Hixson-Lied Board Approves First Endowment Expenditures
The Hixson-Lied Advisory Board, created to review and react to requests for enhancement funding support from income of the Hixson-Lied endowment to benefit the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and its affiliated organizations, has approved its first set of allocations at its Oct. 25 meeting.
"It was exciting to work with the Board to explore ways in which to strengthen support for the work of our students and faculty, and particularly to provide funding for special programs that would not be possible without the enhancement funding that the endowment provides," said Giacomo M. Oliva, dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine & Performing Arts. "My hope is that our Board meetings will develop into an ongoing dialogue that will enable the Board to learn as much as possible about our College and to work with the College and its affiliate organizations to clarify plans for developing and considering funding proposals in the coming years."
Miss Christina Hixson, the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust, announced a gift of $18 million to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support UNL's College of Fine and Performing Arts in January 2000. The endowment, named the Christina M. Hixson-Lied Foundation Trust Endowment for the College of Fine and Performing Arts, benefits all areas of the college. Half of the fund's income provides support for programs at the College and the College's affiliated organizations, including the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, Lentz Center for Asian Culture and the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. The remaining funds are divided equally between faculty and student support within the college.
Approved expenditures for program support:
- Specialized Studio Art Equipment Enhancement for the Department of Art and Art History. Support over a two-year period to help purchase state-of-the-art equipment to enhance the creative and scholarly work of students in all program areas. This award matches the equipment funds raised and given recently to the department by its fund-raising group, MEDICI.
- Sheldon Graduate Fellowships. Matching funding for one graduate MFA studio art student from the Department of Art and Art History to serve an internship with the Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
- UNL Opera Program Enhancement. Funding over a four-year period, matched by additional funding from the School of Music, the College, Friends of Opera, grants and donors, to offer a season that includes two major productions and an outreach tour each year.
- The Establishment of a Permanent Touring Company in the Department of Theatre Arts. Matching funding over a three-year period to support the creation of a permanent touring company to provide an arts experience to communities and populations throughout the state that have little or no opportunity to experience the arts. Three dedicated graduate assistant positions (two in design/technology and one in acting/directing) will be created to run the program.
- Phillip Glass Commissioning Project. Matching funding to support the composition of a piano concerto by Phillip Glass that will be premiered in Nebraska as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemoration. Glass has agreed to write a piano concerto to be performed by School of Music Professor Paul Barnes at the Lied Center and throughout the region as part of the commemorative activities. This allocation matches funding by the Lewis and Clark Commission, already in place.
- Funding Support to Enhance AdventureLIED. Matching funding to support the expansion of AdventureLIED, the outreach programming of the Lied Center for Performing Arts, complementing funding already in place to support the program.
- Graduate Assistant in Arts Education. Funding over a two-year period to support a graduate assistant to develop curriculum materials for arts education programs in conjunction with Lied Center projects.
- Exhibition and Education Programming Support for "Enrique Martinez-Celaya: The October Cycle, 2000-2002." Matching funding to assist with an exhibition and a week-long residency by Cuban-American artist Enrique Martinez-Celaya. Undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, and other educators and community members will have an opportunity to interact with the artist in a variety of educational contexts.
- Redesign of the Sheldon Website. Matching funding to support the implementation of a new website that is accessible to audiences, easily updated and reflects the museum's new graphic identity.
- Education Development and Outreach at the Lentz Center for Asian Culture. Funding over a two-year period to support the development and implementation of a more targeted educational outreach program for the Lentz Center.
Approved expenditures for student support:
- Hixson-Lied Graduate Fellowships. Creates a total of 32 named graduate fellowships over the next six to eight years starting in 2003-2004. Hixson-Lied funding would be added to graduate assistantship funding already provided by the University to create stipends that are nationally competitive.
- Grand Island Partnership Awards. Continues funding support for up to a total of 16 undergraduate scholarships per year over the next six to eight years (four each in music, art, dance and theatre arts to be phased in as funds become available) in accordance with the partnership agreement established with the Grand Island Schools in the spring of 2001.
- International Study Support. Creates an initial annual fund to provide partial support for students who are invited to study abroad.
- Exceptional Scholarly and Creative Activities Support. Creates an initial annual fund to provide partial support for students who are invited to compete, perform, make presentations, or present exhibitions in regional, national or international venues and programs.
Approved expenditures for faculty support:
- Faculty Research/Creative Projects. Creates an initial annual fund to provide partial support for faculty research and creative projects. Two programs will be supported: 1) Faculty Seed Grants for projects that promote a faculty member's research program or creative activity and enhance the prospects of obtaining outside, competitive support and 2) Grant-in-Aid awards for projects that promote a faculty member's research program or creative activity which may or may not enhance the prospects for obtaining outside support. Awards will be competitive.
- Faculty Travel Assistance. Creates an initial annual fund to provide partial support for faculty travel associated with invitations to perform, make presentations, or present exhibitions relating to their research and/or creative activities at significant regional, national, or international venues and professional meetings. Awards will be competitive.
"Each of these awards is guided by the overarching philosophy that Hixson-Lied Endowment funding is to be used to enhance the College, its programs and the work of its faculty, students and affiliate organizations," Oliva said.
Members of the Hixson-Lied Advisory Board include John Angle, University of Nebraska Foundation President Terry Fairfield, Christina M. Hixson, Heather Jones, Dean Giacomo M. Oliva, Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Marguerite Hallas Scribante, James Strand, Sandy Veneziano and Susan Varner Wilkins.
The board's next meeting will be in the spring 2003.