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Louisville Native David Fenley has underwritten fundamental operational assistance to the LO and the KAF by making it possible for both organizations to secure a professional and functional office. While businesses and corporations often give in-kind donations, Fenley has stepped forward as an individual with an innovative and practical gift.
“The Louisville Orchestra and the Kentucky Author Forum are vital parts of our community and I felt it was incumbent upon me to help bring their goals and dreams to fruition by doing what I could to help,” said David Fenley, prominent entrepreneur and businessman. “What the LO is doing is changing the orchestral environment, and I want to do what I can to support them.”
The LO and KAF have moved administrative offices into the sixth floor of the Doe Anderson Building at 620 West Main Street. The 8,500 square foot office space is a benefit to the administrative operations of both groups because of the proximity to the Kentucky Center for the Arts (KCA). The new space also allows a consolidation of the LO production department by bringing the orchestra’s music library and librarian from a basement location in the KCA.
“We wish to thank David Fenley for his vision and generous sponsorship which allowed the Louisville Orchestra to move and operate on Main Street.” said Andrew Kipe, Executive Director of the Louisville Orchestra. “When David heard that we desired to be on Main Street, he immediately became involved in making it financially possible for us. Our relocation would not have been possible without his help and we are truly grateful for his patronage.”
The LO had been working from ArtSpace at 323 West Broadway since 2008. That office was subsidized and controlled by the Fund for the Arts and enabled collaboration with
other arts groups like Kentucky Shakespeare and Kentucky Opera. As the LO staff has grown and the organization has developed, proximity to the performance venue on Main Street became a greater imperative for the LO.
Mary Moss Greenebaum, founder and producer of the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum states: “Finding our new home with the Louisville Orchestra seemed a natural liaison. The music of composers and the words of authors should cohabit amicably. Further, the Orchestra and the Kentucky Author Forum are linked by two other commonalities: overflow audiences in our own community and a presence in the national cultural conversation.”
The LO Box Office is open to patrons Monday through Friday from 9AM – 5PM. The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum 2017-2018 season will be announced in the Fall. Open houses will be announced throughout the summer.
The new address of the Louisville Orchestra and the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is:
620 West Main Street Suite 600 Louisville, KY 40202
The Orchestra’s main phone number is the same 502.587.8681. The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum phone number is also the same 502.589.2884. Websites, individual email addresses, and social media outlets have not changed.
David Fenley is a businessman and entrepreneur that has amassed the largest investment grade portfolio of Class A properties in the state of Kentucky. He is a philanthropist who founded UpstartU program to bring advanced sciences, technology and the arts to children in foster care. Fenley is committed to preserving, protecting and promoting Louisville’s rich arts heritage and the fields of emerging sciences and technology in Louisville. He is a proud father to an exceptional son, Truman.
The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is a non-profit, nationally-recognized literary event. Author Forum programs carefully match an author and interviewer; their hour-long candid conversation takes place before a live audience at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. The event is taped and distributed by KET, airing as the series “Great Conversations” on PBS member stations across the country. Learn More about KAF here: http://www.kentuckyauthorforum.com/
The Louisville Orchestra, under the galvanizing leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams, performs more than 60 concerts annually throughout the greater Louisville metro. With a primary performance venue of the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts (501 W. Main, downtown Louisville), the LO offers a variety of orchestral concerts including music from the classical tradition, symphony pops, family concerts and a wide range of “cross-over” and non-traditional music of our time. Learn more about the LO here: http://www.louisvilleorchestra.org
Credit: KY State Parks
The grand opening for a new splash pad at E.P. “Tom” State Park will be Saturday, June 3, at 11:30 a.m.
State and local officials will be on hand to open the splash pad. Admission to the pool area will be free from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday. There will be refreshments, music and prizes.
The celebration is being organized by the Tom Sawyer State Park Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the park. The foundation played a critical role in raising the funds that paid for the splash pad.
The youth pool at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park has not been able to open for several years because of federal swimming pool regulations that could not be met. A fund-raising campaign to pay for installation of a splash pad where the youth pool was located was initiated by the park’s foundation board. The funds were raised with the support of Mr. Sawyer’s family and members of the Louisville Metro Council. Construction ensued in summer 2016.
The park is named for Erbon Powers Sawyer, who was a Jefferson County Judge/Executive and local attorney. Daughters Diane Sawyer and Linda Sawyer Frankel are longtime supporters of the park as was their late mother, Jean Sawyer Hayes.
E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park is a 580-acre park within the urban landscape of the city of Louisville and serves as the only state park within Jefferson County. Recreational facilities include an Olympic-size outdoor pool; fully functional gymnasium with basketball, badminton and pickleball courts; athletic fields for soccer, lacrosse and flag football; a three-field softball complex; tennis courts; archery range; radio controlled airfield; and BMX bicycle track.
Meeting space is available with small classrooms in the administrative building or the large reception hall and conference room found at the Sawyer Hayes Community Center. The park also has three picnic shelters.
During the month of June the Kentucky Artisan Center will present “The Sands of Time” a 10 ton sand sculpture by Damon Farmer; a reading by Kentucky’s new Poet Laureate Frederick Smock, demonstrating artists creating handmade artist books, and authors Crystal Wilkinson and Terry Foody signing copies of their books.
The month begins with a demonstration on June 3, by Whitney Withington who joins recycled wood, decorative handmade papers, waxed linen threads and hand-torn archival pages with Coptic stitch binding. Her journals give creative space for people’s drawings and stories.
The Kentucky Artisan Center celebrates Kentucky’s 225th Anniversary with the creation of an original sand sculpture by internationally known sand sculptor Damon Farmer, bringing Kentucky history to life in sand.
Beginning on Saturday, June 3 and continuing on June 4, June 5 and June 6, Farmer will sculpt a huge pile of compacted sand into intricate imagery. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 4, 5, and 6, visitors are invited to watch Farmer carve and shape sand using only the simplest of tools. Carving from top to bottom, he will carefully sculpt the wet sand to illustrate moments in Kentucky’s history. Come watch!
On Friday, June 9, the Kentucky Artisan Center will celebrate the completion of a historic sand sculpture by Damon Farmer, with an open to the public event beginning at 10:30 a.m. The artist will be present along with guest speakers including Tourism, Arts and Heritage Deputy Secretary Regina Stivers, Travel and Tourism Commissioner Kristen Branscum and newly designated poet laureate Frederick Smock, of Louisville, reading selected poems. The celebration will continue all day long as visitors can enjoy free birthday cake, a candy tasting by Ruth Hunt Candy and cheeseburgers for $2.25 all day.
Then on Saturday, June 10, artist Linda Kuhlmann, of Berea, will demonstrate how she creates her one-of-a-kind books from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Kuhlmann began making journals in response to the way the process of writing is changing in society. With acronyms and emoticons are being used instead of words, Kuhlmann hopes that the handmade journals she makes will speak to the more personal and artistic side of writing.
Also on June 10, the Center will offer free guided gallery tours of the exhibit “225: Artists Celebrate Kentucky’s History” at both 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m.
On June 17, three members of the Berea Welcome Center Carvers will demonstrate a variety of woodcarving styles and techniques from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Then on Saturday, June 24, to help celebrate books, well-known author Crystal Wilkinson and newly published author Terry Foody will be signing copies of their books from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center.
Wilkinson recently won the Ernest J. Gains Award for Literary Excellence and her book “The Birds of Opulence” was named the winner of the 2016 Weatherford Award for Fiction and the 2017 Judy Gaines Young Book Award..
Author Terry Foody has worked in community health in New York State and Kentucky, taught nursing at
Kentucky State University, and coordinated research projects at the University of Kentucky. She has lectured about cholera for the Kentucky Humanities Council and written the book, “The Pie Seller, The Drunk, and the Lady: Heroes of the 1833 Cholera Epidemic in Lexington Kentucky.”
Both Authors will be available to talk about their writing and sign copies of their books from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day at the Center.
The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is located at 200 Artisan Way, just off Interstate 75 at Berea Exit 77. The center’s exhibits, shopping and travel information areas are open daily, year-round, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the cafe is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information about center events call 859-985-5448, go to the center’s website, or visit the center’s Facebook page.
Gov. Matt Bevin today made the following appointments to Kentucky Boards and Commissions:
Bari Ann Lewis and Brett Bachmann have been appointed to the Institute for Aging. Dr. William Michael Mansfield has been reappointed.
- Bari Ann Lewis, of Louisville, is director of education and advocacy at the Alzheimer’s Association. She shall serve for a term expiring Sept. 1, 2019.
- Brett Bachmann, of Louisville, is CEO of the Heuser Hearing Institute. He shall serve for a term expiring Sept. 1, 2019.
- Dr. William Michael Mansfield, of Louisville, is a dentist and educator. He shall serve for a term expiring Sept. 1, 2019.
The Institute for Aging advises the Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and other officials on policy matters relating to the development and delivery of services for the aged.
Photo: Kentucky Adult Education Council
The Council on Postsecondary Education is pleased to announce that Reecie Stagnolia, vice president for adult education, will speak at a Congressional briefing Thursday, June 1, 10-11:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C.
Stagnolia will talk about Accelerating Opportunity Kentucky (AOKY), an integrated education and training model that provides qualified GED-seeking students with concurrent enrollment in occupational skills programs at a community and technical college. The program is a partnership between Kentucky Adult Education, the Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment/Kentucky Career Centers and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
“Accelerating Opportunity is a game changer since it connects our students to career pathways, builds their job readiness skills and helps boost the skills of Kentucky’s workforce,” said Stagnolia.
In a news release issued by the National Skills Coalition, the briefing will provide new research and state examples to help inform reauthorization of key education and workforce legislation, including the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, Higher Education Act and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Photo: Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation
Major improvements to A.B. Sawyer Park, including the installation of a new playground, picnic shelter and a newly configured parking area, will begin this week. The work, which will significantly improve the park, especially the areas used by Lyndon Recreation will last through late summer.
The project, which is expected to begin Tuesday, May 30, is the first of several phases of work recommended by Metro Parks and Recreation through its master plan for A.B. Sawyer Park completed in 2012. The A. B. Sawyer Greenway, another project proposed by the park master plan, is currently in design.
The project was also advocated and funded by Metro Council members Marilyn Parker (District 18), Angela Leet (District 7) and Glen Stuckel (District 17). Since 2014, the Metro Council has allocated $1.3 million towards this project, with additional funding for other adjacent projects planned in the coming months. Council members Parker, Leet and Stuckel have been tremendous supporters of Lyndon Recreation and making these needed improvements to A.B. Sawyer Park.
“A.B. Sawyer Park serves so many of our families throughout the year. The park is adjacent to the NE YMCA, the future site of our newest Regional Library and an ideal location for persons wishing to get a little exercise during a lunch break. The planning for this project has included all users of the park and will transform this into a much more safe and user friendly jewel for the community.” – Metro Councilwoman Marilyn Parker.
The project is overseen by the Metro Parks Planning, Design and Construction Division with Element Design collaborating as the Landscape Architectural consultant.
Work occurring within the Lyndon Recreation use area includes the construction of a new playground, picnic shelter, pedestrian entry and walkway, walking path to the Northeast YMCA and a newly configured parking lot. The park entry drive from Whipps Mill Road will also be relocated.
“It’s exciting to see the work at A.B. Sawyer commence, and know this initial work is the start of bigger and better things to come,” said Seve Ghose, Metro Parks and Recreation Director. “We hope those who use the park enjoy the improvements and thank Councilwoman Parker and Lyndon Recreation for their partnership.”
Construction is expected to be completed in late summer or early fall of this year. The Lyndon Recreation parking area will be closed intermittently during the construction period. Park visitors are encouraged to allow extra time to park and enter the site.
“As with any project of this size, there will be inconveniences. We apologize in advance for any disruption or distraction,” said Nathan Moore, Lyndon Recreation Board President, “You may have to walk slightly further from your parking spot or park in a different lot for a couple months, but we assure you, once completed, you will agree that the improvements were worth a couple months of changed behavior.”
Additional parking will be available after 5 p.m. at the Plaza III parking area at 9520 Ormsby Station Rd. as well as the YMCA lot next to the football field. All other A.B. Sawyer Park and Lyndon Recreation facilities will remain open during construction.
The construction area will be fenced, and parking spaces and sidewalk areas will occasionally close to accommodate equipment and delivery during the construction hours of Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 4;30 p.m. and some Saturday hours. Lyndon Recreation encourages parents to ensure children are not playing in or around the construction site while work is underway.
For more information about the Lyndon Recreation A.B. Sawyer Park construction project, call 502-648-6534. For more information about the A.B. Sawyer Park Master Plan, visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/parks/ab-sawyer-master-plan.
Today Attorney General Andy Beshear, in partnership with the Child Victims’ Trust Fund, announced nearly $80,000 in grants to cover costs associated with more than 1,000 child sexual abuse forensic exams.
Beshear said the funding will be utilized throughout the upcoming fiscal year and shared among the state’s 15 Children’s Advocacy Centers that serve children in every county in Kentucky.
More than 650 child sexual abuse forensic exams have been funded by Beshear’s office in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“Before reaching their 18th birthday, one in 10 children experience child sexual abuse and every day my team and I are working to prevent this abuse and seek justice for each victim,” Beshear said. “I encourage those who wish to join our mission of preventing child abuse and supporting survivors to consider a donation to the Child Victims’ Trust Fund.”
In addition to providing reimbursement for the exams, the fund provides support for child sexual abuse prevention programs.
Last year, the board approved $160,000 in statewide grants aimed at teaching parents how to discuss child sexual abuse with children and how to keep children safe on the Internet.
The fund also helped support Beshear’s 2016 partnership to provide the most comprehensive statewide child abuse prevention training ever offered, training over a thousand law enforcement officers, county prosecutors, parents and child advocates on how to recognize the behaviors of sexual predators and intervene to protect a child.
Beshear created the Office of Child Abuse and Exploitation Prevention when he entered office in 2016. The office administers the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Board, created under Kentucky law as a 170(c)(1) nonprofit organization, which allocates funding from the fund.
Those interested in donating to the Child Victims’ Trust Fund can do so in three ways:
- Through a private donation directly to the fund.
- Purchase of an “I Care About Kids” license plate at your county clerk’s office.
- Donations made through the state income tax refund check-off program.
Beshear reminds Kentuckians that everyone has a moral and legal duty to report any instance of child abuse to local law enforcement or to Kentucky’s Child Abuse hotline at 877-597-2331 or 877-KYSAFE1.
