KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011 / NEWS
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"We rely so much on the funding we receive from the KAC," she said. "It pays for a staff position to coordinate all of our youth programming. I don't want to say the position is going to be gone, but it does mean we need other funding and in this environment money is not always readily available."
Walker said the "It Starts With Art" program is also in jeopardy of being eliminated. The program gives KU Art Education students the opportunity to teach art classes to local children ages 5 to 14.
The KU students create lesson plans to help the 30 to 40 kids with art projects and lead them in discussion of the museum's art collection.
"A lot of the problem with eliminating the program is that visual art education students get their initial experiences at the program," Lorri Hanson, Overland Park visual art education masters student said. "This is going to be a problem for those visual art education students that have no experience and who can't commute. It's going to be an issue for them when they are looking for jobs."
Brownback explained in a speech Monday that the elimination of the commission would save the state $600,000 and was "a
modest step toward making our economic development structure leaner, more efficient, more accountable and more successful in growing the state"
But Hanson said that it is important for the state to keep funding the arts.
"How can you deny the fact that art is everywhere? It's in every advertisement or building or structure you see on the street. It's in the media, it's in the museum or the concert scene, the play, theaters. It's everywhere. It's inevitably a part of our lives and it helps us perceive and understand our complex and overdiversified society."
While at first the elimination of the KAC appears to be doom and gloom for state institutions and artists, there is the possibility for both entities to continue to receive funding.
Gov. Brownbackordertransfers the responsibilities of the Kansas Arts Commission to the Kansas Historical Society. The order also creates a private non-profit Kansas Arts Foundation, which will be overseen by the Kansas Historical Society. The newly created foundation would work to secure private funding for Kansas arts, rather than state funding.
office also stated the Kansas Historical Society would still be able to receive matching funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Under the current system, the National Endowment for the Arts closely matches the amount of money that the state allocates to the Kansas Art Commission. For the 2011 fiscal year the National Endowment for the Arts gave the Kansas Arts Commission $778,200.
In a press release the Governor's
The order will go in effect July 1 unless it is rejected by the state legislature within 60 days of the signing.
Edited by Danielle Packer
'Time for Marimba'
Shane Nickels performs on the marimba Wendnesday night in Swarthout Recital Hall at Murphy Hall. Nickels played Minoru Mikis "Time for Marimba." The event featured fived performers total, including Ashley Tini, Jude Mollenhauer, Doug Perry, Shane Nickels and Daniel Cunha.
Chris Bronson/KANSAN
STUDENT SENATE
Student ads will appear in LJ-World
In its first full meeting of the semester, Student Senate approved a bill to allow student organizations and groups to have the opportunity to advertise in the Lawrence Journal World under a new bill approved by Student Senate.
Student Senate met last night to discuss the bills for the first legislative cycle.
Student Body President Megan Ritter and Senate Treasurer David Cohen authored the bill to fund the advertising program with the Lawrence Journal World.
"This will help foster and improve relationships between the University and the community," Ritter said.
The Preamble to the University Student Senate Rules and Regulations states, "Student Senate shall work to strengthen ties between the University community and all the residents of Lawrence and the state of Kansas."
Ritter said this can also enable groups to get the participation and attendance they desire for their events.
Cohen said the Lawrence Journal-World contract will follow the same parameters as the advertising program with The
According to Cohen, Student Senate currently allocates $11,000 to the Kansan advertising program. The bill calls for $3,000 for the Lawrence Journal World program.
University Daily Kansan.
Angelique McNaughton
Cohen said it will be the same size ad that runs in the Kansan and will likewise include the Student Senate logo.
As soon as a contract is signed, Cohen said ads could being appearing in a couple of weeks. The ads will run every other Tuesday.
ODD NEWS
Baby left in toilet woman charged
GREENWILLE, S.C. — The South Carolina woman accused of giving birth in an arena toilet during the circus and leaving the baby told her family afterward she was bleeding heavily, but didn't know why.
As 24-year-old Jessica Blackham checked herself into a hospital six miles away, a cleaning crew found the 6-pound boy, his skin purple and breathing so labored he could barely cry. The custodians desperately followed a 911 operator's directions, one
of them even whispering "vas a estar bien, bebe" (you're going to be OK, baby) as he used his finger to sweep some mucus from the boy's mouth. The baby is in good condition at a hospital.
The details of Friday night came into focus when the cleaning crew talked to the media Wednesday about their discovery, and Blackham's mother tried to explain to a judge what had occurred.
"She had amnesia, couldn't remember what happened. She went there (to the hospital) of her own accord because she knew she was bleeding and something was wrong," Anita McAuliffe said
at her daughter's bond hearing.
Blackham is charged with one count of felony child abuse and one count of unlawful neglect toward a child. Her bond was set at $30,000, and jail records indicate she has been released. If convicted of both charges, she could face up to 30 years in prison.
Investigators estimate the baby was left behind for 90 minutes before a cleaning crew pushed open the closed stall door and found the infant, his feet in the water and head on the rim of the toilet.
Associated Press