Art Project
Art Project
Pop-Up Theater Performances at the 150th McLeod County Fair
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;
Cheryl Avenel-Navara, arts admin, SMAC board; Mark Bosveld, theater; Beth Habicht music; Janet Olney, visual art, arts admin; Valerie Quist, writing; Sheila Tabaka, theater
ACHF Cultural Heritage
We are excited to incorporate as many local artists from our community that express interest in participating in this project, and are equally excited for those that will be enjoying the project from the audience. Our mission is to enhance the educational opportunities associated with the McLeod County Fair, and this project will be the perfect combination of education, arts exposure and entertainment all in one. We anticipate that this project will impact the historical knowledge of those that attend, and give people of all ages some take-away topics of discussion between themselves, and more importantly, a chance to give attendees of all ages a glimpse of what life was like for our ancestors. We have created an evaluation tool linked below in the form of a survey. It is designed for an actor or designated volunteer to poll the audience with a few brief questions, as well as document some additional demographic details of the crowds at each performance, each day. This information will be compiled at the conclusion and shared with the performers, board members, partners in the project, and utilized for determining if pop-up theater was an effective form of communicating with our audience.
According to our evaluation tool, 83% of our audience said they learned something new at the festival (in 2021 only 63% said they learned something new). And the number one reason that people came to the 2022 festival was because of the quality of the art and the opportunity to learn more about the processes, methods, and interact directly with the potters. In 2022, we added additional in-depth artist demos, and 32% of those surveyed said that it was a top reason people came to the festival (up from 12% of respondents in 2021). Our 2022 audience engagement survey showed that 31.7% come from McLeod County, 19.9% came from the Twin Cities Area, the majority came from other areas of Minnesota and the remaining 1.9% came from out of state.