Blog #1 - Welcome to Ithaca

This semester for Ithaca Week I'll be covering music and art in Ithaca. One of the reasons I decided to come to Ithaca College was because of the culture surrounding music and art. I remember driving through Ithaca with my mom, terrified out of my mind at the thought of touring a college, and seeing multiple murals downtown. Even on campus, there's works of art all around. As someone who spent most of her childhood inside of art studios both in and out of school I couldn't be happier to have seen all of this art.

Here's just one of the many murals I saw on my first visit — this one is near the on the side of the Seneca Street garage. (artist: Kellie Cox)

Art is something incredibly important to me — I am also an Art History minor — so I'm quite happy to have the opportunity to cover something I am passionate about.

Secondly is the music aspect. I did not know this during that fateful first tour of Ithaca, but the music scene is incredibly large. There are so many local places — Lot 10, Ooy's Deli, the Upstairs, and more — that are avenues for musicians to be able to share and play for a crowd. Additionally, Ithaca College's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is home to many musicians and bands all run and created by students.

For this beat I'm stepping a bit out of my comfort zone of being a more "traditional" hard-news reporter but I'm excited for the challenge and to experience this part of Ithaca. If anyone has any tips or artists or bands they'd love to see covered, reach out to me via Twitter or Facebook or email me at choltzman@ithaca.edu!