Individual Artist Project Grant

There are many stories that tell us why Cloquet's West End has been ?cut off? from the flow of history. Highway expansion separated downtown from the old West End; industry has declined; with tech-driven changes, the future of small communities like the West End is unknown. But it's no secret that more and more, cultural and racial differences divide communities instead of uniting them across this country, separating, for instance, the city of Cloquet from the Fond du Lac Reservation?ultimately alienating essential members of this community from each other. The history of Cloquet is haunted with ghosts of industry, fire, displacement, and discrimination. Healing these haunted histories can serve as a rich and empowering practice that breaks the ice between estranged neighbors, that reunites us with lost dimensions of ourselves, and that opens portals to paths of prosperity. Healing begins with truth telling, even if the process promises to give us blisters along with the blessings. In honor of the hard paths many before us have walked, a story-filled evening of walking side by side with our neighbors can give folks an opportunity to walk in someone else's shoes. This is one small step to help strengthen trust in a safe and fun environment. I hope our collective presence will add fresh energy to the long-term revitalization of Cloquet's West End and give us reason to invest in the future of our city.On the lower-end of measurable goals, if I hear at least one audience member say, ?I didn't know that about Cloquet!?, I'll feel satisfied. But my deeper goal is to generate conversation in Cloquet about migration, Indigenous relations, and shared responsibility to the land. My aim is to cultivate common ground, which happens to be the name of the coffee shop/theatre where the evening ends. After the Q and A, I will invite the audience to speak. With BLISTERED I aim to nourish the seed of a fresh conversation about reconciliation and future migrations, a conversation that may begin with Cloquet declaring Indigenous Peoples Day as a city-recognized holiday?a seed that has already been planted by Fond du Lac band members and others. This cinema experience can help ?churn the soil? in Cloquet culture and provide nutrients for the seed of Indigenous Peoples Day to flower into a forest of belonging far greater than any we can imagine now. To be clear, I'm not advocating specific policy change. Over the past 15 years I've organized well over 50 live film events, ranging from intimate 20-person screenings to 5,000+ person festivals. As a co-director of a touring theatre and film ensemble, I've pulled off some pretty crazy shows, many involving traveling performance in non-traditional spaces like wilderness areas, industrial sites, highways, and city streets. I've also worked as key organizer for the Ashfield Film Fest in MA as well as the MSP International Film Festival on St. Anthony Main. I've learned hard-won lessons about holding a vision with equal measure consistency and flexibility. Often magic happens in the cracks within a well-oil machine. As far as these short films, I've made dozens of shorts in fewer time, honing speed in 24-hour film competitions. As far as this event, I have already developed key relationships with film subjects, tribal members, local businesses, schools and community partners. I have a team I can count on and I'm ready to go.Every audience member will receive a questionnaire on the back of their program. They're encouraged to fill it out and hand it to my team after the show. The questionnaire asks about their impressions of Cloquet after watching the films as well as their personal willingness to engage with native-led efforts in the future. The audience also will be asked to rank the films, in reference to the story. In a more basic and immediate sense, if a conversation emerges after the Q and A about community relations between the tribe and various settlers of Cloquet, I will consider the project a suc