Ebertfest is an annual film festival held every April in Champaign, Illinois, United States, organized by the College of Media at the University of Illinois. Roger Ebert, the TV and Chicago Sun-Times film critic, was a native of the adjoining town of Urbana, Illinois and is an alumnus of the University. Founded in 1999 as Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival, this event is the only long-running film festival created by a critic. Despite Ebert's death in 2013, the festival continues to operate based on Ebert's notes and vision for the kinds of films he championed.
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in the state outside the Chicago metropolitan area. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents in 2020.
Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents in 2020.
The Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, also known as Champaign–Urbana and Urbana–Champaign as well as Chambana (colloquially), is a metropolitan area in east-central Illinois. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the metropolitan area has a population of 236,514 as of the 2022 U.S. Census, which ranks it as the 200th largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. The area is anchored by the principal cities of Champaign and Urbana, and is home to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system.
The Illini Media Company is a nonprofit, student media company based in Champaign, Illinois. The company owns several student-run media outlets associated with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: the general newspaper, the Daily Illini; the entertainment paper, Buzz Magazine; the engineering quarterly, Technograph; the U of I yearbook, the Illio; and the commercial radio station, WPGU.
University of Illinois Willard Airport is south of Savoy in Tolono Township, Champaign County, Illinois, United States. It is owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and is named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Cutts Willard.
The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, women's basketball, and wrestling teams. It also doubles as a performance and event center, and is one of the largest venues between Chicago and St. Louis. It opened in 1963 and was known until 2013 as Assembly Hall until State Farm Insurance acquired naming rights as part of a major renovation project.
The Kenney Gym and the Kenney Gym Annex are two buildings located at 1402-06 Springfield Avenue in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Although the two buildings have been physically connected since 1914, they were built separately. They were jointly added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 under the name Military Drill Hall and Men's Gymnasium.
Urbana High School (UHS) is a public high school in Urbana, Ohio, United States, serving students in grades nine through 12. It is the only high school in the Urbana City School District and had a student enrollment of 509 in 2015–16. Athletic teams are known as the Hillclimbers and the school colors are maroon and white. UHS was rated as Excellent by the Ohio Department of Education in 2011 and 2012.
Prairielands Council is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America formed in 1991 by the merger of Arrowhead and Piankeshaw Councils. The council serves Scouts in east central Illinois and western Indiana. The headquarters is located in Champaign, Illinois; an auxiliary office is located in Danville, Illinois.
Rock Island High School, also known as "Rocky", is a public four-year high school located in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. Rocky is within the Rock Island–Milan School District 41, and the school colors are crimson and gold.
The Virginia Theatre is a live performance and movie theatre in downtown Champaign, Illinois. It has been providing theatrical and cinematic entertainment to the Champaign-Urbana community since its doors opened in 1921. Each year, the Virginia Theatre is host to movies from film reels, plays from various acting troupes, concerts, and Ebertfest, presented by the UIUC College of Media. It is currently owned by the Champaign Park District.
The Orpheum Theater opened in Champaign, Illinois in 1914 on the site of a vaudeville theater built in 1904. Designed by the Architectural firm Rapp & Rapp, the Orpheum was built to accommodate both live vaudeville performances and the projection of film. After a series of renovations and changes of ownership, the Orpheum screened its final film in 1986.
Lt. Col. Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter was a United States Army officer and army observation pilot who served in World War II. He is most known for destroying several enemy armored vehicles in his bazooka-equipped L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft.
Joseph William Royer (1873–1954) was a prolific architect from Urbana, Illinois who designed many prominent buildings in Urbana, Champaign, and beyond. His work included civic, educational, commercial, and residential buildings, many of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and feature a wide variety of architectural styles.
The Natural History Building is a historic building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in Urbana, Illinois. Built in 1892, the building originally housed the university's departments of botany, zoology, and geology. In addition to classroom space, the building also included a natural history museum. Architect Nathan Clifford Ricker designed the High Victorian Gothic building. The red brick building has a rough stone foundation and is decorated with colored brick and stone. The steep roof is supported by a timber truss system; the exposed trusses create a coffered ceiling on the interior.
The Main Library is a historic library on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Illinois. Built in 1924, the library was the third built for the school; it replaced Altgeld Hall, which had become too small for the university's collections. Architect Charles A. Platt designed the Georgian Revival building, one of several on the campus which he designed in the style. The building houses several area libraries, as well as the University Archives and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The Main Library is the symbolic face of the University Library, which has the second largest university library collection in the United States.
The Champaign-Decatur CSA, also known as East Central Illinois CSA, is a combined statistical area in the U.S. State of Illinois. It is the 104th largest combined statistical area in the U.S. It is composed of four counties, Champaign, Ford, Piatt and Macon.
Louise Freer Hall, also known as the Women's Gymnasium, is a historic building on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Built in 1930, it was the last of the university's buildings designed by Charles A. Platt, who was responsible for the university's overall plan. Like most of Platt's designs for the university, the building has a Georgian Revival plan. The gymnasium originally provided expanded facilities for the women's physical education department, which had outgrown its space in the Woman's Building. The new gymnasium's facilities included two general-purpose spaces, several specialized facilities, and a physical education laboratory. Louise Freer, the women's physical education director for whom the building was later renamed, added a lounge area in 1932 to provide a social space in the building. The building is still used as a gymnasium and hosts intramural sporting events and physical education classes.
