Operating Support

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$3,155
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
Granite Area Arts Council
Recipient Type
Non-Profit Business/Entity
Status
Completed
Start Date
January 2014
End Date
December 2014
Activity Type
Grants/Contracts
Counties Affected
Yellow Medicine
Yellow Medicine
Project Overview
Operating Support
Project Details
Operating Support
Competitive Grant Making Body
Board Members and Qualifications
John White: writer, photographer, retired journalist; Jane Link: visual artist , Milan Village Arts School founding member, Milan Community Education, Greater Milan Initiative; Marilee Strom: musician, former art teacher, business owner; Kathy Fransen: musician, theatre, Rhythm of the River coordinator; Janet Olney: visual artist, Willmar Area Arts Council coordinator; Randy Meyer: visual artist and farmer, former art teacher; Kate Aydin: retired educator, developed a curriculum focused on the visual arts, literature, and modern and traditional music of Spain and Latin America, Lincoln County Pioneer Museum board; Paula Nemes: musician, librarian, former coordinator of the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council, Vice President of Marshall Area Stage Company; Tom Wirt: artist, owner Clay Coyote Gallery, founding member and president, Hutchinson Center for the Arts, past member Hutchinson Public Arts Commission; Susan Marco: writer, High School English and creative writing teacher; Kelly Muldoon: graphic artist, board member Prairie Music Association, Prairie Oasis Players; Ellen Copperud: retired language arts teacher, theatre director; Emily Olson: writer, musician, educator; Dan Wahl: visual artist, musician, theater, adjunct English instructor at Southwest Minnesota State University; Dan Connolly: musician, music educator, board Renville Friends of the Arts; Cindy Reverts: visual artist, Rock County Fine Arts Association treasure, Council for Arts in Humanities in Rock County board; Sydney Massee; visual artist, theatre, Lac qui Parle Valley School Districts board; Audrey Fuller; writer, arts advocate, tribal planner, grant writer.
Advisory Group Members and Qualifications
Kathy Schaefer: musician, photographer, Southewest Minnesota State University business professor; Dan Connolly: musician, music educator, board Renville Friends of the Arts; Barb Nelson, art teacher, vocal musician, children's theatre director; Cheri Buzzeo; production manager, Willmar Community Theatre; board member Willmar Area Arts Council; Cheryl Avenel-Navara: retired counselor, arts advocate, former fund raiser and musical performances coordinator for Worthington International Festival; Christa Otteson: Owner of Make.Do.Workshop, nonprofit consultant, former Regional Coordinator Minnesota Council of Non-Profits.
Conflict of Interest Disclosed
No
Legal Citation / Subdivision
Laws of Minnesota 2013, Chapter 137, Article 4, Section 2, Subdivision 3
Appropriation Language

ACHF Arts Access

2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$3,155
Other Funds Leveraged
$30,689
Direct expenses
$33,844
Administration costs
$0
Number of full time equivalents funded
0
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

Goal one: Retire $10,000 (33%) of our debt in the next two years while maintaining program integrity. Having a building to call home will bring sustainability to our program and help our programs thrive. We believe that many of our small communities love art but lack capacity or expertise to have art at the level they would like to have in their communities. Goal two: Work with another community in the area to maximize our resources and make programs/activities accessible beyond the city limits of Granite Falls. We want to take what we have learned and help other struggling communities in the hopes to ignite an energy that will help their program become more sustainable because if more of the communities around us have greater capacity then it is our hope to work together to increase the overall experience for everyone through shared resources. Goal three: Increase our attendance of the summer arts programs by 10% each summer for the next two years. We will work to increase affordability, access and diversity for our summer programs and it is our goal to bring those people into other aspects of our program and in doing so it will grow our program.For goal one – it will be a financial number and easy to measure. For goal two – it will be working with at least one other community and we will develop a rubric with questions to determine if the activities were made possible by the partnership for all organizations involved. It will also have a component for the artists involved to comment on how the partnership impacted their experience as well. For goal three: there will be a comparison of numbers from 2013 forward. We will look at demographics and create a rubric on continued participant engagement. Periodically throughout the year, participants will be contacted to determine how their experience in the summer workshop has or has not kept them engaged with Granite Area Arts Council. In the event the participants have not remained engaged, we will look at the reasons for to determine if appropriate adjustments may be made to improve our program.

Measurable Outcome(s)

Our goal 1 to retire debt: We were able to retire $3,600 of our debt. Goal 2 to work with another community to maximize our resources: Granite Area Arts Council partnered with Friends of the Arts in Renville to schedule a musical performance with Willson and McKee, unfortunately the concert had to be cancelled due to a blizzard. Goal 3 to increase attendance of summer arts program by 10%: We had cement sculpture class, garbage can theatre, earring class, vocal workshop, guitar class, adult ceramics, kids art camp, creative journaling, and photography boot camp. While we had to cancel a few of the classes due to enrollment, we were able to offer a broader and more diverse array and overall attendance was up 46% (from 21 to 46 attendees). Overall we discovered that one or two day classes work better than multiple day workshops and we will be scheduling more of those in 2015.

Description of Funds
Source of Additional Funds

Other, local or private

Recipient Board Members
Tamara Isfeld, Peg Furshong, LaVonne Saquilan, Diane Ladner, Beverly Tellefsen, Karen Odden, Mike Juenemann, Melanie Gatchell, Sue Selden.
Project Manager
First Name
Tamara
Last Name
Isfeld
Organization Name
Granite Area Arts Council
Street Address
807 Prentice St PO Box 111
City
Granite Falls
State
MN
Zip Code
56241
Phone
(320) 333-6132
Email
GraniteAreaArts@gmail.com
Administered By
Administered by
Location

Griggs Midway Building, Suite 304,
540 Fairview Avenue North,
St. Paul, MN 55104

Phone
(651) 539-2650 or toll-free (800) 866-2787
Email the Agency
Location

509 W Main St, PO Box 55
Marshall, Minnesota 56258 

Phone
Phone Manager: Nicole DeBoer
(507) 537-1471
Email the Agency