Cincinnati City Council's Arts and Culture Committee will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday in the pavilion in Ted Berry International Friendship Park.

On the agenda are updates on home ownership by artists and an assistance program for arts-related businesses in Over-the-Rhine; an explanation of the application process for 2004 capital grants in the arts; and a quick rundown of city grants available to artists and arts organizations.

There will be a "well done!" moment for the MidPoint Music Festival organizers and to sculptor Pat Renick.

If you need a little added incentive to be a good citizen for the arts, the first 100 people to arrive will receive a free pass to Tall Stacks (all four days). Committee chairman Jim Tarbell promises you'll get out of the meeting fast enough to stroll over to Thursday night's Tall Stacks concerts. For more information call Tarbell's office at 352-6228.

More Madcap

Madcap Productions Puppet Theatre will make a second home at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville this season. This marks the first time in the 21-year history that the giant-puppet company (one of only four in the nation) establishes a resident status beyond the Cincinnati metro area.

The four-show line-up begins Oct. 25-26 with the popular Three Tales with Tails. Madcap continues its residency at Cincinnati Art Museum, beginning with Tales from Dec. 26-28. For information about Madcap touring performances, special events and everything else, call the company at 921-5965.

Busy CCM grad

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music grad Melissa Bohon sings Anne in a staged reading of Janet Vogt and Mark Friedman's Green Gables at the York Theatre in New York on Monday, then she joins the touring production of Oklahoma!, due here in spring. She'll understudy Ado Annie.

Green Gables features a strong CCM presence, including faculty member Pat Linhart and grads Brandon Cutrell, Daniel Cochran and Angel Reda.

Deal of the week

The Return of the King, third segment of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, opens Friday at the Aronoff's Jarson-Kaplan Theater under the banner of the new Clear Stage Cincinnati.

If you're interested but want to limit your investment, there's a pay-what-you-can preview (aka dress rehearsal) at 8 p.m. Thursday. First come, first-served.