Project Grant
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education
Central Minnesota audiences will have access to European circus arts, mime and puppetry - genres not represented locally and underrepresented nationally. Local special education students will have the opportunity to attend a live performance, specifically tailored for their needs. Adolescents incarcerated in Prairie Lakes Youth Programs will have special workshops tailored to help them tap into their creativity.; 1) Fine Arts Programming will have presented a high-quality puppet/mime theater performance by an international touring company to the Central Minnesota community, providing audiences with local access to European-style circus arts, mime and puppetry - genres not represented locally and underrepresented nationally. 2) Local special education students will have had the opportunity to attend a live performance, specifically tailored for their needs. 3) Adolescents incarcerated in Prairie Lakes Youth Programs will have participated in special workshops tailored to help them tap into their creativity. Fine Arts Programming will collect evaluations from partners at Prairie Lakes Youth Programs and from educators who participate in the special education performances. We plan to document activities with video/film. Will distribute audience surveys. Fine Arts Programming is working with residency partners to finalize specific desired outcomes for each partner. Following the residency activities, Fine Arts Programming will gather feedback responses from workshop facilitators to find out if the activities met the intended goals and/or expectations for each group. Fine Arts Programming will set up post-activity meetings to discuss outcomes and goals for future partnerships. Fine Arts Programming will measure outcomes in the following ways: Central Minnesota audiences: distribute surveys asking, among other things, if audiences feel like the performance gave them access to a unique art form that is otherwise unrepresented regionally. We will survey to find out if this event attracted new audiences and to measure audience perception of experience and genre. District 742: distribute evaluation forms to educators and other caregivers present during activities. These evaluation forms will be narrative in nature and will seek to measure: did we meet partner’s goals, did the activity have the intended impact or an unexpected impact, what, if anything, could we have done to make it a better experience for participants, etc. Prairie Lakes Youth Programs: distribute evaluation forms to educators and other caregivers present during activities. These evaluation forms will be narrative in nature and will seek to measure: did we meet partner’s goals, did the activity have the intended impact or an unexpected impact, what, if anything, could we have done to make it a better experience for participants, etc. Documentation: Fine Arts Programming would like to document the impact of these activities and will hire a videographer/photographer to capture what it means to underserved groups to participate in these types of activities. We will work with our partners to secure any necessary photo releases. Fine Arts Programming staff will engage in post-event evaluations about the effectiveness of activities, how they could be improved in necessary, and whether they met our mission. Fine Arts Programming will track ticket sales and participation numbers at residency activities.
Increased access and participation in residency activities were major goals of this project, and were achieved. College of Saint Benedict commonly surveys the audiences of both residency activities and mainstage performances. Following residency activities, College of Saint Benedict gathered feedback from partners to find out if the activities met the intended expectations for each group. Partners sent back narrative responses, which provided meaningful feedback. Survey responses from the District 742 Special Ed teacher: “Yes, (there was an impact) – I think for our kids it made them focus more because it (the activity/performance) was nonverbal. The length of time was good – any longer and our kids start to lose focus. As a staff member, it was enjoyable to watch.” College of Saint Benedict also learned about special cultural considerations that should be made when going back into the schools: one portion of the artist’s improvisation exposed his belly, which is not appropriate in some cultures. College of Saint Benedict has now made a note to ask teachers in advance about any other questions or considerations that might need to be made in the future when working with this population in the future. Hugo and Ines also worked with college students at College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University in a workshop, and many theater majors were encouraged to attend the performance at the $10 student ticket rate. One professor at College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University wrote: “I encouraged students to go--one class was theater majors who loved it; the second class was an improvisation class who are not theater majors. Those students were absolutely blown away by the performance not only because of the artistry but also because they had never experienced any form of theater other than the "norm". At the next class I asked them to discuss the workshop and their experience at the performance. The students all felt quite special that they had the opportunity to work with the performers and loved, LOVED the workshop.” College of Saint Benedict also surveyed the general public who attended the mainstage performance with an online survey, sent via email. 90% of survey respondents noted that the performance was either “Very Good” or “Amazing.” An overwhelming majority of survey respondents also said that Hugo and Ines was fun, had stellar artistry, and changed their perceptions of the genre of puppetry.
Other, local or private