Arts & Culture

AGE: 46  GIG: Actor and racecar driver  DREAM ROLE: The Grey’s Anatomy star will race in the IMS’s inaugural Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series event on July 27 as part of the Super Weekend at the Brickyard.

Q: How do the Conner Prairie reenactors keep from passing out on hot days? Those hoop skirts don’t look practical.

Ashlie P. Carmel

Pretzel necklaces and sun dresses, boat shoes and big sunglasses—that’s Brew-Ha-Ha in a nutshell. And what a gloriously sweaty nutshell it is, this beer festival now in its 17th iteration. The annual street party takes place on Park Avenue between Mass Ave and St. Clair Street for four afternoon hours each late June.

If you braved the heat a month ago at the 42nd Broad Ripple Art Fair, you probably remember cooling off indoors and wandering around one of the Indianapolis Art Center’s spacious, white-walled galleries. This month through August 5, you need not be hard-pressed for a reason to come back.

Christ Church Cathedral’s long-running Strawberry Festival took over Monument Circle on Thursday, with tasty offerings and, even better, community-building results. “The crowd seemed more consistent throughout the day this year than in the past,” says Marcia Taylor, publicity chair for Cathedral Women. “It was around 3 o’clock or 3:30 before we noticed a lull in the lines.”

With Glee fading in the Nielsen ratings, Murphy’s latest series, American Horror Story, garners serious buzz from its creepy debut episode, with star Jessica Lange going on to win a Golden Globe for her role.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art has a new exhibit highlighting the influence of photography on Post-Impressionist painters. “Snapshot” combines paintings and photos with information on the photographic technology available at the time to the seven artists featured.

Billed as “a musical within a comedy,” the Buck Creek Players’ production of The Drowsy Chaperone lives up to that by drolly inserting a 1920s songbook and cast into a modern-day setting. Or vice versa. Or, wait—what just happened? In a good way.

There’s a lot of chirping going on today over the new Twitter logo, a similar version of the old blue bird. If you ask us, it looks like the bird just got a buzz cut and a dye job, but one of the more intentional changes is the creature’s new upward flight path. Twitter has some deep thoughts about the graphical tweak—involving the words “hope,” “freedom,” and “possibility”— but we’re more concerned about the fate of the famous logo’s Indianapolis DNA.

With as smooth a swing as you’ll ever see, defending champion Justin Rose drove home the official start of festivities surrounding the BMW Championships on Monday, scorching a dead-center drive down the fairway to the delight of onlooking dignitaries and media members.

It was a downtown romp last night as dozens of dogs, cats, and even one ferret descended upon a parking lot at 707 N. Senate Ave. Indy Pride’s second-annual Pet Pride event drew more than 500 (human) attendees, up from about 320 last year in its first inception.

Did you know that Indy is a certified Bicycle-Friendly Community? And that there are free group rides to join nearly every night? Such organized rides are a great way to break out of your biking rut. This summer, we’re doing a different ride each week. Follow along, or better yet, put on a helmet and join us!