On April 10 from 1 to 3 p.m., UMBC's Fine Arts Gallery presents a dedication ceremony for the university's Joseph Beuys' Tree Partnership site, where 30 trees have been planted along the grove behind the Retriever Activities Center. The UMBC community and the general public are invited to attend this free event in celebration of the conclusion of Phase I of the Joseph Beuys' Tree Partnership. For more information call (410) 455-3188.

UMBC has partnered with 21 Baltimore organizations to produce the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership, a far-reaching visionary program inspired by artist Joseph Beuys' 7000 Oaks project, where 7000 trees were planted in Kassel, Germany from 1982 to 1987. Funded by the TKF Foundation (www.tkffdn.org) in Annapolis, Maryland, the tree plantings, which began last fall, took place at Carroll Park, Patterson Park, Wyman Park Dell and UMBC. Over 500 people of all ages and backgrounds have helped to plant 240 trees.

The April 10 event at UMBC will begin with a parade from the Fine Arts Gallery's outside entrance to the Beuys site. The parade will feature Thundersmith Industries, Inc., a puppet theatre company, as well as students from the 21st Century Threshold Project, a Baltimore after-school program, and Highlandtown Middle School, who have been involved in the partnership's plantings in Baltimore City. The celebration will include a ceremonial dig for the final tree, and remarks by Freeman Hrabowski, President of UMBC; Tom and Kitty Stoner, Co-founders of the TKF Foundation; and David Yager, Director of UMBC's Fine Arts Gallery. Also, on view from April 9 through 16 in the Visual Arts Department's Hallway Gallery (Fine Arts Building, 1st Floor), will be an exhibition featuring projects from the Joseph Beuys Educational Outreach portion of the partnership.

Originally conceived as part of the well-known international art exhibition, "Documenta 7," Beuys' work on the 7000 Oaks project led him to coin the term social sculpture, which describes the process of communication and collaboration between artists and citizens to create environmental artworks beneficial to the community. Beuys felt that these community-based art structures or projects might change the way people relate to the world in which they live and work. The project provided Beuys the opportunity to express his social concerns to improve the ecosystem, to develop positive economic and political voices in urban settings and to improve human life in general.