Chicago musical 'Menopause' to benefit
College of Visual and Performing Arts fund

by Mark McGowan

Smiles and laughs at the expense of four women going through “The Change” will help enhance learning experiences for students in NIU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA).

Supporters of the college are invited to attend the 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, production of “Menopause The Musical™” at the Apollo Theatre, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. All proceeds benefit the Dean’s Fund for Arts Initiatives.

The Apollo seats 400, and Dean Harold Kafer is working all lines of communication to pack the house. NIU alumna Jeanie Linders, writer and producer of the musical and a member of the CVPA advisory board, and the “Menopause” cast will attend a special post-show reception.

The event is a board project. A subcommittee of the board has been working for two months on marketing and promotion of the event, including launching a Web site (www.cvpadeansfund.com) and organizing a silent auction and a raffle to further boost the fund.

It’s all part of the college’s most ambitious fundraising effort to date.

“Our college has been driven over the past decade by a focus on being a major provider of artistic services to the region in ways that strengthen the teaching and learning environment – the interaction of faculty and students on campus,” Kafer said.

“Like the university in general, we have more opportunities than we can possibly pursue given the limits of financial and human resources, so there has to be some rubric by which one says ‘yes’ rather than ‘no,’ ” Kafer added. “Certainly those opportunities which are going to have the greatest positive benefit for our students, especially in terms of enhancing their educational experience, are the opportunities to which we try to say ‘yes.’ ”

Saying ‘yes’ often requires funding, however.

Kafer makes use of “unrestricted money,” given to the college through the NIU Foundation by individual donors, to fuel the fund. The fund provides the dollars necessary for the students and faculty to “make a difference in the cultural landscape of the region and add quality and economic value to the lives of (its) citizens.”

The money can cover a variety of costs, from support for the students and professional artists and their transportation, to marketing and production of the events, he said.

“Very often,” he added, “taking advantage of such opportunities means having some sort of investment capital in the initial phases of a project, which might at some later time produce revenue or attract philanthropic support.”

Board members are helping to sell tickets and are making contributions to the silent auction. Kafer is donating two season tickets to the NIU School of Theatre and Dance and four tickets to the March 16 concert by the Vermeer Quartet at the Harris Theatre at Millennium Park in Chicago.

A member of the college’s advisory board is donating the raffle prize: a four-day, three-night trip to Las Vegas with hotel and airfare included.

For more information, visit the Web site (www.cvpadeansfund.com) or contact Susan Carter at 753-1636 or via e-mail at scarter@niu.edu.

12-13-04