An In-Depth Look at a Recent Project Funded in Part by LRAC’s Legacy Organization Grant
In November of 2021, the LRAC Board awarded 12 different organizations and individuals across the 9-county region funding for the Legacy Organization and Individual Grant rounds. Projects funded by these grants were to take place over the coming year.
The goal of LRAC’s Legacy Fund for Individuals and Organizations is to create a strong arts legacy in Minnesota that will exist for a period of twenty-five years. Access to these grants is determined by projects that support activities the following three key areas:
Arts and Arts Access
Arts Education
Arts and Cultural Heritage
As part of our mission to help bring art to rural communities throughout our region, we’re taking a moment to celebrate one of the many projects that have received funding from this beneficial arts program – the Churches United Mural Project.
Creating a Legacy for Marginalized People in Clay County
Among the awards given, $19,510 of funding went towards the Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) School of Art.
Totaling in $19,510 of Legacy Grant funding, MSUM School of Art’s project will produce 5 large-scale indoor and outdoor murals to be accessible for the public. By working alongside clients and staff at Churches United for the Homeless in Moorhead, the region’s largest homeless center, project director Brad Bachmeier is bringing the members of the community together to help complete each mural.
Recently, over 100 people united to participate in painting the “Here for Every Neighbor” mural for MSUM’s College of Arts and Humanities billboard. Another mural has since been completed depicting an undersea scene featuring turtles, fish, colorful coral, and other aquatic life.
Art at the Heart of This Community Project
By providing six beginning/emerging artists an opportunity to be involved in executing an arts-based community project, this project continues MSUM School of Art’s Legacy as an indispensable partner for local impact and change. Lead artists Franklin Ugochukwa and Lauren Sterling have been collaborating with these individuals to create large-scale artwork that will provide a more welcoming, inviting, hopeful, and healing environment for the homeless population in the area.
The MSUM Dragons UNITE to create a colorful mural, as shown in this time-lapsed video.
Each mural provides arts access for the shelter’s clients as well as the general public and volunteers that go there. Over the last year, the shelter has served a total of 769 people and is already over 700 for their calendar year as of October 1st. Currently, they are serving an unprecedented amount of families and children with 31 at the shelter.
Prepare Your Project for the Next Legacy Grant Round!
It’s never too late to begin working on your application for the next grant cycle! LRAC offers a variety of grants for individuals, nonprofits, and public entities. Legacy Grants like the one which funded MSUM’s mural project are part of the Minnesota Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage funding. Funds from this program are made possible from an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
Lake Region Arts Council is proud to support arts activities and opportunities throughout the region with support from our many wonderful grant programs. You can learn more about each of these programs as well as their guidelines, application process, and more by visiting our grants page HERE.
