TAINTER UPDATES RECOGNIZED ALL OVER THE PLACE
    The Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts’ recent restoration has received the Wisconsin Historical Society’s 2008 Historic Restoration Award. Nominees are judged on several criteria including quality of rehabilitation, reconstruction of missing features, or conversion to new use. The Tainter will also receive a $200,000 grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation in Janesville, the successful result of a fundraising challenge issued by the foundation last summer. More about the restoration will appear this fall in an Architecture Minnesota magazine cover story. The September/October issue will feature an article and photos of the results of work at the theater by architect Charles Liddy and associates at Miller Dunwiddie Architecture.

RECRUITMENT GETS SMARTT
    The Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation is launching a new program to retrain and attract talent in western Wisconsin. The SMARTT Network (Strategy for Marketing And Recruiting Top Talent) will be an online resource that connects talent to career, business, and technology opportunities in the region. SMARTT will focus on building and maintaining relationships with people located in or with a previous connection to the region. A 2006 study of UW-Madison students found that of those who had moved out of Wisconsin after graduation, 58.9 percent would move back for the right opportunity. Alumni listed lack of early career opportunities as their primary reason for leaving. SMARTT will help connect them with those opportunities. Applied Data Consultants, which is developing the website, says it’s slated for completion in November.