Artist Initiative

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$10,000
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
E. Morgan Thorson AKA Morgan Thorson
Recipient Type
Individual
Status
Completed
Start Date
January 2018
End Date
December 2018
Activity Type
Grants/Contracts
Counties Affected
Hennepin
Hennepin
Project Overview

Artist Initiative

Project Details

Public Love is a dance project, investigating the personal, and often private creative process. With research across disciplines, it will interrupt conventional modes of power, translation and embodiment in dance creation.

Competitive Grant Making Body
Board Members and Qualifications

Ardell Brede: Mayor of Rochester, elected 2002; Peggy Burnet: Businesswoman, art collector, and community volunteer. Member of the Smithsonian National Board. Former chair of the board, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Uri Camarena: Business consultant, Metropolitan Economic Development Association. Board chair, Minneapolis College of Art and Design.; Michael Charron: Dean of the School of the Arts, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Officer at -Large, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Rebecca Davis-Lee: Touring pianist, piano and music theory teacher. Vice Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Sean Dowse, Mayor of Red Wing, elected 2016. Former executive director, Sheldon Theatre. Board member for Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. Secretary/Treasurer, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Thomas Moss: Consultant to nonprofits and government agencies.; Dobson West: Senior advisor, Spell Capital Partners Fund; Christina Widdess: Arts organization consultant; former managing director, Penumbra Theatre. Vice Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board.

Advisory Group Members and Qualifications

Ramona Jacobs: Owner and director of Fergus Falls School of Dance; Heather Klopchin: Associate professor and chair of St Olaf College dance department; Sachiko Nishiuchi: Flamenco dancer and instructor; Arts Board grantee; Akiko Ostlund: Dancer, performing artist, poet, puppeteer, and activist; Naimah Petigny: Dancer; PhD candidate in feminist studies at the U of M; Michele Rusinko: Professor and chair of department of theater and dance, Gustavus Adolphus College; April Sellers: Dancer, choreographer; artistic director of The April Sellers Dance Collective; Linda Shapiro: Founder and former artistic codirector of New Dance Ensemble, director of New Dance Laboratory, and faculty member, department of theatre and dance, University of Minnesota; freelance writer; Chitra Vairavan: Dancer and choreographer; founding member of Ananya Dance Theatre

Conflict of Interest Disclosed
No
Legal Citation / Subdivision
Laws of Minnesota 2017 Regular Session, chapter 91, article 4, section 2, subdivision 3
Appropriation Language

ACHF Arts Access

2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$10,000
Other Funds Leveraged
$60,185
Direct expenses
$70,185
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

My practice is stretched across subjects, methods, and disciplines (dance, light, sound, etc.) to create material with racially diverse artists. This outcome will be evaluated through feedback from the group, community conversations about our subjects, public showings as well as feedback from institutional partners. 2: Collaborators will deepen their practice through the creation of Public Love, an original dance work that offers new methods in creative coalition. This outcome will be evaluated through feedback from collaborating artists, effective partnerships with institutions; and surveys that are collect from the audiences that view the work.

Measurable Outcome(s)

1) My dance-making practice changed, to create an interdisciplinary production that employed the expertise of racially diverse collaborators. Feedback was gathered from audience members as well as attendees at our public showings and events. The most pivotal discourse, regarding how I grew as an artist, occurred with the collaborators, and the institutional partners. 2) Artists were challenged to grow and deepen their practice by learning collaborative strategies, like gifting, to generate original material. The evaluation method,ongoing conversations with collaborators about the process as well as some feedback from audiences, yielded information about individual growth, power and authorship in collaborative making.

Proposed Outcomes Achieved
achieved proposed outcomes
Source of Additional Funds

Other,local or private

Project Manager
First Name
E. Morgan
Last Name
Thorson
Organization Name
E. Morgan Thorson AKA Morgan Thorson
State
MN
Phone
(612) 221-3416
Email
emorgant@earthlink.net
Administered By
Administered by
Location

Griggs Midway Building, Suite 304,
540 Fairview Avenue North,
St. Paul, MN 55104

Phone
(651) 539-2650 or toll-free (800) 866-2787
Email the Agency