Creative Support for Organizations-Round 1
Creative Support for Organizations-Round 1
Clean River Partners will organize, curate, and host the Downstream Environmental Film Festival in four small communities in southern Minnesota. Participants will experience high quality, short local, national, and international films.
Uri Camarena: business consultant; Michael Charron: arts educator and an arts and civic leader; Richard Cohen: attorney in private practice and a former state legislator; Emily Galusha: arts and civic leader, former arts administrator; Anthony Gardner: vice president, marketing and communications at CentraCare; Ken Martin, political strategist and campaign manager; Philip McKenzie: team lead with Denver Air, adjunct college faculty; Nichole Melton-Mitchell: healthcare administrator; Dobson West: retired attorney; Christina Widdess: nonprofit consultant; former arts administrator; Christina Woods: executive director, Duluth Art Institute
Rachel Carlson: Rachel Coyne is a writer and painter from Lindstrom, MN. Her books include Daughter, Have I Told You?, Whiskey Heart, The Patron Saint of Lost Comfort Lake and the YA Antigone Ravynn Chronicles. Her painting have been featured in journals such as Fatal flaw, the Emerson Review, Hole in the Head and many others.; Joshua Gillespie: Gillespie is a local Black Storyteller and a Leadership Scholarship Program Director. He is passionate about the local art community as a Minnesota native and actively participates in the creative sphere. He has volunteered as a grant reviewer in the past, and he hopes to continue learning about the process and improve his own grant writing abilities. He is dedicated to the work and committed to the process.; Jane Nelson: Jane Becker Nelson is Director and Curator of Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College, where she oversees the museum?s collections and exhibitions and serves as a specialist in and advocate for visual teaching and learning. Becker Nelson has worked in museums and galleries across the U.S. and Canada, serving as curator, educator, gallery manager, and fundraiser at institutions including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, Groveland Gallery, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Seattle Art Museum, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Ontario. Her major fields of interest include contemporary art in northern North America, museum studies, and curatorial practice. Exhibitions such as The Making Known (2022), Meg Ojala: I Want to Show You Something (2018), She Gone Rogue (2014), and Re-framing Terrorism (2011) exemplify Becker Nelson?s interest in art and contemporary culture, and a drive to connect exhibitions with curricular interests in higher education. Becker Nelson holds a BA in studio art and art history from St. Olaf College and an MA in art history from Queen?s University in Kingston, Ontario. She is a Minnesota state representative to the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) and presents regularly at their annual conferences.
ACHF Arts Access
Participants in outstate Minnesota will discover the power of national and international independent films to entertain, educate, and inspire. We will evaluate this outcome based on participation (at least 200 people) and surveys at the event that ask questions like: Describe something you learned form this festival. What will you do differently based on what you learned at this event?
116 participants in outstate Minnesota connected with national and international films. The films were entertaining, educational, and inspirational. We gathered feedback from participants using these prompts: 1) Talk about how a film reminded you about something from your life and experiences. 2) Did any film inspire you to take action for cleaner water/the environment? If so, what will you do?