Students hoping to make their mark on Tufts' legendary cannon will no longer have to guard the landmark in the wee hours of the morning after etching their art, thanks to a Web site launched last week by the Tufts Fund for Arts, Sciences and Engineering.
PaintTheCannon.com allows users to color and draw on a digital image of the cannon and features links that permit users to donate to the fund.
Workers at the fund came up with the concept for the site a year ago as a way to reach out to young alumni, according to Associate Director of Communications Tim Knauer.
"We were trying to find a way for alumni, specifically young alumni, to reconnect and get involved in the school," Knauer said. "The thought was to play off a tradition that people know, love and enjoy."
While Knauer acknowledged that the site's designers had kept students in mind to some degree, he said that it is "geared more towards alumni."
"Rather then sending out standard mail pieces, the thought is to get into the types of media that young alumni are more used to using, such as the online experience," he said.
The site features a whitewashed cannon that users can paint over with colors from an extensive palette. When finished, they can save and display their cannon art creations in an online gallery.
This is the second creatively inspired effort that the Tufts Fund has launched to attract young alumni to donate and stay involved with Tufts, Knauer said. In July, the fund set up a Web site, JumboNewYear.com, which features a flash video of a fireworks show over the Tufts campus.
"The idea behind JumboNewYear was to increase awareness among our alumni of the turn of the fiscal new year in July," Knauer said.
He said PaintTheCannon.com was more interactive and less of a strictly fundraising endeavor. "While both PaintTheCannon and JumboNewYear are Web sites that were made to help generate awareness, JumboNewYear was more of a solicitor."
According to Knauer, the Tufts Fund will continue to create similar creative efforts. "In the future, we will definitely be talking more about the types of ways we can help bring young alumni back to campus," Knauer said.
