Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2
Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2
Speaking Out Collective will create interactive plays and arts activities to nurture curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking for low-income, urban child care centers, digging into big ideas through storytelling, theater, puppets, and songs.
Peggy Burnet: entrepreneur, art collector, and community volunteer; Uri Camarena: director of business consulting with Metroplitan Economic Development Association (MEDA); Michael Charron: arts educator and an arts and civic leader; Richard Cohen: attorney in private practice and a former state legislator; Sean Dowse: arts advocate, arts practitioner, and civic leader; Emily Galusha, arts and civic leader, former arts administrator; 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; Dobson West: retired attorney; Christina Widdess: nonprofit consultant; former managing director, Penumbra Theatre
Kenneth Bloom has been director of the Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota Duluth; executive director of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art; director of Landmark Arts: The Galleries of Texas Tech University; and curator of exhibitions at Spirit Square Center for the Arts (Charlotte, NC). Bloom has been working in photography and the arts for well over 50 years as image maker, curator, and program organizer. His work is held in museums and private collections. Before formalizing his education in photography, Bloom was an avid student of history, cultural anthropology, and Japanese Studies; all fields that have contributed to the making of social documentary photographs. Bloom graduated from Bucknell University in 1974 with a BA in Japanese studies, and worked in Japan as the Tokyo correspondent for American Photographer magazine and LIFE Library of Photography. After returning to the United States, he pursued a graduate degree at the New York University/International Center of Photography, and was awarded an MA in studio arts in photography in 1985.; Maia Hamann: A lifelong participant in the arts community of Minnesota, Hamann currently is a music teacher at Holdingford Elementary School, a bassoon instructor at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University, and a freelance musician. She regularly performs with orchestras and chamber ensembles in central Minnesota and the Twin Cities and serves on the board of directors of Amadeus Chamber Symphony. Previously, she wrote the music education blog for Classical Minnesota Public Radio. She earned a BA in music from the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University and an master?s degree in education from Augsburg University.; Hannah King is the curator and volunteer coordinator at the Wright County Historical Society in Buffalo and currently resides in Minneapolis. She was previously the curator at the Stevens County Historical Society in Morris and has worked and volunteered in various roles at other museums in the Midwest.; Anthony Marchetti is a photographic artist residing in the Twin Cities. In 2016, he was a teaching/ research Fulbright Scholar in Budapest, Hungary. He currently serves as department chair and full-time faculty of photography at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. Marchetti graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2001 with a BA in fine arts, and received an MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2005. He has received grants from The McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the Arts Board. He has served on review panels for the Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.; Dustin Nelson: Nelson is a senior writer at Thrillist, and has published journalism with City Pages, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, the Walker Reader, and other publications. He's the author of the poetry collection "in the office hours of the polar vortex" (RoboCup Press) and the chapbook "Abraham Lincoln" (Mondo Bummer). His poetry has appeared in Best American Experimental Writing, Fence, and other publications. His comic book writing has appeared in numerous anthologies and includes two series soon to be published. He was also a writer and producer on the radio comedy Radio Happy Hour, as well as the Web series Geocachers and one episode of TPT's "Are You MN Enough?" He was a founder and editor of the literary magazine InDigest which ran for nine years and published books and ran a reading series in New York. His experimental videos have appeared in more than a dozen international festivals and galleries. He was a resident at the UFT Verftet residency in Bergen, Norway, and has volunteered with Art Buddies and the PEN Prison Writing Program.; Judith Saye-Willis is a textile artist and has received grants from the Arts Board and Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC). She has previously been a director for the Faribault Art Center and served on the SEMAC board of directors for six years. She received a master?s degree in liberal studies from Metropolitan State University.; Megan Moore is a painter, with a studio in the Northrup King Building where she has been a member of a group studio since 2004. She studied illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She takes commissions, sells original art and reproductions in a variety of locations, and does public art in the form of murals and utility box wraps. She is a leader in the artist group LoLa (The League of Longfellow Artists), has served as a juror for the Uptown and Powderhorn art fairs, and is currently collaborating with Lake Street Creates.; Briauna Williams is a graphic design graduate. She is a teaching artist for the Capri Theater, Artistry, She Rock She Rock, and Young Rembrandts. Williams is a community leader and artist curating spaces for black and brown people to aid in healing with and through the arts. Williams is a muralist, self taught artist, and henna artist. Her work has been featured at the Phoenix Theater sponsored by Springboard for the Arts, as well as an exhibition within a Duluth court house. Williams is motivated by youth and her community. Black peoples' struggles and resilience have been a common core in most of her works.
ACHF Arts Access
Speaking Out Collective will create three interactive plays and art activities for young children and families to be performed in six community spaces. Adults will be given a survey after the show. Additionally SOC (Speaking Out Collective) will interview some of the audience members, both children and adults.,
Speaking Out Collective adapted three stories and created developmentally appropriate puppet shows for early learners. Adults and children were interviewed after the show. Teachers and staff were overwhelmingly positive and equally engrossed. Even a receptionist, for example, at Baby Space made the puppets which she used to greet and dismiss the children.