on 22 August (the day before the exhibit closes) to participate in this year's Artsparkle, to be celebrated in Mardi Gras Style in honor of the Art Center's 75th anniversary.

Cross-Country Travelers Visit Indy on Sunday

Ten students and two faculty members from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., is in the midst of a 40-day cross-country summer road trip to rediscover America. Theme of their 9,300 mile trip is "What Does It Mean to Be an American?"

On Sunday (28 June), their chartered sleeper bus arrives in Indianapolis. They'll chronicle their experiences on their daily blog as they attend Sunday services at Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, visit the Gardens of the Indianapolis Museum of Art Gardens, have lunch at Bazbeaux Pizza and tour Broad Ripple Avenue, visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and walk the Mass Ave Cultural District and the new pedestrian greenway downtown.

The 10 Belmont University students from across the United States are accompanied by Dr. Ken Spring, Belmont University Sociology Department Chair, and Dr. Andi Stepnick, Belmont University Associate Professor of Sociology.

Indy Sustains Another Hit

In today's Wall Street Journal, there's a feature on the front page of the Personal Journal section titled "The Summer of Their Discontent". The caption for the photo reads: "Sierra Everett, a student at Lawrence Central High School in Indiana, had to pay for an online geometry course after her district canceled summer school."

...providing yet another reason not to live in Indy!

If Corruption Isn't Bad Enough, Indy's Losing the Arts

"To be powerless in an environment where power is the defining force is a terrible thing. This, sadly, is where the Indianapolis arts scene finds itself. Politicians have been able to treat cultural policy here with cavalier indifference, believing they can do so without danger of losing support. It is now up to our creative class to organize and find ways to resist this foreclosure on the city's future."

Thus sayeth David Hoppe in NUVO. This Indianapolis Observer weeps for what has happened to the city in the last couple of years.

Fighting Crime with Song

"The Indianapolis Children's Choir isn't a crime-fighting group, but that didn't stop the city from awarding it an anti-crime grant this year.

"It was one of a number of such grants highlighted Monday by Mayor Greg Ballard as part of a campaign by his administration to underscore its crime-fighting efforts and showcase the work of groups it has supported."

Read the rest of the report by The Indianapolis Star's Kevin O'Neal here.