Artist Access Grant
Artist Access Grant
North Woods Art for Exhibition.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, cultural programming coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Kathy Neff: musician, director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
My goal for grant funds in to purchase large canvas prints of my work. They will be part of a growing collection which will allow me to seek new opportunities to display my work. My dream is to share my photography with more folks up and down the North Shore and the larger Arrowhead region of Minnesota. I want to spread awareness for the wildlife that live in our neighborhoods and backyards. In order to exhibit work, an artist needs physical representations! This can be an expensive up-front cost when you do not own a plotter printer and need to order through a third party. My goal is to get my artwork in front of a larger audience, to share stories, and spark curiosity in others for the natural world. Having art on exhibition will be an invaluable marketing tool, help increase traffic to my professional photography website, and increase my following on social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram). An increase in sales (through prints or online) is another intended outcome. Through my website I can track visitors over time and can see which images are receiving attention. On social media platforms I can view insights in a similar fashion, track statistics, demographics, even see which posts receive more “clicks” or engagement and when. I have a section on my website dedicated to Conservation journalism projects where folks can go to see more stories about wildlife conservation issues in Minnesota. Before the exhibition period, during, and after I will compare traffic on my various photography platforms. From talking with visitors of the gallery in person I will be able to hear their original thoughts, comments, and critiques. I will ask Park (or employees/owners of the hosting facility) staff for feedback in regard to the exhibition as well. I plan to track sales and compare to before exhibitions. I will also track an increase in new exhibitions of my art over time.
I have been able to interact with visitors to my gallery and have conservation about Minnesota wildlife and conservation. I have also been able to track the increase in traffic to my educationalbusiness online website and social media platforms (Instagram and Facebook) since the grant project has been carried out. There have been three gallery installations since the purchase of canvas wrapped prints with ARAC grant dollars. The first gallery was at the Magnolia Cafe in Carlton, Minnesota. The second was installed at the Great Lakes Gear Exchange in Duluth (some pieces are still there). The third gallery is currently up at the Coho Cafe in Tofte, Minnesota.