March 30, 2007

 

 

2006 End-of-Year Report of the Lawrence Arts Commission

 

FUNCTION:

The Arts Commission is charged to forward recommendations to the City Commission regarding construction or renovation of public buildings, purchase of artwork for the City and sponsorship of local art activities. This Commission has been involved in the Percent for Art program and the Downtown Sculpture Exhibition. In addition, the Arts Commission presents a Community Enhancement and Cultural Exchange Award to recognize outstanding artistic efforts on the part of individuals and/or organizations in our community.

 

 

 

The Lawrence Arts Commission has 11 members, appointed by the Mayor, whose purpose is to promote, encourage, and coordinate artistic and cultural activities of the community through recommendations made to the City Commission.

The Arts Commission elects three officers at its January meeting each year. For FY06 the officers were Marlene Merrill, chair; and Sandra Wiechert, vice chair; the secretarial duties were rotated among the commissioners, each completing the minutes for an assigned month.

For FY07 the officers are Evie Rapport, chair; Liz Kowalchuk, vice chair; and Sandra Wiechert, secretary. The city liaison is Michael Tubbs, management analyst for the City Manager’s Office.

 

In FY06, committees of the Arts Commission, comprising two to three members, oversaw the Commission’s major programs of Arts Grants, Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit, Phoenix Awards, Web Site Development, the Arts Roundtable and 2006-07 Percent for Arts projects at Fire and Medical Stations No. 4 & No. 5.

 

Activities during 2006 included:

March 2006: An orientation session was held for new members. Orientation notebooks, provided by staff, included information on city policies, financial reports and commission programs.

 

Community Arts Grants

April 2006: The Arts Commission selected seven recipients for community arts grants, at a cost of just over $5,000. At a May 2006 City Commission meeting, Mayor Mike Amyx issued the grants. 

The 2006 awardees:

 

    Project           Organization / contact

Amount

1. Light from the Underground — Jon Allen

$500.00

2. Central Junior High After-School Program Art Club — Nikki Lovell

$1,000.00

3. “Snow Queen” — Lawrence Art Center/Deborah Bettinger

$900.00

4. “Fun With Seussical the Musical” — Lawrence Community Theater/Anne Johnson

$700.00

5. Lawrence All-City Junior High Jazz Ensemble — Patrick Kelly

$1,000.00

6.  Men’s Art Project — Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority/Kris Hermanson

$900.00

7. Art From the Eastside — East Lawrence Neighborhood Association/ KT Walsh

$310.00

Total

$5,310.00

 

Arts Roundtable

Commissioner Sandra Wiechert attends the monthly meetings of the Arts Roundtable, where representatives from several local arts organizations exchange ideas, calendars and schedules. It serves to inform the various organizations and the community about our activities.

 

Downtown Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition

May 2006: The 19th annual Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibition, a juried show of pieces that are exhibited throughout downtown Lawrence for 11 months, opened. Twenty-two artists from several states sent in slides of 44 works. The juror, Terry Oldham, director of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Mo., selected eight sculptures for the exhibition. In late May Mr. Oldham led a walking tour of the exhibition that was attended by about 200 people; a reception followed at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Expenses totaled just over $14,000, which exceeded the budgeted amount of $12,500. This amount includes honoraria of $750 for each artist and for the juror and the fees for the design and printing of both the Call for Entries and the Exhibition brochures.

Sculptures featured in the exhibit:

Artist                                                     Title

1. Jerry Cowger                                     “The Heart of the Matter”

2. Andrew Connelly                                “Indifferent Space”

3. Andrew Hadle                                    “Future Man”

4. Jerrod Nickelson                                 “Bent”

5. Stephen Janesko                                “Universe Welded”

6. Bounnak Thammavong                        “Along a Road in Laos”

7. Joseph L. Castle, III                            “The Ghost of the Forest”

8. Donald L. Dynneson                            “What a Bird”

 

Community Enhancement and Cultural Exchange Award

November 2006: The 11th annual Phoenix Awards were presented at the Lawrence Arts Center. These annual awards recognize the artists, authors, educators, musicians, designers and volunteers whose contributions enrich and improve the quality of life in Lawrence. A local artist is commissioned to design and produce the award presented to each honoree, as well as one to exhibit near the City Manager’s office in City Hall. A reception follows the ceremony at the Lawrence Arts Center.

The program:

 

 

THE LAWRENCE ARTS COMMISSION’S

11TH ANNUAL

PHOENIX AWARDS

2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006

Lawrence Arts Center

 

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Evie Rapport, chair, Phoenix Awards Committee

Marlene Merrill, chair, Lawrence Arts Commission

 

PRESENTATIONS

Educator in the Arts: Laurie McLane-Higginson

Nominator: Ann Evans

Literary Arts: Pat Kehde & Mary Lou Wright

Nominator: Julie Trowbridge
Musical Arts: Clyde Bysom

Nominator: J.D. Parr

Performing Arts: Karen Lane Christilles

Nominators: Jeannette Blackmar and Anthea Scouffas

Visual Arts: Mary Ann Jordan

Nominator: Greg Thomas

Volunteer in the Arts: Jane Malin

Nominator: Jane Pennington

Volunteer in the Arts:  Dan Sabatini

Nominator: John Olsen

Exceptional Achievement in the Arts:
Bob & Trish McWilliams

Nominator: Phil Wilke

 

Awards created by photographer Edward C. Robison III

Reception after the ceremony in the lobby

 

 

Web Site Development

A new program of the Arts Commission that is intended to strengthen its presence locally and nationally and to publicize its programs is the redesign and improvement of the Arts Commission Web site: www.lawrenceartscommission,org.

To achieve this, the Commission accepted the volunteer efforts of Andrea Herstowski Wertzberger, an assistant professor of design at the University of Kansas, who is a recognized expert in designing and implementing Web sites; she is striving to complete her work by July 2007. The Commission will continue to use the services of Trent Flory of Flory Design to maintain the Web site, as well as for other purposes such as brochure designs.

 

Other Expenses

The Commission reserves $1,000 to $1,500 for administrative needs and purposes. These funds cover expenses associated with postage, printing, copying, miscellaneous advertising, receptions and orientation materials necessary for our programs.

 

Please know that the Lawrence Arts Commission is most appreciative of the funding for its programs to encourage and enrich the arts in Lawrence. We know these programs are appreciated and applauded by the community—artists, educators, citizens—and we are committed to the strong continuation of them.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Evie Rapport

2007 Chair, Lawrence Arts Commission