Cultural Expression

Harry Chalmiers: Chalmiers built a career as a composer, performer, educator, and leader of music education institutions for more than forty years. He taught at Berklee College of Music and the University of Massachusetts, then served as MacPhail Center for Music executive director, vice president for academic affairs at Berklee, and president of McNally Smith College of Music. Today, he teaches guitar, songwriting, and music theory at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music. Chalmiers was previously a panelist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Minnesota State Arts Board. ; Christina Chung: Chung works as a community case worker at Community Care Services, where she helps individuals with disabilities live happy, independent lives. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in creative writing, global studies, and media studies. She is a patron of the arts and regularly attends workshops and classes when able. ; Harold Cropp: Cropp is in his 33rd season at Commonweal Theatre Company, where he serves as producing artistic director, director, playwright, and actor. Hal holds a BA from Brown University (Providence, RI), a MBA from Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, CA), and a MFA from the National Theater Conservatory (Denver, CO). He was the Sally Irvine Award winner for Initiative in 2006. He has served on the Lanesboro City Council, Lanesboro Economic Development Authority, and the Lanesboro Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors. ; Sara Dovre Wudali: Dovre Wudali is a writer and editor. She is a 2023?2024 Poetry Fellow in the Loft Mentor Series and has received support from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Her poems and essays have been published in various literary journals and anthologies. She is the coeditor with Suzanne Swanson of the hybrid anthology chapbook, All You Need Is One Avocado. Dovre Wudali grew up on a farm in southwest Minnesota, where the wind blows through the cottonwoods and box elder bugs rule. ; Roberta Gray: Gray is currently the grants specialist at St. Francis Music Center, where she served as director for 25 years. Under her leadership, the Music Center added four string orchestras, a community choir, youth choir, brass ensemble, percussion ensembles, and senior arts and music programs. She is also active in community theater and has a deep passion for rural arts. Gray holds a BA in theater and in elementary education from Southwest Minnesota State University. ; Kathryn Jacobson: Jacobson graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a BA in studio arts and art history. She's volunteered at the Museum of Russian Art and the Weisman Art Museum, and served as a community activator with Courageous Hearts. Currently, she works for Art Force as an art acquisition specialist and picture framer. ; Kim Konikow: As a consultant with Artservices, Konikow has always engaged in projects that strategically build art full communities by fostering inclusive connections with the arts through program ideation, creative planning, facilitation, and sustainable partnerships. She was the director of the North Dakota Council on the Arts for nearly seven years, and is a passionate facilitator of opportunity to promote artistic growth and strengthen communities through the arts. Konikow has a varied background, including residency centers, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dance/USA, Minnesota Dance Alliance, and teaching arts administration. She has a MFA from CUNY Brooklyn College. ; Jose Luis: Luis was born in Veracruz, Mexico, and raised in Racine, WI. He has lived in Milwaukee, Chicago, and now Minneapolis. Relocation, returning, arrival, and departure influence his work using time and space as motifs. Dance offered him a way to communicate without words while offering interpretation to those he shared the room with. Considered a ?late-dancer,? his ability to learn and unlearn in sync led him to graduate University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BFA in 2013. Luis led his first self-produced solo show in September 2021 by threading pieces over nine years and across different cities, cementing his voice as an independent artist. His choreography's intimate, introspective, and honest approach paved the way in his work. ; Nina Robinson: Robinson is a textile artist. She has served on local arts boards, juried art fairs, and participated in grant review panels. Robinson earned her BA in studio arts from Augsburg University and currently manages the textile art studio of Tim Harding. Robinson strives for a sustainable studio practice by utilizing discarded clothing to create her textile installations. Robinson's process is intuitive, capturing moments with color, pattern, and texture to engage and provoke introspection and give space for thoughtful conversations surrounding neurodivergence, trauma, and mental health. ; Kieran Tverbakk, Malflor is a queer, trans, first generation Mexican-Norwegian-American artist from Houston, TX, living in Saint Paul. They received their BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2016. Malflor is a working artist, an independent arts organizer, a project manager for The Aliveness Project, and a lead assistant for the KjerringOy Land Art Biennale in northern Norway. They are passionate about breaking down barriers in the arts and assisting artists in accessing grants, residencies, and exhibition opportunities.