By Linda Lee Baird for Arts Midwest.
Broadcast version by Chrystal Blair for Ohio News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collaboration
Have you ever wanted to star in a sci-fi adventure, meeting creatures from outside the bounds of imagination? Have you ever wanted to touch the artwork in a museum? Did you imagine it would respond when you did so? Nine miles from downtown Columbus, Ohio-in a surreally reimagined corner of an abandoned shopping mall-you can do all of this, and more. Welcome to Otherworld.
Five years ago, Otherworld's Ohio-raised founder Jordan Renda took the skills he'd learned from designing haunted houses and escape rooms, and converted a former Office Max store into an experience unlike any other. "It's a place where people can interact with art," Otherworld's General Manager Jon Stewart says. "Not just looking at it; they can touch, feel, and play with it."
"It's kind of like a choose your own adventure art exhibit," Otherworld's Lead Props and Scenic Fabricator Ira Tecson explains.
Over 40 artists worked to turn the 32,000 square-foot space into an immersive-and evolving- experience, designed to delight kids and adults in equal measures, with a story slowly unfurling through nearly 50 unique rooms.
"If you follow parts of the storyline, you're a beta tester going into a sleep study. And then you're traveling from one experience to the next," Stewart explains. Whether visitors decide to begin by walking through a science lab, or studying clues in a janitor's closet, they become part of an expansive tale. Throughout their visit, guests encounter puzzles and places that Stewart says "makes the art interact with you."
Midwest creatives have played a crucial role in the space from its inception. Tecson uses the skills she obtained studying sculpture at The Ohio State University to build the exhibition's fantastical scenes, including a giant tree that anchors its center. Stewart-an Indiana native-joined the team after a stint working on cruise ships. And other local artists help keep the space dynamic, frequently refreshing and redesigning rooms. Tecson says that sometimes, "an artist will have an idea, and then we help them kind of execute their vision." Area muralists have painted interior walls, and Columbus DJs have been invited to play music during special events.
This unique redevelopment could be an innovative model for ghost malls nationwide. A 2023 study published in the blog of financial company IPX1031 notes that 68% of Americans live within an hour of a dead mall, and other experts predict the nation could have just 150 malls left by the early 2030s.
In contrast, Otherworld's popularity is having a positive impact on local businesses, with a new indoor bounce playground opening up in another corner of the old shopping center, and a nearby seafood restaurant offering discounts to Otherworld's customers.
A second location opened last summer in Philadelphia, and the team hints that there's more to come, though they're coy about the plans-not surprising for a group that's mastered the art of the unexpected. In the meantime, a visit to the original Columbus location is well worth a drive this summer.
Linda Lee Baird wrote this story for Arts Midwest.
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Lawmakers could salvage plans to restore a historic Wyoming arboretum after the legislature cut initial funding from the supplemental state budget. Its future now depends on bills in committee.
Companion bills introduced in the Wyoming House and Senate would recognize the Cheyenne-area High Plains Research Station and Arboretum as an official state historic site. The center was used a century ago to research and grow trees that could handle the area's harsh climate.
Jessica Friis, horticulturist for Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, helps steward the site.
"A lot of those trees are still standing today," Friis pointed out. "We'd like to return to that original mission where we can grow these tough plants in that greenhouse and make them available."
Friis pointed out today, trees grown there could be used for reforestation after wildfires and other modern needs. The bills now sit with the committees on agriculture and appropriations.
Megan Stanfill, executive director of the Alliance for Historic Wyoming, said the site is more than 2,000 acres in size, and includes an active grasslands research station, historic buildings, the Cheyenne National Cemetery and a Girl Scout camp.
"You have all of these different aspects, where it's outdoor recreation, it's historic sites, it's cultural heritage, and then it's also a place of solitude," Stanfill outlined.
If the area becomes an official state historic site, it would be cooperatively managed by the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming State Parks and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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By Brianne Sanchez for Arts Midwest.
Broadcast version by Mark Moran for Iowa News Service reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collaboration
Stories are shortcuts, introducing people and places we might not otherwise encounter. They help us discover meaningful connections, even amid isolating circumstances. Curious people often turn to books because novels and memoirs open up on demand, but everyone has a story to tell.
In Iowa, CultureALL’s Open Book program makes striking up a conversation with a stranger as simple as visiting the local library. Their catalog of personal narratives introduces real-life protagonists whose singular struggles touch broader topics like immigration, identity, grief, faith and more.
Since 2018, the Des Moines-based social impact organization has recruited more than 50 Iowans from diverse backgrounds to serve as human “Books.” They share short talks about a defining chapter of their lives with intimate audiences of “Readers.”
From Charlie’s harrowing story of surviving a traumatic childhood abduction to Sylvia’s tale of defying society’s expectations as a blind woman to earn her PhD in soil chemistry, human “Books” prove why people shouldn’t be judged by their cover.
“Open Book can be a catalyst to speed up a relationship and introduce a conversation that maybe wouldn’t have naturally occurred,” says Karen Downing, a retired English teacher who brought the concept to CultureALL.
CultureALL supports human “Books” through the storytelling process. It compensates them for visits to retirement communities, libraries, businesses and other locations.
Open Book’s story-sharing format was inspired by Human Library, a movement that began in Denmark in 2000 to address prejudice through personal connections.
CultureALL’s version is reciprocal.
“We realized that, yes, people want to hear other stories,” Downing says. “They also really wanted to share their own and get a sense of their lived experience in conversation with someone else.”
She and former CultureALL AmeriCorps Service member JJ Kapur collaborated to localize the Human Library concept and measure its empathy-building impact.
Humanizing Complex Issues
Initiatives like UpLift: The Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot have participated in Open Book to bring local voices to issues like poverty and homelessness. Congregations have also used the program to build relationships across racial divides. Funding from Humanities Iowa is helping the CultureALL program connect urban and rural populations, too.
“Hearing a personal story can change a lens on an issue or big, thorny topic that people maybe don’t have a nuanced understanding of,” Downing says.
The vulnerability Open Book encourages can be validating for participants like Yerliana Reyna, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who moved to Iowa by way of the Bronx, New York.
Reyna is a middle school counselor who connected with Open Book after participating in the Iowa Latinx Project’s Media Ambassador Program. She shared her story at a senior center in Pella, a community known for its deeply Dutch heritage.
“I remember one of the ladies kept looking at me and then when I was done [speaking], she said, ‘You know that you are more brave than you think,’” Reyna says. “Your story can be of encouragement for somebody else.”
Brianne Sanchez wrote this story for Arts Midwest.
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A Wyoming arts hub is surveying organizations across the state to see if a potential new AmeriCorps program could help fill gaps in arts and humanities programming.
The AmeriCorps Rural Intermediary Program would provide extra support for Wyoming arts and humanities organizations, which are often rural and can employ just enough staff to operate.
Allison Maluchnik, executive director of the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, said it could provide several benefits to the museum.
"We could utilize AmeriCorps members to help with our art education, outreach," Maluchnik explained. "There is potential for capacity-building at different arts organizations, volunteer programs. There are many different ways that AmeriCorps members could serve different organizations in the state."
Maluchnik noted the first step toward implementing the program is gauging interest. Wyoming arts organizations can take a survey on the topic through Jan. 20. They can contact the Nicolaysen museum for more information.
According to a University of Wyoming report, arts and culture added more than $540 million to the state's economy in 2022 but it varies widely by county. Teton County saw nearly $230 million in arts-based economic output, while 11 counties saw less than $5 million.
Maluchnik stressed rural arts organizations could especially use the support.
"This would hopefully give those organizations that do not have the larger community a sense of support," Maluchnik emphasized. "And also, a means to build programming and volunteer capacity."
The program would be a state-facilitated arm of the national AmeriCorps service program, which offers resume-building and scholarship money to members who serve.
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