“SOMEBODY called me an activist for the arts recently,”

says Dayna Del Val as she settles in behind her desk at The Arts Partnership headquarters in Fargo, her bright eyes shining in the muted winter light. Her expressive hands pause mid-gesture for a split second as she considers the difference between the term “advocate” and the term “activist.” Both are titles she wears with pride. “I think an advocate promotes it when it’s convenient,” she decides. “And an activist eats, sleeps and breathes it.”

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So which one is she? Del Val doesn’t hesitate for an instant. “I’m an activist,” she replies with a broad grin.

The president and CEO of The Arts Partnership, which funds, supports and advocates for art and the artists who create it, has been preparing her whole life for this role. Animated and articulate, Del Val displays the poise and accessible charm of a lifelong performer. She scored her first community theater role (Marta in “The Sound of Music”) at age six and jokes that she hasn’t stopped since. Del Val obtained a bachelor’s degree in theater arts from Minnesota State University Moorhead and a master’s degree in english composition from North Dakota State University and has continued to write and act, teach and create ever since.

“I still perform when I want to and have the opportunity, because I believe really strongly that it’s important for an arts leader to also be an artist,” Del Val explains. “So you’ll still hear me occasionally on commercials. You might still see me on some billboards, some print work.”

Her commercial work, her monthly column for The Forum and her active radio presence make her a familiar face — and voice — in the region. But it’s her tireless arts activism with The Arts Partnership (and her position as board president of Arts North Dakota and previously serving on the Art and Culture Commission for the City of Fargo) that fuels her and brings her creativity into focus.

Many assume that the goals of art and business are worlds apart, maybe even acting in opposition to each other. The Arts Partnership aims to show that the circles of art and business overlap and compliment each other. The organization works to strengthen connections between two seemingly disparate worlds. Del Val serves as the bridge and translator between the two sides, with a foot in both worlds, deftly maneuvering between the two. Her mission is to weave art through community life at all levels, starting with kids in the K-12 school system and threading art’s influence (and its lessons of creativity, inclusion, empathy, innovation and self-expression) up through the university system, its vibrant tendrils extending into the offices and boardrooms of the corporate world and coloring city governments and urban planning initiatives.

“My goal is not to make everyone quit their day jobs and be artists,” says Del Val. “My goal is to help people understand that whether you ever walk through the door of a gallery or a performance, whether you ever own a piece of original art, whether you ever perform in anything, having a strong art and culture component in your community is imperative to the overall success of your community.”

Del Val rejects that idea that art — and the community that creates it — is frivolous, what she calls the “frosting” of a community. “Actually, I would argue that we’re the core of the batter of the cake,” she says, learning forward a little to support her assertion with expertly delivered talking points, drawing her audience in. “We’re an economic driver. We’re what new young millennial employees are looking for. We spur independent restaurants and shops. We create culture. We preserve our history. We put Fargo on the map.”

And don’t think for a second that this is some passionate plea from a dreamy creative. When Del Val calls the arts an economic driver, she comes armed with facts to back up her claim. The Arts Partnership recently completed a two-year economic impact study, conducted with assistance from Americans for the Arts, a national arts advocacy organization. It found that in 2015 alone, the nonprofit arts sector generated $41.6 million dollars in the Fargo-Moorhead metro. And that number doesn’t tally money generated at and around events at for-profit galleries or performance venues like the Fargodome and Scheels Arena. It only measures the money spent by the organizations themselves, ticket sales and the pre- and post-show dinners, drinks and coffee stops, the hotel room stays, the shopping and the additional money spent when arts patrons from the metro and around the region made Fargo-Moorhead a cultural destination.

The cities and the business community support the arts as well. Between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo city governments and local businesses have partnered with The Arts Partnership to award grants worth $138,078 to individual artists, arts organizations and non-profits working to integrate the arts into their mission and programming. The Arts Partnership also promotes the work of area artists and arts organizations, helping creative people serve new audiences, develop their skills, and create new and interesting work. “We want to help artists figure out how to have a more sustainable and thriving career,” Del Val explains. “How to not just exist, but to be the professional workers that they are, and how to help organizations reach their fullest potential.”

These stats are excellent news for artists and art supporters in the area. And they’ve brought both Del Val and her office increased news coverage, visibility and opportunities. The organization accepted the North Dakota Arts Organization Governor’s Award for the Arts in 2017 and Del Val was the only arts leader present at the CEOS for Cities event in Phoenix last year. But Del Val and her staff aren’t taking it easy. They have a list of goals and objectives to take the arts in the Fargo-Moorhead metro to the next level in 2018 and beyond.