Return on investment

Pulaski Technical College frequently points out that for every $1 spent on the school, $10 goes back into the local economy.

That’s kind of the way Melody Stanley, proprietor of Red Door Gallery in North Little Rock, thinks about the Business of Art fundraising auction. What she began seven years ago - yeah, OK, she’s a gallery owner,perhaps it’s self-interested, but just listen - she did because she thought her relatively modest resources would go furthest here.

The money raised at the March 14 event inside the Campus Center - about $100,000, nearly three-quarters of which comes not from the auction but from corporate sponsorships - goes toward scholarships to art and business students. Though she never went to college, Stanley says she sees a reflection of her younger self in the students at Pulaski Tech.

The Business of Art and the scholarships it supports is philanthropy “you can sink your teeth into,” she said.

The scholarships may mean students can pursue a little harder, a little longer, their dreams as artists or business innovators.

“We are changing lives here.”