What’s in store at IBJ A&E for 2013?

Welcome to the new year—an exciting one, I hope, for arts and entertainment in Indy and for IBJ A&E.

In the coming months, you can look forward to…

…a revamped weekly IBJ A&E e-mail blast featuring more critically selected previews, links, ticket giveaways, videos, photos and more. Not getting the free Thursday e-mail? Click here and select "IBJ Daily plus A&E."  Interested in advertising in it? Click here or call 317-472-5319.

…more reviews, both in the print edition of IBJ and on the Lou Harry’s A&E blog (find it here).

…more IBJ A&E Road Trips. In fact, we’ve got two that are booking right now. One is to the new Broadway-bound musical “Big Fish,” which will be premiering in Chicago. The other is to Cincinnati to see the national tour of “War Horse.” I’ll be hosting both, which include backstage opportunities, arts chats, and more. The first one sold out so book now. Info here.

…the IBJ A&E Season Preview supplement, a September tradition, which has now been joined by the IBJ A&E Season Preview Live Event. Both provide great opportunities to learn more about what’s on the way. Watch the blog for details on both.

–the Indy Actors' Playground. That's a free monthly play reading series I'm co-developing at Indy Reads Books. Details here.

…ATCA in Indy. IBJ A&E is bringing the American Theatre Critics Association to Indy for the first time for a weekend conference in March packed with panels and theater productions, showcasing work created here. Volunteers may be needed to help make this event the huge success I know it can be. Send a note here if you are interested in helping (particularly if you have access to a minibus).

…continues IBJ A&E weekly segments on Fox59 (Thursday mornings), WIBC (Friday mornings) and other media outlets.

…and, of course, more.

The overarching goal in all of this is to connect audience to arts and entertainment in both traditional and new ways. I hope you'll resolve to take advantage of what IBJ has to offer and use it to motivate you to get out to see more and do more.

Here’s to a great year.

Your thoughts?