Briefs

Arts grant proposals: The Cornell Council for the Arts is accepting grant proposals for individual projects in the creative and performing arts for 1999-2000. The application deadline is May 7. Individual grants up to $500 are awarded to Cornell students and staff to encourage artists to work on individual arts projects of merit outside the realm of required course work or scholarly research. Projects are to be completed while the recipient is still a member of the Cornell community and are to be presented within 12 months of approval. For more information, contact the Council for the Arts, 341 Caldwell Hall, 255-7274, e-mail: pml1@cornell.edu. Or contact council members within specific areas at Cornell: architecture, Laura Briggs; landscape architecture, Paula Horrigan; visual arts, Elisabeth Meyer; creative writing, Phyllis Janowitz; dance, Byron Suber; design and environmental analysis, Kathleen Gibson; textiles and apparel, Susan Ashdown; music, Edward Murray, Scott Tucker; theater arts, Tom Scharff; media arts, Marilyn Rivchin; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cathy Klimaszewski.

Taste of the Nation: The annual Share Our Strength "Taste of the Nation" benefit, the largest culinary event in Ithaca and the United States supporting anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts, will be held this year, May 3, in the Field House on the Cornell campus. More than 50 chefs and 25 winemakers from the Finger Lakes region are joining forces for the benefit event, with participating chefs preparing specialties and serving portions and winemakers pouring a variety of their vineyards' selections for attendees. Patrons also can take part in both "silent" and "balloon-style" auctions. Tickets are $40 per person in advance ($45 at the door) and are available at all Ithaca branches of M&T Bank, the ticket center at the Clinton House in Ithaca and at Cornell's Statler Hotel or by calling 273-4497. One hundred percent of the ticket sales are distributed by Share Our Strength to anti-hunger programs: 70 percent of the proceeds from the Ithaca event goes to local recipient agencies, 10 percent to areas of high need elsewhere in New York state and 20 percent to national and international agencies. Since the event's founding in Ithaca in 1990, more than $188,000 has been raised here.

Anniversary concert: Cornell's original coed a cappella group, Class Notes, is having its 15th anniversary concert, Cuttin' Class, Saturday, April 17, in Sage Chapel at 8:30 p.m. Tickets will be on sale for $5 at Willard Straight Hall or for $7 at the door.