Page 3 of 3
The Arts Center also reached out to a new audience this year with its "Tattoo Witness" exhibition, which brought in more inked skin that the center's ever seen. It's not known that new memberships were generated by the "Tattoo Witness" show, but the ticketed opening night lecture had a standing-room-only crowd of decorated Millennials and a local tattoo artist signed up for a class in the Museum School. Too, exposing more people to art in Little Rock has its own rewards.
The annual gala dinner has been around as long as fund-raising, right? But Heifer International, which got started with a shipment of 14 heifers from Mobile, Ala., to Puerto Rico in 1944 and now works to help people become self-sufficient in more than 125 countries across the globe, threw its first annual ticketed bash this year. The "Beyond Hunger" gala was no small affair, but a $15,000-a-table event in Hollywood hosted by Jane Fonda, Diane Lane, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Nina Jacobsen and Tracy Ullman and attended by llamas as well as the loaded.
Heifer is also reaching out in the cyber world, said Cathy Sanders, vice president of philanthropy, finding a way to reach young adults via so-called "mommy blogs" whose writers — like thirdeyemom — spread the word about Heifer's mission and whose audiences are "highly educated ... and socially conscious." Heifer's World Ark magazine has been available in an iPad version since October and its online catalog is available at the Coffee Table shopping site, which also has an iPad app. Tweeting and Facebook are old hat by now. Founder Dan West would be astonished.
At a higher level, Heifer partners with multinational corporations like Dannon, which supports Heifer's projects to help farmers get milk to market, and is still working to get a Ben and Jerry's ice cream brand. But the many small gifts, the $120 that folks give to Heifer to buy cows and pigs and chickens and bees and sheep and clean water and geese and stoves — you name it — in honor of friends and family at Christmas are important. This year, Heifer has added "Heifer at Hanukkah," appealing to the Jewish tradition of philanthropy — tzedakah. You can see Ed Asner and Mark Feuerstein dressed in a cow suit doing a funny YouTube routine for Heifer at heifer.org/heifer-at-hanukkah.
Raising money the rest of the year is "where we have to do a better job," Sanders said. Key is getting people to understand the "richness of our mission," how labor intensive Heifer's work is and "that it works."
"And it's more than a cow. It's the cow, but also the change that goes on inside someone ... . I've seen it, man. You understand it when you see it."
The younger staff members of the Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation, which is in the public phase of a $160 million capital campaign, are working on web-based initiatives to raise money from Millennials, senior vice president Fred Scarborough said. "They understand that culture," Scarborough said. At 48, Scarborough is barely a boomer, but he says he's "more Motown" than Facebook. "We are having to be students. It's an entire language and entire culture ... [we're learning] how someone who gives online likes to be engaged." He said the hospital, with the help of the Committee for the Future, reaches hundreds of young adults with its "Breakfast with Santa" event, which brings hundreds of families and healthy children to the hospital and financial gifts as well.
Speaking of...
-
Tabriz haul: $550,000
May 15, 2013The biennial Tabriz auction of the Arkansas Arts Center will net at least $550,000 for the Arts Center's coffers, which will wipe out the current year's budget deficit of $216,280. /more/
-
Takei came, Purple Moon coming to Arts Center
April 18, 2013Performance to interpret Wendy Maruyama installation. /more/
-
Coming Friday: Ron Meyers
March 21, 2013With his "Potter's Menagerie." /more/
-
Opening today: "52nd Young Arkansas Artists"
March 15, 2013The annual exhibition of work by students all over Arkansas in grades K-12 opens today at the Arkansas Arts Center. /more/
- More »
Comments (1)
Showing 1-1 of 1
More by Leslie Newell Peacock
-
Arkansas doctors explain importance of expanding insurance coverage
Arkansas is an unhealthy state, with mortality rates higher across the board than the nation's.
- Mar 7, 2013
-
Little Rock School Board names Dexter Suggs new superintendent
Tonight, the LRSD Board voted 6-1 to hire Dr. Dexter Suggs Sr., currently chief of staff for Indianapolis public schools, as its next superintendent.
- Mar 5, 2013
- More »
Latest in Cover Stories
-
A guide to the 2013 Little Rock Film Festival
With film picks, a survey of the Arkansas program, a complete schedule and more.
- May 16, 2013
-
A downtown dream realized for Little Rock Film Festival
Screens straddle the river.
- May 16, 2013
-
Ten to watch at the Little Rock Film Fest
Films not to miss.
- May 16, 2013
- More »
Event Calendar
-
Re: It was a good week for celebrity visits to Little Rock
Mark Pryor's standing well with both the NRA and the IRS. After all, he got…
- on May 18, 2013
-
Re: Locally made at the Little Rock Film Fest
"Mary" by Zach & Caleb Turner.
- on May 17, 2013
-
Re: Jim Something
Wow David, excellent piece.
- on May 17, 2013
Site Index
News
Cover Story / Arkansas Reporter / The Week That Was / Smart Talk / The Insider / The Observer / Editorial / Max Brantley / Ernest Dumas / Gene Lyons / Bob Lancaster / Words / Guest Writer / Letters
Entertainment
A&E Feature / To-Do List / In Brief / Movie Reviews / Music Reviews / Theater Reviews / A&E News / Art Notes / Graham Gordy / Books / Media / Dining Reviews / Dining Guide / What's Cookin' / Calendar / The Televisionist / Movie Listings / Gallery Listings
This Week's Cover
Quick Links
Special Publications
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
