Minnesota Festival Support

Northern Lights.mn, with 42 organizational partners, presented the work of over 300 Minnesota artists who presented or performed in 76 artist projects at Northern Spark 2013. Most of these artists had not presented work in a Minnesota festival before. This also represented an increase in the number of Minnesota artists presenting at Northern Spark compared to previous years. We assessed artist participation through monthly production and check-in meetings with the artists, and an artist-specific survey. 2: 447 surveys were completed online and in person at Northern Spark. Of that sample 37% had not attended Northern Spark previously. This alone indicates a significant increase (approx. 16,650) in the number of people experiencing visual and experimental public art in a festival context. Only 14% of the attendees identified themselves as festival goers. In addition, in response to the question: How often do you attend a museum, non-school performance or an arts festival during the year, 16% said a couple of times a year, 3% once a year, and 1% never. We believe that Northern Spark's distinctive profile in relation to other Minnesota festivals in terms of visual arts in a festival context, coupled with increased attendance, and survey responses, indicates an increase in the number of people who experience the visual and experimental public art in a festival context.