This project will use the We Are Water MN traveling exhibit and the Minnesota Humanities Center's approach to community engagement, relationship building, and storytelling, to increase community capacity for sustainable watershed management in six Minnesota watersheds.
This project will use the We Are Water MN traveling exhibit and the Minnesota Humanities Center's approach to community engagement, relationship building, and storytelling, to increase community capacity for sustainable watershed management in five Minnesota watersheds. The following communities were selected as host sites for this project:
Winona (City of Winona), active hosting period: March 3-April 25, 2022
Lake City (Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance), active hosting period: April 28-June 20, 2022
We Are Hmong Minnesota, a 2,500-square-foot exhibit, debuted March 7, 2015, timed for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the beginning of Hmong migration to Minnesota. MNHS staff worked in partnership with the Hmong community to develop the exhibit. A traveling version of the exhibit for loan to libraries, schools, and community centers was also developed and is currently circulating. A companion exhibit at the James J. Hill House displayed a collection of Hmong textiles recently donated to the Minnesota Historical Society.
Naturally occurring arsenic can make groundwater unsafe for drinking. Before going to the expense of drilling a well and sampling the water for arsenic, it would benefit public health to be able to predict the level of arsenic in groundwater in a certain area. A special research project with the U.S. Geological Survey is designed to develop the capacity to assess local geological conditions, related groundwater chemistry and well construction factors in three counties in order to predict the levels of arsenic found in groundwater related to those variables.
AC3 will create two art-building workshops for indigenous youth and their families. The work itself will focus on the lives and stories of missing or murdered indigenous women (MMIW) in Minnesota. The workshops will be co-hosted with Anishinaabe Academy (AA) and the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC). At both events, students, their parents, and their siblings will be trained in silk screening production, will manufacture printed fabric and paper arts together, and will be educated in Native American history, culture, and contemporary experiences.
