TaikoArts Midwest seeks funding to bring the healing, empowering, and community building benefits of taiko drumming to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and homeless youth communities in Minneapolis. We will partner with schools and nonprofits to best serve each community. We will use funds to staff a Community Outreach Director position, a taiko instructor assistant, and a mental health/youth behaviorial specialist to lead the programming.
A - St. Paul Czech Dancers - they have been at our fair before. They are always a favorite within the Czech ethnic area of this county as well as surrounding counties., B - Larry Novotny "The One-Man Band" - Larry has been entertaining crowds for years. He is multi-talented and plays several instruments. With a love and a skill to play old time music and polka music, he is a crowd pleaser., C - Doug Traxler and the Hired Hands - a very well-known local musician specializing in older folk ballads. He is definitely a hit with the demographics at our fair.
Funds provided by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund will contribute to the cost of the sculpture depicting a 173rd airborne brigade soldier kneeling with a 120-pound pack with rifle in Afghanistan. The statue will be the focal point of Rice Lake Memorial Park?located near the intersection of Rice Lake Road and Martin Road in the City of Rice Lake within St. Louis County. The monument will remind the public of the intense burden put onto our soldiers who are defending our nation?s interests and keeping wars off of American soil.
The grant will support the production of our first Children's Book created by immigrant youth for children ages K-4. Content will cover a wide range of topics: reasons for immigration, emotions and other aspects such as bullying, marginalization, transitions and loss. 3,000 copies will be produced and distributed along with accompanying events such as book readings. The goal is to build inclusive and integrated communities by sharing authentic first-person immigrant stories and building empathy.
A project to build capacity for poets to actively document and correct historical gaps in the Lao Minnesotan journey as we approach 50 years in the US. The project will include interdisciplinary exhibits and performances giving traditional artists a chance to develop new work with Lao poets that address ancient and modern history, myth, and cultural traditions, additionally publishing innovative and experimental collections on the Lao experience.
The purpose of the AMRA Native Authors Program is to support a cohort of Native American authors, working in different literary genres, with the end goal of creating a path to publishing new literary works. This program allows Native authors the support and public platform to tell our stories rather than having our stories be told by non-Natives.
