Council secures Mabee grant

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By Joey Berlin

Friday, March 28, 2008

New arts center

now $400,000 away

The Emporia Arts Council secured a key grant from the Mabee Foundation Thursday afternoon, putting it nearly on the doorstep of securing ample funding for a new arts center on Commercial Street.

The council raised the appropriate funds for the $330,000 challenge grant, Arts Council Director Melissa Windsor said Friday, which leaves the center just $400,000 away from the $2.6 million needed to build a bigger center just north of the Granada Theatre.

The deadline for meeting the Mabee grant funding requirement was today. On Tuesday, the council still needed to raise $27,000.

“It was definitely a very big effort, and lots of support from the community, and hard work, and dedication,” Windsor said. “But the most exciting thing was just everybody pulling together, including all the volunteers as well as ... the community, and recognizing that this is a significant opportunity for all of us.”

The arts council had one year to raise $2.2 million, including the $330,000, to obtain the grant from the Tulsa, Okla.-based Mabee Foundation. Windsor said the council’s list of donors “crosses all lines,” including more than 100 businesses, foundations and individuals. She said she wanted to thank all the donors for their support.

“They’re making a difference and an impact in the lives of our children and families for the future of our community,” she said.

The Arts Council hopes to wrap up its fundraising efforts by the end of July and get groundbreaking on the new center going sometime in the fall.

“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and (it’s) certainly not too late to make a pledge or a gift to the campaign,” she said. “Obviously, this is gonna be a lot of hard work in the next few months, and really (we) know that we have a lot of support in our community, but also we continue to request additional assistance.”