Small Grants - COVID-19
Small Grants - COVID-19
Emergency Funding to Support Cancelled Performances.
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.
Drew Digby: ARAC Executive Director; Holly Hackett-Rich: ARAC Grants Manager; Erin Turner: ARAC Operations Manager; Steve Wick: ARAC Office Coordinator.
ACHF Arts Access
In response to the cancelled performances, I am making more of my work available through the internet. Like many live performers, I have been learning the ins and outs of live-streaming. I am partnering with those venues who were forced to cancel, to offer live-streamed concerts to their audiences. Honestly, this work will have been successful if I make a difference in even one person's life during the next few months. I am aiming to reach audiences across the country of at least 30-50 people at a time, totaling in approximately 250-350 viewers. Live-streaming allows for audience participation through chat, so I will be able to gauge the listeners' experience of the virtual concerts. I also will encourage listeners to email me if they have further thoughts or if they feel the need to connect. In the end I will rely on attendance and audience feedback to measure the success of this endeavor.
With 6+ months of cancelled performances and a lot of time on my hands, I have worked hard to make use of the writing time and internet-enabled connection. I have had a number of fans and small venues co-host live-streamed events with me since I first proposed this project. Most of the events were held on Zoom for audiences of 10-20 people. I used this platform because it allowed for face-to-face conversation before and after the performances. I performed sets of 30-45 mins and tried to share topical pieces that sparked conversation.