AHHA! - Healing the Breach

Since this grant was received, AHHA! has moved forward in developing its work plan and has identified a number of strategies and opportunities, as follows:

1. Explored collaborations with the following:
Ramsey Co. Library - resulted in a Tuesday Scholar series, Black Artistry Explains American History,four programs scheduled for April and May, 2023.

Central High School - introductory conversations and meetings with individuals and groups at St. Paul's Central Senior High School to explore programs during Black History Month as well as ongoing work, including the Coordinator for Work Based Learning and representatives of the Art Club, the Environmental Social Justice Club and the Black Student Union.

MN Department of Education - met with Macarre Traynham, Director of the Minnesota Department of Education, Equity Diversity Inclusion Center, and Naomi Trevino, Head of Migrant Education with MDE. Explored a number of possibilities for a relationship with MDE, including the potential of being involved with professional development for MDE staff.

Macalester College - explored with several staff and faculty at the College regarding the potential for working with students as well as working with alumni in supporting the College's antiracism objectives.

MN Historical Society - discussed with the Pubic Programs Department possible programs as well as with the Teacher Education Department and potentially other departments interested in the arts and Black history.

White Bear Center for the Arts - continued conversation regarding a second round of workshops at the Center as a follow up to those presented by AHHA! in 2022.

Metro ECSU - discussed with the Professional Development Specialist opportunities to provide services to member schools.

Golden Thyme Caf' ' arranged for art work to be displayed at this Black-owned caf' and coffee shop in St. Paul. AHHA! was able to use some of its funds to purchase lighting that will remain permanently in the coffee shop.

2. Marketing consultation
Participated in a Consultation with Naomi Schliesman, a Springboard for the Arts consultant, to identify how to package, price and market our products and services. This resulted in guidelines for pricing and for narrowing and focusing our programs.

3. Development of promotional materials
As we have worked to develop how we describe our products and services we are simultaneously creating our brand standards (typeface, textures, mood, and color palette) as well as a re-designed logo that incorporates those standards. We are in the process of finalizing our tag linesas well as the copy that describes how we want to work with educators and their students, businesses, and learning centers such as libraries, museums, and various artistic venues. We are creating Powerpoints for presentations.

; The concept for AHHA! was born in the fall of 2021. The grant from the MN Humanities Center in the fall of 2022 provided the opportunity for the idea to become reality; we were better able to understand who we are, how to best focus our efforts, and how to become a strong and sustainable organization. The purpose of the grant was to develop a strategic plan to carry out our mission. While our primary measurable goal was to develop a comprehensive plan that identifies strategies and action steps, we discovered that as we worked to develop that plan, we were simultaneously moving forward with opportunities to implement our program ideas. Thus, the plan keeps evolving as we incorporate learnings from those opportunities. We realize that while we are still in our infancy, we should consider our planning to be evolutionary rather than static.

Outcome: A comprehensive plan for 2023
1. We applied for and received 501-c-3 tax exempt status and gained a better understanding of who we are and how to focus and made a change to our mission to better express ourselves:
Previous: As an organization of African American artists, our purpose is to seek to use the art inspired by our lived experiences to engage residents of traditionally white suburban communities in the Twin Cities area in transformative conversations and activities that heal the breach and create mutual understanding.
Revised: As an organization of African American artists, our purpose is to use the art inspired by our lived experiences to engage people in transformative conversations and activities that heal the breach and create mutual understanding.

2. We developed our primary product/program: Black Artistry Explains American History, a series of four presentations (one by each artist) that offer audiences the opportunity to hear Black artists share their lived experiences and how that translates to their art, to understand and interpret American history through images of the Black experience. A fifth presentation is optional, and involves all four artists in a panel discussion. These programs are designed to amplify the voice of Black Americans and inspire deep conversations with participants.

3. We identified priority audiences and venues for our programming.
a) Educators: K-12 district leadership (principals, teachers, equity leaders). Examples of work for this audience include two contracts that we have secured for this summer and fall:
Minnesota Department of Education - Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Center Each AHHA artist will give a 90-minute presentation at MDE's Reimagining the Arts and Ethnic Studies Summer Institute: Identify, Power, and Resistance in Education. The purpose of this institute is to provide professional development guiding secondary educators in exploring concepts of identity, power, and resistance as big ideas that can help them reimagine learning in the arts and ethnic studies. The audience is arts and social studies/social science teachers from around the state.
BrightWorks (formerly Metropolitan Educational Cooperative Service Unit) Each AHHA artist will give a 90-minute presentation as a professional development opportunity for K-12 school equity leaders.

b) General public, primarily in suburban and greater MN communities.
The Black Artistry Explains American History series was presented in April at the Roseville Library as part of their Tuesday Scholar Series and in June at the White Bear Center for the Arts. Our goal is to establish relationships with at least two additional suburban communities in the next 12 months.

c) Students
Conversations were initiated with several individuals and student groups at St Paul's Central High School as well as with the principal. These have set the stage for a potential partnership with the school in the fall of 2023, when AHHA! artists might work with students to help them learn how to express their experiences with racism through art. In addition, presentations with teachers described above have the potential for establishing relationships between AHHA! and other individual schools and their students.

d) Businesses
We have installed AHHA! artwork and lighting at Golden Thyme, a Black-owned caf' and coffee shop in St. Paul and have promoted that as a place where people can view the art. The caf' also offers us a venue for conversation with people about AHHA! and social justice issue represented by the art. Our plan is to identify two other businesses where AHHA! artwork can be viewed, perhaps during Black History Month, and art talks can take place.

4) We have established a base pricing-model for our services to begin to grow the resources to ensure our sustainability. A marketing consultation through Springboard for the Arts helped us identify how to package, price and market our products and services, resulting in guidelines for pricing and narrowing and focusing our programs. As we have gained experience and others have become aware of our programming, we are beginning to put those guidelines into practice.

Outcome: A portfolio of promotional materials to build awareness and understanding of our work.
1. Social media - We have worked to expand our website (ahha-mn.art) and to ensure that it meets our brand standards and redesigned logo. The website includes four videos about our work and information about each artist. We also have created an Instagram account and are using that platform to promote AHHA! events as well as to provide examples of historical figures and events that have been overlooked in telling our country's history.
2. We have created materials to distribute that describe AHHA! (see attached Meet the Artists and We Have a Problem 5 x 7 cards), as well as note cards that incorporate AHHA! artwork.
3. We identified our primary program, Black Artistry Describes American History, and have created four powerful PowerPoints that incorporate historical information juxtaposed with the artwork of each artist.