Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2

Priyanka Basu: Basu is an assistant professor of modern and contemporary art history at the University of Minnesota Morris. She has been published in journals and edited volumes, including Third Text and Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, and won fellowships and awards, including a 2021 Arts Writers Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation. She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Southern California. Her interests include experimental film, photography, multimedia arts, and socially engaged art.; Janet Flood-Cole: Flood-Cole is a licensed social worker and has been working as an interim contract hospital case manager since 2014. She has a master's degree in social work from The University of South Florida. Flood-Cole is connected to the arts through her acting and has performed in murder mystery dinner theater productions around the state with Mr. Mystery Productions. Flood-Cole also is a singer. She has performed with church choirs at Unity Minneapolis, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Prospect Park Community Choir, and the Opera Summer Chorus.; Scott Gilbert: Gilbert is the founder of Segue Productions and a longtime volunteer with Theatre in the Round and Chameleon Theatre. He is a former manager of operations for Six Points Theater (formerly Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company) and is a longtime attendee (sometimes artist) with the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Hailing from Arizona, he has a BFA in theater production and a MA in educational leadership.; Melissa Higgs Kohler: Higgs is a poet and science fair director who previously taught at The Loft and the University of Illinois (Springfield, IL), and served as president of the Vachel Lindsay Association, a small arts nonprofit. She has published three chapbooks of poetry and received second prize in the Basil Bunting Poetry Competition in 2017. Her reviews and interviews can be found at The Poetry Foundation, the Adroit Journal, Kenyon Review Online, and The Colorado Review. She received her MFA in creative writing from Hamline University in 2002. Higgs is the recipient of a 2022 Minnesota State Arts Board grant providing creative support for Minnesota artists.; Myron Johnson: Johnson has been an established artist in the Twin Cities for many years. First as an associate director at the Children's Theater Company from 1972-1985 and then as founder and artistic director of Ballet of the Dolls until 2015. Johnson has been awarded many grants over the years for Ballet of the Dolls from the McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Arts Board, as well as many corporate grants. He has received two McKnight choreographer awards as well as two Sally Awards for lifetime achievement and commitment. Johnson is currently coaching dancers, teaching, and working with Alzheimer's patients. ; Jean Louis: Louis is an avid supporter of the arts in central Minnesota, serving on a fine arts council to support sound and lighting needs for the performing arts center in the local high school, working as stage manager for an annual talent showcase, and writing grants for the schools and community theater groups. With a degree in music education, she accompanies musical theater productions, and plays for services in multiple churches, as well as playing for weddings, a dinner theater, and other events. She volunteers in a nearby school district to play for choir concerts. Composing mass settings and reviewing grants are her latest endeavors in the world of the arts.; Dustin Nelson: Nelson is a senior writer at Thrillist, and has published journalism with City Pages, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, the Walker Reader, and other publications. He's the author of the poetry collection "in the office hours of the polar vortex" (RoboCup Press) and the chapbook "Abraham Lincoln" (Mondo Bummer). His poetry has appeared in Best American Experimental Writing, Fence, and other publications. His comic book writing has appeared in numerous anthologies and includes two series soon to be published. He was also a writer and producer on the radio comedy Radio Happy Hour, as well as the Web series Geocachers and one episode of TPT's "Are You MN Enough?" He was a founder and editor of the literary magazine InDigest which ran for nine years and published books and ran a reading series in New York. His experimental videos have appeared in more than a dozen international festivals and galleries. He was a resident at the UFT Verftet residency in Bergen, Norway, and has volunteered with Art Buddies and the PEN Prison Writing Program.; Kayla Pridmore: Pridmore is the program manager for the Seeds of Success program at Community Action Duluth where she coordinates farmers markets, a community mobile market, and year round vegetable growing. She previously was the conference coordinator for the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society and a CSA farmer. She graduated from the University of Minnesota at Morris with a degree in environmental studies.; Alison Rasch: Most recently the midday host for Classical Minnesota Public Radio and the voice of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcasts, as well as the nationally syndicated SymphonyCast, Young is a voice artist, presenter, and flutist. She serves on the advisory board of the Schubert Club and is a past recipient of an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She graduated with honors from Interlochen Arts Academy (Interlochen, MI), University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA), and Cleveland Institute of Music (Cleveland, OH). In addition to her love of the arts, Young is a long distance backpacker and shares stories through spoken word and found sound as Blissful Hiker.; Phaedre Sanders, Sanders is a Minnesota native, born and raised. She has a love for art and different types of artistic expression. She is currently a tax accountant but spends her personal time volunteering in many forms and has enjoyed attending and supporting artistic events for many years. She is a current board member of a real estate cooperative to increase ownership, education, and opportunities for all people including underrepresented communities. Sanders also spent many years helping to expose students to HBCU life. Lastly, Sanders spends many hours coordinating a mentor program between high school students and employees.