HomeMy WebLinkAboutGurnsey Foundation-Grant Application-08.27.2007 a441r41.11,5 D 7-0-7
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GRANT APPLICATION OVERVIEW
DATE: August 15, 2007
ORGANIZATION: Waterloo Center for the Arts
MAILING ADDRESS: 225 Commercial Street; Waterloo, IA 50701
CONTACT PERSON: Shannon Farlow, Development/Marketing Director
TELEPHONE: 319-291-4490, ext. 3445
PURPOSE STATEMENT The Waterloo Center for the Arts' purpose is to initiate and further
OF THE ORGANIZATION awareness, appreciation and support of the arts by a diverse audience.
PURPOSE OF This request is for The Guernsey Foundation to support the Phelps
REQUESTED FUNDS Youth Pavilion's first changing exhibit in its new Junior Gallery
Ill: "Gerberich's Gadgetry: Art that Moves."
TOTAL PROJECTED COST $40,000
AMOUNT REQUESTED $10,000
DATE NEEDED January 15, 2008
TYPE OF REQUEST
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT X NEW PROGRAM
CURRENT PROGRAM OTHER
PLEASE ATTACH:
X IRS Letter of Tax Exemption 501(c)(3)
X Annual Federal 990 Form
X Current Audited Financial Statement
X Line-item Budget for the Proposed Project
X Representative List of Contributors who have, or are currently supporting your agency
X Cover letter signed by Executive Director or Board Chair
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GRANT APPLICATION
1. What is the need / problem being addressed?
The need for expanded educational services for the schools, for community youth, and for the general public is
immense; and the Phelps Youth Pavilion has been created to address these needs and to help close the gap by
offering a drop-in, hands-on educational place for kids and their families, and to serve as a great after-school
program for youth, especially the at-risk and underserved populations. Serving these populations can instill
self-esteem and confidence and open doors of imagination and discovery, and will offer ideas for kids to pursue
a creative outlet for their youthful energy.
This exhibit will directly address the need for hands-on educational activities and youth support, offering a
highly engaging interactive environment designed to let visitors explore themes and basic elements of the
artist's creative process. Additionally, this project will be an economic and tourism engine for the Cedar
Valley, drawing visitors from neighboring cities and states to see the uniqueness that the"Gerberich Gadgetry:
Art that Moves" exhibit will bring. Exhibits like this will enhance the quality of life for the Cedar Valley
community and put us on the map for the notable, innovative opportunities we provide. Visitors' minds will be
challenged and their imaginations will be captivated.
2. Describe the proposed project or need for funding.
In the Phelps Youth Pavilion, Junior Gallery III will be a changing exhibit area, with new and exciting exhibits
installed on a rotating basis. It will offer visitors a unique opportunity to view and interact with different forms
of art each time they come to the Youth Pavilion.
For the gallery's first exhibit change, to take place in June 2008, the Waterloo Center for the Arts plans to bring
an exhibit with nationwide distinction, titled "Gerberich's Gadgetry: Art That Moves." Steve Gerberich, a
University of Northern Iowa graduate who now lives and works in New York City, developed this unique
exhibit of interactive, mechanical art. He grabs motions, notions and thingamabobs and re-imagines them into
fantastical sculptures. You push a button or spin a crank and watch these marvels come alive. His exhibit
features art that moves — from a lawnmower hood that becomes a sea creature, complete with light bulbs as
eyes, to a teapot which becomes the head of a saxophonist, with eyes made from nuts and bolts and ears from
faucet handles —just push a button or crank a wheel and watch them come to live. Gerberich takes everyday
items and turns them into wonderfully bizarre mechanical creations.
Due to its unique and entertaining nature, this exhibit will attract visitors from throughout the Cedar Valley
community and beyond, from neighboring cities and states, to see this fanciful display of interactive,
mechanical art. This exhibit has broken attendance records at the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts and at
the Stamford Museum in Connecticut. Steve Gerberich and his work have been featured in the New York
Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, as well as on NBC's "The Today Show," the
NBC Nightly News and CBS "Sunday Morning." Surveying overlooked common objects is part of the
process and the inspiration for pieces of artwork found in Gerberich's "Art that Moves" exhibit. And we want
to share the success of a native Iowan and inspire others to think creatively and critically about art and its
endless boundaries.
3. Who will benefit from these efforts? How?
In addition to directly serving the residents of the Cedar Valley by providing them with a unique, fun and
educational cultural experience, the community will also benefit from this project as this exhibit will have a
significant economic impact, attracting visitors from beyond the Cedar Valley. This exhibit will appeal to
visitors ages two to ninety-two, as they will each discover a world of wonder simply by turning a crank or
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shifting a pulley. Because this exhibit will be featured here for 6 months, it will see summer vacation visitors,
school group tours and field trips, day-trippers, and the general Cedar Valley community. The creativity and
critical thinking strategies that visitors will gain from this exhibit will be incredible.
Visitors will also benefit from being actively engaged in the exhibit because they are the ones to bring it to life
by pulling a lever to see a wooden cow with hooves clad in high-top sneakers being milked endlessly by an
over-enterprising farmer or riding a bike to activate the flying geese with suitcase wings. Just thinking about
how Gerberich can take everyday objects and turn them into whimsical creatures will challenge every visitor's
perception of creativity and art.
4. List the specific program goals and objectives.
The objective of bringing the Gerberich's Gadgetry exhibit to the Waterloo Center for the Arts is to provide
youth and adults the opportunity to see art in a new way. Through the work of a local UNI graduate, and
nationally renowned artist, visitors will learn to appreciate their culture and realize their own potential. This
exhibit exposes visitors to the unique form and inter-workings of assemblage art; they will learn lessons about
recycling and reusing everyday objects in a creative context. The exhibit links with curriculum studies as it
shows how artistic creativity can emerge from the scientific and physic-based principles of levers and pulleys.
Visitors will also learn about cause-effect relationships and use critical thinking strategies — all in a fun,
magical, interactive experience!
5. Will volunteers be utilized in accomplishing your objectives? If so,how?
Volunteers are at the heart of our organization and will be integral to ensuring this project is carried out to its
full capabilities. Volunteers provide assistance in many areas including docents (tour guides), visitor services
representatives, and education assistants. Volunteers will also be on hand whenever the Center is open so they
can assist with hands-on parts of the exhibit. The Junior Docent Program will also provide secondary school
students with volunteer opportunities. The Friends of the Arts Center is a nonprofit group of dedicated
community supporters who also further the mission of the Center, and continually donate their time at the
Center's exhibit-related events and programs. We also anticipate developing a volunteer apprentice program
for students to work with Steve Gerberich in installing and implementing this exhibit to give them hands-on
experience in that arena. Annually, community volunteers donate over four thousand hours in assisting with the
planning and implementation of the exhibitions at the Center.
6. How will you evaluate the effectiveness/value of the activity or need that was met? What are
your expected outcomes?
We continually evaluate our programs and exhibits to ensure the visitors and community are getting a rich
experience. Our attendance numbers will help us to assess the impact of the exhibit and our volunteers will do
informal surveys of our visitors and gather testimonials while they experiencing the exhibit. Evaluating our
exhibit budget will also be great tool for tracking the overall success of the project. Additionally, school group
tours will receive pre and post information about the exhibit before they attend, as well as formal tour
evaluation forms, so we can utilize the information gathered from that practice to see how and what they've
learned.
We fully anticipate that all visitors—young and young at heart—will be actively engaged in this magical exhibit
and will develop critical thinking strategies and experience creativity in ways they hadn't thought of before.
Through this exhibit, we want to challenge the every-day ways of thinking, pushing visitors to consider how
objects can come alive and work in an extraordinary way.
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7. What is the revenue plan for the total project budget? What, if any, other funding is
pending or committed? What are your plans for ongoing sources of support?
The cost to bring the "Gerberich's Gadgetry: Art that Moves" exhibit to the Youth Pavilion is approximately
$40,000, making it crucial that this be a collaborative effort between the Guernsey Foundation and several
community partners. We are approaching the Iowa Arts Council, Friends of the Arts Center, and our general
operating budget to contribute to the financial commitment of this project. Additionally, we anticipate
requesting in-kind donations from media, travel/lodging businesses, and Blue Line Moving and Storage for
shipping the exhibition from New York to Iowa. Because this project is for a set timeframe (6 months of
exhibition) there will not be any need for ongoing sources of support once we have secured the project funds of
approximately $40,000.
8. Who will be responsible for the management of this grant? What are his/her qualifications?
Shannon Farlow, Development/Marketing Director, and Kent Shankle, Curator, will be responsible for
managing the grant's day-to-day expenses. As a governing power, Cammie Scully, Executive Director, and
Paulette Hawkenson, Finance Manager, oversee all financial decisions of the Waterloo Center for the Arts and
the Phelps Youth Pavilion. Additionally,the Center is governed by the Waterloo Cultural and Arts Commission
and as a city department, and budgets are audited annually.
Additional Information
o Steve Gerberich's Website: http://wwwsteveaerberich.com/travelina.html.
o Enclosed CD: Interview with Steve Gerberich and his moving art.
o Enclosed mailer: "Springs, Sprockets &Pulleys: The Mechanical Sculptures of Steve Gerberich."
o Enclosed article in the University of Northern Iowa Today Alumni Magazine.
o Enclosed articles from The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Fresno Bee, The Advocate &
Greenwich Time, The Fairfield County Times Monthly, The Berkshire Eagle Weekend, and Sculpture
Magazine.
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PROJECT BUDGET
Gerberich' s Gadgetry: Art that Moves
Throughout the year, children and their families venture into the community for a variety of cultural,
recreational and educational experiences, and the new Phelps Youth Pavilion will be top on their list to
visit. To help us bring a fun, unique exhibit to the Cedar Valley and entire Eastern Iowa community, we
are asking consideration of The Max and Helen Guernsey Charitable Foundation to assist in bringing the
nationally recognized exhibit "Gerberich's Gadgetry: Art that Moves" to the Phelps Youth Pavilion's
Junior Gallery III for six months, starting in June 2008. Below outlines the direct costs associated with
this project.
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Expense %of budget
Exhibition Rental $25,000 67.57%
Includes the six-month rental fee for the exhibit.
Education and Programming $3,000 8.11%
Includes the development, supplies, and training to implement hands-on
activities, workshops,programs, lectures, speakers'honoraria, etc. that
will correlate with the Gerberich Gadgetry exhibit.
Exhibition Shipping $5,000 5.41%
Includes the estimated cost of shipping the exhibit from New York to
Waterloo, Iowa.
Exhibition Installation and Travel $3,000 8.11%
Includes trawl and lodging expenses for Steve Gerberich to bring his
exhibit to life at the Youth Pavilion during a two-week installation
period.
Promotion of the Exhibit $4,000 10.81%
Includes the cost of billboards, media placement, mailings and flyers to
promote this nationally recognized exhibit throughout Eastern Iowa.
Total Project Budget: $40,000 100%
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*This request does not include operational expenses such as staff time/salaries, insurance, security, or utilities.
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