Art Project
Art Project
SquidFest 2022 - A Community Art Festival
Cheryl Avenel-Navara: education, Worthington Public Arts Commission chair, SW MN Opportunity council; Justin Beck, chair of Hutchinson Public Arts Commission, president of Hutchinson Center for the Arts, photography, music; Judy Beckman: vocal music, Big Stone Arts Council, Big Stone County Historical Society, Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce CEO; Cheri Buzzeo: theater, music, The Barn Theatre administration, Willmar Main St participant; Jessica Welu: writing, music, SW Regional Development Commission; Anna Johannsen: fiber artist, art teacher, Remick Gallery board, president of Windom Women's Investment group, treasurer of Cottonwood County Animal Rescue, officer of Cotton Quilters; Georgette Jones: literature teacher, theatre actor/director/teacher; David KelseyBassett: visual artist, musician, Hinterland Art Crawl board; Shawn Kinsinger: theater director, actor, musician, Palace Theatre executive director, Green Earth Players vice president, Luverne Street Music board member, Luverne High School Theater artistic director; Darlene Kotelnicki: theater, city council, library board. Cheryl Avenel Navara: education, Worthington Public Arts Commission chair, SW MN Opportunity Council volunteer; Alison Nelson: art, music, and dance teacher, KMS Community Ed director, Kerkhoven Fire Department Auxiliary fundraiser; Michele Huggins: Granite Area Arts Council treasurer and volunteer, member of the Artisan Grain Collaborative, founding member of ACHALA; Betsy Pardick: musician, actor, Dept. of Public Transformation committees; Kristine Shelstad: visual arts, Madison Mercantile art gallery, Madison Arts Council, Lac qui Parle Players; VFW; Gillian Singler, MN West Community and Technical College chair of Humanities and English instructor, Creative Healing Space volunteer, writer, theater director; Michele Knife Sterner: theater (actor), SMSU Associate director for Access Opportunity Success program; Erica Volkir: performing arts, Pipestone Performing Arts Center board, Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB director; Mark Wilmes: Lake Benton Opera House board president, actor/director, musician, reporter;
Cheri Buzzeo, theater, SMAC board; Kathy Fransen, music; Georgette Jones, theater, education, SMAC board; Maureen Keimig, theater; Michele Leininger, writing; Molly Rivera, visual art, arts admin
ACHF Arts Access
The notion of art as an important community tool and part of the quality of life in our region is growing its reach and its roots? we hope to continue building on this by massively enriching our offerings from last year, and the scope of both our programming and promotion. We expect this will provide a healthy return on investment to our local businesses, community members, to neighboring communities, and to our guests. Our plan is to make this a sustainable annual event. If our goal was building a larger community while lifting up Southwest Minnesota as a destination rich in art and tourism, it feels as though we are moving in the right direction. We had some success last year with verbal as well as written and digital surveys. We plan on making those even more widely available, with volunteers helping audience members to answer questions in exchange for personalized stickers. We'll also hold a community event afterwards to provide an open exchange for feedback.
This project was an excellent example of facilitating story gatherings with community and a special opportunity for local amateur actors to delve into the intricacies of voice acting and foley art, a skill not regularly focused on by our local actors but highly effective. We are seeing the results now in subsequent story gatherings where community already understands the process and purpose of story gathering for artistic works and enthusiastically participates and invites friends. The number of playback "clicks" of online clips of the final performance have demonstrated an appreciation by community for this process. Paper surveys given at each performance night indicated audience satisfaction with the show, an appreciation for the venue and eagerness to attend future productions.