Creative Recycling Art Competition and Exhibition (CRACE)
Charleston, S.C.
aste, in Charleston, sponsored its first Creative Recycling Art Competition and Exhibition. Highlighting the creative talents of high school art students, the program aimed to promote reuse, recycling and environmental awareness.

Students from 10 county and private high schools submitted more than 50 works of art. To qualify, each artwork entered was required to consist of at least 70 percent recycled materials.

Art entries included paintings, sculptures, printmaking, ceramics and jewelry. The need for this program was simple: to educate the citizens of Charleston on the importance of reuse and recycling.

The sponsors of this competition recognized that “recycled art” can be used as a powerful vehicle of communication. The winning artwork was on display at the Charleston County Public Library for a month. A local TV anchor hosted the awards ceremony. Advertising costs and the award checks were covered by The School Connection, a bimonthly newsletter. The Charleston County Public Library donated the display space, the hall for the awards ceremony and the refreshments.

For more information, contact: Gregg Varner, director of solid waste, Charleston County Department of Solid Waste, 13 Romney St., Charleston, S.C. 29403. (843)720-7111.

17th Century Deeds Now Online
Essex County, Mass.
The Essex County Registry of Deeds in Salem, Mass., maintains a continuum of historically important land ownership documents, dating back to 1639. Recognizing that the earliest records are priceless documents and a valuable resource for current and future generations, the current register of deeds, starting in 1976, began re-engineering a three-century-old process of searching and recording land records.

This project involved four distinct phases: physical restoration, electronic indexing, image scanning and Internet access.

Today, Essex County Registry of Deeds stands out as the world’s first registry of deeds that can make images of deeds and other land documents available for viewing on the Internet, free of charge.

The Web site is designed with an eye towards offering convenient and easy access to the registry’s resources and services. Internet surfers are encouraged to search the deed indexes and images to view directions and contact information for visiting the archives and to get in touch with a representative.

This program could serve as a prototype for other record preservation programs combined with enhanced public access for the Registries of Deeds in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and elsewhere. Administrators of the program are planning to implement a future link with the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

For more information, please contact: John L. O’Brien Jr., register of deeds, Registry of Deeds, 36 Federal St., Salem, Mass. 01970. (978)741-0201 (x250).

Montgomery County Art and Cultural District
Montgomery County, Oh.
The Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District (MCACD), a special purpose unit of government under the Ohio Revised Code, is a unique entity that is governed by a 15-person board of directors appointed by the county commissioners. The district receives $1 million annually and is supported by sales tax revenue generated throughout the county. The Sales Tax was increased by 1/2 percent to fund three initiatives that county officials believed were critical to the growth of the county in the future; one of which was arts and culture. The county commissioners saw a crucial need to support arts and cultural programs.

The MCACD established six categories of funding to distribute the annual allocation of the $1 million dollars. Those categories include: General Operating Support for 14 “major” non-profit arts and cultural organizations for at least three years; Special Project Grants to fund small-and medium-sized arts and cultural organizations, neighborhood-based organizations, community groups and schools; Individual Artist Fellowships to help individuals purchase supplies, pay for studio space, etc. in order to enhance their dance, theatre, music, literary arts, sculpting, painting and photography talents; Impact Grants, to award approximately $125,000 annually to one-time or multi-year projects over a two-or three-year period to maximize benefits to the community; Arts Council Function, to administer the awarding of $100,000 of funding each year to a private non-profit organization to provide a variety of arts council functions; and Administration, to handle the day-to-day operating costs of the MCACD.

For more information, contact: Judy Mott, executive director, Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District, 126 N. Main St., Suite 440, Dayton, Ohio 45402 (937) 223-7921.

(Hats off to ... was compiled by Christina Crayton, research assistant. Has off to… features 2000 NACo Achievement Award Winners.)