June 26, 2006

To: Lawrence City Commission

From: The Lawrence Art Guild Association

Subject: Proposal for Shared Use of Carnegie Building

The Lawrence Art Guild has been an established arts organization in Lawrence for forty-five years; sponsoring Holiday Art Fair, Art in the Park, All Members Shows for our members, as well as an online gallery for our members to feature their artwork. During the year we provide guest speakers, free to the public, on topics relating to art, the business of art, tax preparation for art professionals, approaching galleries, marketing artwork, etc.

One of the missions of the Art Guild is to promote area artists, making local art visible to the public. As one of the largest arts organizations in Kansas, with over 250 members, it has been our hope to find a permanent home for the Lawrence Art Guild. It is our desire to serve under-represented constituents.

For the next year we have decided to approach the following groups in an effort to assist other groups and young artists. I have contacted Lynne Green of Van Go to offer them a permanent spot at Art in the Park each year to allow them to sell the artwork of their students, and promote their own work with youth. In addition, we are wanting to start an internship program for KU students (we haven’t contacted anyone with this yet) to learn fundamentals of a non-profit arts organization, with hands on design of brochures, flyers, media releases, etc.

To fulfill our goals we need an office rather than a PO Box in Lawrence. So we are asking for the following:

1) A small office and storage closet in the Carnegie Building

2) Four Art Guild Shows per year, which would include Holiday Art Fair

3) Display space in the Gallery area that would be rotational for our Guild members

In return the Guild would be willing to offer the following:

1) Volunteer clerking time (approximately 10 hours per week) to assist in answering phones or whatever the city might need

2) Staffing all receptions related to our shows

3) Volunteers to teach public art classes or mini-workshops

4) Periodic public lectures

We feel that as the largest organization for artists in this area, it would be a wonderful opportunity for the City of Lawrence and the Lawrence Art Guild to work together for the benefit of the more than 1,000 professional artists in Lawrence and the surrounding area. Our officers would appreciate being put on one of your City Commission meetings during July to discuss the above proposal as well as many of the other ideas we have for promoting the arts in the City of Lawrence.

Linda D. Baranski, President

Marion Dyer, Vice-President

Carla Tilghman, Secretary

Pam Rees, Treasurer