Emergency Working Artist Project Grant FY21
Emergency Working Artist Project Grant FY21
"Asking". 20 prose poems written about Uber and Lyft rides, published via QRC codes at pick up locations and via interactive map on my website: michelle.matthees.com.
Tara Makinen: former-Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Tammy Mattonen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Kris Nelson: artist, teacher; Roxann Berglund: musician; Bill Payne: Professor of Theater at the University of Minnesota-Duluth
Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Laura Sellner: musician; Sarah Brokke Erickson: Associate Professor of Art at the University of Minnesota Duluth, visual artist
ACHF Arts Access
My goals are to 1. Bring these prose poems to as many viewers and readers as possible 2. Explore how my work presents in the virtual realm 3. Offer a passerby--resident or tourist--a meaningful experience 4. Offer a cultural critique of Duluth The funding will allow me to take 160 hours away from Uber driving over 6 months and to pay myself to complete this project. (I currently make about $12.50/hr as a driver, or half of the standard $25/hr used by arts organizations to pay artists. 80 hours at $25/hr = 160 hrs at $12.50/hr.) I also work for the Duluth Public Schools as a Paraprofessional. The combination of these two jobs leaves me little spare time for the business and mechanics of presenting my work. These additional paid hours will allow that to happen. I have been been very fortunate to receive numerous grants over the years from ARAC, The Minnesota State Arts Board, and The Jerome Foundation. I have an excellent track record of fulfilling the expectations laid out in my grant applications. These grants have enabled me to keep working as a poet. Ultimately, without such grants I may not have been able to advertise, share, and publish my work to the extent I have. This project is reasonable for the time frame, and having created and operated my own website, I have the technology skills necessary to complete the project.Success will be measured in the following ways: 1. The 20 poems will have been uploaded to my website with QRC links. 2. QRC links will have been posted at as many of the poem's locations as possible. 3. An interactive map will have been created on my website allowing viewers to click on locations to receive poems. 4. Website tracking tracking data will tell me how many times each poem has been accessed.
I more than exceeded my four goals to bring these prose poems to as many readers as possible, to explore how my work presents in the virtual realm, to offer a passerby a meaningful experience, and to offer a cultural critique of Duluth. My original estimate was that 100 people would scan the QRC stickers to read the poems and/or eventually visit the website. Comparing last year's website traffic (4/1-6/1/2020) with this year's project dates (4/1-6/1/2021), I saw a very large increase in website activity. 2020 visits for the above days: 18 website visits, 15 unique visitors, 33 page views 2021 visits for the above days: 415 website visits, 178 unique visitors, 2,100 page views Thanks to Square Space's website analytics, that's a 2,200 percent increase in website visits, a 1,187 percent increase in unique visitors, and a 6,227 percent increase in page views over the same time last year. Also, a pleasant surprise: Amazon sold out of my previously published book, "Flucht."