LETTERS TO EDITOR

Arts In The Park Observed Widely

The IPRA "Arts In The Park" Month Committee would like to thank all of the agencies who participated in the July celebration of the Arts and for the agencies who returned the evaluations. Below is a brief summary of the returned evaluations, highlighting selected questions:

26 IPRA agencies participated in the event;

44 IPRA agencies responded to evaluation;

37 agencies plan to participate in 1984;

25 agencies were informed by flyer mailings;

15 agencies were informed by IPR Magazine;

36 agencies displayed posters primarily in offices and community center/facilities;

25 agencies prefer to keep celebration within own district as opposed to having a large special event with all participating agencies.

Most popular events: Concert series, camp projects, art and craft displays.

Department involvement: Recreation — 25; Parks — 5; Administration — 2; Theraputic — 3, and Special Facilities — 2.

Several agencies developed their own ideas and events in addition to the suggestion list made available through the committee, i.e.. Arts Carnival hosting art booths for participants to watch an artist's demonstration and try the media for 25¢. Others used existing programs, and included the arts and identified them as "Arts In The Park" Month events, i.e., concert series, camps, and art fairs.

A display booth will be set up at the State Conference where evaluation results will be available. If your agency wishes to display promotion materials and/or projects from your "Arts In The Park" Month celebration, please contact Tammy Bollinger, 885-7500 or Sandy Young, 766-7015

Again, we'd like to thank all the participants and hope to see you and more agencies involved in this public awareness project in 1984.

The following park districts participated in the 1983 Arts In The Park observance: Arlington Heights, Bensenville, Carol Stream, Decatur, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Elk Grove, Franklin Park, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Homewood — Flossmoor, Itasca, Naperville, Niles, Norridge, Palatine, St. Charles, Sterling, Urbana. Wheeling, Wilmette, and Woodridge.

Other organizations participating were: Heather Manor Nursing Home, Lake Forest Recreation Department, Macon County Conservation District, and Northwestern Suburban Recreation Association. —Tammy Bollinger and Sandy Young

ILLINOIS PARKS AND RECREATION CONFERENCE NOV. 17-20, 1983 HYATT-REGENCY O'HARE HOTEL ROSEMONT

CORRECTION

Dr. Alien V. Sapora, author of the article, "The Economic Impact of Parks and Recreation in Illinois — The Tip of the Iceberg," published in the September/October, 1983 issue of the IPR, calls attention to an error that appeared in the article, page 12, second paragraph. The paragraph should have read as follows:

1. The 1981 Gross Product of the State of Illinois in current dollars was 152.9 billion, and 73.8 billion in constant dollars. If Illinois were a nation, it would rank thirteenth among all nations of the world in Gross National Product.

The manuscript erroenously listed the dollars in millions rather than billions. We thank Dr. Sapora for informing us of the error.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 4 November/December 1983