Aggregated Arts
New website covers events in
southeastern Michigan.
I
Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer
L
ooking to find out about enter-
tainment options beyond the
Jewish-connected people and
events featured in your weekly Jewish
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News?
That became easier this year with the
creation of IXITI.com , a new website that
lists schedules of performance and view-
ing options offered in the seven counties
that make up southeastern Michigan.
Whether an exhibit at the Ann Arbor
Art Center or a concert at the Dirty Dog
Jazz Cafe or some other event, particulars
get presented along with volunteer oppor-
tunities in the arts and profiles of people
affiliated with programs.
Lynne Friman has been the project
manager in developing IXITI, one of many
names invented or suggested by people
working on marketing for the website.
"In the top 10 markets across the United
States, Detroit was the only one that did
not have an aggregated website with one
place where the public could go to find out
what was going on:' says Friman, direc-
tor of strategic projects at CultureSource,
where IXITI was developed.
"CultureSource, based in Detroit and
serving 120 nonprofit arts and cultural
organizations in the region, [responded to
interest in setting up] a place where they
could all share information about what
was happening and cross-promote what
everyone was doing"
IXITI, with no specific meaning, has
three I's to capture the first letters of the
words for which it stands: innovation,
inspiration and information.
CultureSource, founded in 2005 as
the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern
Michigan, started with the larger arts orga-
nizations that wanted to provide a forum
for communication. The Community
Foundation for Southeast Michigan helped
with seed money.
As more organizations joined, not-for-
profit organizations were allowed to post
events.
"Every week, we try to bring forward
the key things that are happening:' says
Friman, 55, who lives in Saline and is
active with Temple Beth Emeth in Ann
Arbor. "We want the public to know that
arts and cultural events are alive and thriv-
ing:,
Friman, a working watercolorist and
encaustic artist, earned a degree in illus-
tration from the University of Illinois and
moved to New York, where she found
work designing museum exhibitions.
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Lynne Friman
Career opportunities brought her to
Michigan. She has overseen exhibits at
the Detroit Historical Museum, construc-
tion of the Henry Ford IMAX Theatre,
reinstallation of the Detroit Institute of
Arts, as well as facility development at the
University of Michigan Museum of Art.
While maintaining her own firm,
Envisions Design, and serving as a consul-
tant to arts and cultural organizations, she
joined CultureSource in 2009.
"I currently am the publisher and over-
see the business side of IXITI," Friman
says. "I coordinated the brand identity.
The idea for a Web portal started in 2010,
and we began working in earnest in 2012.
We went live on Feb. 1:'
Besides going through lists of specific
events, site users can direct searches with
terms like "loud and fun," "quiet and
reflective" and "date night"
Jewish organizations represented on
IXITI include the Jewish Community
Center along with the Berman Center
for the Performing Arts, the Holocaust
Memorial Center and the Jewish Radio
Hour
"Organizations notify us about which
listings they want on the website, and we
work with each one to devise the best ways
to share their information and the kinds
of stories they want to tell," Friman says.
"They are responsible for putting up their
information"
August postings will be focusing on the
outdoor festivals. After that, the site will be
promoting the upcoming arts season.
The ultimate goal is for people to look
over the sight and come away with wish-
ing they had more time to go to all the
events that attract them.
"We don't want to replace what anyone
else is doing; Friman says. "We like to
think of ourselves as a convening organi-
zation in bringing people together:'
❑
For more info, go to www.ixiti.com .
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