Cultural Expression

Cristopher Anderson: Anderson has a background in broadcast journalism and is a national award winning documentary filmmaker. His poetry and essays have been published in regional literary and general interest magazines, and anthologies. He plays Scandinavian folk fiddle in local jam groups; he played six years with the American Swedish Institute Spelmanslag and performed on its CD, Love is Hard to Hide. He founded and directed a 28-year ?audience as artist? participatory theater based in folk tales and mythology (Minnesota Folk Tale Gardening Club) for enjoyment and healing. He is an associate teaching artist for the national award winning arts and health/creative aging pioneer, Kairos Alive!.; Rebecca Colebank: Colebank is a retired family law attorney with an interest in social justice issues. She graduated from Bemidji State University with a degree in political science and then graduated from the University of North Dakota with a juris doctorate. Colebank has served on the boards of Region 2 Arts Council, Clearwater County Food Shelf, Minnesota Women?s Fund, and Clearwater County DAC. She is currently working on a third trivia book.; Alice De Yonge: De Yonge has been the program director of a nonprofit art?s youth organization located in south central Minnesota for more than 28 years. She has a BA degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She has served as a volunteer for the Minnesota State Arts Board reviewing grant applications for more than ten years. She also has been the service/learning volunteer coordinator for the Mankato traditional annual powwow since 1993.; Daniel Gjelten: Gjelten is retired after a long career as an academic library director at the University of St. Thomas, with undergraduate and graduate degrees in English. He and his wife host benefit concerts in their backyard at which they showcase new artists (the beneficiary is the environmental nonprofit Friends of the Mississippi River). He is a member of several local art museums which he visits regularly. He writes a blog (confluence.blog) which documents his long distance bicycle travels. He also has published articles in streets.mn and nextavenue. He is a lifelong fingerstyle guitarist.; Carla-Elaine Johnson: Johnson is a faculty member in the English department at Saint Paul College. She holds a PhD in literature from The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), a MA in literature from the State University of New York (Albany, NY), and a MFA in English and creative writing from the University of Minnesota. Her publications are in the areas of memoir, essay, and poetry. Johnson has accounting experience and holds certification as an enrolled agent, which permits representation of individuals before the Internal Revenue Service.; Julie Pinomaki: Pinomaki is a nonprofit professional with experience in communications, marketing, and grant writing who has worked with local nonprofits including 180 Degrees, Keystone Community Services, Catholic Charities, and the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. She received a BA degree in English from Gustavus Adolphus College and is a lifelong writer and long-time member of the Homewood Studios Northside Writers Group. She has taught creative writing classes and also enjoys drawing, watercolor painting, sewing, collage, and other mediums.; Catharine Sharar: Sharar works in fundraising and development for local agencies serving people experiencing homelessness. Previously, she was involved in teaching, communications, and grant writing for organizations on the U. S./Mexico border in Arizona. Sharar has consistently turned to art as a way to celebrate, complicate, and expand her communities and the world.; Ronnie Spann: Spann is a natural born artist who started out as a sketch artist in his youth. He was eventually introduced to ceramics in high school in which he displayed a talent and found a love for sculpture. In 1997, he was given his first job as an art instructor with the Inner City Youth League. Spann was commissioned by the head of the NAACP and Legacy Village apartment manager Leola Seals, in the summer of 1998, to take a group of neighborhood children and paint the trash receptacles down Plymouth Avenue as a public development project. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Spann was heavily involved in the local hip hop scene as a poet and musician. Spann currently is the owner and chief operator of a small business based out of south Minneapolis, Electro Magnetic People Art Co, LLC.; Ansis Viksnins: Viksnins is active in the Minnesota Latvian community. He previously chaired the organizing committee of the XV Nationwide Latvian Song and Dance Festival that was held in Minnesota in 2022. In that role, he worked with choirs, folk dance groups, instrumentalists, and other artists on a multiday cultural festival. He was also responsible for the Festival's grant applications.