The Arts

The Paradise Center for the Arts puts on a radio show in 2021.

Arts

Laudren Winder, Benjamin Boucvalt, Alex Campbell, Brittany Proia, William Sturdevant rehearse under tents at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona. (Photo courtesy of GRSF)

leaders optimistic for future

after adjusting in 2021

By BETH FORKNER MOE Guest Contributor

After almost two years of being mostly distanced from others, regional arts nonprofit leaders are looking most forward to in 2022 is engagement – engagement with audiences, with artists, with the community.

That’s what all the people we talked to said, without prompting.

The pandemic has forced the organizations to become creative in how they connected with people, and they were able to do so, yet the in-person connections were starkly missed.

The organizations all were able to maintain some sort of programming, and were able to stay financially afloat, when no one

anticipated when everything closed down abruptly in March 2020. Many organizations received donations from people who had supported them in the past, or even from people they hadn’t known before. Often, people who had already purchased tickets for planned events allowed the organizers to simply keep the money from those tickets. Additionally, many funders changed priorities and made more grant money available to non-profit organizations, often in the arts. Finally, government funding (through the Payroll Production Program and – most recently – the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, both through the Small Business Administration) helped tide organizations over. (The 410 Project, however, was not eligible for much of this funding, since they are volunteer-run and had no paid staff to retain). FORKNER MOE We interviewed four arts leaders and asked them how they shifted programming during the pandemic, what they are doing now, and what the near future looks like for their organizations. Our conversations are edited for clarity.

410 Project Community Art Space - Mankato

Dana Sikkila, Executive Director

“We cancelled exhibits and events from March until late fall 2020. We had to figure out the reality of our space. When we were closed, we had donations from individuals in the community, from $5 to $100, enough to pay our rent. (When we made the decision to open) people were in need of activities and a safe way to participate.

We had exhibitions, but no receptions or events. We did engage with our artists, often in social media. (We did) a lot of social media – Facebook Live, videos with artists, and more. This was manageable for us and the artists, and it was safe for the community.

We also did a lot of virtual programming on Zoom, including artist statements, artist education, and sharing of professional practices.

We qualified for some small artist grants (but not those that require an organization to have paid staff). We are funded by the community, which tells us how the community feels about us. We’re important to a lot of people. We’re completely volunteer-run, by a group of people who really care about what they’re doing. This is hard to sustain, but we’ve been open since 2003. People care about us; we pay our bills from people who donate to us, and we’ll be open as long as we can.

Almost everything we do is free, unless there are costs for materials. We get some grants to pay our teachers, but they generally donate it back, because they want us to be sustainable.

Right now, we still don’t feel back to normal. Things fluctuate every couple weeks. People get sick, but as younger people get vaccinations, they have more access to us.

Going forward, we want to ideally continue to provide space for anyone who is creative, people who are making things and made things through the pandemic.” (NOTE: Sikkila is on the board of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, which lobbies the Legislature for such things as the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. This was passed in 2008, and the arts

Laudren Winder, Benjamin Boucvalt, Alex Campbell, Brittany Proia, William Sturdevant rehearse under tents at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona. (Photo courtesy of GRSF)

receive about 20% of the funding from it, which comes from sales taxes throughout the state. Minnesota provides more money to arts organizations than almost any other state.)

Great River Shakespeare Festival – Winona

Aaron Young, Managing Director

Great River Shakespeare Festival (GRSF) put a pause – which they called an “intermission” - on its 2020 festival, which is held for 6 weeks each summer. In 2021, the festival was held outside in a city-owned park adjacent to the Mississippi River. Strict COVID protocols from the Actors’ Equity Association prohibited, among other things, faceto-face conversations between the acting company members and the community.

Between early 2020 and the 2021 festival, GRSF continued to engage its audience virtually in a multitude of events. They included readings, skits, panel discussions, and Shakespeare’s Test Kitchen (with company members making food from Shakespeare’s plays on Zoom) and happy hours with other company members making cocktails/ mocktails. This year, GRSF got funding to produce a podcast based on MacBeth, which it Is offering to schools nationwide at no cost.

The organization also held its youth classes online in 2020. “Parents said it was a godsend. Kids were skipping around the room, and happy to connect with others. A lot of the students are still meeting virtually monthly on their own, reading Shakespeare together.”

“We really focused on maintaining engagement. Even though we didn’t have the fest, we didn’t want to lose the sense of community. I personally called every donor during this time. People were excited to talk on the phone, and I got to know the donors.

We removed as many barriers to engagement as possible. We removed our paywall, so everything was free, unless something was fully rehearsed. Then we charged $10. We still are doing things to stay engaged; it’s really easy to do. (Hopefully in 2022, the company and the community will be able to interact). It’s key to be able to discuss things one-on-one with the people making the art.”

Mid West Music Fest

– Winona

Dylan Hilliker, Executive Director

Mid West Music Fest (MWMF) was scheduled to hold its festival the first weekend in May 2020. It pivoted quickly and was able to hold “MWMF – At Home” virtually just a week later. For two days, on two streaming channels, most of the originally scheduled musicians played where they could (from their backyards to their garages). For the rest of the year, artists recorded music that was streamed to audiences on a regular basis. Additionally, a couple outdoor events were held.

In May 2021, the Fest was going to be held with 250 people in attendance and outdoors (this was the Minnesota limit at the time), and in pods of 2-4 people. The Fest was held just a few days after Minnesota’s mask mandate was lifted, so people didn’t have to stay in their pods. But attendance was still limited (as compared to about 3,000 during a normal Fest).

In April 2022, the Fest will – hopefully – be back to normal. MWMF still plans, though, to hold some virtual events.

“Going forward, I’m really looking forward to connection and engagement with the community. Been being able to go to a show at this point is wild. The energy of live music is so palpable. Obviously the pandemic affected people/organizations financially, but the real message is that people aren’t taking live music for granted any more. They feel like they need to pay more attention because of the lack of it and how much it affected us not having that. (Holding) hybrid events is a strategy, not neccessarily a programming model. The whole transition to hybrid online model, in terms of music, was not so much to try to capitalize on the events; it was more like keeping yourself alive.

I like the hybrid model as an option and like seeing how people who are using it to foster community when you can’t get together and be in community. Actual connection points are what we’re more focused on this year.

We like that more people could access events. Live concerts are starting to get streamed more. Those who had bought streaming equipment are using that liv, so you can see your favorite bands whenever you are. That still has value. Any online content that’s engaging that brings people toward your organization is useful.”

Brittany Proia, Lauren Winder, William Sturdivant, Vaness Moresco, Benjamin Boucvalt, Alex Campbell play tempest nobles at the Great River Shakespeare Festival grounds in Winona. (Photo by Sydney Swanson)

Paradise Center for the

Arts – Faribault

Heidi Nelson, Executive Director

Paradise Center for the Arts (PCA) has long been known for its abundance of programming, from music and performing arts, to visual arts (including gallery exhibitions and classes). It closed its doors March 16, 2020 (just after Heidi Nelson became its Executive Director) and started reopening slowly in June.

Between then and now, Nelson and her staff focused on bringing down expenses and raising additional money (they were able to pay off the mortgage on the building) and improving the building itself, including updating the second floor leading to the balcony of the auditorium and making improvements to the sound in the auditorium.

Programming has stayed mostly the same, but a lot of it now is virtual. The classes are virtual, and staff will either put together art kits with supplies for people to pick up and pay, or will send participants a list of supplies. The gallery shows turn over their art work about every 5-6 week. Gallery openings are covered on Facebook Live, where artists are interviewed and talk about their work. There are artist talks that will continue virtually. Live programming has also returned. In early December, “Elf: The Musical” was presented, as was a “Radio Show.” Both were also livestreamed. Several fundraising events have been held during this time, and “we received lots of donations. People sent us money. We felt like they were saying ‘we appreciate you. Keep going.’ We plan to continue doing hybrid events going forward. There is the potential to reach more people. We bought a dedicated laptop and cameras and figured out how to livestream. We will continue to do so. (When we do productions) we are going to buy the rights to them so we can stream them. I’m extremely proud of our staff and the community, who Artists collaborate on a project at the 410 Project in Mankato. rallied around us. (The arts are) important to people, culturally, emotionally and physically.”  - Beth Forkner Moe is a nonprofit consultant and freelance writer based in Winona. We can be reached at Beth@ EnvisionItTogether.com.