Quick Start Grants
Quick Start Grants
The Sebastian Project, a collaborative effort between Ely artists Joey Kenig and Tim Stouffer.
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 Schubert: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center.
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Jeanne Doty: Retired Associate Professor UMD Music, pianist; Margaret Holmes: visual artists, poet, and former Children's Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Schubert: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
The Sebastian Project, a collaborative effort between Ely artists Joey Kenig and Tim Stouffer, will showcase a presentation that demonstrates the interrelatedness of the arts. This project commissions new works of art, poetry, and music, some that may happen in immediate response at a multimedia public performance to be held during Ely's Winter Festival on Sunday, February 4, 2018, at 2:00 pm in the Vermilion Community College Theater. Kenig will create artwork using collage and crayon drawings; Stouffer will use Kenig's art as inspiration for poetry; and Kenig, in turn, will compose acoustic guitar music in response to Stouffer's poems. There will be original poems created for the performance based on some of Stouffer's art or photography or written without visual prompt (solo on Stouffer's part) and original music from Kenig (solo on his part). The artists will create together one piece that combines everything: a piece of art that inspires a song written and performed together. We have two main goals in mind. First, this project will benefit two local artists. As a result of participation in this project, the artists will create new original art. This will be measured by the deliverables they produce. This project will also provide them an opportunity to expand and explore their artist boundaries; the depth of this growth will be measured through a post-project reflection. Secondly, this project will benefit our community as it will increase the propensity of our community members to participate in the arts. We will measure this by the number of participants at the performance. This project brings a new event to the Ely Winter Festival, enhancing the capacity of the Festival and Vermilion Community College. It fosters the image of Ely as an arts community, serves the need of locals for art-related events, and draws in tourists who might spend money at local businesses and on local art. This project helps fill a need on the VCC campus and in our broader community for arts-related activities that foster opportunities for self-expression. Importantly, this project invites an opportunity for children in the community and college students to participate in the arts. Students in K-12 and VCC students enrolled in a creative writing class will have the opportunity to engage with arts/writing, increasing their awareness. The attendance at the event and the work produced by students as a result of the rehearsal workshops held will measure its success.
The ARAC grant paid for commissioned art work created specifically for the Sebastian Project. The Sebastian project performance on February 4th, 2018 displayed original artwork of Joey Kenig visually, original poetry written and performed by Tim Stouffer and musical pieces created to accompany the poems by Joey Kenig. The performance also included two pieces that Kenig and Stouffer wrote and arranged together in the form of songs. The performance also incorporated not only collaboration between the two artists and three mediums, but the audience as a poem at the end of the performance was created with the artists and the audience. The college creative writing class, the Ely Tuesday group and the Ely Rotary as well as a group of 20 individuals took part in intimate workshop/rehearsals leading up to the event. The art made specifically for the event during the time of the grant exceeded the amount estimated in the original proposal. The art has inspired others to collaborate.
Other,local or private