Culture & Building Committee Joint Meeting

As many of you know by now, we received a 3-year culture grant ($10K/yr for three years, 2019-2021) from Rhode Island Expansion Art Program (RI-EAP).

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We were very active at the beginning offering several art/music classes such as calligraphy and gayageum courses to our members. However, last year we were forced to cancel all planned cultural activities due to the COVID pandemic.    

While the COVID situation is easing up, it is still difficult to plan long-term in-person performance-based activities.  RIEAP understands this dilemma and allowed us to use some of the 2021 funds for improving our Culture Center building.  Also, RIEAP has graciously extended our three-year grant period to another year (2022) with an additional $10K funding.

On June 18, the KAARI Building Committee and Culture Committee members met to discuss what we should do to improve building infrastructure.  The joint committees have decided to use the $6000 portion of the RIEAP's 2021 budget total of $10K for adding solar panels.  The total cost for this solar project is $15,584, but the actual price will be $8,584 after getting incentives and credits. 

The Committees will present the detailed budget and logistics in the next KAARI Board meeting, scheduled for July 12, 2021. 

From left: President Wonkyung Cho, Building member William Park, Building Chair Bongsup Cho, Board member Sangwook Ji, Board Chair Raymond Kim, Culture Chair Angela Sharkey