Davenport, IA (May 2011) ? In February 2011, a Keith Donohue said farewell to sunny San Diego and began a journey that is likely to change his life ? and many other lives, as well.

Donohue, 32, is the founder of Positive Present®, an organization devoted to positive affirmations and making a positive impact through philanthropy. His organization's first big venture is a unique project called "50Give," where Donohue is trekking cross-country to volunteer in each of the 50 states as well as Canada, Mexico and the District of Columbia.

Donohue's visit to Iowa on Wednesday, May 18 will be spent at the Figge Art Museum.  Donohue will help the museum celebrate Haitian Flag Day by leading a volunteer project to bag food which will be delivered to Haiti.  The Figge's Haitian Collection is one of the first and most comprehensive collections of Haitian art in the United States and in September the Figge will host the special exhibition, Restoring the Spirit: Celebrating Haitian Art.  The Figge is partnering with Kids Against Hunger Your Quad-Cities for this event and it is sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.  Donohue will also help the museums administrative staff and assist Figge outreach staff with an elementary program in the Davenport School District.

Travelling by car, plane or boat, Donohue will devote 5-6 months of his time helping various nonprofits, charities and other worthy causes. During the journey, he will eat, sleep and breathe nothing but volunteerism to offer a helping hand (manual labor, office administration, fundraising, marketing/promotions, event planning, soccer coaching, whatever is needed).

What's his motivation? "I have a passion for helping others and fundraising," Donohue says. "I hope this trip will encourage others to give unconditionally and also provide positive awareness for inspiring organizations that strive to make this world better."

Donohue, a Washington, DC native, is no beginner when it comes to philanthropy and fundraising. Over the past five years, he has planned and promoted numerous charity events, including raising funds for youth and soccer-related organizations like DC SCORES. In early 2010, he created Triple Charity Crush, an innovative online fundraiser and race-day event which raised $4000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and other organizations.

Amy Nakamoto, DC SCORES Executive Director adds, "Keith Donohue has taken his commitment to the DC SCORES mission to new levels over the past three years. Unsolicited, Keith has helped directly or indirectly raise a lot of money, awareness and excitement for the work we are doing with youth in DC through soccer and creative writing. He makes being in the 'charity business' even more rewarding than it already is."

50Give is a venture of Positive Present®, an organization devoted to spreading inspiration through philanthropic projects, positive affirmations apparel and health & fitness-related channels. For more information on Keith Donohue, 50Give and Positive Present®, including sponsorship or charitable nonprofit submissions, please visit www.positivepresent.com or www.50give.com.

(Davenport, Iowa - May, 2011) The Figge announces the fall exhibition, Restoring the Spirit: Celebrating Haitian Art and the recent reinstallation of the Figge's Haitian Gallery with an event on May 18.  The upcoming exhibition celebrates Haiti's complex visual traditions and the devotion of artists to creative endeavors in the face of national adversity.  The exhibition will open September 17 and run through January 15, 2012.

The Figge's Haitian Collection is one of the first and most comprehensive collections of Haitian art in the United States.  The collection was established through a gift from Davenport native Dr. Walter E. Neiswanger and charts the growth and development of the country's rich artistic tradition from its origins in the 1940s through today.

Now on view in the reinstalled Haitian Gallery is the triptych Azaka, Agro Rex by Edouard Duval-Carrie.  Duval-Carrie, who was featured in the solo exhibition, Migration of the Spirit at the Figge in 2006, will have work included in Restoring the Spirit exhibition.  Duval-Carrie will visit the Figge on October 13 to lead a "Thursdays at the Figge" art talk on his experiences as a Haitian artist.

On May 18, in honor of Haitian Flag Day, the Figge will host an event to celebrate the announcement of the exhibition and the recent Haitian Gallery reinstallation.  The Figge is partnering with Kids Against Hunger Your Quad-Cities to bag life saving food which will be delivered to Haiti.

Kids Against Hunger is an international food relief organization working to save the lives of starving people. The local chapter has provided over 500,000 meals to starving people in Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua, many of whom suffer from malnutrition and resort to eating mud cakes to stave off the hunger.  In addition, they have provided nearly 60,000 meals to hungry people in the Quad Cities. The bagged meals, made up of rice, soy, six vegetables and twenty-one vitamins and minerals, provide a nutritionally complete meal and cost $0.25 per meal.

The Figge is seeking over 100 volunteers to help bag food from 2:30pm to 4:30pm on the May 18.  Individual cash donations of $20 are encouraged to help cover the cost of these meals.  For a fee of $360, teams of 12 volunteers can sign up to create 1440 meals in an hour.

Leading the bagging efforts will be Keith Donohue.  Donohue is the founder of Positive Present®, an organization devoted to making a positive impact through philanthropy. His organization is currently embarking on a unique project called "50Give," where Donohue will trek cross-country to volunteer in each of the 50 states as well as Canada, Mexico and the District of Columbia.  Travelling by car, plane or boat, Donohue will devote over five months of his time helping various nonprofits, charities and other worthy causes.

Donohue volunteers at one non-profit in each state and has chosen to spend his time in Iowa volunteering at the Figge.  In addition to helping bag food, Donohue will help in the administrative offices and assist Figge outreach staff with an elementary program in the Davenport School District.

There will be a brief program at 2pm with remarks by Figge staff and community members. Haitian gallery tours will be offered at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm by Sally Ruggeberg, a Figge Docent who has spent time volunteering in Haiti.

To volunteer, please contact Jennifer Brooke at the Figge Art Museum 563.326.7804x2048 or j.brooke@figgeartmuseum.org

For more information on 50Give and Keith Donohue visit www.50give.com/contact.

For more information on Kids Against Hunger Your Quad-Cities, contact John Kessler at info@kahqc.com or 309.762.0437.

This event is being sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. As the country's largest fraternal benefit society, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans does much more than offer financial services. It offers programs and outreach opportunities where members can connect with each other, learn new things, and help their communities. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans supports two foundations that address a variety of needs and serve charitable purposes that support individuals, organizations and communities.

For more information on Thrivent Financial for Lutherans contact Tom Brooke at 326.650.2389 or Thomas.Brooke@Thrivent.com.

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"Art & Ideas" Series offered at the Figge

The Figge Art Museum presents the third lecture in a four-part series entitled "Celebrating Ideas" at 7 pm Thursday, April 21. Dr. Emil Kramer, Associate Professor and Chair of Classics at Augustana College will present the lecture "Egypt, Athens, Rome?and Us: Five Millennia of Connections through Art." The lecture series is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Celebrating Ideas: Bridging Communities with Augustana's  Liberal Arts through the AGES, on view at the Figge through May 29. The exhibition of 100 works is in celebration of Augustana's 150^th anniversary, and presents a rich and diverse art historical overview of pieces from the Augustana College Art Collection.

Professor Kramer's talk will highlight the ideas behind School of Athens, a fresco painted by the Renaissance master Raphael in 1510-11. This well known image depicts the Classical Greek Philosophers Plato and Aristotle surrounded by mathematicians, naturalists, astronomers, geographers, and other philosophers. Pope Julius II commissioned School of Athens, along with twelve other frescoes, for one room in the Vatican palace. An engraving by Joannes (Giovanni) Volpato after a drawing by Joseph (Giuseppe) Cades of Raphael's School of Athens is included in the Augustana exhibition.

The "Celebrating Ideas" series is part of the Figge's weekly Thursdays at the Figge programming. Admission to the museum and lecture is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and Figge institutional members. The Figge Arts Café and Bar will be open before and after the lecture.  

Students Can Experience a College-level Drawing Program

The Figge Art Museum and Western Illinois University have partnered to offer the "Summer Drawing Program at the Figge" for high school students from 9:30 am-12:30 pm July 18-22 and July 25-29.  This two-week program gives talented high school art students a college-level experience while helping them prepare their portfolios for college admission and scholarships. The "Summer Drawing Program at the Figge" is open to any high school student in Iowa or Illinois who has completed 9th, 10th or 11th grade. To be considered for this program, students must complete the application and submit a portfolio of four drawings and a letter of support from an art teacher. Applications are due by April 16 and the drop-off period for portfolios is 10 am - 1 pm Saturday, April 16.

The program was developed in 2007 with Western Illinois University, and is the only program of its kind in the Quad Cities for aspiring young artists who plan to major in Art or Design.  The course is taught by Western Illinois University Department of Art professors Bruce Walters and Brett Eberhardt. This program is funded in part by the Brand Boeshaar Foundation, Butler Insurance Service, Inc., and Western Illinois University's College of Fine Arts and Communication.

The "Summer Drawing Program at the Figge" program introduces high school students to a college-level drawing curriculum, helps them improve their skills in drawing from observation, which is a required component for most college admission portfolios, and helps them to be competitive for the annual Brand Boeshaar Scholarship. This local art scholarship is funded by the Brand Boeshaar Foundation, managed by the Figge Art Museum, and administered by the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. In addition to daily drawing assignments, students will participate in individual and group critiques, which will help teach them learn how to talk about their work with others when they apply for college admission.

Students selected to participate in this program will be notified by May 1. If accepted into the program, students must pay the program fee of $175 and provide some of their own art supplies. For more information about the program, or to complete the application online, please visit www.figgeartmuseum.org. For more information, call Ann Marie Hayes-Hawkinson, Curator of Education, at 563-326-7804 x7887.

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