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Performing Arts Center seeks bids this month ASHLAND -- As fund-raisers reach the $5.35 million point on their $5.8 million goal, bids are being sought this month for construction of Southern Oregon University's Visual Arts Center and accompanying remodel of Siskiyou Commons for a three-story art complex. The Southern Oregon University Foundation is shooting for a June 1 finish to net a $500,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation of Michigan, said Judy Smith, SOU Foundation director of capital gifts. To help reach that goal, a Nevada telemarketing firm has been hired to raise alumni gifts. An additional $25,000 is expected from the raffle of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that SOU Foundation board member Sid DeBoer won in a United Way raffle. The rest of the money will be raised from the community through sales of engraved bricks, granite stones or stair steps. The state Legislature has agreed to match the funds raised with $5.6 million after a bond sale this fall. The project will unite university art classes now scattered over seven buildings, including Pine Hall, a Camp White barracks hauled to the campus after World War II. The Visual Arts complex has been in the SOU master plan for 30 years, said Lisa James, SOU director of institutional advancement, and was preceded by the Music Building in 1972 and the Stolp Theater in 1982. The Schneider Art Museum was built from private donations in 1986. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA