CMSM opened its new permanent site with increased capacity to serve as an informal learning center that playfully engages children, families, and school groups in interactive experiences with the art and cultural heritage of southern Minnesota. With its current appropriation, CMSM is poised to strengthen its core as an institution that promotes arts and cultural heritage learning through continued
CMSM will build upon the work that began with its 2015-16 appropriation by (1) Remediation and further development of exhibit areas that promote Arts & Cultural Heritage (ACH) learning (2) Expanding ACH learning opportunities for new audiences at off-site locations; (3) Engaging an outside Evaluation Consultant to help plan/implement strategies that meaningfully assess ACH learning outcomes and impacts; (4) Boosting the Museum’s capacity to serve more school/early learning groups.
African Economic Development Solutions will sustain and expand funding development team skills, this funding would support training, coaching, and overall support. The project has the following key objectives: 1) hire expertise to train staff on fund development planning; 2) grant writing training and support; 3) grant research; 4) grants management and reporting; 5) sponsorship fundraising; 6) grant application writing for humanities programs.
The Givens Foundation will host a African American Literary Conference, slated for April 2025, to explore emerging themes, trends, and issues in Black American literature. Our collaboration with the Archie Givens Sr. Collection of African American Literature will elevate the discourse, fostering critical engagement. 1) Public Forum: Engaging the general public, as well as emerging and established writers, scholars, critics, agents, publishers, booksellers, educators, and students.
1) We will teach the tradition of Arabic drumming to community members, and present this music to the Twin Cities in a series of outdoor concerts open to all. This will include audience talkbacks by local SWANA Humanities scholars.
2) We will recruit 6 local SWANA (Southwest Asian/North African) community members to work together to develop their writing in a safe and supportive community setting. The product will be presented as staged readings with talkbacks by local SWANA Humanities scholars.
Art from the Inside elevates the voices of incarcerated artists in Minnesota and amplifies their stories through their art and community-centered exhibitions of their art, providing the public a space to explore the complexities of identity, incarceration, and our shared humanity. AFTI will expand its reach and impact into more state correctional facilities and incorporate culturally-sustaining arts programming both inside and outside the walls of confinement.
The Children's Museum of Rochester, Inc. will be implementing a program called Passport To Play aiming to increase the number of children and families of all ages, ethnicities, abilities and incomes to participate in hands-on arts and cultural programming and educational exhibits at the museum. Passport To Play would reach over 1,500 children and families a year from underserved communities in Southeastern Minnesota. The Children's Museum of Rochester, Inc.
ASAL Charities will enhance civic engagement within the East African community in the Twin Cities, honoring and celebrating its unique culture. "Empowering Voices" will integrate cultural nuances into civic education throughout twelve sessions focusing on the significance of voting, civic involvement, and active participation in civic life.
ASAL will enhance operations in three areas: 1) non-profit management; 2) grant writing and reporting; 3) fundraising strategy development. This project has the following key objectives: 1) train and assist staff on grant writing and reporting for non-profit management; 2) hire experts to conduct strategic planning, fiscal management, and community outreach training; 3) hire consultation to identify, monitor, and communicate fundraising campaign opportunities, grant writing, tracking progress, and project management.
This project involves the collaboration between Pan Asian Arts Alliance, Elluminance Era, Chinese American Chamber of Commerce-MN, Asian Media Access, Unity Dance Group, and other Pan Asian Arts groups. It is a first-ever collaboration between Asian American performing and visual arts organizations. The project, "Asia Extravaganza," is a one-night festivity event to showcase Asian American youthful culture through dance, music and storytelling.
The Asian American Short Film Project is a six-month long series of workshops on how to create a five minute narrative or documentary short film culminating in a public event showcasing works-in-progress. This will include workshops on how to write a short film, how to find funding, how to produce a short film with the tools that you already have (i.e. smartphone), how to edit, and how to distribute/show your short film.
The Equity Alliance MN will bring to life absent narratives of Latino, Hmong, Native, Asian, African American, and women of the Civil Rights Era in a collaboration among youth, social studies teachers, Full Circle Theater (FCT), and St. Paul Neighborhood Network. The narratives, researched by youth, will be transformed by FCT into a six person play that will be presented, video recorded, and distributed with accompanying curriculum written by social studies teachers for teachers across the Equity Alliance MN and the state.
St. Paul Civic Symphony will help to develop a multidisciplinary arts project for its free 2025 Children's Concert inspired by a recent publication, The Rhythm of Somalia: A Collection of Songs, Stories, and Traditions by Qorsho Hassan, Minnesota Teacher of the Year (2020), and music specialist Becca Buck, both educators at Gideon Pond Elementary, Burnsville.
Asian Media Access (AMA) will embark on a capacity-building project aimed at cultivating individual donors from Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and the public, and encompasses a multifaceted approach to enhance grant writing, reporting, nonprofit management, and fundraising capabilities. Key activities include: 1) train and assist board/staff on grant writing and reporting; 2) build internal expertise in grant writing and reporting by obtaining consultation and training from experts in Donor Solicitation.
The Center for Hmong Studies is seeking a $20,000 grant form the Hmong Cultural Grant program to acquire the Jason Schoonover Collection, to provide stipend for students to digitize and catalog the collection, and to organize a Hmong Textile exhibit to show the collection.
This project involves collaboration with various organizations to enhance cultural connections, strengthen positive identity development, and provide enriching experiences for Black youth and families in Central Minnesota. Specific activities include 1) cultural heritage learning sessions and field trips; 2) a film festival honoring Black filmmakers and performers; 3) a Afrofuturist comic book workshop; 4) Boys & Girls Club art initiatives; 5) a Hip-Hop culture lab; 6) a Hip-Hop dance show; 7) educational support to cultural athletics and sports; 8) theatre production.
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) will build upon a strong foundation of Minnesota Arts, Culture and Heritage (ACH) learning experiences made possible with prior MN Legacy funding support to:
Understanding interconnected social justice histories is foundational to build solidarity with Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities to address systemic inequalities. LinkingLeaders Partnership will integrate solidarity practices by creating and integrating resources, tools, and modules for teaching BIPOC histories in our programs. Resources will be shared as models for practicing solidarity to be used and adapted by others doing solidarity and racial justice equity work.
This project is designed to introduce the rich heritage of Chinese dance and music to communities in the Twin Cities and Rochester, fostering cultural appreciation and understanding.
This project will create additional arts programming to extend a pilot project with some new adjustments. Funding will 1) create additional workshop programming for in-person art class workshops; 2) help to expand into offering a set of new virtual workshops with accompanying art tool kits for students; 3) host a community style art activity table during local events and market.
Minnesota Teaching Artists from African, Indigenous, Latinx, and/or Asian heritages, will develop & deliver community-inspired arts programs that teach an art form with roots in their cultural heritage. Artists will select the Minnesota community where their residency will be delivered, focusing on increasing access to the art form. Over the course of multiple sessions, participants will learn the art form's cultural context, artists from that culture who have influenced it, and create the art form.
During the 2016 Legislative Session, the Minnesota State Legislature asked the Minnesota Humanities, $75,000 the first year is for a grant to the city of St. Paul or Ramsey County to develop and install activity facilities in parks for Takraw courts that are reflective of the current demographics in Ramsey County. This grant is available if the recipient provides at least a 25 percent match for funding.
The Department of Public Transformation will hire a Development Consultant to lead the Board and staff toward more sustainable and intentional fundraising strategies. Specifically, a consultant teaches skills in building annual giving programs, creating audit systems and policies, coach staff and board on effective fundraising strategies, and implement processes that can evolve as the organization continues to grow.
The Minnesota Urban Debate League (MNUDL), a program of Augsburg University, will expand their programs with a focus on middle school debate and the Spanish League Debate.
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) will complete the innovative community engagement process started with the previous Legacy grant. CMSM will build upon the progress created with the previous Legacy grant by transitioning the team's focus to carrying-out of strategic access strategies that engage a diversity of community members in the exhibit development process, resulting in the completion of fabrication plans for exhibits and environments that are accessible; engaging; and reflect the diverse art, culture, and heritage of southern Minnesota.
Building on the exhibit development community engagement process carried through three successive Legacy grants, the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota used the 2013 direct appropriation to prepare for and begin building exhibit components for its permanent facility by combining professional museum expertise with local resources, volunteers, and community involvement.
Building on the exhibit development community engagement process carried out through four successive Legacy grants, the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota will use the 2014-15 direct appropriation to complete fabrication and installation of several exhibit components for its permanent facility. Local resources, volunteers, and community involvement will be combined with museum expertise to complete this process.
This project had three components: 1) An arts club that meets weekly and provides arts education and peer mentoring; 2) A theater play that will showcase issues/challenges within the Somali community in the community. The workshops are designed to introduce youth to traditional Somali arts and encourage them to extend the tradition through their own artistic practice. 3) Showcasing Somali Art, presentation and intercultural community engagement at the Somali Independence day Festival in 2016.
The program that we are proposing has three components; 1) weekly arts club that provides arts education and peer mentoring for youth that are designed to introduce youth to traditional Somali arts. 2) A Somali arts show and cultural learning opportunity taking place at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis through The Southern’s Arts Residency and Art Share Programs. 3) Showcasing Somali art at the Somali Independence day Festival in 2017.
This project will support the inaugural season of the Culture Workers Collaborative (CWC), a cohort program for Minnesota culture bearers seeking to lead their communities in amplifying cultural heritage, building identity, and increasing cultural self-determination. Over the course of the program, culture bearers will 1) participate in 15 monthly professional development sessions; 2) carry out a series of 31 culturally diverse humanities activities that empower their communities in building identity and culture.
GCST 1970 is a 4-credit program for college & high school students in partnership with the YMCA & Three Rivers Park District to learn about their cultural heritage & connection to the land. This collaboration brings under-represented students to a wilderness camp to engage in nature, environmental justice and issues of equity, access, and inclusion in outdoor spaces. Students participate in 5 days of immersive learning in and from nature, from each other, & from local tribal elders and artists.
Giving Voice Initiative will establish a new, permanent chorus designed to meet the specific needs of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (AD) and their care partners in the Hispanic/Latine community. We will grow our Minneapolis pilot and expand it, launching a new Spanish-language chorus with Indigenous Roots in St. Paul, creating greater access, awareness and connections in the East Metro Area.
This project will produce content for the Headwaters exhibit including: 1) creation and content development of Meet Your Neighbor stations; 2) creation of two murals and a sculpture celebrating diversity; 3) new exhibit design in partnership with Stearns County History Museum; 4) design an art fence for the Outdoor Adventures exhibit.
In 2018 the Great River Children's Museum, (GRCM) received a building worth $1,500,000 from Liberty Bank. Since receiving this gift, the Board of Directors has completed a Museum Strategic Master Plan with Vergeront Museum Planning, a predesign plan and building condition assessment with JLG Architects, a hazardous building materials assessment with Braun Intertec, and a marketing plan with Gearbox Marketing.
Great River Children's Museum: Moving Forward Project encompasses the development of new exhibits & programs with and for the families of Central MN. We are expanding upon partnerships formed with community groups, developing exhibit areas that open doors to new experiences and cultures, and working to create program guides that will highlight some of the many informal learning opportunities to be found in our exhibit areas.
Voices of Cultura, amplify arts, culture, and heritage through LatinX Arts In Minnesota. Murals are mirrors of community with imagery, traditions, and ceremonies embedded within the stories shared. Writing circles create spaces for underrepresented LatinX/BIPOC communities to experience an affirming space with LatinX-focused activities to increase connectivity with arts, culture, and heritage. LatinX and BIPOC communities' cultural pride and honor will be elevated and celebrated.
AICS is hosting "Hees iyo Fanka," a one-night event celebrating Somali music and culture through karaoke and live performances. The event aims to bring together the Somali community and broader Minneapolis public to foster pride in Somali heritage and promote cultural exchange. It will feature Somali karaoke and live performances by local artists and poets, showcasing the richness of Somali musical traditions. The event will encourage language preservation and provide an opportunity for community members to connect through the joy of music.
