Cultural Expression

Ross Anderson: Anderson is an award winning fine art photographer and filmmaker. His honors include the 2009 American Photographic Artists Grand Prize Award and the 2011 International Loupe Award, with his work featured in prominent art publications and periodicals. Anderson holds a MFA from the University of Falmouth (Falmouth, England). He is based in Minneapolis, where he directs Praxis Photo Arts Center. Anderson is also a board member of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Inspired by his personal experiences, he advocates for queer and disabled artists across the metro area and greater Minnesota. ; G. Michael Bargas: Bargas is a retired arts executive director. He is the copresident and executive secretary for the third in the nation Minnesota Pride Rotary Club. Bargas has experience working with grant awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board. His legacy project was the Make-A-Wish ornament program, which generated over $7.0 M for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also led a Minnesota based arts organization out of a financial deficit and through the pandemic. ; Colleen Bertsch: Bertsch is an ethnomusicologist specializing in Transylvanian folk music and a director of string orchestras in the Roseville Area School District. She received a Fulbright Research Award to Romania in 2015. She was subsequently an adjunct lecturer on music related topics from around the world at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Augsburg University, and St. Olaf College. Bertsch received a 2011 McKnight Fellowship for performing musicians as a member of the Balkan band Orkestar Bez Ime. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a PhD in ethnomusicology and a BM in music education, and from Concordia College with a BM in music performance. ; Laurine Chang: Chang is a Twin Cities grown, second generation Hmong American spoken word poet and performance artist, writer, and truth teller. They have over a decade of privilege to have served in nonprofit and community art spaces managing and piloting many projects, collaborations, and programs. Chang believes that there is a collective responsibility in leaving a place better than how one found it. ; Barbara Farland: Farland spent more than 20 years working in media relations, event communications, and publication management, which earned her top honors from awards programs throughout the country and world. At the same time, she began contributing works of creative nonfiction to such notable anthologies as Chicken Soup for the Soul, Hugs, Cup of Comfort, and The Talking Stick. Farland now serves as a language arts instructor with a new passion for writing with and for her young students. ; Arden Haug: Haug presently serves as the pastor at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, where he regularly organizes performances by guest artists from a variety of musical and cultural backgrounds. In addition, the church serves as a concert venue for several performing groups, recitals, theater rehearsals, and book readings. Haug directs the Norwegian Glee Club, a more than 120-year old Norwegian singing male chorus. In 2022, he served as the interim director of the Gammelgarden Museum in Scandia. Haug received a BA in social studies education and Norwegian language from St. Olaf College. He then earned a MDiv and a DMin from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul. ; Kara Maloney: Maloney (she/her) is a rural advocate, artist, and community leader. She serves as the executive director for Lanesboro Arts, a multidisciplinary nonprofit activating the people and places of Lanesboro through the arts. She graduated from Luther College with a BA in business and studio arts. Maloney currently volunteers as a board member for the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council and the Lanesboro Area Chamber of Commerce. She grew up in Minneapolis and has made Lanesboro (with a population of 750) home for the last eight years. Maloney is a driving force for arts education and emerging artists across the region. ; Angelina Nguyen: Nguyen is a writer and photographer. She came to Minnesota as a child refugee and has lived in the Twin Cities metro for more than 30 years. She uses writing and photography to preserve and honor her Vietnamese heritage. She has served as a panelist for the Minnesota Book Awards and the Minnesota State Arts Board. ; Lauren Warmka: Warmka is a ballet instructor for the Youth Dance Ensemble in Burnsville, where she teaches technique classes and assists in producing performances. She graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a BChE in chemical engineering and a double minor in chemistry and Spanish, where she also studied ballet as an elective. She works as a research and development engineer with Cambria.