My impractical impatience wants to to do too many things at once. My staff rapped my knuckles gently with a ruler and declared: give them a simple outline.

12. Bottom Line

When all of the auction items have been redeemed, we will have earned $48,280... just shy of our goal of $50,000 which was set well before all measures of the economy plummeted. It will take only a few hands sorry they were not here to push the event over the top.

11. Value

Our strategy has been to keep the event elegant but affordable. It demonstrates the power of extravagant enthusiasm... a resource undiminished by the recession. We thank you for your generosity and loyalty.

10. Unrivaled Efficiency

92¢ of every dollar contributed will go into the Scholarship Fund or the Site Restoration Fund. The generous contributions of Brown Forman, Caseus, Koffee on Audubon, Trader Joes, and the Regional Water Authority... plus the remarkable inventiveness and loyalty of Doug Coffin's Big Green Truck Pizza ... make this possible. Does anyone make your dollars go farther?

9. A Necessary Inefficiency

We know that the art works don’t appear to command prices equal to the talent and hours that went into them. But remember the whole event would be impossible without the artwork. So divide the event’s total revenue by the 72 (for sale) of the 84 pieces displayed... that sets an average value at $670. A much more accurate reward.

8. The Problem of Structure

The length of the event is good in that it allow three shifts of friends to attend. Awkward in that it tests the endurance of some who want to make it to the auction's end. And Rev. Hay says he has much to teach us about how to capture the congregation’s attention. We are working on the problem.

7. More than you Can Count

84 artists submitted work. At least another dozen came close to finishing (Jessica wore her brilliant belt...that she could not part with). We have consumed at least 2800 wooden rules since January. That attests to the number of experiments that preceed each completed piece... and the number of you who are still toying with ideas.

6. A Precious moment of Order

We like the challenge in the Challenge of making the place nearly clean. For most of the year we must devote our energies to making dust. Counting painting, 70 apprentice hours... and the hard work of Jimmy Newman’s Cleaning crew... went into this brief but important transformation.

5. Long Term Investment

Each year we build a long term project into the event’s activities. Watch the transformation of the space just south of the Town Bridge’s entrance this spring.

4. A Permanent Catalog

While some of the work is ephemeral...the product of the event will live on. Watch for the small catalog that will join the Leonardo archive on our web site.

3. They get it: A Particular Kind of Scholarship

The event will fund Whitney Scholarships. You and the other sponsors will fund summer program outreach in Hamden (Rotary), Meriden (Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation) Milford (Subway) and New Haven (you). We will work with teachers who know our programs to identify the brilliantly inventive but sometimes-restless-in-the-classroom students who need a place to develop their gifts.

2. Our Apprentices get it.

We especially value the wealth of talent the Challenge brings to inspire our apprentices. Five apprentices submitted entries that, in their conception and execution, matched the high standards that well trained and seasoned artists have set in all the Challenges we have seen. It is an influence that we could afford in no other way.

1. You get it.

We don’t explain well in words the unusual work that we do. The Challenge is a condensed and direct infusion of the joy and chaos we get to experience every day. We are confident that you take away from the event an understanding that too few share. We are grateful for your interest.