Operating Support Grant
Operating Support Grant
Funding for overhead and general operating costs such as staff fees, supplies, and clerical.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, cultural programming coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
The Arrowhead Chorale will focus on restructuring, visibility, marketing, and audience and donor development in the next two years. Goals: 1. Restructure from a chamber choir to a symphonic choir; this will distinguish the Chorale from other ensembles in the region and provide unique musical experiences for Chorale members, guest artists, and area arts patrons. 2. Increase the size of the Chorale to provide more opportunities for membership and enhanced musical experiences for audiences. 3. Increase and enhance the Chorale's visibility through improved social media experiences and other marketing campaigns. 4. Continue to pursue collaborations and partnerships with other area artists to provide creative opportunities and experiences for audiences, the chorale membership, and other area artists and organizations. 5. Increase donor involvement and establish more consistent, reliable sources of funding to ensure the Chorale's financial health as it enters its fourth decade. The Board of the Arrowhead Chorale is in charge of the evaluation of all concerts, grants, and activities. Evaluation of this grant as a success will include: 1. An increase in the size of the Chorale from approximately 25-30 members to 45-50 committed members, who are trained and auditioned singers. The success of this goal is measured through audition attendance and participation and committed Chorale membership. 2. An increase in audience attendance and involvement in the Chorale's activities, as assessed through tickets sales and audience feedback surveys. 3. Successful collaboration with area guest artists, instrumentalists, and other area visual and performance artists. This will be assessed by the Board through the use of follow-up interviews and focus groups as these types of collaborations increase and expand. 4. Positive and enthusiastic feedback about the Chorale's programming and activities. This will be assessed through ticket sales, surveys, participant comments, and donor participation. The value and success of a musical performance is always subjective. We know we have reached people when they relay their sometimes-profound reactions to the music. This was dramatically evidenced following our recent Requiem Mosaic concert, which left many in the audience in tears. We want to offer a different level of experience than audiences find in their everyday lives. Well performed music has the ability to transport people to that higher level of experience.
The Chorale restructured from a chamber choir to a symphonic choir in order to distinguish the Chorale from other ensembles in the region and provide unique music experiences for Chorale members, guest artists, and area arts patrons. This has afforded us a greater depth of performance possibilities, ranging from type of music to venues, and includes the ability to present the world premiere of Severin Behnen's Messiah. As part of this restructure, the Chorale increased in size to 50-55 singers, which provides more opportunities for membership and enhanced musical experiences for audiences. The Chorale's new marketing director and team have begun to create and implement a new social media and marketing strategy, including sneak-peak video clips and picturesvideos from rehearsal to engage our audiences in an effort to increase and enhance the Chorale's visibility through social media and marketing. The Chorale continues to collaborate and partner with area artists to provide creative opportunities and experiences for audiences, the Chorale membership, and other area artists and organizations. The Chorale performed with Strikepoint again in 2018 and 2019, and endeavor to make this partnership an annual tradition. The collaboration with Eira in 2019 was well-received, and we are looking forward to performing Severin Behnen's Messiah after Covid-19. A major focus of the Chorale is to increase donor involvement and establish more consistent, reliable sources of funding to ensure the Chorale's financial health. In an effort to increase donor support in its 2019-2020 season, the Chorale introduced Singer Sponsorship. Family, friends, and colleagues of singers were encouraged to financially sponsor their singer in any amount, and were noted as such in the performance program.
Other,local or private