Arts Activities Support

This grant will increase skills and capacity for 4 participant artists/collectives to develop and present performances in public spaces, and inspire the larger community of local artists to engage with public spaces through activation and/or performances. Four new works will be commissioned by two artist mentor teams, who will support two mentee teams also developing new site-specific work. These works will be presented during 4 free performances at the Nicollet Theater in the Round adjacent to Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall in May-August of 2019. We will work intentionally with partners (library, outreach, etc.) in order to support robust and inclusive audiences (venue seats 60, plus standing room for 20-40 more). Vibrant and Safe Downtown will track event attendance, and is developing strategies for audience evaluation. Further, an annual downtown perception survey conducted by the DID each fall will include queries about the impact of these public performances. Fringe will survey Jurors; Mentees and Mentors (both pre- and post-surveys to gauge development and quality of program); and a survey will be made available for Mentor and Mentee applicants regarding the application experience, and meetings will be made available for any candidates seeking feedback who were not selected. All survey data conducted by Fringe will be vetted by Vibrant and Safe Downtown prior to distribution, and results will be shared with Vibrant and Safe Downtown. To culminate the project, participating artists and companies will take part in a public discussion regarding lessons learned during the initiative to share their knowledge with civic leaders and fellow artists interested in public performances.