December 6, 2016: ECGRA Grant Money Works for Edinboro University and Foundation
ECGRA Grant Money Works
for Edinboro University and Foundation
For the past three years, Edinboro University Foundation has received ECGRA Special Events and Community Assets grants for the annual Highland Games, a festival going into its 25th year, according to Julie Chacona, the foundation’s development director.
For 2016, Edinboro received $11,448 for the Highland Games and has received a total of $33,384 since first being funded in 2013. Previously held in May or during summer, the festival has been moved to September so more students can take part, Chacona says. Similar to Erie’s other ethnic festivals, Highland Games is educational, as well as entertaining.
“This is such a wonderful cultural event, not only for our students and Edinboro residents, but it reaches into the community well outside our geographic region,” she says. “We bring in the (Scottish) clans, traditional sporting events, the Highland dancer competition, and the traditional procession of the haggis and Ceilidh dinner, which is very traditional in Scotland,” she says.
The Foundation has also used gaming revenue to enhance the university’s homecoming festivities in October by adding free concerts and lectures open to the public. The event “is really our biggest weekend festival. It’s not just about our alumni coming back and celebrating our Scottish heritage. It's also an academic showcase highlighting our centers of excellence on campus," Chacona says.
Past homecoming speakers have included Erin Gruwell, the teacher who compiled the diaries kept by her at-risk students for her book, "Freedom Writers." In 2014, environmentalist Bill McKibben spoke, and in 2015, the Erie Philharmonic performed.
Using gaming funds, the university transformed campus media organizations by providing real-world experience for students, developing an independent funding model for the organizations, and creating a common portal, www.EdinboroNow.com, with content from E-TV, the campus cable television station; WFSE-FM, the campus radio station; and the Spectator, the campus newspaper.
