Operating Support Grant

After each program, residency or artistic event, we discuss among staff and participating artists the results of the activities and any ways in which we might improve services or support, enhance engagement, or adjust or add programming. We consider all information and have responded to issues small and large based on this input and feedback ? from small cabin improvements to substantive program additions and changes such as our Ambassadors Week, and programs to engage more BIPOC artists. We?ve begun following up with artists several years after their residency to measure long-term impact. We were in constant dialogue with artists around the pandemic?s impact on 2020 plans and programs. In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, we had many discussions with BIPOC artists about the compounded stress they felt and their need for time in a peaceful retreat; we extended our abbreviated 2020 season by a week and opened available cabins up to BIPOC artists in response to these needs. We survey participants in our programs and activities to determine how artists? experience at the Center compared to their initial expectations, if and to what extent their time at the Center helped them reach their anticipated goals, how they felt about scheduled vs. unscheduled time, how the environment at the Center contributed to their creative process, how their time at the Center impacted their career/artistic development, and more. We also conduct assessments of Center programs and activities with the artists and instructors, throughout the process and at the end of a given residency/activity, to discuss overall success, operational effectiveness, ideas for improvement, and potential for expanded engagement. We also track information about the artists who spend time in residence at the Center, such as demographic data and artistic discipline. We invite feedback from participants and audiences via email and social media posts, which we relay to our board of directors along with select survey feedback. Our local contracted staff helps us to monitor our local impact by sharing comments and discussions they have with residents in and around Ely. Their feedback and input help us to gauge the extent to which local residents are aware of Tofte Lake Center and its work and opportunities, which has a direct impact on our PR and marketing strategies (where we post online, on websites and calendars to send information about our activities, local advertising, etc.).We are seeking funds from ARAC and the other funders listed above and below to expand access for people whose economic circumstances limit their participation in our programming. By making more subsidies available to engage diverse Minnesota artists for residencies, we intend to overcome both economic barriers and perceptual barriers the artists may have about artistic residencies and retreats. In our strategic planning process, we have begun to look at our application process to find ways to make it more equitable and accessible to a wider and more diverse community of artists. As noted earlier, it is a particular goal of ours to welcome more BIPOC artists who may regard residency opportunities like those we offer out of their reach and/or not applicable or accessible to them. At the same time, we are working with the board and other stakeholders to strengthen Tofte Lake Center?s visibility in, and engagement with, the local community. Increased economic access, and cultural diversity and inclusion, are express goals of our project. We would like to engage with local organizations to be allies in anti-racism work. Our successful and now-annual Ambassadors Week of residencies for BIPOC artists is one of the ways we build greater inclusion and diversity at the Center. We especially encourage, support, and help facilitate our artists in residence to engage with the local community?in their artistic work (its development and/or presentation), and in presenting the results of that artistic work