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ARTS
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 114
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Professor John Hachmeister supervises his students in the KU Ministry of Sculpture as they pour molten iron into tile molds. Last Halloween, the Ministry received $500 from the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission to sponsor the Iron Pour project. The commission will be awarding $10,000 to local arts organizations this year, thanks to money coming in from Lawrence's alcohol tax.
Students can apply for grant
City has extra $10,000 available
BY ALEESE KOPF
akopf@kansan.com
This year the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission will be awarding an extra $10,000 in grants for community art organizations.
But this year, even with a substantial increase in available money, student art organizations do not seem to be taking advantage of the opportunity.
Groups can apply from now until Monday, March 29 to receive up to $1,000 in grant money.
Patrick Suzeau, professor of dance in the School of Arts, said he thought any grant supporting the arts is important, but said he wished it was better advertised.
David Platter, graduate student in sculpture from Kansas City, Kan., and member of the Ministry, said last year the group learned of the $500 grant through word of mouth.
"In sculpture we encourage students to apply for grants early on."
John Hachmeister, associate professor of visual art and advisor for the Ministry, said the lack of student applications is unfortunate because important skills develop from grant writing.
"I don't know that our students know about it," Suzeau said.
possible by allocated funds from last year, which the arts commission shifted around because of potential budget cuts.
On Halloween last year, the Ministry used its $500 grant to sponsor an Iron Pour project that allowed the community to try its hand at iron casting. Community members took part in designing and helping create iron tiles.
JOHN HACHMEISTER associate professor of visual arts
"In sculpture we encourage students to look for grants early on," Hachmeister said. "It's part of the preparation for what's going to happen when they graduate if they want to be successful artists."
SUSTAINABILITY
The extra $10,000 in grant money for this year was made
Last year, one of the governor's recommended budgets proposed that the state collect the local share of the alcohol tax.
The commission usually sets aside $7,000 in grant money for various campus and community art organizations with innovative proposals, unless carryover money is available from the previous year. The Ministry of Sculpture, a KU organization, was one of these groups.
The arts commission, dependent on these funds, decided to shift the money from its outdoor sculpture project to the grant program instead because the grant program directly benefited Lawrence citizens, said Diane
Stoddard assistant city manager and city liaison of the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission. But, because the city was awarded the tax funds, the commission had excess
grant money.
In addition to the arts commission, the state liquor tax helps fund the Lawrence Arts Center, alcohol and prevention programs and general funding for the city. The returns from the alcohol tax have steadily increased since 2004, from $1.6 million to $1.85 million in 2009. The arts commission's budget has gone up, as well, from $20,300 in 2004 to $25,500 for this year.
"We haven't heard anything about any change in the state's funding thus far, but the legislative session isn't over," Stoddard said. "It's always a possibility until the state finishes their deliberations, which is late April early May."
Stoddard said funding looked good for next year, but that nothing was certain.
Jane Pennington, commission member on the LCAC and director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said 18 to 20 groups applied last year, but she did not yet have a count on the number of applications for this year.
Edited by Anna Archibald
Notifications about award recipients will go out in April. More information can be found at www.lawrencecartscommission.org/grants/opportunities.html.
Use Your Pants encourages people to use their pants to dry their hands instead of paper towels or air dryers. The campaign was created by Chris Scafe, owner of Sunflower Recycling in Lawrence. More than 12,000 stickers have been posted in bathrooms across the country. Stickers have posted on campus, in Blake Hall, and at local businesses such as Juice Stop, 4821 W. Sixth St.
Your pants: the eco-friendly alternative to paper towels
BY BRENNA LONG blong@kansan.com
Chris Scafe stood in a public restroom facing a dilemma. After washing his hands, Scafe, owner of Sunflower Recycling in Lawrence, debated which option would help the environment more: paper or air. Stuck between the two, Scafe used a third option: his pants.
"I had been wrestling with the idea of which was better for a while, that is when I just decided to wipe
my hands on my pants," Scafe said,
"Something as small as this saves
100 percent of a paper towel or the
energy used to air dry."
This moment of inspiration in the restroom sparked Scafe's Use Your Pants campaign.
$100 and 12,000 stickers later. Scafe's green-and-white stickers can be on towel dispensers and air dryers from a men's restroom in Blake Hall to Florida and Idaho: "Save a tree, wipe your hands on your pants, and conserve energy."
In addition to conserving energy and natural resources, using pants instead of towels can have an economic benefit as well.
In 2009, the University spent $51,000 to supply the buildings on campus with 3,368 cases of multi-fold, roll and single fold paper towels, said Vic Kane, assistant director of custodial services.
The Department of Student Housing has spent $19,600 supplying more than 5,000 residents and guests with 392 cases of paper
towels since the school year began in August, said Diana Robertson, director of Student Housing.
Those two amounts combined equal about 109 million feet or 20,770 miles of paper towels about two-thirds of a mile per person on campus. The total is almost long enough to stretch around the earth.
See the KUJH-TV story at kansan.com/videos
However, using pants as towels raises a couple of concerns among restroom patrons and health providers alike.
TECHNOLOGY
SEE PANTS ON PAGE 3A
Lawrence
Search: nation's fastest internet
BY ALEESE KOPF akopf@kansan.com
Google maps, Google phone, Google mail, Google Earth and now Google Fiber. To add to its already long list of technology endeavors, Google will launch an experiment to create a faster, more accessible Internet for everyone.
Last week, the Lawrence City Commission joined the competition by authorizing staff to
From now until March 26, cities and communities will compete for the chance to be selected as a trial location for Google Fiber for Communities, a new ultra-high speed broadband network.
complete the nomination paper-work.
The commissioners did not go as far as Topeka and rename Lawrence "Google Kansas" for the month of March, but they are encouraging residents to promote the city. A request from the commission won't be enough to win the bid, so the city created an informational website at www.lawrenceeks.org/googlefiber, where residents can find the links for the Fiber application.
WHAT IS GOOGLE FIBER?
Google Fiber will provide residents with access to Internet speeds over 1 gigabit per second,
which is 20 times faster than local internet speeds and 100 times faster than national average broadband speeds. The high-speed will create new possibilities for watching video, storing data and collaborating online, Google said in its online information release.
The price has not yet been determined, but Google said that prices would be competitive.
COMMUNITY RESPONSE Google Fiber has already
SEE GOOGLE ON PAGE 3A
Will we get lucky?
Search
Lawrence internet providers
Results 1-3
Watch a video about the city's Google campaign at kansan.com/videos
Although Google has not determined its prices for Google Fiber, an online information release said the prices would be competitive. Here's how the monthly rates for Lawrence's main internet providers compare.
index
Sunflower Broadband
$19.95 to $59.95 per month
Lawrence Freenet
$0 to $44.98 per month
AT&T
$19.95 to $65 per month
Us...3B Opinion...5A
Crossword...4A Sports...1B
Horoscopes...4A Sudoku...4A
Students face increased risk of H1N1 over break
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Student Health Services still offer free flu vaccines. HEALTH | 3A
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