SUCCESS!

HEARD BACK FROM BANK OF AMERICA!

$5,000  towards SCAPE's third public sculpture!!!

BOO-YEA!  Great way to go into the weekend :)

Dancing in the Street

Whoo...been busy here in preparation for Grand Center, Inc.'s next big festival, Dancing in the Street.  I've been in contact with many of the Company Directors gathering information for the program.  Technological difficulties reign with people not understanding "attachments."  I feel pretty well caught up now, and I've also been putting together CMSSL's Solicitation List.  That has been the most time consuming since the list we created is a combo of their list, our lists, etc.  I really hope we get it to them soon, as even I am getting nervous about their timeline being met.

Also, last weekend was our SLU Welcome Week-Grand Center Concert brought about 2,000 students and got us over 200 names and email addresses of students interested in receiving cool info about the goings-on of Grand Center. Looked

My newest grant assignment is to write a proposal to Boeing/AEC for the continuation/renewal of the grant that has allowed me this opportunity at Grand Center, Inc.

Getting truly upset that I'll have to leave eventually.
Anyone out there hiring young professionals with development and event planning experience?

Young Friends (and Older Friends)

Yesterday, I went to the Grand Center, Inc. Gala Kickoff Event at Kota.  I was pretty much there to facilitate the check-in/name tag process.  It was a really nice event, and Ken Kranzburg gave a really nice "motivational" speech to the crowd of host-committee guests. In attendance were Danny Ludeman-CEO of Wells Fargo, Mayor Slay, CEO of Brown Shoe Co, and many more of St. Louis' finest philanthropists.  Mr. Kranzburg made a really great point when he argued that St. Louis is lucky enough to be one of the most diverse cities, and as far as attractions go, can grow to be on par with Chicago, Boston, and NYC.  He also said that Grand Center could be like Times Square...not so sure of that one...but a noteworthy dream to say the least.

Afterwards/During, the Young Friends of Grand Center hosted their very first event!  We enjoyed happy hour at Kota among other young professionals.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the mini-raffle we had of Dirty Dancing items was a great success.  In total, I would say there were around 30 people in attendance.  Not too bad!

Also, this week the St. Louis Beacon published a really great article about the wonders of Grand Center highlighting our developmental progress, new institutions, etc.  It's a great read so check it out!

Progress

I can't believe it's already well into August.  Less than two months left here at Grand Center, Inc. 

This week I've been working on my Gannett Foundation grant application.  Gannett is KSDK NewsChannel 5's foundation, so hopefully they'll be excited about getting involved with my latest and greatest SCAPE app.
Cracker Barrel went out a few days ago thanks to Jay and Peg.

Below is a photo of the site for "Rabbit II" (still To Be Named) that I took this morning to post to our Facebook page, which is starting to do much better with a lot of new friends and an increase in posting activity. "Rabbit II" should be up in a couple weeks.  We still have to install the concrete base and transfer the sculpture using a crane!

The site is adjacent to Jazz at the Bistro and our building.  This is the view from one of our staff's windows.

Currently, I'm in waiting mode for CMSSL's next step.  They need to finish getting their Contact List together and then we'll be able to send the solicitation letters.

We have our first "Young Friends of Grand Center" event tomorrow evening at Kota and I am looking forward to it and I'll tell you all about it Friday.  Don't know that I'll stay for the movie afterwards since it's supposed to "feel like" 108 degrees tomorrow.  Really cannot wait for the temperatures to drop.  St. Louis heat is INSANE.

Chamber Music Society of St. Louis Benefit Dinner

Yes. This is my latest and greatest project.  You can check out their website HERE.

 I mentioned last week about being assigned to work with them, but I've been working on A LOT of documents for them, such as:

-Solicitation Letter
-Solicitation Letter for Season Subscribers
-Thank You letter
-Sponsorship Opportunities Form
-Pledge Form
-A very complicated, detailed Timeline... I love lists, but this was extreme.  Even for me :)
- And a Solicitation Contact List

Peg and I have been communicating with them daily, but I don't think they've received all final docs yet.  We're working on bridging the "solicitation language" gap and working out some of the bigger details.  It's very excited and I'm looking forward to moving forward with the project!

The event is being hosted by Michael Neidorff, CEO of Centene Corporation, at the new Centene Plaza building in Clayton.  Photo Above.

Needless to say I've been busy this week, but I'm taking a well deserved weekend trip to Indy to see the family!