Art Project Legacy
Art Project Legacy
Ignite Rural: Public Art Residencies
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. Kristen Kuipers: musician, private lesson and K-12 classroom music instructor, theater, writing, volunteer with Jackson Center for the Arts; 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; Anne O'Keefe-Jackson: human resources director, bead and quill work; Betsy Pardick: musician, actor, Dept. of Public Transformation committees; Michele Knife Sterner: theater (actor), SMSU Associate director for Access Opportunity Success program; Louella Voigt: music, fiber art; Blue Mound Area Theatre board; Erica Volkir: performing arts, Pipestone Performing Arts Center board, Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB director; Janine Teske: music, theater, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley school board; Mark Wilmes: Lake Benton Opera House board president, actor/director, musician, reporter;
Lisa Bergh, visual art, arts admin; Shawn Kinsinger, theater, SMAC Board; Brett Lehman, music; Paula Nemes, theater, music; John Sterner, visual art, education; Mark Wilmes, theater, music
Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, Nicole DeBoer (507) 537-1471
ACHF Arts Access
Through the "at home" Artist-in-Residence program, we are providing access to arts and culture activities by meeting people where they are at. We want to provide opportunities that go "beyond broadband" to support communities without access to high-speed internet and those for whom online interactions or "screen time" are not their preferred ways of engaging/connecting. Selected artists will design creative solutions to a community challenge, which will support/change the way members of their community connect during this challenging time. Residents will recognize that the arts can drive community engagement, civic participation, and economic growth, leading to higher quality of life for the entire community. Selected artists will explore the power of collaborative work that's driven by a community's needs. We will meet with the selected artists each week of their residency to track the changes qualitatively, and we will work with them to document their projects to be shared with the region. We will track direct impact to measure who and how many folks have been reached. We will also track digital reach. Evaluation tools specific to this project will be developed in collaboration with our Evaluation Consultant and to-be-hired project coordinator upon receiving funding. In all DoPT programs, we track moments of engagement through quantitative, qualitative, and participatory evaluation strategies, including photo, video, interviews, story circles, share backs, surveys (in person and online), and non-traditional approaches (games, storytelling, poetry, drawings, etc.) during and following each of our public events.
We hosted 4 artists for 4 months in the development of their own community-oriented creative projects: Beth O?Keefe, Morton/Lower Sioux Community; Andrea Duarte-Alonso, Worthington, first-generation Mexican-American; Sureeporn Sompamitwong, Adrian, originally from Thailand; and Priscilla Gruendemann, Morton/Lower Sioux Community. Participants reported gratitude for the opportunity and remarked that they felt simultaneously challenged and supported. Artists were able to strengthen their own networks in SW MN, expand their networks to include new collaborators and audience members, and learn from each other and from subject matter experts through workshops. We were also able to create a series of videos through our partnership with Pioneer PBS in order to showcase the artists and their projects.
Other,local or private