The Genesius Guild needs the help of everyone in the Quad Cites to win a grant from Pepsi. The Rock Island based theatre needs enough votes at www.refresheverything.com/genesius to receive a $50,000 grant  to help replace outdated equipment. In a time of shrinking funding, this grant is very important to this 54 year-old local arts organization.

The Pepsi grant program kicked off in February and Genesius Guild received enough votes to be given a second chance in March to mobilize people to win a grant. The theater's Executive Director, Doug Tschopp, says "the trick to winning this is to network through email, Facebook and other social media... and then to get all of those people to continue to pass this along."

The grant will replace lighting equipment that includes undependable dimmers that are nearly 50 years old. The equipment, which usually lasts only 15 years, is a vital to putting on each and every play. The grant would also allow the group to purchase new video equipment. The 30 year old VCR camera no longer works and according to Tschopp, "even when it did work, the audio was recorded at the camera which was so far back all you could hear were the crickets and frogs in the park".

They also need people to share this with their friends through email and facebook. A short funny video promotes the need for the grant: www.xtranormal.com/watch/6225607/.

Genesius Guild performs in Lincoln Park in Rock Island every summer. The performances are free and include Shakespeare, Greek Tragedy and Greek Comedy. The 54th season opens this year with a weekend of ballet. More information can be found at www.genesius.org.

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