Individual Artist Project Grant

The conversation around sexual consent and safety has become louder as the #metoo movement has arisen. While this movement has amplified and empowered women's voices, and for that we are grateful, we have been saying these things for what seems like an eternity. We have been asking, begging men to listen: We do not feel safe. We have not been safe. We deserve to be safe. This song and dance, quite literally, may not change the entire conversation or suddenly make the nighttime safe for women. But we believe it will be a beautiful and important contribution as our society continues to grapple with this very serious and present issue. This artistic piece will not attempt to solve the problem, but we hope it will speak to women who have felt afraid, angry or ashamed. We hope it will speak to men who have harmed others. And we hope it will introduce a different message to the conversation, which has sometimes become so angry that it can veer toward the unproductive. We are not sending you home or asking you to leave. We are asking you to join the fight. Wake up to the experience of the women around you, and choose to grapple with the darkness within so that you can fight alongside us. You are the predator. So recognize it, and change. We hope that instead of increasing division and condemning or excluding those who have failed, this piece will be an invitation. A difficult challenge, but within it a statement of inclusivity: We need all of us to make this place better. Join us.The primary goal of this work is twofold: to get our social and artistic message out to as many people as possible - and for that message to truly sink in and cause reflection. The first is clearly more quantitative than the second. We want to see the video take off and be shared widely both locally and nationally. We want to get press, reviews and features in local and national publications. And we want to hear feedback from people who were impacted by the work. People who stopped to think differently about consent and safety and predatory behavior. Men who stopped to think about accountability and their own culpability - and who plan to take action in response. On a personal level, my goal is to venture into the area of collaborating with musicians in a new way, outside of the stage. I hope this project will propel me into a different space and open up new opportunities to push myself artistically and collaborate with other musical artists in the video and music performance realm. I am a person with a track record of consistently finishing the things I start. I recently returned to school for a physical therapy degree, balancing many other life commitments with this massive continuing education undertaking, and graduating in the spring of 2021. I have choreographed several full musicals for the Duluth Playhouse and the Reif Performing Arts Center in Grand Rapids. I have choreographed and performed pieces for Dances on the Lakewalk every year. When I take on a project, I am diligent about completing it to the very best of my ability. I've also carefully selected the team that would be working on this project. Emily Haavik is a musician with two finished albums under her belt. She and Michelle Truax, a professional videographer at FOX 9 in Minneapolis, have previously completed a beautifully executed music video together. Jillian Rae and her husband Eric also have a rich history of recording distinctive Minnesota artists in their home studio.We will measure our quantitative reach in two ways: YouTube video plays, and shares on social platforms. We have a goal of 5,000 plays and 1,000 shares in the first month. Our goal for press is to get the project featured in local and regional publications like the Duluth News Tribune, the Local Current blog and the Star Tribune. We will also aim for national publications like No Depression and The Bluegrass Situation. As far as the qualitative impact, we plan to gather responses from comments on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram; tweets; and emails to the artists. We will also ask people in our networks to share the video with the intention of starting conversations, and have them send us the feedback they get. With this method we hope to get a good picture of the social impact the video is having. Personally, I will measure the impact on my artistic career by whether it has opened new doors for choreography and performance collaborations with other musical artists.