Some of the grants the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Colorado College recently has helped CC secure include one from the Hewlett Foundation and two from Inasmuch Foundation.

A $280,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation was used primarily to conduct a professional, non-partisan poll on public opinion regarding natural resource and conservation issues in the Rocky Mountain West. This was the ninth year that the Conservation in the West poll was conducted. A small part of the grant funds student engagement around the poll findings, including a photo contest and support for student journalism on issues related to the polling results.

"Every year, the poll results generate substantial media attention and offer insights to decision-makers regarding how Westerners value and prioritize use of their public lands," says Corina McKendry, director of the State of the Rockies Project and associate professor of political science.

The Inasmuch Foundation awarded a $225,000 grant for the college to produce a book, a podcast, and documentary film that will tell the story of the adoption, implementation, and evolution of the Block Plan to mark its 50th anniversary in 2020.

"Our goal is to capture and convey the uniqueness of the people and circumstances behind the creation of the Block Plan," says Steven Hayward, chair of English and associate professor. "It's also a look at the present - at the stories of those who inhabit the Block Plan today. The combination of the two are a powerful testament to the plan's continued relevance and vitality."

Hayward is conducting interviews alongside Professor Susan Ashley (History), who is also deep in archival research.

In another grant, Inasmuch Foundation awarded $50,000 to support a symposium timed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Broadmoor Art Academy (predecessor of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College). The symposium, to take place in late 2019, aims to provide a new forum for inquiry into the development of American Scene, Regionalist, New Deal, Modernist, and other art movements of the mid-20th century.

"We are honored to have essential support from the Inasmuch Foundation for a very special symposium. Our hope is to illuminate both the role the Broadmoor Art Academy (like other art colonies) played as a crucible for artists and the new paradigms that emerged from the creative mixing of artists of different backgrounds, stylistic bents, and philosophies," says Rebecca Tucker, museum director of the FAC.