Arts Tour Minnesota

Cantus tours to cities that would not normally be able to afford the ensemble. In April 2014, the cities of Wadena, Bemidji and Glenwood welcomed Cantus to their respective venues for a performance of the program, A Place For Us. At each venue, audiences were larger than anticipated and received standing ovations at each performance. Cantus provided an open rehearsal experience in Glenwood and visited the schools of Bemidji, Staples Motley and Minnewaska to provide coaching for their choral programs. Our report from Bemidji says that there was lots of gratitude for coming up to Bemidji. In Glenwood, another grateful Minnesota crowd. They have maintained this building as a performing arts center and art gallery…which for a town of 2000 is rather impressive. From Wadena, lots of photographs and autographs for students. The students gave us an instant standing ovation and when Gary went over to announce the encore one girl yelled Yay it worked! 2: Cantus provides experience and support in helping small Minnesota arts organizations increase audience size and knowledge. Two of our three presenters were well established and had the capacity to host Cantus. Our third presenter had lost her planning committee over the past year so Cantus was particularly helpful to her in preparing for the concert. For all three cities, Cantus provided extensive publicity support, Minnesota Public Radio on-air sponsorship and outreach to the schools. In addition to needed support of the arts in the schools, outreach helps with audience ticket sales as well.