Louisville’s Hospitality Translates Into International Possibilities

Lousvillians Send a Friend-Invite to the World
Nobody’s ever accused Louisvillians of being introverted. So it only makes sense that we’d be the first, and only, city with an initiative to recruit and retain talented professionals from all over the world. The masterminds behind this tool are the folks from Greater Louisville International Professionals (G.L.I.P.).

G.L.I.P. is an organization focused on attracting and retaining international talent by showcasing Louisville as a welcoming and inclusive city of possibilities. G.L.I.P also brings together Louisville professionals who have business interests in other parts of the world, as well as creating a community for current residents who transplanted here from other countries. G.L.I.P. is an organization with networking opportunities, social events, committee service opportunities, mentorship programs for newcomers, Country Ambassadorships, and now the newly added social-network discussion boards online.

To date, G.L.I.P. has almost 300 members, 25 Country Ambassadors, and over 1,000 other interested people connected to the program. If this sounds like an organization you’d like to be part of, click here to learn more and get involved.

G.L.I.P. is yet another example of how Possibility City capitalizes on Louisville’s social nature and turns it into a competitive advantage. The next time you come across someone who speaks another language, instead of saying “hi” or “how you doing?” why not let them know that in Louisville, anything’s possible.

Click here to watch this video and memorize your lines.

Louisville: Where People Want to Stay for a Spell

Lou-ah-vul, Looieville, Lewisville, Louisville. . . .
Everyone in Possibility City knows there are lots of different ways to spell and say Louisville, so it should come as no surprise that this city is home to a couple of the nation’s preeminent bibliophiles (and yes, we looked up both those words in a dictionary), as well as some pretty impressive institutions dedicated to literacy.

First, The Library Journal, the country’s top library publication, has awarded Louisville Free Public Library Director Craig Buthod its Librarian of the Year Award for 2010. The award was presented to Buthod in Boston as part of the annual American Library Association Conference. Buthod, nominated by a number of his peers nationwide, is also featured in a cover story in the January issue of Library Journal.

Sharon Darling, the founder of the National Center for Family Literacy, is known far and wide, and is credited with starting the family literacy movement in the United States. Her recognitions include the National Humanities Medal and the the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, and she’s been featured on the Arts & Entertainment series, Biography.

NCFL, which is also headquartered right here in Louisville, is credited with pioneering family literacy models and approaches that improve the lives of America’s most at-risk children and families. The organization’s work is frequently cited by the media and academics for its innovative approaches and groundbreaking results.

And last, Jefferson County Public Schools was recently selected as one of only five school systems in the country to receive a $600,000 grant to implement the Toyota Family Literacy Program (TFLP), which provides language and literacy skills for Hispanic and other immigrant families. You can read all about the program and its impressive history by clicking here.

And that, as they say, is all she wrote

Putting Louisville’s Art on the Map

Picture This . . .
A city where the quality of life and the quality of art are equally accessible. A place where there are more art galleries than you can shake a paintbrush at. That was voted home to the best art show in the country. And where one of the world’s top-six hotels is . . . an art gallery. That’s Possibility City, my friend. And finding these places couldn’t be any easier.

Unless of course it could. . . .

Finding Art in Louisville
Click here to open a Google map of the many wonderful and diverse places in Louisville you can find art.

Better yet, we want you to add your own links — galleries you love, artists you admire, artwork you’ve discovered. Could be a friend’s framing shop, an art-education program, a favorite photographer, an art installation or statue, the Speed Museum or one of the galleries around Nulu or Frankfort Avenue. It’s your map. It’s your art. Own it.

Click here to view the map.

The Art of Boxing?
The Muhammad Ali Center has work by internationally acclaimed artists such as LeRoy Neiman and Howard L. Bingham. So this year’s “Dream makers” artist-in-residence should feel right at home. Hailing from Cuba, Carlos Gamez de Francisco arrived in America less than a year ago. If you visit the Center, you can not only watch him work in the Center’s open studio, but actually meet him in person.

Of course, if you’re more into the art of walking, you could also head to PYRO Gallery, owned by internationally respected poster artist Julius Friedman, to see more of de Francisco’s work.

You could call it yet another illustration of how attractive Louisville is in drawing the arts.