What's New On WAC Web?

The Wyoming Arts Council is making a gallant attempt to keep updated its web site. It's always a work in progress -- as anyone knows who has an active site.

There are some new features on http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org. The Cybergrants system allows you to apply for organizational grants and Individual Artist Professional Development grants. Just go to the home page and click on the "Grants/Applications" link. WAC staffers continue to find some quirky aspects to Cybergrants, especially as we guide applicants through the process.

"Arts Organizations" is an especially useful link if you're looking for arts councils, presenters, libraries, museums and other organizations. If your org is not up there, send us a link and we'll add it to the list. Find the link on the list in the middle of the home page. We plan to add a page for the state's individual artists.

As I noted in an earlier post this week, a printable artist roster application is on the site. Just follow the link in the "News" section.

Labels: grants, libraries, Wyoming Arts Council

- posted by Michael Shay @ 8:47 AM 0 comments

 
"Big Read" Reads Willa; Looks for Local Partners

From the Wyoming State Library’s Outrider newsletter: In response to a decline in literary reading, the National Endowment for the Arts has established its Big Read grant program, designed as a community-wide reading and discussion of a single classic novel. The Wyoming Center for the Book in Cheyenne is putting together a grant proposal in April 2007 for a Big Read of Willa Cather's My Antonia to kick off at September's Wyoming Book Festival. The Center is seeking local partners interested in participating. If the application is successful, the Center will provide grant administration, promotion, programming support and materials, and free or reduced-price copies of the book. Local partners are asked to hold book discussions, promote the Big Read locally, report back to the Center on local activities, provide non-federal cash and/or in-kind match, and provide a letter of support stating that commitment. FMI: Susan Vittitow, WCFB coordinator, 307-777-5915.

Labels: book discussion, libraries, Wyoming Center for the Book

- posted by Michael Shay @ 8:27 AM 0 comments

 
Fremont Libraries Get LIFT

I’m not sure how many Carnegie libraries remain in the state. I know of two: Lusk and Lander. I know that Cheyenne demolished its Carnegie Library way back when. Other Wyoming towns did too.

I’ve been to the Niobrara County Library in Lusk several times. It’s a nice-looking old building with a small space for readings and other events. I once attended a Tumblewords event here with roster artist John Nesbitt. We’ve sponsored other events there, some in tandem with writing workshops at the State Women’s Prison.

Before last week, I hadn’t been in the Fremont County Public Library in Lander. Not even once. I can’t say why. I usually make it a point to drop into every library I pass by. The Lander Library is located a few blocks off the main drag, so maybe it slipped my mind when I was in town.

The library has an addition built in 1975. Soon, courtesy of the county’s ongoing Library Improvements for Tomorrow (LIFT) project, it will get another one. When I was there Jan. 10, workers were trimming trees and drilling test holes in advance of construction of the 12,000-square-foot addition. The old house next door is coming down, as well as some of the trees. The century-old Carnegie Building will be improved. Contractors will stabilize and waterproof the walls, re-point the stonework, and upgrade the plumbing and electrical wiring.

Library Manager Barbara Oakleaf is justifiably proud of the library – past, present, and future versions. She showed me around the Carnegie Room. Lots of groups hold their meetings in the spacious room with its big fireplace and Bierstadt painting of the Wind River Range. Preservation isn’t always easy. Barbara said that the painting once was carelessly stored away and had a hole poked in it. Now restored and insured, it highlights the historic aura of the room.

That evening, I attended the open house for another restored Lander building. The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) recently completed the renovation of the Noble Hotel. I wandered around the old brick building and talked to a woman who once worked in the hotel’s restaurant. NOLS alumni circulated through the building, revisiting a past when they were young and rugged and the lodging was a lot more rustic.

Lander doesn't save all of its old buildings. A coterie of citizens wanted to save the old high school for a performing arts center. But it still went the way of the wrecking ball when the new high school was built.

Labels: libraries

- posted by Michael Shay @ 2:52 PM 0 comments

 
ROUNDING UP WRITERS IN WYO: The fall 2006 Wyoming Library Roundup is filled with stories on books and authors, thus its title: “Books & Authors.” It includes a feature story on the 2007 Wyoming Book Festival in Cheyenne which also celebrates the recently-completed Equality State Book Festival in Casper. This reflects the fact, voiced by my boss Milward Simpson, director of Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, that “Wyoming is becoming known nationally and internationally as a ‘hotbed’ of great writers.” Also in the issue is the annual “Twelve Wyoming Books for Christmas” and profiles of authors Mary Gillgannon, Kevin Holdsworth, Eugene Gagliano, Margaret Coel, and the members of Bear Lodge Writers in Sundance (see their links on wyolitmail sidebar). Kudos to editor/designer Tina Lackey and assistant editor/writer Susan Vittitow for a stimulating and good-looking publication.

Labels: bookfests, libraries, writers

- posted by Michael Shay @ 10:49 AM 0 comments