Released on = April 23, 2007, 2:20 pm

Press Release Author = Anj Kozel, The Art Institutes International Minnesota

Industry = Internet & Online

Press Release Summary = Five students and their faculty from The Art Institutes
International Minnesota volunteered their afternoon on Saturday, April 21, 2007 to
develop a new Web site and put it online during a national WebRaising event.
WebRaising is based on the idea of an old-fashioned barnraising. At no cost to the
community organizations, the WebRaising teams combined their creative and technical
expertise to build new Web sites for non-profit groups in their communities.

Press Release Body = (April 23, 2007) - Five students and their faculty from The
Art Institutes International Minnesota volunteered their afternoon on Saturday,
April 21, 2007 to develop a new Web site and put it online during a national
WebRaising event. WebRaising is based on the idea of an old-fashioned barnraising.
At no cost to the community organizations, the WebRaising teams combined their
creative and technical expertise to build new Web sites for non-profit groups in
their communities.

"WebRaising gives students and faculty an opportunity to give something back to the
community," says Dana Nybo, Academic Director for the Interactive Media Design
degree programs at The Art Institutes International Minnesota. "Young designers
should have at least one pro bono piece in their portfolios. I encourage all
students to take advantage of the opportunities provided by events like
WebRaising."

This year's beneficiary organization was Homeless Against Homelessness (HAH), an
organization whose mission is to being forth solid solutions to help homeless people
regain their independence through available resources. HAH hopes to solve homeless
issues by bridging the gap among the homeless, the community, and the social service
system. The Homeless Against Homelessness Web can be viewed at www.hahmpls.org.

WebRaising partner, Joshua Lang, Human Rights Program Director at St. Stephen\'s
Human Services said, \"It was exciting to see all of HAH\'s work come to life on the
website. Jon and his group were creative and their work will help bring HAH\'s
message to a much larger audience. This was a huge boost for our group.\"

The five Interactive Media Design students were led by their instructor Jon Keston
of Minneapolis, Minnesota and spent three very intense hours gathering information
and photographs supplied by HAH, developed programming and organized the appropriate
information, consulted with the client on the design, and uploaded the design to the
organization's website - www.hahmpls.org. The student volunteers include Chris
Tetreault of Eagan, Minnesota and formerly of Burnsville, Minnesota; James R. Taylor
of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Kyle Meyer of DePere, Wisconsin; Nicholas Richter of
Spooner, Wisconsin and Jason Reed of Blaine, Minnesota.

Regional area nonprofit and arts-based organizations may apply for creative service
requests from The Art Institutes International Minnesota as part of the school's
community service initiative to benefit area organizations. Services can be
provided for no charge through the school's Community Arts Resource Exchange (CARE)
program, which gives design students opportunities to apply their art and design
talents to projects that support the needs of the community. Through community
service initiatives, students can make a positive impact on their local community by
contributing their creative skills in art and design. Nonprofits benefit by
receiving pro-bono work from up-and-coming designers and visual artists. For more
information about WebRaising or the CARE program, please contact the school at
612-332-3361 or 1-800-777-3643.

Founded in 1964 as Lowthian College, The Art Institutes International Minnesota is a
diverse, dynamic institution of higher education whose mission is to educate
students for creative careers. The Art Institutes International Minnesota is part of
Education Management Corporation (www.edmc.com). The website for The Art Institutes
International Minnesota can be found at www.artinstitutes.edu/minneapolis.





Web Site = http://www.artinstitutes.edu/minneapolis

Contact Details = Anj Kozel, Director of Communications
The Art Institutes International Minnesota
15 S. 9th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402
P: 612.656.6862
F: 612.338.2417
akozel@aii.edu
www.artinstitutes.edu/minneapolis