Volume 125 Issue 107
Thursday, April 18, 2013
kansan.com
place to
g session
men's
followed
will be
races on
men's and
delay will
teams in
E9
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
A mother and her son enter the Lawrence Arts Center on New Hampshire Street in downtown Lawrence. Lawrence is a finalist to receive a grant between $150,000 and $500,000 to become an Art District.
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
The gallery at the Art and Design building on campus displays work by the school's illustration majors. Lawrence is a finalist to receive a large grant to become an Art District.
CREATIVE COMMUNITY
EMILY DONOVAN edonovan@kansan.com
Considering the popularity of Final Fridays, locals can easily recognize the community support for the arts in Lawrence. The Lawrence Arts Center just has to prove it to ArtPlace, a collaboration of national and regional foundations and banks, to win a creative placemaking grant.
"ArtPlace looks for ways they can help communities make the most of this for the purpose of increasing cultural tourism, increasing support for artists and including neighborhoods," said Susan Tate, the Executive Director of Lawrence Arts Center.
As Lawrence is home to an array of museums that educate children, like the Lawrence Arts Center and the Warehouse block, the city's flourishing arts scene is a well-supported effort. Having coordinated with local busi-
neses, non-profit organizations and Lawrence citizens for the past year, Tate's work to make Lawrence a cultural destination is paying off.
In February, the city commissioners agreed to formally designate.78 square miles of Lawrence as a cultural district. It is bounded by the Kansas River, 15th Street, Vermont and the Burroughs Creek Trail. This alone, Tate said, is significant — especially when applications to grants like Art-Place's asks how a planned project fits into the larger community.
"This matters to grantmakers," Tate said. "When an artist or an art agency applies for a grant, they're interested in knowing that they're supporting something that is bigger than just the one agency"
With both undergraduate and graduate students interning at local, visual arts galleries, teaching at local museums and performing
and exhibiting downtown, the University is able to take advantage of the cultural opportunities offered throughout the city.
"The designation of Lawrence as a cultural district will only further those opportunities," said Elizabeth Kowalchuk, Associate Dean of the School of the Arts at the University.
Efforts like the Lawrence Arts Center's application for the Art-Place grant further strengthens and binds together artists. It also creates even more opportunities for University students to hone their craft in the community, Kowalchuk said.
"Lawrence is a very art-oriented community," Kowalchuk said. "It's one of a handful of similar communities across the country that have a major research institution and are very strong in the arts."
Now, Lawrence is one of 105 national finalists for the Art-
Place grant, which has awarded around 40 finalists grants between $150,000 and $500,000 in years past.
With funding from ArtPlace, the Lawrence Arts Center proposal would commission Sans façon, a duo of French architect Charles Blanc and British sculptor Tristan Surtees, for a public art project. When Blanc and Surtees take an interest in a city, Tate said, they learn about the community and design their projects to highlight its values.
"They have experience bringing different parts of the community together to do something that entities cannot do on their own." Tate said. "They put art at the forefront of city planning and cultural development."
ArtPlace is expected to notify grant winners in May.
— Edited by Hayley Jozwiak
Check out a sample of KU student artwork
Page 9A
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
A PREVIEW
Index CLASSIFIEDS 2B CRYPTOQUOPS 5A SPORTS 1B CROSSWORD 5A OPINION 4A DUDOKU 5A
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2013 The University Kansan
Don't forget
Today's Weather
Support your classmates and world-class athletes in the Kansas Relays at Memorial Stadium all weekend.