Bowlus’ impact on youths grows with success

By SUSAN LYNN
Register Editor

Thursday night’s meeting between the Bowlus Commission and USD 257 Board of Education was fruitful because of the communication exchanged, said Bowlus executive director Susan Raines. The annual meeting serves to update school officials, who also act as stewards of the fine arts center, of the status of the building, its programs and future needs.
The lack of a quorum by school officials, however, meant Bowlus Commission members will have to ask again for an audience to get approval for its 2008-09 operating budget among other things.
Bowlus Commission members prepared 12 presentations to show board members the active role the fine arts center plays in the lives of district students and the community. Last year, 503 events were in the Bowlus, everything from the county spelling bee to the sold-out performances of the Moscow Ballet, which included many Iola students, and Peking Acrobats.
The mission of the Bowlus as inferred from the will of its original benefactor, Thomas H. Bowlus, is “Keeping the promise of a world-class fine arts center that inspires our youth, enriches our citizens and enlightens our future,” reported Commission member Judy Brigham.
About one-third of the Bowlus’ income comes from estates and trusts, Commission member Tom Strickler said. The Friends of the Bowlus, a non-profit organization made up of Bowlus supporters, finances about one-fourth of the center’s needs mainly in the form of capital improvements such as this year’s new rigging system for its stage curtains, new curtains in the Creitz Recital Hall and a new sign that graces the front lawn. For fiscal year 2008, almost $170,000 was spent in updating the 45-year-old building.
Upgrades for the coming year include a kitchen off the recital hall, a first-time refinishing of the stage floor, landscaping around its new sign and brick work to the south and east exterior walls. A new carpet for the art gallery, damaged in last summer’s flood, also is due to be installed now that reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has come through.
The school district supports not quite 18 percent of the Bowlus budget that helps maintain the classrooms and other areas within the building that an estimated 398 middle school and high school students used last year. Elementary students also use the Bowlus, Raines said. An example is the annual visit of a famous storyteller with students from USDs 256, 257 and 258. The annual workshops, according to Lary Hart, principal of Lincoln Elementary, in a letter to board members, are “an inspiration to our students and teachers.”
Other revenue streams to the Bowlus come in small increments. Because ticket prices are kept to an affordable level for area residents, their sales account for only 6 percent of Bowlus income, Raines said. Money from grants and trusts helps keep ticket prices low. The Sleeper Family Trust, for example, contributed $145,570 to almost 20 programs in 2007-08, keeping them affordable. The highest ticket price for world-class entertainment such as December’s Moscow Ballet was $17 a seat, Raines said.
Other funding in about equal amounts comes from the City of Iola and Allen County, donations and state and federal grants.
Judy Cochran, Bowlus Commission member, gave highlights of the coming year’s entertainment. In just a month’s time 32 district students will perform in “High School Musical On Stage,” a takeoff on the previous generation’s “Grease.”
Upcoming performances at the Bowlus include the 16th annual Buster Keaton Celebration, the Doug Talley Quartet, pianist and singer Kelley Hunt, The Lettermen, Jungle Jack Hanna, The Spencers magic show, the Dallas Children’s Theatre, “The Gruffalo,” and “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
Robyn Fawson, Bowlus Commission member, stressed the importance of the Commission working in concert with Bowlus Trustees to the greater benefit of the community. Fawson updated Trustees on a report by Sharon Benson, arts education coordinator for the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission for the past 14 years.
From his will in 1960, Bowlus stated that the intent of the fine arts center is to “equip our youth” with an education that “should include an appreciation of things artistic, musical and cultural as well as things academic and scientific.”
Getting all school board members on board with the district’s role to manage the Bowlus has at times been trying, Fawson said. “There is a perception that USD 257 sees the Bowlus as a liability,” she read from the report drawn up by Benson.
Overcoming that divide is crucial to the Bowlus’ continued impact on students and citizens, Fawson said. The positive impression of the Bowlus on young students — for example, they intend to behave better when in the facility’s 752-seat main auditorium — should be seen as evidence that a continued interaction between students and the fine arts center is beneficial.

MARY APT, school board president, Doug Dunlap and Wayne Garrett represented the BOE, along with Craig Neuenswander, superintendent of schools, and Barb Geffert, board clerk. Absent were Buck Quincy, Georgia Masterson, Darrel Catron and Deanne Burris.
Other Commission members presenting information were Jacki Chase and Fred Works. Jay Kretzmeier of the Iola accounting firm Kretzmeier and McCammon gave a report of Bowlus trust investments.
Jeff Jordan, technical director of the Bowlus, and Don Burns, grounds and maintenance director for the school district, also gave reports, as did Patti Boyd, a master gardener who has worked on Bowlus landscaping.
Mary Martin, president of Friends of the Bowlus, also was in attendance to ask the Board members for continued use of the Bowlus name, which also will wait for approval until a quorum can be met.

Editor’s note: Reporter Lynn also serves on the Bowlus Commission.