Emergency Working Artist Project Grant
Emergency Working Artist Project Grant
Hel - A Duluth based feature film about a depressed person encountering the version of himself that lived up to their full potential.
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community.
Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Kendra Carlson: writing and theater instructor, University of Minnesota Duluth; Carla Hamilton-Eisele: visual and multimedia artist; Karen Savage Blue: visual artist; Moira Villiard: visual artist.
ACHF Arts Access
The funding will be used to sustain my living expenses while I dedicate my time to this project for two months of shooting and editing, and then months of promotion following. It will allow me to create new work which will generate further career opportunities and economic developments. The film will be released online as opposed to film festivals so that audiences can experience new and original art during isolation. I've made three feature films before and this is my most minimalistic in terms of production scale/value. The challenge comes entirely from my ability to perform, and play multiple versions of myself. I have been acting in all of my films and getting better with each project. I've also done acting in several local projects by other directors, including two feature films. I am currently in early talks with a world wide distribution company and streaming platform about working together on a variety of projects in the future. I can't say for certain that Hel would be on that slate, but I have a major incentive to get it as polished as possible.I will be able to see exactly how many people are watching the film, and how they are rating it based, on based on its performance metrics on its streaming platforms. Through direct engagement, comments, and livestream Q and A events, we can be part of a thriving virtual arts community. In terms of how funding will help relating to sustain arts and artists: It will have produced a feature film, and sustained myself as an artist while I make it for several months.
I completed my film Hel in the time frame and released it to youtube. It has since gained 900+ views.