Trends, tips and resources

Marburn Academy's 2009 Arts Celebration

It's official: the 2009 Marburn Academy Arts Celebration, A Creative Synergy: Art, Education, and the Brain is an original, and you are invited. Hosted by the Marburn Academy Board of Trustees and featuring honorary chair and guest speaker, Sherri Geldin, director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, the evening event takes place on Sunday, February 22.

After 25 years of highlighting the arts as an important component of its comprehensive school curriculum, Marburn Academy has created an innovative approach to exploring and celebrating the arts. The first phase of this new concept focused on the students. Nine artists in nine classrooms provided every student with an opportunity to work one to one with a working professional. Each class designed unique projects based on a specific area of study. All students then created their own masterpiece, while deepening and enriching their knowledge of the subject matter.

Phase two of the 2009 Arts Celebration, the Artists Market, will showcase works of art by the visiting artists and the spectacular student art at BOMA: the Bar of Modern Art. Live and silent auction items such as art vacations, art experiences, paintings, jewelry, and sculpture will be available for sale.

Tickets are $100 per person and can be purchased by contacting Marburn Academy at (614) 433-0822. Proceeds from the event will benefit the school's scholarship fund. Marburn Academy is a nationally recognized, research-based school for bright students with ADHD and/or dyslexia. For more information go to www.marburnacademy.org.

A one-stop-shop for movies

Are you looking for an exciting and inexpensive night of entertainment for the whole family? Join in the latest trend of renting hot $1-per-day new release DVD and Blu-ray discs like Batman: The Dark Knight, Mamma Mia, Horton Hears a Who and Wall-E from a MovieStop DVD vending kiosk near you.

MovieStop DVD vending kiosks offer customers the opportunity to rent DVDs and Blu-ray discs for $1 a day, and purchase great DVD titles starting at the low price of $1.99. MovieStop kiosks offer an increased selection of high-demand movie titles, touch-screen search capability to find the movies you're looking for, and the ability to preview movie trailers on-screen before renting a movie. The registration process is easy and quick, and there are never any membership fees or late charges.

MovieStop kiosks are located at an ever-growing list of local retailers, like Speedway and Dollar Tree stores around the greater Columbus area. To find a location near you, please visit www.moviestopkiosk.com. Readers of Columbus Parent Magazine can get one free DVD rental! Go to a MovieStop kiosk and when checking out a movie rental enter promo code "parentmg."

Free rental offer expires February 1, 2009.

King Arts Complex

What is a sure cure for the winter blues? A trip to the King Arts Complex for a Friday morning matinee. Friday, January 23 at 11 a.m., Kristina Isabelle Dance Company will conduct a dance performance and audience interactive demonstration program, action-packed with various dance forms and dance history. Come enjoy great fun while learning more about Western dance and the brief history of stilting.

Enjoy the wonder of dance and movement uniquely presented by the King Arts Complex and the Kristina Isabelle Dance Company on Saturday January 24 at 8 pm. Levels & Lines is a multi-dimensional exploration in movement, video, light and sound. Inspired by abstract expressionist painter Joan Mitchell, breathtaking interchanges occur between dancers on and off various heights of stilts. This ever-changing dance canvas creates a large-scale moving painting on the proscenium stage. Levels & Lines is a mesmerizing production incorporating dynamic dancing on the ground, in the air, and all the space in between.

For ticket information, call (614) 645-0642, or log on to www.kingartscomplex.com.

Kids Day at AAA Great Vacations EXPO

Jack Hanna, cartoon characters, family vacation giveaways, a rock climbing wall and more take center stage during Kids Day at the AAA Great Vacations EXPO. Supported by Columbus Parent Magazine, Kids Day kicks off 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 17 when Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants arrives at the EXPO. SpongeBob will be on hand throughout the day to pose for pictures and meet with fans.

At noon, Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and host of Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures will be on stage with his animal friends. Hanna will sign autographs following his stage appearance.

Kids also can participate in the Passport for Prizes activity. They'll venture around the EXPO to have their passports stamped and be entered to win a fantastic prize. Kids are also encouraged to come dressed as their favorite Disney character for a 2 p.m. costume parade and contest, with the winner receiving a special prize.

From 10 a.m. to noon, Kids Corner from the CW@WHHO 53 will feature crafts and fun activities. At 10:30 a.m., Michelle Zavatsky, author of the best-selling Kids Love Travel guidebooks, will share her expert advice on how to travel with kids while also on a budget.

One of TV's newest celebrities, Andrew Zimmern, star of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods and the new Bizarre Worlds also will be at the EXPO. Zimmern appears on Sunday, January 18, at noon and 3 p.m. He'll discuss his travels around the world and the bizarre foods he's tasted, with an autograph signing following each appearance.

The AAA Great Vacations EXPO runs January 16-18 at Veterans Memorial. Hours are Friday, 2-8 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m.8 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.4 p.m. Tickets $8, $4 for AAA members and are available at the door or at AAA Ohio Auto Club stores. Children age 12 and under are admitted free. Additional details, stage schedules and consumer information on the EXPO available at AAAGreatVacations.com.