Creative Individuals-Round 2

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2024 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$10,000
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
James J. Christenson
Recipient Type
Individual
Status
In Progress
Start Date
April 2024
End Date
March 2025
Activity Type
Grants/Contracts
Counties Affected
Hennepin
Hennepin
Project Overview

Creative Individuals-Round 2

Project Details

Christenson will complete a documentary short about chef Gustavo Romero's efforts to adapt heirloom Mexican corn for Minnesotan farms and host screenings for Latino and Indigenous people whose health outcomes will benefit from accessible masa.

Competitive Grant Making Body
Board Members and Qualifications

Uri Camarena: business consultant; Michael Charron: arts educator, arts and civic leader; Richard Cohen: attorney in private practice, former state legislator; Emily Galusha: arts and civic leader, former arts administrator; Anthony Gardner: vice president, marketing and communications at CentraCare; Ken Martin, political strategist, campaign manager; Philip McKenzie: adjunct college faculty; Michele Sterner: higher education administrator; Dobson West: retired attorney; Christina Woods: executive director, Duluth Art Institute

Advisory Group Members and Qualifications

Katherine Anderson: Anderson is a photographer, filmmaker, editor, and visual storyteller. She is a grant recipient of Loveland Creative District, Something RED, and Irrigate. Anderson is on the culinary team and is the audio/visual coordinator and photographer at the Visitor Center Artist Camp, creating collaborative and educational videos.; Lauren Brueberg: I am a native of Minneapolis, MN and know the community well. I took dance for many years growing up in several genres including ballet, hip-hop, jazz and tap. I believe creating a business in doing what I love, that is giving full body stretches and healing others physically, is an artistic successful endeavor. I am an artist at my core, and I have been for as long as I remember. As a child, I loved to make stuff out of Legos or whatever else I could make something creative with. As I got older, I began to recognize that I was an artist. I always felt that helping others achieve their physical or artistic goals is helpful for all of us. It is valuable to pursue a creative endeavor which best helps us to express ourselves artistically and most authentically. I always felt that helping people achieve their best selves and their dreams they aim for is the best way to also help myself. After growing up in south Minneapolis and living there for about 18 years of my adult life, now living in Edina, I feel I am part of the community in every way. I was also in the arts board grant committee last session and truly enjoyed the experience.; Sallee Dawson: Dawson has studied art and art history at Century College in Minnesota and Minneapolis Community and Technical College. She was a docent at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and currently volunteers at the Grand Marais Art Colony where she continues to take classes and helps teach youth classes. A lifelong hobbyist in painting and fiber, she has exhibited recently at the Johnson Heritage Center in Grand Marais, and the Phipps Center for Arts (Hudson, WI). Last year, she was a reviewer for the Minnesota State Arts Board.; Carolyn Huber: Huber is the membership and customer service coordinator at the American Craft Council, a nonprofit, national arts organization that supports artists. She has also been a local show artist. She graduated with a degree in art history and anthropology from Metropolitan State University and has a post-grad degree in art business from the Sotheby?s Institute of Art ? London. She has many years of experience working in a nonprofit setting.; Jayson King: King has held various management and teaching positions for community service and health care. He has a degree in fine art, art education, and is an RN. His work in health care has taken him locally and throughout the country teaching holistic care to health professionals. Part of his local work has been managing a foundation grant funded Art of Healing program?supporting local artists through art purchases for clinics, exhibition spaces, and healing art based groups. He is a working artist and has a strong lifelong interest in new art, performance, music, and writing.; Pamela Luer: Luer completed a BFA in studio fine arts at the University of Minnesota with an associate degree in graphic design from Madison Area Technical College (Madison WI). She is self-employed with Quasimodo Advertising and Hold Tight Videos. Luer is a professional artist and workshop instructor. Currently, Luer is a board member for Hopkins Friends of the Arts. Recently, her work, Windshield Series, was awarded best in show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.; Josif Nieto: Nieto is an AmeriCorps Vista serving with Community Action Duluth where his primary goal is to expand awareness and facilitate the growth of two programs, Seeds to Success and the Stream Corps. They graduated from La Sierra University in June of 2023 with a BA in art and design; during that time, he was a graphic designer with the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, Nunez Community Foundation, and La Raza Round Table.; Johanna Rian: Rian recently retired from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where she served as program director of the Lavins Center for the Humanities in Medicine. She implemented programs for patients, staff, students, and visitors such as Arts at the Bedside, Music is Good Medicine, Narrative Medicine, and other arts based learning experiences. Previously, she served as executive director of Young Audiences of Minnesota and as a consultant in arts education nonprofit development. She holds a PhD in drama and humanities from Stanford University and served as a Fulbright Scholar in American drama at the University of Waikato, New Zealand.; Elaine Rutherford: Rutherford is a professor of art at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John?s University (CSB+SJU). She joined the faculty at CSB+SJU in 1998. Rutherford?s research is rooted in questions of home and homeland and the ?interstitial passages? or the in between spaces inhabited by those who have left their homeland. Her art practice draws on traditions in landscape painting to bring visual form to these questions. Rutherford teaches the practice of drawing and painting as a means of deeply inhabiting the present moment, of seeing and understanding one?s environment, and one?s place in it. She has exhibited work internationally and has presented her research in various settings including most recently as artist in residence at the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ. Rutherford is originally from the West Coast of Scotland. She earned her undergraduate degree from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. She moved to the United States in 1992 and earned her MFA from New Mexico State University in 1995.

Conflict of Interest Disclosed
No
Legal Citation / Subdivision
Laws of Minnesota, 2023 regular session, chapter 40, article 4, section 2, subdivision 3
Appropriation Language

ACHF Arts Access

2024 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$10,000
Other Funds Leveraged
$0
Direct expenses
$10,000
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

Produce an original documentary about adapting heirloom Mexican corn for Minnesotan farms, and screen for 200 Minnesota Latino and Indigenous people. Work with Latino and Indigenous organizations to set-up a series of screenings in accessible locations, including online. Audience members will be asked if they self-identify as Latino and/or Indigenous via qual- and quantitative screening surveys.

Project Manager
First Name
James
Last Name
Christenson
Organization Name
James J. Christenson
State
MN
Phone
(763) 257-2459
Email
jjoneschristenson@gmail.com
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