Good afternoon, everyone. And yes, I'm back. Welcome to Bloomington Rotary's Tuesday celebration of
service. My name is Tracy Yovanovich, and I'm filling in for Steve, who's on a well-deserved vacation.
It was supposed to be Sam Uduck. He came down with a sinus infection. So we have lots of people to volunteer
and fill in at the last minute.
So please silence your electronic devices. And on this day in history, September 16th, 1940, President
Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, the first peacetime conscription in U.S.
history. Men between the ages of 21 and 36 were required to register for military service. And on that
note, I'd like to invite Tim Jessen up for a reflection.
Thank you all. It's been said that a Methodist minister ought to be able to do three things whenever
necessary. They are, do I need the phone? Okay. They are to be able to preach, pray or die. Now I'm
not a Methodist minister, but I've had plenty of experience dealing with the unexpected. So I didn't
even know until I got here who was going to introduce me. So I had this,
a planned introduction to my connections to Ivy Tech, but I have to scrap those and Sam isn't here.
But that was also my community service for my eight years there. Steve asked me to talk about some of
my community service work and I told him that once I helped start a support network for men surviving
prostate cancer,
And so I volunteered to coordinate our involvement in the Hoosiers Out Run cancer, but a new member
beat me to the volunteer for that. That support network eventually failed in part because men don't
like to talk about that part of their lives. And it's just not as popular as the pink ribbons for breast
cancer. I found one on the sidewalk coming over here that someone had discarded.
I also have been involved in Shalom Center before it was Beacon. You should know that our oldest Rotarian,
Wendell St. John, who celebrated his birthday last Friday, his wife Shirley helped found Shalom. Now
if I'd known Tracy was going to be in charge, I might have worn a Beacon shirt as I was on that board
for years and enabled Diana Hoffman
to serve there, and she's done marvelously well. Yes, homelessness is something that I am very concerned
about, and especially at the First Christian Church, where a breakfast attracts more than 100 unhoused
men and women every Sunday morning. I've done other things. I've been very involved in musical groups,
Bloomington Chamber Singers, now Quarryland Men's Chorus,
postcard on your table about that, and I've been in three church choirs. But I've done other things
like personal involvement with those who have come out of prisons and confinement to start a new life.
And I've been active in several interfaith organizations to try to help improvement of conditions for
all. But today, today, I'm getting to my
present involvement with the Bloomington Refugee Support Network. Thanks to Sylvia McNair, another good
friend of the club, I have this, I can even read it, Immigrants Make America Great t-shirt. And I also
want to bring to your attention our parallel organization Exodus, which was publicized in an
unflattering way this past Thursday. That, by the way, was the day of 9-11 anniversary, and this was
the picture on the HT. Okay, that's our attorney general. And I know all of you will say, I don't get
the HT anymore, or I only read it online, but there are sometimes things that you actually should read
and pay attention to. So I'm not gonna go into the details except
that the attorney general of our state has focused his attention on Exodus, which helps refugees as
the Bloomington Refugee Network does. And David Meyer and Cindy are active in that group, and many others
of you are concerned about it. Bob Salzferk, another Rotarian who gave me a job for five years as a
religion columnist until, what was the name of that?
Gannett decided that they didn't want any more local columnists. So there we go. But he said that journalists
should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. So here goes. Watch out. Sunday night, there
was a service remembering the college speaker who was assassinated last Wednesday. And the meeting was
held here in this building, including the solarium, where
we sometimes meet. Kirk was scheduled to come here to IU in October, and some former Ivy Tech students
were urging me to attend. It won't happen. But our nation is broken right now. That's the same part
of the building, where guns from the roof were focused on students
protesting in Dunmeadow, my friend Wendell, at age 94, he calls it gun meadow. We have to face these
things. That's the point of this reflection. And the best way we can do it is to continue our service
that we're already involved in, to beacon and the unhoused, to refugee
Networks under attack to trans people and former prisoners to international students and wherever the
war is being waged. But please no violence. Extend love, not hate. And always service above self. Amen and amen.
Thank you, Tim. And just as a side note, since you brought up Exodus, Mayor Thompson had a meeting last
week for nonprofit groups to attend, and it was a lot of interesting topics we covered. One of them,
Exodus, got up and spoke, and I don't know if you all are aware, but they are losing all the SNAP, the
food funding shortly. They will be losing Medicaid within the next year.
It's pretty significant. Shelly Salih, a fellow Rotarian, talked about all the implications with Health
Net and why this is all as a result of the big beautiful bill. So there will be Medicare, Medicaid rather
long lasting impacts that are coming in smaller doses that you don't see in the news. And so just be
aware that there is a lot of further challenges coming. Okay.
Let's see introduction of guests Jim Sims ready and wait and no glasses look at you styling. Good afternoon
all. I haven't got to the bifocal part yet so.
My glasses are for driving and distance, and no glasses for reading. So thank you, and Tim, thank you
so much for that reflection today. Okay, it's my pleasure to introduce today's guest, and we'll start
with Houshee Wang, guest of Michael Shermis. Can you please, I'm sorry, before we, I'm sorry,
stand up. And everyone, please stand up so we can acknowledge you, I'm so sorry. Welcome, Houshee. Ellen Strohman.
visiting Rotary and a future member. Is she present? All right. Welcome. Randy Saunders, guest of Jim
Bright. Member in process, thank you. And my friend, Yael Cassander, friend of, I'm sorry, guest of
Alon Barker. Welcome. And last but not least, Anne Holman,
a guest of Peyton Flynn. Standing in the back, back there. Thank you. Do we have any guests online?
We are all Rotarians online today, Jim. All right. Thank you very much. And all of our guests, if you
have any interest in being a part of this club, just talk to anyone at your table and we'll get you
start steered in the right direction. Thank you all very much. You're welcome.
All right, now for the birthdays. We have one birthday, Tim Thrasher, past president, on the 19th. And
then two anniversaries, CM Morrison on 9-17, and then Cindy on the 22nd, Cindy Neithart. For announcements,
I have quite a few announcements, so hold on to your seats. Andrea Murray, you're gonna come up and
share about the holiday party. You guys have been feverishly at work.
We've got the details worked out now and we're gonna have pretty much the same food as last year except
upgraded desserts. No cookies and brownies this year. Well, they may be some brownies, but we're gonna
have fruit cobbler and some other stuff. And we're still negotiating the ticket price, but it looks
like it's gonna be very affordable this year. And we're gonna invite the North folks to come and join
us again as we did. And we'll have music and maybe a little less loud.
but we'll have music. So come along when you get your chance, buy your ticket. Yeah, good luck with
a little SLL with this group. So for everyone to remember tomorrow, we are co-sponsoring the IU Law
School's Constitution Day luncheon. It starts at 1130 and parking is available at the Henderson Street
Garage. It's one block away.
For those of you who need a driver to drop you off at the north end of the building, there is a ramp
and there's elevators inside. Everyone try to make it. It should be very informative. It's going to
be at a reader's digest level so that we can all understand the Constitution, etc. Some who are probably
up here maybe need to take a few steps backwards, just saying. But it's going to be quite interesting
and we did sign up. How many people do we have signed up?
34 people, so we need everyone to be there. The peace building committee is meeting here today at 1 p.m.
So please join the group if you are interested.
Next week, Beacon has invited all of our club members to join them as they celebrate a groundbreaking
ceremony for the new Beacon Center. It's the 23rd from 3 to 4 at the new location, 1201 West 3rd Street,
right by Crescent Donuts. It'd be great if everyone could show up. I know quite a few of us have been
very involved in that.
And lastly, the annual Rotary Toast is the event that funds our club and foundation's local charitable
giving. Don't forget to buy your tickets. We're up to about 240 with about another 50 verbal commitments.
So we're getting pretty darn close. It should be fantastic. We'll have Mayor Thompson speaking, Shelly
Yoder is going to MC. We have the Bloomington High School North Band who is fantastic according to resident
expert Alon Barker. They will be playing and we'll have a couple of singing guests as well. And the
Bloomington High School North
uh habitat club is actually facilitating everybody uh working their way through and the tickets etc
so should be a great time and with that we need some happy dollars do we have any oh lynn is on it well
michael come to you next
Is that on? Yes. I have five happy dollars for two reasons. One is that I have my Rotary Toast ticket.
How about you all? All right. Number two. And we will be reminding you later on the save the date for
the and many of you know, I'm president of Monroe County NAACP and our Freedom Fund Bank will will be
Saturday, November 1st out at Ivy Tech. So we'll talk more about that later. Just keep it on your calendar.
Happy, five happy dollars for those two announcements. Thank you. I have three happy dollars because
I have to report that a friend of the club and former sponsoree, Amina Mohammadi's husband, Jawed, has
gotten a new job. He got his work permission back after being taken away by the Trump administration
in the spring.
is gotten it returned. And he starts on Friday at IU dining, a job that he had to leave because of the
loss of his work permission back in May. So back to where he is now back to where he was. But I'm happy
about that. I do want to put in a quick plug and say that he is an electrical engineer by education,
having a BS in electrical engineering. And if anybody knows any
contacts regarding electrical work or that kind of engineering work, please, jobs, please let me know.
I really appreciate it. Thank you. I'll just be very brief. $10 because I just heard this morning that
both of my daughters will be here for the Lotus Festival.
Yes, I'm done. $20 for coming back to this. And being with all you good people. Thank you. And I just
have happy dollars because my table mate is back. Any online? Not at the moment, Michael. We're happy
Charlotte's back, though.
I have 20 happy dollars because our youngest son is doing an internship up in Indy, Monday, Wednesdays
and Fridays. And it feels like he's actually growing up and it's pretty exciting. And I didn't have
to do anything to help him get it. I'm delighted as well that Charlotte's back and welcome. I also just
want to underscore this Beacon event that was mentioned earlier.
Please come, even if you're a donor or you're not even clear what your position is as far as being a
donor, you'll learn a lot at this event. And it's going to be a great celebration event. And we need
more joy in our lives. We need more things to celebrate. And this is truly an event to celebrate.
Thank you. Yeah. I can do that. It's September 20.
September 23rd from 3 to 4 at 1201 West 3rd Street. So it's the old Weddle Brothers location by Crescent
Donut. That's what everybody knows is Crescent Donut. I have 10 happy dollars for the outstanding performance
of our member John Armstrong in the constellations next to normal.
I have some happy dollars here because my daughter is going to come visit us from Texas for the Lotus
Festival. Well, that is the perfect segue. On that note, lots of happiness. It's good to hear. And we'll
bring up Mr. Happiness, Alon Barker, to introduce our guest. Oh, my goodness, Mr. Happiness. I think
we're all happy in so many ways, right?
Well, before I introduce Katerina, I want to just mention a little bit about my time with Lotus because
when I arrived as a South African in 86, we didn't have the Lotus Festival. The Lotus Festival started
in 1994. And there are a few things in Bloomington that really made me feel welcome. WFIU, the Unitarian
Church, the Lotus Festival when it came about really made me feel that I had a sense of home that I
hadn't had
prior to the Lotus Festival, and then obviously the Rotary Club is something else that makes me feel
at home. So I think that the Lotus Festival is truly one of the gems in our community, especially today
when the world seems to be closing in on itself, where we seem to becoming more and more focused on
selfish needs and attitudes about diversity and communications and understanding seem to be
evaporating before our eyes. And in so many ways, the Lotus Festival brightens our community and gives
us all a sense of connection to the world that we truly belong to, rather than just the world that we
obsess about in our own personal lives. So I think it's an incredible organization doing amazing things.
And so with us today, we have Katarina Koch, who has been leading the Lotus Festival
at the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation, which is about the Lotus Festival, as executive director
since July 2023. So she's been here for a few years. Whether the focus is on world or musical health,
Katarina is a community builder. For the seven years before she came back to Bloomington, Katarina
transformed a small medical provider in Paoli
into a federally qualified Southern Indiana community healthcare through grant writing, marketing, and
most importantly, serving the community with heart and compassion while seeking out assets and leveraging
their strengths to grow. What an amazing person to bring to this community and to the Lotus Festival.
Katerina received her BS in biology.
from Butler University in 2010 and a not-for-profit graduate certification from the IU Bloomington campus
in 2017, the O'Neill School, I'm assuming. She was a recipient of an academic scholarship from the Crown
Point Indiana Rotary Club
and she has pursued leadership in community service roles throughout her career. Katharina believes
that music and art are essential components of community life that impacts the health and vitality of
individuals, the environment, and our built world. She lives in Bloomington with her husband and their
two dogs and two cats. Please welcome Katharina. Thank you, I appreciate it.
OK. My laptop up here. Can everyone hear me all right? I'm on a remote mic. So hello, everyone. It's
lovely to see the faces here. Let me move that out of the way. Just kind of taking a scope of the room.
My name is Katerina Kau. I have been living here in Bloomington for, I first came here in 2013.
worked for the IU Health. I worked for Blooming Foods. I worked in elder care. I lived in an eco-village.
I had a great Bloomington experience. And then I moved to Paoli, Indiana, where I supported a community
health center there and did my bloomering, came back to Bloomington. Is the mic? It's okay. Yeah, great.
Thank you. Well, I want to
start with gratitude for the Rotary Club for being a part of my initial journey into leadership, into
my career, and my academics. The last time that I was at a Rotary Club, I was 16, and I was representing
our local Latin club. I was part of the Latin Indiana Junior Classical League at that time. So the leadership pursuits,
I've been part of Student Conservation Association, National Outdoor Leadership School. I've been on
countless steering committees and served on boards and problem solved with executive leaders in Southern
Indiana. And so I'm really glad to be bringing these skills to Lotus Festival and the Lotus Education
Arts Foundation and to Bloomington as well.
As Alon mentioned, my personal objectives are to support health of the individual, the community, and
the environment. And investing in art and culture is an essential component for thriving communities
and building more resilient economies. I just want to say thank you to Tim for your reflection earlier
about service.
I think the festival can often come across as just entertainment, but Lotus represents a lot more than
that. And it represents values that a lot of people in this room and parts and people in Bloomington
really care about. There is service is so important. And this year in particular, I really felt that
message to keep going forward with what the work that we are doing.
So I'll get more into that. So my presentation today is talking about celebrating the world's diversity
with the Lotus Festival. Now let me change screens. Is the clicker? Sorry. There we go. OK.
So music and art have the power to connect, to inspire, and transform. Lotus Education and Arts Foundation
ensures that Bloomington and South Central Indiana remain vibrant, globally connected, and creatively
inspired. We are a local cornerstone of cultural enrichment dedicated to presenting world-class musical
and visual arts experiences. Our mission is to create opportunities to experience, celebrate, and explore
the world's diversity through music and art.
Since our founding in 1994, Lotus has become an established institution that connects Southern Indiana
to the world through music and art. In 2001, Lotus was recognized by the Indiana Arts Commission for
the Indiana Governor's Award for Art. The origin of our organization is rooted in innovation, education,
creativity, and enhanced quality of place through the arts.
Today, we continue that legacy within our programming with communities throughout Southern Indiana.
Lotus invites globally diverse artists to share their cultural heritage and perform for children, adults,
and families in Bloomington and across the Southern Indiana region. We focus on music, dance, cultural
storytelling, experiences
via performances, workshops, and lecture demonstrations. These broaden the audience's understanding
of the world's diverse cultural heritage. And our principal programs are the Lotus World Music and Arts
Festival and the Lotus Blossoms Education and Outreach Program. Most people know about the festival.
How many people in here have attended the festival before?
Oh yeah, that's amazing. That's so great. And how many people have heard about the Lotus Blossoms education
outreach? A lot. That's so amazing. So we've got a really good group here that already understands what
Lotus brings to the community. Well, for those who haven't attended, Lotus Festival is an event that
transforms downtown Bloomington into a dynamic multicultural stage. Over four days, artists from around
the globe share their music and traditions, drawing thousands of attendees
And as one of the longest running world music festivals in the United States and the only one of its
kind in Indiana, the festival offers audiences a rare opportunity to engage with music and cultures
from around the world and foster cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Lotus brings people
together. Thousands of people
who attend the festival are spiritually, culturally, and artistically transformed by the quality and
talent of artists who share their artistry, traditions, and love of music. In one of our post-festival
surveys, one attendee said, the main reason I come to Lotus is for creative renewal, energy, and inspiration.
Lotus recharges my batteries unlike anything else in my life.
And the best part for me is the unpredictable mind-blowing moment. You never know when it's going to
happen. There will be an act that you'll check out on a whim and then kablooey. Mind blown. The Lotus
Festival welcomes over 400 volunteers from Bloomington and beyond.
Each year the festival serves as a unifying force that builds relationships among volunteers by fostering
pride, connection, and community resilience. Research consistently demonstrates that participation in
the arts is associated with reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. Art making and art viewing can
lower cortisol levels, enhance mood, and serve as coping mechanisms for trauma and stress.
Public art and shared cultural experiences foster a local identity and unity. And the arts provide routine,
purpose, and joy, which are all elements essential to overall wellbeing. Lotus Blossoms is a performance
series that introduces K through 12 students in South Central Indiana to global cultures through interactive
performances and workshops.
Lotus Blossoms invites students to embark on musical journeys across continents, helping to bridge cultural
divides through the universal language of music and art. Many are introduced to new rhythms, to traditions,
and languages for the first time. The program places a strong emphasis on hands-on learning with artists
leading workshops that allow students to explore global music and art in forms that are meaningful and
interactive.
We have really strong collaborations with the schools and community partners in Monroe County,
Green County, Lawrence, Brown, Orange, Owen, and Bartholomew counties. And the sky's the limit, right?
In 2025, Lotus Blossoms presented 14 artists from five different artist groups.
We reached about 6,500 individuals in three counties and provided over $3,000 in school scholarships,
including 15 schools in Monroe County, four of which were Title I low-income schools, one school in
Orange County, one in Green, and two community centers, Boys and Girls Club and Stone Belt. We hosted
six public performances at various local venues, including the John Waldron Arts Center, the Buskirk-Chamlee Theater,
the IU School of Education, and our Lotus Fire Bay. And we partnered with Monroe County Schools Computer
Science Team to bring two schools a week-long immersive artist residency. In addition to school-wide
performances, we provide teachers with study guides so students can learn about each artist's cultural
and musical heritage and interact with art and STEM activities that relate to instruments and the science of music.
Each year since 1998, Lotus Blossoms hosts a special event called the Lotus Blossoms World Bazaar. Lotus
buses all the Monroe County School fourth graders to the gym at Fairview Elementary School for hands-on
globally inspired arts and craft activities. It's a completely volunteer run program and Lotus invites
almost 40 partners from international departments at Indiana University
community artists, community arts organizations, and local performers to present activities, demonstrations,
and performances to over 1,500 kids and adults over the two-day event. You can't say no to those eyes,
can you? Seriously. So although government grants helped us through the first few years of the pandemic,
and allowed us to continue the festival, recovering from post-pandemic losses of over $350,000 have
staunched our activities. So it's a really high number over the last three years of financial losses.
Last year, we closed the Sixth Street Tent and reduced the total number of venues and overall artists.
This was a really difficult decision, but both myself and the board agreed that a smaller festival is
better than none at all. And that is the reality that we are facing. Sustainability means change and
adapting to new circumstances that often feel like we are losing something. But there is hope to continue
in a new way. Government funding shifts have altered the nonprofit ecosystem,
Competition has increased for philanthropic community resources like corporate sponsorships, individual
donations and private grants. Lotus has an annual budget of approximately $480,000. Two thirds of that
budget comes from these sources. Only one third comes from ticket sales and other earned revenues.
Fortunately, we are not alone in these challenges.
In difficult times, collaboration is key to an effective response. Lotus has a long history of working
with community partners, including many academic departments at IU, local community nonprofits like
WFHB and Bloomington Roots, as well as business and corporate partners like Chocolate Moose, the Bloomington
Yoga Collective, Organized Living, and many others. But there is potential for growth.
And that's what's really important. There are many areas where we can grow, including how Lotus can
be a collaborator in our community and beyond. To do this, it is essential to maintain a culture of
creativity and growth mindset to overcome the challenges and reach for thriving futures together and
vibrant futures together.
So according to the 2022 report on planning with arts and culture from the Indiana Arts Commission and
Ball State University, tourism and community foundation representatives and municipal leaders see arts
and culture as having an important role in their communities. 88% of leaders and 96% of tourism either
strongly or somewhat agree that arts and culture are an economic development opportunity.
34% of leaders believe that arts-based development is actually more effective than traditional economic
development, while tourism and community foundation representatives, 62% of them agree with that as
well. 71% of leaders and 92% of tourism community foundations representatives either strongly or somewhat
agree that it's important to include arts in community planning initiatives.
At the City of Bloomington, the Economic and Sustainable Development Department has an economic development
vision for Bloomington to be a prosperous, inclusive, and cultural magnet, where businesses can grow
and thrive, and all residents can access economic opportunity, and our natural world and resources are
protected, treasured, and celebrated.
Among their goals include Bloomington becoming the center for creativity for Indiana. Bloomington is
already known as a center for arts, but retaining that mantle requires dedicated effort. Creativity
should inform our community at all levels, helping make sure we grow a creative economy of the future,
as well as supporting practicing artists and destination tourism.
Their second goal is, or one of their second goals is to nurture and grow Bloomington's creative economy.
For example, reclaiming the Music City Indiana title, launching arts incubators, supporting arts nonprofits,
and making Bloomington a place that creative people can work. And third, supporting destination tourism.
For example, visitors to Indiana University, the Convention Center, art and culture,
and promoting proximity to Indiana. The tourism acts as a trade sector, bringing outside dollars into
Bloomington and can often serve as a gateway to moving here or establishing businesses here. Lotus is
an active leader in community and we are participating in focus groups that are facilitated by the Regional
Opportunities Initiative to create a regional arts and culture plan. It covers an 11 county region where
Monroe is a part of that.
We're following the grant process to submit a proposal that will drive growth of the Lotus Festival
as a major destination festival for Bloomington and the state, and expand access to world cultures through
music and arts across the whole Midwest. So our story of over three decades, we've had an impact in
the community.
More than 10,000 people come to fill the streets of Bloomington every year and nearly $1 million flood
the local economy during the Lotus Festival. Lotus supports a thriving creative class and an art economy
which invites new visitors, industries, and fuels the growth of the region.
Transformative music and arts experiences are accessible for all ages, abilities, backgrounds, and incomes.
Even if someone can't afford a ticket to the festival, our volunteer exchange provides one night of
festival for free. It's a great opportunity to engage with the community and discover the magic of the
festival. Over 100 art partners engage with youth and families every year with experiential learning
to create lifelong memories and establish core values.
This year, I've begun conversations with Visit Bloomington to help us determine our current economic
impact from the festival today. So we will be sending out post-festival surveys that include these metrics.
One thing that really makes Lotus stand out is that we have hosted artists from over 150 unique cultures
and countries. This is a really proud metric
for our work and I think it truly demonstrates that Bloomington is a multicultural city. So what to
do one step at a time we move forward. Lotus will overcome our challenges by engaging with our active
and seasoned supporters and finding new friends to help us grow into the future. You can help us do that.
You can attend the festival, invite your friends and buy tickets with the hands that were raised. I'm
sure many of you, we'll see many of you out there. You can give a sincerely modest donation to contribute
to our mission. For those of you who are over 72, a great way to do that is through required retirement
distributions. You can also become a sponsor and support our artists, our staff and our festival footprint.
I want to know how Lotus can help your business reach its goals and provide the best experience for
you and your employees. Finally, I'm just going to leave you with the Lotus flower blooms most beautifully
from the deepest and thickest mud. So let's work together to rise up and create something beautiful.
removes with you, doesn't it? Sorry, the furthest one away. Could you talk a little bit about visas
and whether you bring people from abroad? I know that used to be possible and to piggyback on a visa
that somebody was here or
I don't know if you get people from abroad anymore. Yeah, we do. We get people from abroad every year.
I'm not sure in terms of the amount that we get now versus in the past. But when I attended the World
Music Expo last year, I was talking to I was talking to people from all over the world music industry,
and they they find it the most difficult that the US is the most difficult place to tour.
to get a visa, to get a working permit is incredibly expensive, and it can take years to make it happen.
And if the artists do not have a US-based agent, it makes it even more difficult to navigate the system.
For this year in particular, all of our artists are currently in the United States with visas,
either they're already touring or they're stationed here right now, with the exception of one that's
coming from Columbia. So we're really hopeful we were trying to mitigate some of those issues. We had
artists who backed out earlier this year because they were afraid of traveling and receiving, you know,
potentially being deported at the airport. And so
They gave us enough time to be able to adapt and find another artist, but those are the realities that
artists are facing today. Even coming from Canada, it can cost them $1,500 just to come to the U.S.
for a concert or a tour. This is the realities. Thank you for that question. Of course.
Michael, right here. Okay. So where do they all stay? Well, we book hotel rooms for artists. We get
a really great rate from Holiday Inn and we have a whole track of rooms for not just the artists, but
their managers and any guests that are coming with them. And Lotus covers that cost for the artist.
Do we remember
The source, the beginning of the Lotus was with a, it wasn't with a flower, it was with the first Lotus
ticky in Orange County. I think we should build on that as well. So the statement is that the name of
the festival, Lotus Festival, I think the original founders, they were,
they were thinking of calling it the Bloomington Festival and things like that, but they decided to
look at universality. So the lotus flower blooms in every single country. And then the founders were
very connected to an artist that grew up and created folk music in Orange County, Indiana. His name
was Lotus Dickey. And so the merger of the flower and the man became
the legacy of the festival that we have today. Yeah. Yeah. Katarina, you mentioned growth mindset, which
I'm a big fan. I don't know if you read the book or not. That's where it came from, from Carol DeWitt.
But it triggered in my mind as you were talking about all the challenges financially, et cetera. It's
obviously a common theme across all the nonprofits. There's about 730 nonprofits here in Bloomington.
And one of the things, and as donors, which there are many in the room for
all these nonprofits, it's becoming more and more challenging, not only to raise the funds, but to determine
where you're going to give the funds because everybody's being hit. And so one of the things that would
be helpful, I think, is that in the spirit of growth mindset, we as nonprofits need to start thinking,
are there ways we can synergies, create synergies and be more effective? And that's hard to do when
you talk about political capital, because nobody wants to give up their fiefdom. But at the end of the
day, it's about survival.
and how do we maximize and get growth and how do we start thinking differently? So I would just put
that out there because as I think of Lotus and some of the other fantastic arts venues that we have
here, there's probably some things we could do to help drive that synergy. And I always go back to the
constellation example with the BPP and Cardinal. Yeah. So I'll just put that out there. I don't know
if that's something you all have thought about or not.
Yes, I've thought about it. For sure, I've thought about it. You're right. It's challenging as each
of our organizations are vying for these resources, these financial resources. And our community is
only so big, right?
I, there's a couple things that I think about I think about like the growth of Bloomington is the growth
of our organizations, the growth of the festival is connected to that. So bringing in in more industry
bringing in more people to live in this community is going to grow our nonprofits and give us more resources
to be able to spread out.
But that's like, I can't control that. We can't control that. You know, this is a bigger issue. I think
there's, I don't have an answer for how collaboration will work. But I think in terms of growth mindset,
in terms of being creatively, like a creative culture, you know, it's so much easier to complain about
what we don't have.
instead of thinking about what assets we have and how we can sit at a table, combine our assets and
make work happen for all of us. It just sometimes doesn't look like the way it used to and it doesn't
feel the way that you might want it to feel, but that change is really important and it's important
to embrace that and move into the direction of our whole community thriving instead of siloing and trying to
it all together. So yeah, thank you for that. Hi, I run my sister's closet and I've had some really
good experiences with thinking outside of the box as far as looking to host families for some of our
clients to house women next to jobs that we might have them in. I think
even within this room, but throughout all of Monroe County, there would be several families that might
be interested in being host families so that you could cut the hotel portion out of your budget, which
I think would help out some. That's a great idea. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The international.
Awesome. We'll look into that. Yeah. Any questions online? At the moment, Michael,
I'll go ahead and do one. So I'm going to start with a testimonial to get to my question. So back in
the early aughts, I was a brand new Spankin board member for Lotus, and I was given the opportunity
to be a driver liaison for a Korean couple of a group called Kakchi and
I got to take them down to Bedford, a little rural school, and they knew not even a one word of English.
The challenge, trying to communicate with them, got them in there into that gym, and it didn't matter
that they didn't know English. They had all sorts of really cool instruments, and they
played the instruments in a way that was stunning and captivating and amazing and it just transformed
that gym and the kids were just blown away. Fast forward 15 years, I was at a Lotus
Night of Music in the summer fundraiser they do. And that principal was there and spoke to that very
day and that very group that I was there with and what a difference it made to his students and how
many of those students grew up loving music more and enjoying it. So I throw that testimony out there
with the question of when we were talking about it 20 some years ago, it was always like the real growth
that could happen in Lotus is in Lotus Blossoms because it's education oriented, easier to get grants.
you know, get people younger to come to Lotus, because when you look around at Lotus, there's a lot
of older people. What are you trying to do to get Lotus younger and make Blossoms a bigger deal and
work it more? And what plans do you have for the future? Yeah, great question. I have some really exciting
plans, all I'm happy to share with you. Well, first, to answer the question about bringing younger people in,
Last year was the first year we decided to make children 12 and under free to attend the festival. That
was really important to me that we were thinking of our families, the cost to families and you know
paying $40 for a ticket for a five year old just doesn't make sense right so.
So yeah, so we did that and I think that's a really great opportunity for getting younger people into
the festival in particular. This year we've deepened our discount for students and teens. We separated
our discount out so that they can have 50% off ticket prices and try to make that more accessible for
that population. And of course, most of our young teens and late teens and college students are volunteers
and that's how they engage with the festival.
So Lotus Blossoms, I have been really trying to think about how to connect Lotus Blossoms with the festival,
how to create more education opportunities at the festival, and then tie the festival back to Lotus
Blossoms. So just a couple little things that we've done this year. We created the same study guides
that we create for the spring programs and those artists. We made a couple of those study guides for
artists for the festival. They are artists, we chose artists that will be performing free performances
to make them accessible to all students. And we shared that with the Monroe County Schools so that we
can get that out to teachers and students to be able to learn a little bit more about what the festival
has to offer to them. And secondly,
We started a new project, a new collaboration. The pilot project is called Harmony and Heart. It is
a connection to wellness and music and brain development and emotional and social learning and nervous
system regulation.
experience of having diverse music, being exposed to diverse music is really important for brain development
for young people. And that was something that was shared with me by Jill Bulte-Taylor. She told me,
she's like, hey, you should kind of connect kids to that concept. So we partnering with Team Peace and
Let Music Speak, who are nonprofits based in Orange County. And so our
In this year, we have an expanded pilot program in Orange and in Crawford County, which we've never
been to. It's pretty far south. So we will keep that artist located in Orange County so that they have
easier access to all of the schools. There will be six elementary schools that will receive this sort
of fusion of like,
they already receive these team peace activities. So this is brain development, social emotional learning.
They're already receiving that in the classroom. And then we're going to pair that with the music and
combine those two together. So we're going to see how it goes. It'll be our first pilot. Hopefully we'll
be able to grow and expand from there and integrate wellness into the concept of
world music and what we're bringing to the schools and the classes and what kids need today. Yeah. Well,
Michael, your testimonial inspired me to also testify. I am a 20 plus year. I don't remember the number
20 plus year volunteer at Lotus as well as a festival goer. And what I can say about volunteering, if
you are interested in engaging with people in different ways,
is that you never know what you're gonna find. And one year, it was actually the first year it's what
created our info table. And that happened the year of Hurricane Katrina, if I'm not mistaken. And we
had loads and loads of people that were transported to Bloomington because they were homeless due to
the storm and they were temporarily housed here and Lotus provided tickets
to all of these wonderful folks so that they could have some entertainment in their lives, and they
had to come check in at the info, at this new info table, which I staffed for an evening. And it was
the most fascinating evening to have one-on-one conversations with people who had just experienced amazing
trauma, were in a town they knew nothing of, and they were so happy to be in our space and to share
the love of,
humanity that we were expressing. So you never know what you're going to find if you volunteer at Lotus.
Thank you, Lynn. Appreciate it. Back in the late 1990s, one of the first big events that Wonder Lab
participated in was the Lotus Blossoms.
They brought in Mather Museum with their different instruments. And then we had the music, obviously.
And then we had Wonder Lab coming in talking about the science of music. What Wonder Lab has gotten
a great grant for from Lilly is to go out into the surrounding counties to bring science. And I'm not
sure what the parameters were on the grant. I only just heard about it. But the idea of there being
a possibility for music to go out into the communities
You're already got links there, whether it's possible to do that and get a grant to underwrite that
for you and possibly help recoup some of your costs. The other option might be, we do have a lot of
theater companies in South Central Indiana. If there was ever a way to be able to offer a world music
group to come and play before the show opens, I mean, before the curtain goes up, you're going to hit
an audience that already likes the arts.
and it would allow them to have a taste of your event. It would give the theater company something really
cool to offer the audience. And it might be a really great way to get the word out in smaller communities
about the festival of having actually seen someone play. I love the idea of going out with a partner,
you know, especially we already have a precedent for, for integrating STEM into our programming and
And for in terms of theater, I love the idea of Lotus touring something, you know, into the community.
Suppose bringing touring artists in, we bring something, you know, in a little bit of more of an integrated
way with other organizations. And so those kinds of collaborations I think are the, that's the mindset
we need to have and take
you know, it one step at a time and try to develop those collaborations and come up with the logistics
and the funding and things like that. So to me, that's the future, you know, and how we connect with
people in here, you know, yeah, and the region, yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Nathan. Glad to be here.
And Melinda, that is exactly the growth mindset and kind of thinking that we all need to start doing,
because there's a lot of good nuggets in there that can help us. So thank you for that. Katerina, I
want to thank you for the wonderful presentation. Obviously, you've got a lot of Lotus lovers in here.
And in honor of your presentation, we'll be making a donation to Off Night Productions as a club. A
meeting like this doesn't come together without the help of many, many people. So I'd like to thank,
first of all, our fabulous greeter, Ruth Boschkoff.
Jim Sims and his styling guest introductions. And Mr. Happiness, Alon Barker for our speaker introduction.
Joy, it's fabulous to see you online. We like you in person, but we like seeing you online as well.
Tim for the thoughtful and inspiring reflection. Glenda for reporting. It's the hardest job there is.
So, and Michael for stepping in at the last minute to run the mic in my absence. And then Alon for the
photos, Sally and Judy for running the desk and making us all feel welcome as well when we come in.
And I would think we were gonna have Paula Harris, we'll hopefully be able to do that next week. Our
next meeting will be on September 23rd in the Frangipani Room. And Sandy will be speaking, Sandy Keller
will be speaking to us about my sister's closet, which I know we're all looking forward to.
and hot off the press community service meeting at one o'clock here in the room. And with that, Tyler,
would you please share the graphic? And for those of you who are able to stand, join me. Of the things
we think, say or do, first, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concerned? Third, will it build
goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned? And fifth, is it fun?