81 Monday, June 15, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com STREET FAIR From Page 1 year's 174. Brown attributed the decrease in to a decline in the num- ber of artist applications and fewer invitations to artists from the fair's organizers. Brown said the budget decrease is unprecedented because the fair's organizers have reported budget growth each year since relocating to the Burton Tower area in 2003. The fair has retained an average budget of $370,000 in past years. Brown and the fair's organiz- ers have been trying to generate new revenue and cut nonessential expenses in order to repair the bud- get hole. Expenses that were cut are based on responses in surveys given to past performers and patrons, rang- ing from services for artists to entire workshop events at the fair. "We look at the surveys to see which workshops are the least important and have low attendance, and those ones are vulnerable," Brown said, adding that artist ser- vices like free drinking water were eliminated using surveys given to artists only. Amid the expense cuts, Brown said the fair's daily music and art performances are receiving com- paratively few cuts, since fair offi- cials want to continue offering compensation to the performers for their work. Fair officials are also calling on community members to help repair the budget, which does not neces- sarily entail donating money. "They can help just by volun- teering. They can get an inside look at the fair this way," Brown said, adding that potential volun- teers and donors should consider the fair's consistently invigorating impact on the local economy. Brown said that this is the first time in 50 years that fair organiz- ers have looked to the community for help - though fair organizers always accept donations at booths during the fair. Mention This AD And Receive $100 Off. Now is the perfect tune to prep with the nation's leader in test preparation. - Small Classes Expert Instructors - Free Extra Help Thy (.ngcen Review OEUM In addition to charity from the community, Karen Delhey, part- nership and marketing director of the Ann Arbor Street Fair, has been trying to generate revenue by putting together custom advertis- ing packages for local businesses. "In lieu of national corporate tours, we figured we could take advantage of this and work with more regional and local compa- nies and offer them packages," she said. A few regional businesses that have accepted such offers to join the fair this year include Fire- Keepers Casino in Battle Creek, Wow Green (a manufacturer of eco-friendly cleaning products in Southfield) and Relax The Back, a distributor of massage products and ergonomic furniture based out of Northville. Whilebusinesses previouslypar- ticipated for the entire fair, Delhey said they're now able to make safer investments by appearing only one or two days out of the four. Several local businesses are also involved with the Art Fair Town- ie Street Party kickoff event, which includes music, a beer and wine tent and a kids' art fair held the Monday night before the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. The Townie Street Party has consistently been a financial suc- cess in previous years, and fair officials expect to repeat strong attendance this year. "The question people have been asking is, 'Are you going out of business?' and the answer is a resounding no," Brown said. "We're trying to do the best we can to be creative and resource- ful." "We're going to be fine, but we want to be fine for the next 50 years," she said. SHAMAN DRUM From Page 1 but in effect what it does is it's go- ing to drive out all of the businesses around the University that special- ize in textbooks," Pohrt said Friday. He added that the book indus- try is going through a digitalization revolution and that the University will be at the forefront of it. "That's the way that history's tipping," Port said, adding that the last major revolution in the liter- ary world was the invention of the printing press. Pohrt said that electronic books will be part of the digitalization movement, which will completely change the textbook industry. "What's looming on the hori- zon is the rise of electronic books," he said. "I think those are going to especially impact the textbook in- dustry." Though the direction ofthe book industry is not promising for inde- pendent booksellers, Pohrt said he was not spiteful of the new technol- ogy. "I'm not particularly bitter about all of this," Pohrt said, adding that he thought electronic books would be much easier for students to car- ry. LSA senior Torrance Laury said he was disappointed to hear that Shaman Drum was closing. "It's pretty disappointing to hear," Laury said. "I bought a few books there, but I know they also sold a lot of books for leisure read- ing, and they've been around a long time." LSA senior Olivia Both also la- mented the closing of Shaman Drum, stating that she prefers to buy most of her books there. "That's where I get all my books from," Both said. "I feel like they're always so helpful there. I've always appreciated it.' In an effort to continue the legacy of his bookshop, Pohrt ap- plied for nonprofit status with the IRS over a year ago and planned to create a center for the literary arts - called the Great Lakes Literary Arts Center - that could receive tax-deductible donations and gov- ernment grants. "The question is,'What does the bookshop of the future look likeT' and that's a really interesting ques- tion," Pohrt said. "I hope a way to explore that question is with the GLLAC." Pohrt said he hopes to come up with a solution to help the failing independent bookshop industry in the city within the next six months. "I've done my best to be a com- munity bookshop and a community resource, and it doesn't work right now" Pohrt said. "I don't know how to fix this, but maybe I'll have a bet- ter idea about that six months from now, or if other people are drawn to answer that with me." Pohrt wrote that he was grateful to have 28 good years of business out of Shaman Drum's 29-year run and thanked the community for its support. "I'm very grateful for the opportu- nity to be a bookseller in Ann Ar- bor," Pohrt wrote. WANT TO WRITE FOR THE DAILY? E-mail jamblock@umich.edu for details.