Rural and Community Art Project Grant
Rural and Community Art Project Grant
Create a cultural and artistic learning experience for children in a special "Julenissen Klasser" tent bump out during Julebyen 2018.
Adam Guggemos: graphic designer, art events promoter; Michelle Ronning: jewelry designer and maker; Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, Cultural Programming Coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Jeanne Doty: Retired Associate Professor UMD Music, pianist; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children's Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Emily Fasbender: student liaison, visual artist
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Tammy Mattonen: visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Johnnie Hyde: choreographer and dance teacher, publisher; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Keiko Williams: musician, Executive Director at Donald G. Gardner Humanities Trust; Sarah Brokke-Erickson: painter, fine art instructor at the College of St. Scholastica.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
The OBJECTIVE is to create a new component to the Knife River Julebyen, which is sponsored by the Knife River Recreation Council, that will inspire creativity in writing and illustrating in children 7 - 12 years, following a Scandinavian mythology theme. Activities will be concentrated in a 20 x 20' tent bump out to the Gnome Dome tent and presented by artists skilled in writing and illustrating. The bump out will be known as the "Julenissen Klasser" (Children's Christmas Class). GOALS are to: 1. Perpetuate the culture inherent in the Julebyen festival; Scandinavian arts, story-telling, myths, legends,skills, 2 Enable artistic interpretations and learning of Nordic history, mythology, culture and values. MEASUREMENT TOOLS: 1. The number of children (and their families) who partake in classes (as a guide, in 2017, 350 children participated in Nordic Christmas gift workshops. 2. The number of adults who judge the works of Klasser students and hear children read their stories. The initiative to add the "Julenissen Klasser" component began with Julebyen 2017. It marked the fifth successful year of Julebyen. At that point, the Julebyen committee critiqued all activities and concluded the obvious most popular were those directed to young families. For examples: 1. The Nordic Christmas gift workshop, which is offered every year, attracted 350 children and consumed about $1000 in craft supplies, all of which was uncompensated as Julebuyen is free to the public. 2. The "Troll Train" trip to Troll Canyon in partnership with the North Shore Scenic Railroad was initiated in 2016 and carried 164 passengers. In 2017 three excursions carried a total of 614 passengers. 3. In 2017, Julebyen doubled its footprint with the addition of "Troll Village" kitty corner from festival grounds. It offered additional attractions for children and featured an "Artists Corner" for authors and illustrators of books for both children and adults. Several children's authors sold out on the first day of and were forced to take books off their retailer's shelves for Sunday. Because of the unprecedented success of family activities, and festival-goers infatuation with Norwegian mythology, we are quite certain "Julenissen Klasser" will be another success. MEASUREMENT TOOLS: 1. The number of children who partake in classes (in 2017, 350 children participated in Nordic Christmas gift workshops. 2. The number of adults who view and judge the works of Klasser participants.
The most measurable outcome of the Julenissen Klasser (Christmas Santa Classes) component would be the number of students that partook in the story writing and illustrating classes, and the class in puppetry. Kelly Dupre, instructor of the writing and illustrating class, had one 90 minute class on both Saturday and Sunday. She had a total of 20 students for both days. Kimberly Baerg, puppet designer and builder of Joy Filled Puppets, held four one hour classes over the weekend. She had total of 15 students who demonstrated on stage how to manipulate a puppet and create a character voice - then present a traditional Norwegian folk tale puppet play to those attending Julebyen. We were disappointed in attendance and feel it may have been cannibalized by the children's craft workshop that took place nearby. The craft workshop attracted between 450 - 500 children over the weekend, and was free, as opposed to a charge of $10 for the writing and illustrating class and $5 for the puppetry classes. The Julebyen committee felt the cost of supplies for these classes necessitated the charges. We promoted the Julenissen Klassers on our web site and in our publicity. Others who benefited from Julenissen Klasser were those who were entertained by the new puppeteers who presented a Norwegian folk tale puppet play on stage. The stage backdrop designed and illustrated by Ann Gumpper, our third artist, was a great asset to the kids on stage who told their stories. Her backdrop of trees, mountains and fjords where enjoyed by many, and was a great backdrop for parents and grand parents to photograph their children and grand children. While Julenissen Klasser attendance was not as expected, we do realize this was a first year initiative and will hopefully improve in years to come. There were many pictures taken of the children who appeared on stage and we can hope they will appear in social media and help build future attendance.
Other,local or private