thursday,september 18,2003
news
the university daily kansan 5A
Fine arts education fund broadens opportunities
By Alex Hoffman
ahoffman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The School of Fine Arts at the University of Kansas is finding more ways to give back to its students.
The Fine Arts Educational Enhancement Fund has helped 41 students since former fine arts dean Toni-Marie Montgomery created it in 2001. Its function is to ease the cost of appearing in exhibitions and competitions or attending conferences, said Steve Hedden, the current dean of fine arts.
"It helps by providing learning experiences that take place someplace beyond KU,"Hedden said.
Hedden said the fund would help students get instruction at high-profile institutions such as Jacob's Pillow, a dance center in Massachusetts, or the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. These places can help to enrich the experience students have at the University, he said.
When the fund started, the major source of revenue came from the Collage Concert. The concert, which was first held in 2000, provides a diverse sample of visual and musical entertainment for the Lawrence and University communities. The fourth annual Collage Concert is at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Lied Center.
Students apply for grants within the departments of art, design and music and dance.
Because of tighter budgets, the Fine Arts Advisory Board has looked for alternative funding beyond the Collage Concert. Heden said a silent auction, at $50 a ticket, would take place before the concert. Items up for bid include donated art and voice lessons from University faculty.
The money that is collected goes directly into the fund and is then used for more educational outlets for the students. So far, about $24,000 has been raised.
Tom Brantman, a 2003 University graduate, received a thirdplace award from NASA with his aviation design team. They participated at a competition in Oshkosh, Wis., called Revolutionary Vehicles: Concepts and Systems University Student Competition 2003.
"The NASA experience was awesome," he said. "I'd never done anything like it, and it was a huge pat on the back."
The school, together with the department of aerospace engineering, contributed almost $1,000 to pay the expenses for the trip to Oshkosh.
"They did their part," Brantman said. "The fact that they can even have an educational fund is remarkable."
Brantman said he benefitted from his experience at the competition.
"We can go anywhere from what we learned, and we know we got a top-notch education," he said.
— Edited by Nikki Overfelt
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark entered a crowded and wide-open race for the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday.
Democratic race gains another
The Associated Press
"We're going to run a campaign that will move this country forward not back," Clark said, promising to "talk straight to the American people."
town people. Clark, 58, became the 10th Democrat in the race that is up for grabs, joining a contest that has been under way for months. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is the front-runner, but a solid majority of voters remain undecided and some party leaders believe the current field has underperformed.
"My name is Wes Clark. I am from Little Rock, Arkansas. And I am here to announce that I intend to seek the presidency of the United States of America," he began.
He entered with no experience in elective office and no history on domestic policy, but offered one thing Democrats crave: New hope of undercutting President Bush's wartime popularity.
Clark immediately took aim at Bush, saying his economic policies "have cost us more jobs than our economy has had the energy to create."
Nearly 3 million U.S. jobs have been lost since Bush took office in January 2001. Clark vowed to "restore the millions of jobs that have been lost."
The former Vietnam veteran and commander of all NATO forces in Europe also said that, "More than 100,000 American troops are fighting abroad and once again Americans are concerned about their civil liberties."
Clark made his announcement at a boys and girls club in the state capital, under clear blue skies and on a small stage bearing a sign of his Web site: americansfor clark.com.
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