Individual Artist Project Grant

The participants in Everyone has a Story Project will be positively impacted by seeing their stories and photographs preserved for their children and grandchildren, as well as fostering ongoing conversations. They will have honored their parents and grandparents, capturing stories and recollections that would otherwise be forgotten. There will be a ripple effect because participants will share with members of their family and/or caregivers. Depending on the interest of the individuals whose stories I have collected, I hope to have an informal reception open to the community, which will extend the impact even further. At the reception, participants or family members will read from these memoirs. And if a book comes out of the project, then more of the community would be benefited by having the stories of some of the oldest residents. Through this project I will work with eight older adults in the rural community of Deer River who want to share their stories and/or personal history but are unable to document it themselves. Measurable Outcomes I will: 1 Secure names of at least a dozen potential older adults from staff at Essentia Health Comstock Assisted Living and Homestead Nursing Home, and County social workers 2 Spend an average of 10 hours working with each older adult on their history booklet 3 Assist participants in distributing their personal history booklet to approximately 5 family members and/or caregivers. 4 Encourage and assist participants in distributing their personal history booklet with the county historical society and/or the tribe they are affiliated with 5 Solicit feedback from participants and family and/or caregivers about how the project impacted them and how I could improve it 6 Write and submit an article about the project to the Grand Rapids newspaper 7 Purchase a laptop computer In 2014 I started a newspaper column, Reminisce. I write about interesting people and events of local historical significance between 1895-1930. I learned that people enjoy reading about local history, especially finding names they recognize. I generally get at least one response after each column is published from a reader with a comment. Here is one from yesterday's column about a local resort that was started in 1916. ?I love that you are sharing our amazing history! I am beyond blessed to be a part of the history of such as amazing piece of Itasca County history.? In 2019 I finished the manuscript of my novel, but I realized it wasn't done. In 2021 I was accepted into a yearlong writing mentorship program and the first thing I learned was that my novel, which told of a true family murder in 1897 would not satisfy the reader as the murder is not solved. I have already written over 10,000 words of new material and I anticipate the revision will be completed by the end of 2022.Assessing Measurable Outcomes [1] I will document the names of at least a dozen potential older adults from staff at Essentia Health Comstock Assisted Living and Homestead Nursing Home, and County social workers. [2] I will document the time I spend working with each older adult on their history booklet. [3] I will document the name and relationship of everyone the participant distributed their personal history booklet to [4] I will document how many of the participants shared their personal history booklet with the county historical society and/or the tribe they are affiliated with. [5] I will create, distribute, and tally a feedback survey for participant and family and/or caregivers about how the project impacted them and how I could improve it. I will use the information to make changes to my project as I go [6] I will provide ARAC with a copy of the published newspaper article. [7] I will provide ARAC with a receipt for the purchase of a laptop computer