We would use this grant money to help pay for the free entertainment for the fairgoers at our county fair with the Doug Ohman. He is a wonderful Minnesota native that has a wide variety of art and history in his ways of storytelling, as well as making it interesting and a learning experience for all ages to learn about the history and art of their home state.
We are proposing to rent bleachers for our "park" area. We have had the same bleachers for 65-plus years and it's time to upgrade them. At this time we do not have the funding to replace them all. We would like to rent this year and see where to place new permanent ones. The bleachers we rent will also be better for the public attending the concerts we offer the fairgoers.
Provide educational demonstrations and displays of Minnesota history, ag and arts with a dog sledding exhibit, farm feud trivia, a butter churning demonstration, and art demonstrations.
Our Legacy project includes having the Red Letter Band perform and having Clueless the Balloon Twister come and entertain the children again this year.
The grant funds will help pay for local folk, Americana, country and western musicians or bands. We will seek musicians that perform original music and showcase musicians and bands from local (northern Minnesota) that often don't get the opportunity to perform in front of a large crowd. We will also contract professional sound engineers to produce the sound at the mini stage through all performances.
We want to invite back to our fair:
- Doug Ohman who is a History Teller, he brings different content for the different sessions he does at the fair.
- Kevin Lindh is a balloon twisting artist. In the past he's had a continuous line of children to get their unique balloon figures. He does animals, characters, shapes, etc.
- Jeremy DeWall (and band) is a local Minnesota singer. He will bring his hometown music to our stage during the fair.
This project includes artist workshops for the Hispanic Community Outreach program. Workshops include: 1) puppet making; 2) paper Mache classes; 3) Guatemalan weaving classes; 4) mural and painting classes by Gustavo Lira, Mexican muralist/painter/sculptor/mosaic artist/ceramicist/art educator; 5) an Alebrijes workshop, with Aaron Johnson-Ortiz/Gustavo Boada. Johnson-Ortiz is a Latino cultural arts worker/organizer/public artist/muralist focused on workers' struggles, immigrant rights, and Latino culture.
The Niigaane program focus is on Ojibwemowin curriculum development and delivery. Ojibwemowin is the vehicle used to educate our students in kindergarten through sixth grade. We rely on our First Language Elder Speakers to help facilitate and guide our teachers and students in Ojibwe language acquisition. Ojibwe cultural activities are integrated within the academic lessons. Ojibwemowin classes and family centered activities are hosted by Niigaane staff to promote language preservation and acquisition efforts for all family and community members.
To add Minnesota history and museum administration books to Proctor Historical Society's holdings to make this information more accessible to the public.
This project includes: 1) Storytelling through Identity Exploration and Narratives within a public sphere uses traditional methods of puppeteering and textile techniques to address contemporary issues; 2) Public Art On-Point On-Site is about transforming a public space to reflect community values; 3) The Power of Print uses innovative versatile contemporary print methods for making multiple statements; and 4) How to Navigate the Artworld even when you are in the Midwest. Each ENCUENTROS theme will have a series of three events.
Wonderlust Productions will use stories gathered from people who live and work behind the scenes in downtown Saint Paul to create short, place-based, audio plays, peeling back the curtain on who and what really makes our city tick. Audiences will be invited to take a listening tour of the city by following an online map and QR codes displayed around town.
Saint Cloud is deeply divided by race and radicalized violence. The Saint Cloud library is perceived as the only true commons space where all people can feel welcomed and safe. This incident has brought up trauma amongst staff and the community, especially people of Somali and eastern African heritage. This project includes partnering with the Rainbow Wellness Collective, to offer five, 2-hour art making sessions, focused on creative writing, painting, collage-making, lyrical dancing, and drumming circles, at the library.
This project helps support Connecting the Community to Arts and Cultural Heritage at the 2024 Twin Cities West Metro Asian Fair and will present new arts and cultural heritage programs. These new arts and culture heritage programs have two primary objectives: 1) to preserve and honor the cultural heritage of Minnesota; 2) to provide education and student outreach on cultural diversity through five new programs: Ethnic Attire Experience, Community Artist Demonstrations, Dance Showcase, Traditional Music Exhibitions, and Cross-cultural Tea Display.
Public Art Saint Paul will propel new work forward on the 2nd Wakpa Triennial. The first Wakpa Triennial, 3 years in the making, presented in summer 2023 more than 110 artists in new work across artistic and humanities disciplines including sculpture, installation, video, poetry, music, painting, murals, paper-making, textiles, conversations, and other discussion and participatory programs.
