2022-2023 Region 2 Arts Council Board
Chair: Anna Larson … Mahnomen County
Vice Chair: CT Marhula … representing Lake of the Woods County
Treasurer: Becky Colebank … Clearwater County
Secretary: Nancy Schmidt … Hubbard County
Nicholas Jackson … Beltrami County
Terry Boal Leinbach … Beltrami County
Katie Larson … Hubbard County
Nancy Schmidt .. Hubbard County
Bonnie Friborg … Clearwater County
Shawna Wendler … Lake of the Woods County
vacant … Mahnomen County
(scroll below to read board member bios)
Click here for Board Meeting Dates/Times 2022-2023
Click here for Board Meeting Minutes 2022-2023
JOIN US!
If you recognize that the arts are valuable to the quality of life in North Central Minnesota, we invite you to consider becoming a Board Member. Our ten-member Board is comprised of two representatives from each of the five counties that we serve: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, and Mahnomen. Get the Application here!
- Much of the Board’s activity revolves around policy-making, budgeting, understanding and connecting with the communities we serve, and awarding and approving panel recommendation for arts grants to our region’s organizations and artists.
- The Region 2 Arts Council operates in the spirit of the open meeting law.
- Meetings are currently held primarily via Zoom to safeguard the health and wellbeing of board members in light of the current pandemic and to acknowledge the challenge of winter driving conditions. Meetings are typically held on the 3rd or 4th Thursday of the month and can vary in meeting time so please check our website for current dates and times.
- Board members are encouraged to join our community panels in reviewing grants. Grant reviews occur most often on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.
- Terms are for two years, renewable to four years.
Contact staff@r2arts.org for more information.
Region 2 Arts Council Board of Directors
2022-2023
Anna Larson, Mahnomen County Representative (Chair). Larson is excited to support Region 2 Arts Council’s vision to improve quality of life through the arts. Anna’s father is a watercolorist, cartoonist and multi-media collage artist who encouraged her artistic potential by taking Anna to art fairs and painting with her in his small basement studio. She furthered this artistic inspiration through an MFA in creative writing (poetry thesis) and brings a varied artistic interest in film, poetry, painting, oral interpretation and music, to name a few. Anna currently serves on a Native Neighbors Bridge Building Table with the ELCA Northwest Synod as secretary while living on the agricultural westside of White Earth Reservation – living in and with the tensions and dynamic gifts of a cross cultural setting. As an Interfaith Universal Life Church minister, Anna also contributes a strong, person-centered approach to our work. In her words, ” Art must have both natural and human centered-value. A reciprocal, give-and take spirit builds people up and fosters collaboration and belonging. I have a person-centered approach to the value of art rather than “object” centered while maintaining high aesthetic standards for public spaces.” We are excited for her presence and contribution toward on-going efforts to build greater Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in our systems, processes and programming.
C.T. Marhula, Lake of the Woods County Representative (Vice-Chair). Marhula is a current Bemidji resident, but serves LOW County on the Region 2 Arts Council Board. He has both personal and professional contacts in Lake of the Woods County making him an effective advocate for the arts needs in Minnesota’s northern most county. As a former City Clerk-Treasurer for the City of Warren, Marhula held responsibilities for budgeting, HR, economic development, and community relations. Marhula received an MBA from the University of North Dakota, a J.D. from the UND School of Law, in Grand Forks, ND and a B.S. in Business Administration from Bemidji State University. Due to his role as former Business/Human Resource Manager of Nodak Electric Cooperative in Grand Forks and having served on many boards, C.T. brings a depth of experience in support of the R2AC mission.
Becky Colebank, Clearwater County Representative. Becky Colebank is a retired family law attorney. She received her JD from the University of North Dakota, and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bemidji State University. She writes many articles for the Clearwater County History Center newsletter and compiled 109 short biographies of all Clearwater County’s war dead for the local Veteran’s Memorial Committee. She has just finished publishing a book on the city of Leonard and its history for the Leonard Centennial. Colebank practices the Norwegian art form of rosemaling and belongs to the Church Basement Rosemalers of Leonard.
Nicholas Jackson, Beltrami County Representative. “Art is a movement. A beautiful dance. My study over the years has brought me to a new level of appreciation for all types of art. It seems I am always dabbling in its various forms that forever play off of each other. Whatever I do, whether painting or music, the foundation is art. I cannot separate the two. What a glorious adventure that I have barely begun. Although I started drawing in high school it wasn’t until my time at BSU that I began to take learning techniques seriously. I studied mostly drawing and painting along with a really fun stint with printmaking, where I fell in love with etching. After a few years as a graphic designer I went into full-time freelance illustration for 10 years completing almost 40 children’s books with Mattel, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University, Harper-Collins, National Geographic, and Learning A-Z, to name a few. School visits, mentoring students, and teaching community classes have been a way for me to give back to the artist community. Recently, I have started a YouTube channel and Patreon, where I explore painting techniques, artist life, and encourage fellow artists to follow their dreams. What a beautiful dance. I enjoy creating. The entire process of design is a lovely experience. Everything from coming up with an idea, to putting the finishing touches on the page. I am captivated by the raw beauty in art and design, and how artistic expression affects me. I will be walking down the street and stop dead in my tracks, totally captivated by a design I see. Through the art that I create, I want to help other people to share in the experience of how the beauty I have seen and experienced has affected me. I want to help invite them to share the details of beauty that are so often missed. I tell stories and chase art.”
Terry Boal Leinbach, Beltrami County Representative. “My husband and I moved from Michigan, bought land and built our home north of Blackduck in 1975. I worked at Head Start for forty years in Blackduck. I supervised the center for thirty five of those years. I was assistant Director of the Bi-Cap Head Start program for one year when the director took a leave of absence. I feel like I have a good relationship with the community. I retired in 2015. I went to college at Olivet a small liberal arts college in Michigan where I majored in Art and Literature. I have spent my retirement gardening and painting and doing Fiber work. I look forward to engaging Northern Beltrami in the arts.”
Katie Larson, Hubbard County Representative. Larson has been looking for a way to support her community and the arts and is excited to serve on the R2AC board as a new Hubbard County representative. She served as assistant technical director for the Park Rapids Area High School Drama Club for 9 years, and was also on the Hubbard County Fair Board for 6 years, where she managed the Open Class competition, planned and managed entertainment, applied for grants, and researched the history of the one room school house currently on the grounds. Katie brings her passion for theater, as well as her organizational and planning skills to strengthen and grow R2AC services and programs.
Nancy Schmidt, Hubbard County Representative. “I have been a resident of the Bemidji area and Northern Hubbard County since 1993. In addition to the natural beauty of the area, I love all the creative ways people express themselves through art, music theatre, and traditional crafts. I love that the voters of Minnesota chose to support all these pursuits through the Legacy funds and I am thrilled to be a part of helping artists from all walks of life to fulfill their visions and keeping rural communities vibrant and interesting.”
Bonnie Friborg, Clearwater County Representative. Bonnie Friborg is a lifelong resident of Clearwater County. Her motivation for serving on the Region 2 Arts Council Board of Directors is fueled by her hope to bring more art experiences to our schools and communities. She is interested in many art forms, one of which is being a fabricator of metals and rock, the result of which is original jewelry, made with her own cabochons of semi-precious rocks, granite, and even driftwood. She is a dedicated member of the Bagley Area Arts Collaborative, and she recognizes the strength of having the arts available to all. Bonnie Friborg feels strongly that creativity is a process, and that the arts can be a welcoming place, a place where everyone belongs.
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