Creative Support for Organizations-Round 1

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2021 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$15,000
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
Mankato Symphony Orchestra Association, Inc. AKA Mankato Symphony Orchestra
Recipient Type
Non-Profit Business/Entity
Status
Completed
Start Date
November 2020
End Date
October 2021
Activity Type
Grants/Contracts
Counties Affected
Blue Earth
Brown
Faribault
Freeborn
Hennepin
Le Sueur
Martin
Nicollet
Ramsey
Renville
Sibley
Steele
Waseca
Watonwan
Blue Earth
Brown
Faribault
Freeborn
Hennepin
Le Sueur
Martin
Nicollet
Ramsey
Renville
Sibley
Steele
Waseca
Watonwan
Project Overview

Creative Support for Organizations-Round 1

Project Details

The Mankato Symphony Orchestra will find creative ways to share music with the community through outdoor venues and virtual recordings, and will develop online music education materials for young students.

Competitive Grant Making Body
Board Members and Qualifications

Ardell Brede: former mayor of Rochester; Peggy Burnet: entrepreneur, art collector, and community volunteer; Uri Camarena: business consultant, Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA); Michael Charron: executive director of grants and sponsored programs for Saint Mary's University of Minnesota., Saint Mary's University of Minnesota; Sean Dowse: former mayor of Red Wing; former executive director, Sheldon Theatre; Anthony Gardner, vice president, marketing and communications at CentraCare; Philip McKenzie: team lead with Boutique Air, founder and owner of Bluedoor 74, adjunct college faculty; Mary McReynolds-Pellinen: executive director, Lyric Center for the Arts; Thomas Moss: consultant to nonprofits and government agencies; Dobson West: retired attorney; Christina Widdess: nonprofit consultant; former managing director, Penumbra Theatre

Advisory Group Members and Qualifications

Matt Connolly: Matt Connolly is an assistant professor of film studies in the department of English at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He received his MA and PhD in communication arts with a focus in film studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His scholarly work on LGBTQ cinematic history has been published in Cinema Journal and Spectator. Connolly writes film criticism, which has most recently been published in Film Comment and Reverse Shot, the publication for the Museum of the Moving Image. He is a former programmer for the Wisconsin Film Festival and has been a judge for the Speechless Film Festival.; Christina Cotruvo: Living on the shore of Lake Superior inspires Cotruvo's music. Her arrangements and recordings include celtic, new age, folk, ethnic, and therapeutic harp music. She helps those with challenges through her Harp-Abilities program and provides music at medical facilities and residences as a certified case manager. She has been a music coach to those with visual disabilities as founder and publisher of No-C-Notes audio music score publishing. She has a thirty year career as a nonprofit accountant, grant writer, and software consultant.; Amy Cousin: Amy Cousin is a jewelry artist whose work revives surplus or discarded items and recycled precious metals, juxtaposed with gemstones associated with healing properties. Before focusing on wearable art, Cousin owned and operated a brick and mortar book, gift, and art boutique in both Minnesota and South Carolina. Previously, she served as a senior community health worker for the Hennepin County Healthcare for the Homeless Project. Cousin also was a consultant to the Women's Bureau of The United States Department of Labor during the development of the Work and Family Clearinghouse. Cousin has a BA from Tulane University in communication.; Marisa Gaetgaeow: A native of Bangkok, Thailand, Lily Gaetgaeow recently graduated from the University of Iowa with a master of arts in musicology. Her academic interests centered on authenticity and identity, especially as they intersect with folk music revivals. Gaetgaeow was a writing tutor at Knox College and continued to help students as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Iowa. As events and room scheduling assistant for the UI School of Music, Gaetgaeow deftly managed logistics while encouraging student musicians. Her experiences inspired her to seek opportunities outside of academia to advocate for the arts, which led her to Minneapolis.; Sean James: James is the owner of gifted compositions, LLC, a small yet powerful design company, that he created to help small businesses get access to best in class designs. He also operates dotado?? apparel, a clothing company, that designs fun and socially conscious apparel. James currently is the digital content specialist and UX specialist at Nature's Way. He graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a BA in journalism and currently serves on its student advisory board.; Sophia Kim: Sophia Epony Kim is an actor and writer. She is the recipient of a Hertog Fellowship and multiple Arts Board Artist Initiative grants. A founding member of Theater Mu, she has acted in theater and television in the United States and Korea. She obtained a bachelor of arts in English from Macalester College and attended the MFA Creative Writing Program at Hunter College (CUNY) for a year. She is currently working on her first novel about Koreans in the diaspora.; Walter Olsen: W. Scott Olsen is the author of twelve books of narrative nonfiction. For 23 years he was the editor of the literary magazine Ascent. His work appears in many literary and commercial publications such as Kenyon Review and Pilot. He is also an award winning photographer, book critic, and journalist, with work appearing in places such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Forum, LensCulture, and Frames. He teaches at Concordia College in Moorhead; Martha Weitekamp: Weitekamp works as the rigger and boathouse manager for the women's rowing team at the University of Minnesota. Previously, she worked at Urban Boatbuilders teaching wooden boatbuilding. Weitekamp received funding from the Arts Board in 2019. She graduated from Colorado College (Colorado Springs, CO) with a degree in geology and has volunteered for multiple nonprofit arts organizations in the Twin Cities.

Conflict of Interest Disclosed
No
Legal Citation / Subdivision
Laws of Minnesota 2019 First Special Session, chapter 2, article 4, section 2, subdivision 3
Appropriation Language

ACHF Arts Education

2021 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$15,000
Other Funds Leveraged
$0
Direct expenses
$15,000
Administration costs
$3,000
Number of full time equivalents funded
0.00
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

Encourage our community to value the Symphony especially during our pandemic by staying connected and viable through both virtual and live concerts. We will encourage verbal feedback from musicians and audience members, solicit evaluations of concerts through online surveys, and collect testimonials.

Measurable Outcome(s)

We connected with our community through virtual concerts, one live concert, and a December holiday countdown. We sent out an electronic survey with our November 1st, 2020 virtual concert. We also received verbal testimonials at our live concert in April and received a written testimonial.

Proposed Outcomes Achieved
achieved proposed outcomes
Recipient Board Members
Benjamin Findley, Christopher Paul, David Knopick, Viktoria Davis, Shannon Beal, Nataliya Danylkova, Jennifer Faust, Sarah Houle, Marcia Jagodzinske, Jared Koch, Andrew McNamara, John Maxwell, Stephanie Thorpe, Melinda Wedzina
Project Manager
First Name
Bethel
Last Name
Balge
Organization Name
Mankato Symphony Orchestra Association, Inc. AKA Mankato Symphony Orchestra
Street Address
PO Box 645
City
Mankato
State
MN
Zip Code
56002-0645
Phone
(507) 766-7561
Email
bbalge@mankatosymphony.org
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