MUSIC :: “Constructive Summer” by the Hold Steady :: Buy it on iTunes

 
It’s only fitting that the first beer to be produced from Christian Moerlein’s new brewing facility in Over-the-Rhine would make its debut in the Queen City’s oldest tavern, which has been serving up suds for over 150 years in downtown Cincinnati.

We tagged along on the journey of the beer from brewery to branding to bar, and the fabrication of the one-of-a-kind handmade tap handle designed by Neltner Small Batch/Warnick Art and fabricated by Kevin Neltner.

Come along as we head from Cincinnati city streets to Kentucky countryside and back.

As we put together this feature, our goal was to capture the entrepreneurial spirit that Christian Moerlein and Arnold’s have harnessed to make something that’s worth celebrating.

Arnold’s 1861 Porter is available exclusively at Arnold’s, so join us as we raise a glass to Cincinnati’s brewing heritage.

Moerlein / Arnold’s / Neltner Small Batch / Warnick Art

MUSIC :: “Favorite Secrets” by Waylon Thornton

 
CoSign is a brand new artistic and economic initiative that debuted in Northside on Black Friday 2012 and is poised for implementation all over the country.

Connecting small businesses with artists and professional sign fabricators, CoSign was created by a partnership between the Haile/US Bank Foundation, Little Things Labs and the American Sign Museum to provide a packaged process in which gorgeous new signage is designed, fabricated and displayed. These installations help to create a diverse aesthetic bond which beautifies Northside’s Hamilton Avenue business district. We love what CoSign did with Northside, and we’re obviously excited to see who’s next.

CoSign Website

MUSIC :: “Time to Run” by Lord Huron :: Buy it on iTunes

 
For the past 11 years Cincinnati has celebrated its rich musical culture with the Midpoint Music Festival (MPMF). Showcasing the finest local musicians alongside national touring acts, MPMF strives to bring the Queen City together through three nights of good tunes, arts, refreshments and camaraderie.

A recent addition to MPMF is the Midway Box Truck Carnival. Nestled between Vine and Walnut, this is an area reserved for a handpicked group of local artists to use the back of a rented moving truck in any way they want. Our idea? Team up with the photo booth legends at Framester to capture MPMF’s most important aspect: its people. We used every shot from our box truck photo booth, on top of a ton of conventional photography, to make this feature. The result is a surreal glimpse into the MPMF experience.

Everyone at the Queen City Project is a huge supporter of MPMF and what it does for our fair city. We’ve been attending since the start and can safely say it gets better every time. This year, however, we wanted to contribute to the festivities beyond simply being members of the audience. We wanted to make the audience as vital a facet as the performers. One of the greatest things about MPMF is how it draws people to the heart of the city. Our goal was to share that feeling so you can either A.) relive the glory, or B.) enjoy a taste of how Cincinnati likes to party.

Photo Booth Photos: Thursday / Friday / Saturday I / Saturday II

MPMF Website

GOOD Ideas for Cities is an initiative aimed at bettering urban regions. Pairing civic leaders with upstanding creative groups, this seemingly bizarre combination brings change about in creative, unique ways. We were happy to document several of the groups’ ideas at GOOD Ideas for Cities: Cincinnati, which was held on May 16th 2012. The event was hosted by UC’s Niehoff Urban Studio and the Haile Foundation and took place downtown at the Contemporary Arts Center. We dig this project because, living in Cincinnati, we’d love to see how its inhabitants can make the city an even better place.

20 SOMETHINGS DOING SOMETHING

Cincinnati is known for its strong and diverse arts community with a plethora of offerings that include large museums and institutions, excellent arts schools, and alternative spaces and galleries. How can the local arts scene serve as a catalyst for the local creative economy in a way that will attract talent, fuel innovation and build a stronger workforce?

CINCINNATIVES

Studies have shown that parental involvement in a child’s academic aspirations is one of the most important elements in improving student outcomes and nurturing student success. Knowing that early education is especially critical to our students’ lifelong development, how can we design, implement, and evaluate a system of parental involvement within early education for Cincinnati families?

MISSION POSSIBLE

Four transit agencies operate public transportation in the Cincinnati region, each with its own name and identity, spanning multiple counties and two states. How can we create a more user-focused transit experience around a bus rapid transit line that builds brand equity and consumer commitments with a unified, region-wide voice, creating rising public demand for a better regional system?

DESIGN CINCY

Adults living in neighborhoods with no supermarkets have significantly higher obesity rates compared to adults living in neighborhoods with supermarkets. Currently the City of Cincinnati should have 34 supermarkets—we only have 24. How can we increase both availability of healthy foods and education about healthy eating in underserved neighborhoods?

SCOUT CAMP

Walkability offers real benefits to our health, the environment, our communities, and our finances: Research shows increasing walkability can increase the value of residential and commercial real estate. How can we help our communities come together and make changes necessary to increase their local walkability?

HYPERQUAKE

Homeowners in the Greater Cincinnati area are spending far more than they should on electricity and gas because their homes lack proper insulation, storm windows and efficient heating and cooling systems. With the goals of saving money, reducing emissions and putting local residents to work, how do we get more Cincinnati households to perform energy efficiency upgrades on their home?

MUSIC :: “Don’t Owe You a Thang” by Gary Clark Jr. :: Buy it on iTunes

 
Maya Drozdz and Michael Stout, the owners of VisuaLingual, don’t mind getting their hands dirty in order to succeed. The Cincinnati-duo have been using “Seed Bombs” to spread natural splendor in any setting.

Seed bombs have gained a lot of popularity and what’s not to love? Don’t like how a patch of earth looks? Chuck a seed bomb at the area and, eventually, a bunch of flowers will grow. Maya and Michael have been very successful with their line, distributing to national retailers like Anthropologie and Williams-Sonoma and have grown their distributorship into 24 states.

We absolutely loved the opportunity for this behind-the-scenes look at a venture that started with an idea and blossomed into a national trend. Congratulations, neighbors!

Website

MUSIC :: “Panther Dash” by the Go! Team :: buy it on iTunes

 
Taking place in the School for Creative & Performing Art’s cutting edge theater, TEDx Cincy 2012 brought together a truly brilliant and eclectic group of thinkers, artists, designers and performers to share their ideas and philosophies on “the Crossroads of Technology and Artisanship.”

The daylong program featured 19 presentations and performers from a broad spectrum of fields. Presenters included Higher Level Art, who transforms spaces into works of art; Jesse Mooney Bullock, a pioneer in the world of puppet making; Steve Fulton whose groundbreaking “highways in the sky” strategy could revolutionize modern air travel, along with our very own John and Adam, who discussed the QCP’s unique take on visual story telling.

Needless to say, we were humbled to be included among such creative company. You can see our unique view of the event in the video above, but be sure to check out all of the inspiring presentations over at the TEDx Cincy site.

MUSIC :: “Driving in a Snowstorm” by Interlude Jones :: Download It

 
On May 17th and 18th Cincinnati played host to the CEOs for Cities 2012 National Meeting. The theme of this distinguished conference was “The City as a Startup” and to help illustrate that concept SpringBoard, ArtWorks and ArtPlace reached out to the QCP to produce a short film that highlighted the entrepreneurial awesomeness that is taking place in our fair city.

Beyond simply spotlighting a few local, independent success stories we wanted to give due credit to the organizations that help perpetuate this independent start-up spirit. Organizations like SpringBoard, Losantiville and the Brandery that provide entrepreneurs with the resources and support to help them achieve lift-off.

The businesses we decided to feature in the video each operate under the umbrella of one of those incubators. They are all doing amazing work across a broad range of mediums, from guerrilla gardening to mobile app development, and we encourage you to check each and every one out:

Findlay Market
Able Projects
Mamluft and Co.
Visualingual
Ampersand
Such & Such
Choremonster
Roadtrippers

A lot of wonderful and creative Cincinnatians came together to make this film happen, and as a result of that, we think this might be our best feature yet, but we’ll let the work speak for itself.

MUSIC :: “Goldbrickin” by the Del McCoury Band :: Buy it on iTunes

 
When someone mentions Cincinnati breweries, you think about Christian Moerlein and all of the wonderful libations they’ve produced over the years. That being said, those of us here at the QCP have been counting down the days to the opening of the new Moerlein Lager House on the riverfront. So when they invited us inside to document the very first brew at the new facility, it certainly didn’t take us long to say “yes!”

Moerlein CEO, Greg Hardman, and Lager House brewmaster, Richard Dube, were more than accommodating, allowing our photographers unfettered access into their state-of-the-art facility. We visited several times in order to capture the many steps of the brewing process and, all-together, Adam and John set a QCP record with 15,686 photographs.

The Lager House opens its doors February 25th with the “‘Moer’ for Cincinnati Gala” and will open to the public Monday February 27th at 11am. Visit their website for more information.

Website / 513-421-2337

MUSIC :: “Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD Soundsystem :: Buy it on iTunes

 
For our next entry in the QCP canon, we’re featuring an Over-the-Rhine organization you may have heard of… the flippin’ Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra! With an endless list of accolades and a peerless reputation, the magnificent CSO has been performing music in Cincinnati —in one form or another— for over 200 years. They’ve called Music Hall home for 116 of them.

The QCP was thrilled, and genuinely honored, when the CSO reached out to us to document the day-to-day of the Orchestra. John and Adam spent a few days not only capturing the incredible musicians and conductors, but also their daily routines and the unparalleled venue they inhabit.

The CSO, as well the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, give a variety of performances each month. Visit their website for event details and tickets.

Website / 513-381-3300

MUSIC :: “Skating” by Vince Guaraldi :: Buy it on iTunes