Organizational Stability Grant

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2020 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$2,000
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
Downtown Duluth Arts Collective AKA Downtown Duluth Arts Walk
Recipient Type
Non-Profit Business/Entity
Status
Completed
Start Date
June 2020
End Date
December 2020
Activity Type
Grants/Contracts
Counties Affected
St. Louis
Lake
Carlton
Cook
St. Louis
Lake
Carlton
Cook
Project Overview

Organizational Stability Grant

Project Details

Virtual Downtown Duluth Arts Walk (DDAW). Transitioning the Arts Walk and incorporating other virtual events hosted by the Downtown Duluth Arts Collective.

Competitive Grant Making Body
Board Members and Qualifications

Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; 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.

Advisory Group Members and Qualifications

Roxann Berglund: musician; Leah Yellowbird: multi-medium visual artist; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Classie Dudley: ARAC Arts Leadership Fellow; Joan Farnam: ceramicist, founder of North Shore Arts Scene.

Conflict of Interest Disclosed
No
Legal Citation / Subdivision
Laws of Minnesota 2019 First Special Session, chapter 2, article 4, section 2, subdivision 3
Appropriation Language

ACHF Arts Access

2020 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$2,000
Other Funds Leveraged
$0
Direct expenses
$2,000
Administration costs
$0
Number of full time equivalents funded
0.00
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

Funding through this grant will help the Downtown Duluth Arts Collective (DDAC) to continue to serve the Downtown Arts Community. Many individuals and groups across the Northland benefit culturally from the distinctive programming created by downtown Duluth artists and arts groups.This funding will help us to promote the work created in this unique arts community, as well as help us in creating an online archive, documenting the work that is happening here during this historically significant period of pandemic, a period in which artists are finding resilient ways to survive and thrive. In addition, as DDAC is committed to paying stipends to area artists to help in the creation of the virtual assets (videos, Zoom Happy Hours/Workshops, virtual concerts, etc) that will allow us to promote the downtown arts community, funding will directly help to sustain individual artists, many of whom. We will continually search for new ways to measure if we are attaining our goals. After each event we will compare the Insights from our Social Media platforms (Instagram, Facebook) and our website to track online interaction with our pages (is it a positive trend?). For example, over the March 27th Virtual DDAW weekend on Instagram, we reached 515 unique accounts (norm was 122 over a week period), and had 5,187 impressions (compared to a norm of 161). On Facebook, we reached 5,192 accounts, with 1,186 post-engagements, and 40 new page likes. Each video post-had an average of well over 200 views after just one weekend, a good response! We will track attendance for virtual and live-streaming events. We will continue to reach out to DDAC members and diverse segments of the community through feedback surveys, emails, and sometimes phone calls, to see how people think we are doing. We hope to encourage community members to share their own creative projects through a group page on Facebook.

Measurable Outcome(s)

DDAC achieved our goals to develop robust virtual programming representing, promoting and connecting our arts community. We hosted a summer series of live ?Arts Industry Social Hour? Zoom events. Each event allowed time for Q and A and involved a panel of 3 arts professionals and a host discussing topics such as: mural creation, Zines, creative placemaking, anti-racism work in Duluth arts, engaging collectors online, artist website development and use of social media platforms and email to promote work, creating and running a virtual store, funding opportunities for artists and the artwork various artists were currently creating. In addition, we produced a virtual Summer Arts Walk, paying stipends to local artists/ musicians, galleries and arts groups to create and share videos of the work they were creating. For the Fall DDAW, we paid stipends to downtown artists and partnered with Duluth All Soul's Night to help financially produce and share a virtual version of their yearly event.

Proposed Outcomes Achieved
Achieved Proposed Outcomes
Source of Additional Funds

Other,local or private

Recipient Board Members
Amanda Hunter, Joellyn Rock, Jeffrey Schmidt, Faith King, Penny Clark
Project Manager
First Name
Faith
Last Name
King
Organization Name
Downtown Duluth Arts Collective AKA Downtown Duluth Arts Walk
Street Address
23 W 1st St
City
Duluth
State
MN
Zip Code
55802
Phone
(218) 428-8708
Email
kingfv@d.umn.edu
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

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