Operating Support Grant - Renewal

Our mission is to foster a greater appreciation of the contemporary arts; to bridge cultures; to create and expand community; and to provide cultural exchange, networking opportunities, and educational outreach through regular interaction with the contemporary arts. Our vision for fulfilling this vision in 2019 includes continuing an active and dynamic program of events in the visual, musical, and literary arts, and serving as a venue, with emphasis on representing a broad spectrum of artists and underserved/underrepresented communities. Specific goals include continuing the educational programming that we developed in 2018 (offering more artist-led workshops, the monthly arts workshop held in collaboration with Mentor Duluth, and our student intern program). We plan to allocate funds to each of the 6-8 art exhibitions that we will host in 2019, as well as to individual programming events to complement each exhibition. We plan to measure the success of our goals listed above in both quantitative and qualitative manners. Quantitatively, we will assess based on the completion of 6-8 visual art exhibitions and at least one complementary programming event planned during each exhibition. We measure attendance at each of our events and during open hours so that we can keep track of audience exposure and potential impact. We also assess the quality or success of such events by identifying specific stakeholder community members for each series of events/programs (artists, audience members, those associated with interested organizations, members, etc.). These stakeholders are consulted during the planning of events and also at the completion of the events, to check in with various community members to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the various communities that we serve and strategize about how to improve with each successive project.