Lake Region Arts Council Spring Grants Fund Nine Projects
The arrival of spring brings fresh opportunity for area arts organizations to build capacity and awareness, thanks to Spring Project Grants from Lake Region Arts Council. On March 19, LRAC disbursed a total of $18,196 among nine area arts organizations. The funded projects represent a spectrum of art media, from textile arts to theatrical performances, visual arts, art education and more. This Lake Region Arts Council Grant Program is funded through a Minnesota State Legislative appropriation.
Giving Graphic Arts a Wider Viewing
An example of Susan Morrissey’s work that will tour the LARL branch libraries.
Moorhead’s Rourke Art Gallery Museum will use a $1,700 grant to tour the "The Graphic Work of Susan Morrissey" exhibit through the Lake Agassiz Regional Library system, with showings at the Breckenridge Public Library, the Detroit Lakes Public Library, and the Moorhead Public Library. The exhibit will remain at each location for a period of seven weeks.
“The Caged Bird”, digital art, 2019, by Jax Rose. Rose will teach digital art workshops in 2024.
The Douglas County Library in Alexandria was awarded $1,200 to support an artist residency that will include free digital art workshops for teens. The June-August 2024 workshops will be facilitated by local illustrator and sculptor Jax Rose, who will teach youth in grades 6-12 digital art techniques and their applications as an art form.
Performance Arts Advocacy
Five regional organizations received funding to put on theatrical and musical performances. These include:
Nahui Olin Dance Troupe will perform at the PRCA community arts festival in 2024.
Stevens County’s Prairie Renaissance Cultural Alliance, based in Morris, will use $1,750 grant funding to produce a free, culturally inclusive community arts festival event with music, visual art, performance art, and arts experiences for the community. The event will take place September 7, 2024, at East Side Park in Morris, and will feature music and dance performances in the bandshell, art displays, local artists, free art activities and demonstrations, an art contest, and silent and live art auctions.
“Pert Near Sandstone” will perform in Vergas, MN in June 2024.
The city of Vergas in Otter Tail County was funded $2,500 to offer a performance by the band Pert Near Sandstone, on Main Street in Vergas on June 8 during the Community Club’s Shops and Hops event. The band represents a "string band revival" style of music informed by American folk tradition lightly veiled in bluegrass. The concert will be free and open to the public.
A photo from a production of “Macbeth” directed by Craig A. Ellingson. Ellingson will direct “Fiddler on the Roof" in 2024.
In Moorhead, Act Up Theatre of Clay County will produce the renowned musical production, “Fiddler on the Roof," using their $3,000 grant to pay the director’s salary. The production will take place on the Gaede stage of the Roland Dille Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Minnesota State University-Moorhead and is expected to open June 11, 2024.
The Kicks Band of Fargo Moorhead will produce an outdoor jazz festival in Moorhead in August 2024.
Also in Clay County, Kicks Band of Fargo-Moorhead received $2,000 to produce a jazz festival, designed to share the joy of jazz through performances by area musicians. This free-for-everyone jazz festival will be held at Gooseberry Mounds Park, Moorhead, MN on Sunday, August 4, 2024, and will feature six area jazz groups: FM Kicks Band Youth Jazz Band (18 years old and younger); a festival Dixieland Band; the 188th Army National Guard Jazz Band; Jazz Avalanche; the Max Johnk Group; and the Kicks Band of Fargo Moorhead.
Guest artists pose for a picture at the 2022 Lakes Chamber Music Society’s Alexandria Festival of the Lakes chamber music series.
Lakes Chamber Music Society in Douglas County will produce a four-concert summer classical chamber music series, “Alexandria Festival of the Lakes,” using a $2,346 grant to pay for specific event production expenses, including concert venue rental, concert programs, performance licensing fees (ASCAP), and piano tuning. The concerts will take place on August 7, 10, 14, and 18, at the First Lutheran Church in Alexandria.
Textiles and Traditions
“Lifelines”, Machine piecing, machine quilting, by Émilie Trahan. HCSCC will host a quilt exhibit in 2024.
A $3,000 grant will allow Clay County’s Historical and Cultural Society to display the nationally recognized art quilt exhibit Quilt National '23. This juried exhibit features 27 of the finest art quilts produced in the world, selected from among 673 entries to select 81 quilts to tour in three separate collections. The exhibit will run at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, MN, July 1-Sept. 30, 2024.
In Grant County, Barrett’s Immanuel Church Building Association received $700 to support a Syttende Mai (17th of May, Norwegian Constitution Day) celebration. Th event will offer ethnic fare, Scandinavian music and dance, a traditional barnetog (children's parade), and slides of Norway's scenery, costumes, art and architecture. This cultural celebration commemorates the signing of the Norwegian Constitution in 1814.
Future Opportunities Available
Lake Region Arts Council encourages all eligible arts organizations to begin planning potential projects for Winter 2024 and Spring 2025. Arts organizations may apply for up to $3,000 per Project Grant application, with a limit of $5,000 total for the fiscal year. Multiple applications are acceptable in each grant round. A 20% match is required for this grant.
The deadline for the Fall Project Grant is Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 5:00 PM. The grant review is Tuesday, October 15, 2024, and the project may start at any time on or after Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
The LRAC Project Grant Guidelines and a link to the LRAC online grant application are available at the LRAC website: LRAC4.org
For more information, contact Miranda Lape, Grants Manager, Lake Region Arts Council, 133 Mill Street S, Fergus Falls, MN 56537-2562
Phone: 218-739-5780 or 800-262-2787
Email: LRAC4@LRACgrants.org
Website: LRAC4.org
LRAC is a nonprofit art organization that provides grants, resources, and services to the nine county region; Becker, Clay, Douglas, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin counties. Their mission is to encourage and support the arts in West Central Minnesota.
