ArtsBuild receives grant from Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin Inc:
PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Office of Continuing Education announced that it has received a grant from the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin Inc. to support the ArtsBuild program and the "ArtsBuild Grows Arts Communities in Southwest Wisconsin" project. "Culture, and its expression through art and its many forms, is a wonderful tool to build a community," said Conley.
http://www.uwplatt.edu/news/2007/01/artsbuild-receives-grant-from-community.html
Donations and grant money permit award-winning ArtsBuild program to continue
"In recognition of the community arts development that ArtsBuild has accomplished over the past three years in southwestern Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Arts Board granted $4,000 to ArtsBuild to continue that work through fiscal year 2007. Funding for this Wisconsin Arts Board grant is made possible through the National Endowment for the Arts' "Challenge America" program."
Chancellor David Markee noted,
"ArtsBuild is an excellent example of UWP's outreach to create meaningful partnerships that bring community and economic development to Southwest Wisconsin. The achievements of ArtsBuild have been recognized through numerous awards. Its overwhelming success is evident in the replications that are occurring in other regions of Wisconsin. UWP is proud to support this innovative endeavor designed to assist and support Wisconsin's creative community."
http://www.uwplatt.edu/news/2006/09/donations-and-grant-money-permit-award.html
ArtsBuild continues with SmART Communities project
In April, 2005, Arts Build was awarded additional funding from the UW-Extension Outreach and E-Learning Continuing EDvantage grant program, for the next stage of the project: Arts Build SmART Communities. This is the third grant award Continuing Education has received from UW-Extension, for its arts-related economic development initiative.
Throughout the Fall of 2005, the SmART Communities project - an extension of ArtsBuild - began working with local community leaders to promote the arts as a valuable economic asset. The project successfully formed a 17 member ArtsBuild Regional Committee and five area task forces with 40 additional individuals working to plan, promote and facilitate SmART Community sessions throughout the region. Over 150 people attended the four SmART Community sessions held during the Spring of 2006, including artists, civic leaders, business owners and area youth.
Through brainstorming sessions, participants discussed the role of the arts, historic preservation and cultural activities on community and economic development - identifying:
- existing arts assets & resources
- partnerships & collaborations that could be formed & expanded
- resources needed to support future activities
The results were distributed to regional organizations for use in their economic development planning:
PROGRAM IMPACT REPORT Arts Build SmART Communities
Arts Build's Beginnings:
In March 2004, UW-Platteville's Office of Continuing Education's Arts Build project focused efforts on assisting arts businesses and entrepreneurs because they represented a major and growing facet of the economic mosaic of southwest Wisconsin. In the first phase, Arts Build sponsored visits to 8 local communities (in 7 counties - Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland, Sauk), with over 200 artists, artisans and crafts people attending 1½ hour information sessions.
The second phase of the project followed up on survey responses from participants - offering workshops, classes, information sessions, topical conversations, mentoring and networking opportunities. We had over 330 registrations, for 26 classes, as well as 19 participants paired with 11 mentors in a pilot mentoring pilot project.
Connecting artists with each other and with local, regional and statewide arts, business & economic development resources has been strengthened with the publication of the first-ever, printed directory of artists in Southwest Wisconsin. This directory was a direct result of funding from the Trelay Company of Livingston, WI as they celebrated the 100th Anniversary of their seed company and their commitment to rural arts. The Directory, which includes 175 area artists, has already been identified as a valuable resource - not only for the artists, but also for community businesses, Chambers of Commerce, media, arts and tourism organizations. A searchable version is available on the ARtsBUild website.