Art Project
Art Project
Prairie Winds Concert Band 2019 Concerts.
John White: writer, photographer, retired journalist; Georgette Jones: literature teacher, theatre actor, director, teacher; Anna Johanssen: fiber artist, art teacher, Remick Gallery board, president of Windom Women’s Investment group, treasurer of Cottonwood County Animal Rescue, officer of Cotton Quilters; Kristen Kuipers: musician, private lesson and K-12 classroom music instructor, theater, writing, volunteer with Jackson Center for the Arts; Janet Olney: visual artist, Willmar Area Arts Council coordinator; Joyce Meyer: photographer, retired art teacher, Canby Arts Council; Michele Knife Sterner: theater actor, Southwest Minnesota State University Associate director for Access Opportunity Success program; Lisa Hill: musician, Crow River Singers, attorney; Joyce Aakre: visual arts, writing, Discover Dassel committee, Board member for Litchfield Community Education, Exhibit committee for Dassel Area Historical Society; Emily Petersen: visual artist, art teacher; David KelseyBassett: visual artist, musician; Anne O’Keefe-Jackson: human resources director, bead and quill work; Scott Wessels: theater actor, director, writing, media, communications, board member for Green Earth Players; Brett Lehman: musician, social worker, Worthington City Band, Worthington Concert Association; Erica Volkir: performing arts, Director of Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB; Claire Swanson: visual arts, arts teacher, Meander Art Crawl Committee.
Anne Dybsetter: visual art, writing; John Ginocchio: music, education; Brett Lehman: musician, social worker, Worthington City Band, Worthington Concert Association, Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Board; Jane Nygaard: arts advocate; Michele Knife Sterner: theater actor, Southwest Minnesota State University associate director for Access Opportunity Success program, Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Board; Tom Wirt: visual art.
Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, Nicole DeBoer (507) 537-1471
ACHF Arts Access
We always strive to achieve the goal of supporting artists in their efforts to play and perform high-quality music at our concerts. Our band has improved under the direction of Brock Duncan, and we hope that we not only increase our audience attendance, but also the number of musicians in our ensemble. We have seen a small increase in the number of musicians in our band. We are proud that we draw musicians from at least eleven cities in our area. In addition to recruiting new members via word-of-mouth, we hope increasing our advertising efforts alerts potential band members to learn about us. We contact area band directors to let them know that we welcome any of their advanced students to join us. Performing our spring concert at the NLS Performing Arts Center, with NLS student musicians, is another way we hope to recruit new band members. It is important to note that no one is turned away from playing in our band. There is a certain amount of self-selection that occurs because of the difficulty level of much of our music, but we have a core belief that as long as members come to rehearsals and bring their music home to practice, there is a place for them. Our spring concert featured 48 musicians, this fall we had 44 musicians playing, and in summer we average about 30 performers. Our goal would be to have at least 58 different band members play with us in 2019. Besides traveling to the New London-Spicer High School to perform this spring, we also want to continue to perform for our sizable summer audiences, and at community celebrations like the tribute to our local veterans at the Kandiyohi County Fair. Hearing live music in a concert hall and at a park adds to the richness of life in a rural community. For the first time, we will use an audience survey at our indoor concerts. The surveys will be placed in the programs, and we will ask people to leave them outside the concert hall. We looked at a few surveys from other music organizations and compiled our own. A board member will tabulate the results, and the board will discuss how to respond to the feedback, especially regarding advertising and repertoire. It would be very difficult to distribute surveys at our outdoor concerts in the park since there are no programs, ticket takers, or ushers.
We included audience surveys for the first time (only at indoor concerts), and the feedback was very positive. We had about 50% of audience members return the surveys, and over 95% of them wrote that they enjoyed the variety of music we played. It was particularly gratifying to learn that a large majority enjoyed the serious music, with its challenging rhythms, notes, and interpretations. Quite a few wished the concerts were longer. More than a few wrote that we reminded them of their pleasure at playing in their school band when they were younger. Not surprisingly, the average age of our audience members was over 40 - and especially over 55. That's why it is very encouraging that we have so many young people in our band. We need to build an audience for the future.
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