Milwaukee nonprofit needs your votes to win grant from Pepsi
The Sojourner Family Peace Center of Milwaukee is one of more than 1,000 contestant organizations elegible to win a $250,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Challenge.
The Refresh Challenge was created by Pepsi as means of rewarding ideas from people, businesses and nonprofits that will have a positive impact on local communities. Every month, the Pepsi Refresh Project awards up to $1.3 million in grants – from $5,000 to $250,000. Sojourner Family Peace Center needs votes to win $250,000 to help fund Safe Exchange & Supervised Visitation Project.
The project is dedicated to increasing safety for children exposed to family violence, reducing parent conflict during child exchanges or transfers and providing assessments and referrals for both parents and children.
“We are calling on Milwaukee to help us to reach these important goals,” said Angela Mancuso, executive director of Sojourner Family Peace Center. “Your votes will assist us in securing the funds necessary to provide supervised visitation and safe exchange of local children who have been impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse. Please vote often and encourage family and friends to do the same.”
Services will focus on meeting the needs of survivors of domestic violence and their children while protecting a child’s right to have a safe and meaningful relationship with both parents.
Tim Cigelske, a Milwaukee entrepreneur, won a $4500 Pepsi-Refresh Project Grant in 2009 to expand his recycled t-shirt business Teecycle.org.
Voting takes place throughout the month of January, and the idea with the most votes at the end of the month wins. People can vote once per day, every day, until Monday, Jan. 31.
New MAM exhibit blends traditional craft with digital world
The Chipstone Foundation, a decorative arts foundation whose mission is preserving and interpreting their collection, as well as stimulating research and education in the decorative arts, will host a new exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum this March. New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft will present the work of nearly 20 American craft artists who work with materials like fabric, glass, wood, metal and even digital technology.
“The New Materiality shows us that the lines between art, design and craft are becoming more porous as each co-opts various theoretical, technical and philosophical aspects of the other, asking us to scrutinize the distance between them in contemporary creative practice,” said Fo Wilson, UW–Milwaukee professor and curator of The New Materiality.
According to Wilson, the exhibit examines the growing use of new technologies in contemporary craft practice as a way to enrich craft expression, rather than displace it.
“The exhibition brings together the work of artists who use digital content to augment and alter our understanding of what craft is and what it does. In the process, she questions the time-honored binary of ‘hand vs. machine,’ and challenges artists and audiences alike to question where the boundaries of craft now lie.”
The exhibition will be featured in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Decorative Arts Gallery, March 10 through June 12.
Pictured: "The Sounding" by Donald Fortescue and Lawrence LaBianca
Last chance to nominate your ‘volunteer of the year’
The United Way in Waukesha County’s Volunteer Center is still seeking nominations for its annual Inspire by Example volunteer awards. Nomination categories include, Volunteer of the Year; Youth Volunteer of the Year, Volunteer Group of the Year and Business Partner of the Year.
A panel of community leaders, independent of United Way, will review all nominations and select one winner for each of the four award categories. The winners will be recognized at the Volunteer Recognition & Celebration Event on April 12. Winners will also be awarded $500 payable to the nonprofit organization of their choice.
Nomination forms are available online at www.UnitedWayWaukesha.org, and at the United Way in Waukesha County office, 1717 Paramount Drive, Waukesha. For more information, contact the United Way Volunteer Center at 262-547-8459 or volunteer@UnitedWayWaukesha.org.
