Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage

To do research, using primary source materials, about the history of the prairie, with particular emphasis on the Minnesota prairie, To complete a series of poems about women's experience on the prairie over a period of 150 years, To write other poems that would accompany that series in what will be a complete draft of a new book, To lead three free writing workshops for people at all ages and skill levels in three communities in the Lake Region Arts Council region, To provide a free performance in those three communities with musician Patty Kakac. Critical reflection on how the ''Prairie Daughter'' poem series develops over the course of the grant will clarify how the project is progressing and where it needs to go to have a publishable book. I will also be sharing poems with a writing group that I've been a member of for over a decade. In addition, I will be sending work to journals, and success in placing the poems will be a measure of the poems' success (though, admittedly, this is a slow process and may happen outside the time frame of the grant). Response from audience members who hear some of the poems read will guide me in revision. Surveys after the workshops and performances will reveal the degree to which participants were satisfied and whether they felt they had learned anything. After the first two performances, Kakac and Kildegaard will analyze the performance and make changes to improve it for the subsequent performance(s).