Arts Tour Minnesota
The College of Saint Benedict will present a free outdoor concert series, Sunset Stages at Saint BenÆs, featuring five Minnesota performing artists or groups, designed to engage the Saint Joseph community in summer arts activities.
Judson Bemis Jr., Actor, arts administrator, founder and principal of Clere Consulting. Secretary, Minnesota State Arts Board., Ardell Brede, Mayor of Rochester, elected 2002., Peggy Burnet, Businesswoman, art collector, and community volunteer. Chair of the Nominating Committee, Smithsonian National Board. Trustee, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Vice Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board., Michael Charron, Dean of the School of the Arts, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Vice Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board., Sean Dowse, Executive director, Sheldon Theatre. Board member for Minnesota Music Coalition, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, and Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies., John Gunyou, City manager, Minnetonka., Benjamin Klipfel, Executive Director, Alexandria Area Arts Association, Inc. Director and arts educator.,Ellen McInnis, Director of Twin Cities government relations, Wells Fargo. Member of Bottineau Boulevard Partnership. Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board., Pamela Perri, Executive vice president, Builders Association of Minnesota., Margaret Rapp, Former educator, Saint Paul Academy and Summit School. Officer at-large, Minnesota State Arts Board., Anton Treuer, Professor of Ojibwe, Bemidji State University.
Lynne Beck: Development director, COMPAS.; Steven Downing: Consultant, Northern Community Radio. School Board member, Northern Lights Community School. Trustee, Northland Foundation. Writer, musician, teacher, and arts administrator.; Stephanie Eichman: Executive director, Minnesota Dance Ensemble.; Jane Gudmundson: Artist and arts educator.; Athena Kildegaard: Lecturer, University of Minnesota Morris.; Jeff Larson: Producing director, Minnesota Fringe Festival.; Alberta Marana: Landscape artist.; Peter Pestalozzi: Board member, Arrowhead Regional Arts Council. Co-owner, Oddessy Design Works. Furniture designer/craftsman.; Kathleen Ray: Executive director, Central Square Cultural and Civic Center. Theater artist and playwright.|Dyani Reynolds-WhiteHawk, Arts project manager, Native American Development Institute. Traditional Lakota and contemporary artist.
ACHF Arts Access
Minnesota professional artists and arts organizations have more opportunities to tour their work throughout the state. We surveyed the audience at each performance and asked if they were new audiences for this particular artist, and we asked what drew them to this concert (free, outdoor, genre, artist, other). We had a survey response rate of 17%. We also evaluated anecdotal observations of audience demographics and behaviors (such as arriving early to enjoy picnics and conversation). Post-event discussions regarding the series determined that in order to continue to make these concerts enjoyable and successful, the College of Saint Benedict would need to investigate how to increase seating capacity, as the performances often exceeded the capacity of the outdoor amphitheater and surrounding areas.
College of Saint Benedict presented a series of five free outdoor concerts with Monroe Crossing, Tonic Sol Fa, Gypsy Mania, Kevin Kling, and Davina and the Vagabonds. The concerts drew much higher community attendance than we had anticipated or could have hoped for. We projected an audience total of 1,500 (500 per concert), but had a total audience of 3,407. All five concerts had solid attendance. Our intended outcomes were to expand audiences for the presented artists and to offer five high-quality concerts for the St Joseph community during the summer. We exceeded our expectations, as 54% of audiences indicated they had never attended concerts by these artists before, and attendance was exceptionally high at each performance. Based on the attendance and audience feedback, all strategies worked well.
Other, local or private