Arts Tour Minnesota
ACHF Arts Access
Ragamala Dance will tour to four Minnesota communities, continuing ongoing relationships, renewing old connections, and forming new ties to areas we have not visited. Via audience surveys, informal conversations, and post-project meetings, we will determine how this project has advanced our ongoing relationship with the Rochester and Duluth communities, renewed our ties to Faribault, and forged new connections in Austin. 2: Ragamala Dance will work with small venues that would not have the capacity to host us without grant support or advice from Ragamala Dance and other partners. Through observation and post-project meetings, we will gauge how smaller presenters benefitted from the opportunity to work with an experienced touring company like Ragamala Dance, as well as from other community partnerships forged through this project.
Ragamala Dance toured to four greater Minnesota communities-Rochester in November, Faribault in December, Duluth in February and Austin in February-presenting public performances of our signature work entitled Sacred Earth. Associated community outreach activities included a weeklong residency with middle and high school students at Shattuck-Saint Mary's School in Faribault, a public lecture-demonstration at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (offered in conjunction with a Diversity Summit being held on campus), a lecture-demonstration at the Faribault Public Library, and a public workshop at the Yoga Studio of Austin. Co-presenters of the tour and public performances were Rochester Community and Technical College, Shattuck-Saint Mary's School in Faribault, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and the Paramount Theater in Austin. None would have had the resources to bring Ragamala dance to their communities were it not for this grant. In this way, we also achieved outcome C, as indicated on our initial proposal. 2: This project provided opportunities for organizations that would not otherwise have had the resources or the administrative capacity to present a company like Ragamala Dance. These included a theater, two state colleges/universities, a high school, a library, and a yoga studio. This grant not only provided a heavy subsidy for Ragamala Dances artists' fees, but also allowed us the time to work with our partners in the planning and execution of our activities. The opportunity to work with a seasoned touring company like Ragamala Dance will give these emerging arts presenters valuable experience that they can use in planning future arts programming. This was our first time visiting Austin, allowing us also to fulfill the outcome as indicated in our original proposal.
Other, local or private