Photo courtesy of Regions Bank.
Regions Bank is celebrating the return of the Regions Tradition golf tournament with special lighting on its downtown headquarters through May 15.
This month in City Beat, we learn about one of the unique sports at The World Games 2022 Birmingham this summer.
The city of Birmingham is taking steps to retain and attract small businesses.
A local technology nonprofit recently unveiled a new learning space at a city school.
The arts community mourns the late Carl Stewart, co-founder of two local theater companies.
And a display of lights at Regions Center downtown heralds the return of a major golf tournament.
UP THE WALL
The World Games 2022 Birmingham, scheduled for July 7-17, calls itself a “new generation” of sport competition with 3,600 athletes competing in unique, multi-disciplinary sports.
One sport sure to attract attention in Birmingham is sport climbing, to be held on a 50-foot wall at Sloss Furnaces.
In sport climbing, which made its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, rock climbers compete on artificial structures.
It should be one of “the most exciting events” at TWG2022, said the event’s CEO, Nick Sellers.
Sport climbing “tests each athlete physically, mentally and emotionally,” Sellers said. “It will be a hot ticket.”
There are three types or disciplines of sport climbing. In Speed, two climbers race to the top of the 50-foot wall. In Lead, climbers have six minutes to climb as far up a 15-meter wall as possible. In Boulder, climbers attempt to climb as many set routes as possible within a time limit and score points based on difficulty.
A total of 72 athletes will compete in Birmingham, and there will be gold, silver and bronze medals for men and women in each of the disciplines.
Danyil Boldyrev of Ukraine and Natalia Kalucka of Poland, the fastest climbers in the world; Miho Nonaka of Japan, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics; and legendary Italian climber Stefano Ghisolf, with 15 career medals in the Climbing World Cup, are expected to compete at TWG2022.
BUSINESS RISING
The Birmingham City Council approved an ordinance March 29 designed to support the growth and retention of Birmingham businesses.
RISE (Retention Incentives for Success and Expansion) establishes a cash incentive fund and a revolving loan fund to provide resources to local businesses, according to a city news release.
“A strong business community makes for a strong economy and a thriving city,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said.
“Many municipalities have focused on recruitment efforts, but not necessarily retention and expansion,” said Cornell Wesley, director of the city’s Department for Innovation And Economic Opportunity.
Businesses will be eligible for the incentives or loans if they retain and expand their employee base and operate in the city.
New startups that create at least five full-time jobs or a small business that was declined for a loan will also be considered for funding.
INNOVATIVE SPACES
The nonprofit Ed Farm unveiled the South Hampton K-8 Innovation Library at South Hampton Elementary School in Birmingham March 25 along with Birmingham City Schools.
It’s the first learning space designed for the Ed Farm “Spaces” initiative, according to an Ed Farm news release.
“Where students learn matters, and our goal is to create spaces - where traditionally underserved students learn - that inspire creativity, imagination, and collaboration,” said Ed Farm President Waymond Jackson. “Modern technology and industry require modern teaching and learning.”
The South Hampton learning labs encourage making, tinkering, engineering and design with coding kits, robot kits, 3D printers and more.
Students will have access to Apple products like MacBook, Apple TV, iPad and Apple Pencil.
‘ALWAYS ENTERTAINING’
Magic City theater legend Carl W. Stewart, who co-founded Birmingham Festival Theatre in 1972 and Terrific New Theatre in 1986, died March 14 at the age of 80.
Surrounded by family and friends, Stewart died peacefully of natural causes at UAB Hospital, according to a TNT news release. A memorial service was to be held in April.
“Carl Stewart’s spirit and love of theater will live in all of us who knew him," TNT Executive Director Tam DeBolt said.
Stewart retired as TNT artistic director in 2016 at the close of its 30th season and was known as a pioneer in the Birmingham theater scene.
The actor, director and producer “forever changed the landscape of the performing-arts scene in Birmingham by introducing a brand of theater that was new to mainstream audiences here in the 1970s and 1980s: avant-garde, sometimes controversial, often racy, but always entertaining,” said Chuck Evans, TNT interim board president.
BIG DISPLAY
The annual Regions Tradition golf tournament — one of five major championships on the PGA Tour of Champions — returns to Greystone Golf & Country Club from May 11-15.
To celebrate, Regions Bank has installed special colored lights on all four sides of the Regions Center downtown showing the image of a golfer, according to a bank news release.
The lighting, which begins nightly at 8 p.m. and continues through May 15, provides a 360-degree view from anywhere near downtown.
The Regions Tradition benefits Children’s of Alabama, as well as other organizations.
For more information, go to regionstradition.com.
