Author: Region 2 Arts Council

Individual Artist Grant

Deadline: January 15, 2020
Maximum Award: $2,000 (25% Cash Match for equipment purchases)
Earliest Start Date: March 11, 2020

The Individual Artist Grant provides financial assistance to artists in any arts discipline or in any stage of their career as an artist. The Individual Artist Grant  offers funding for costs associated with the exhibition, performance, or production of a creative work; purchase of materials or equipment necessary for a creative work; educational opportunities; mentorships; and proposals for career-enhancing projects or opportunities.

Applicant must be a resident of Beltrami, Hubbard, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, or Mahnomen Counties.

Log in to apply here

Interested in applying? Have questions? Need assistance?

Drop-In Grant-Writing Support

New and experienced grant-writers welcome!

December 30, 2019

&

January 6, 2020

9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Region 2 Arts Council offices
Inside the Watermark Art Center
505 Bemidji Ave N
Bemidji MN

Quick reminder that the Arts Project Grant applications are due this week, December 15. Need help? Call or stop by! We are here to help.

Deadline: December 15, 2019
Maximum Award: $2,500 (with 20% Cash Match)

These grants offer funding for a variety of arts projects and programming including costs associated with public art, arts festivals, engagement of guest artists, arts field trips, workshops, exhibitions, presentations, or performances that will benefit the residents of Beltrami, Hubbard, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, or Mahnomen counties. Arts organizations may also apply to fund consultation projects in board development, fiscal management, fundraising, public relations, audience development, or assistance in designing arts programming. Funds can be used to purchase materials and supplies for arts projects but not equipment or non-expendable items. Arts activities proposed for funding must be accessible by the public, displaying a strong community component.

Eligible Organizations
Organizations must be nonprofit and physically located within one of the five Region 2 Arts Council counties of Beltrami, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, or Hubbard. Eligible organizations include:

• schools (parochial schools are ineligible)
• community education programs*
• institutions of higher learning (colleges or universities)
• non-profits providing arts programming
• local city, town, county government entities
• tribal government entities
• Groups without 501(c)3 nonprofit tax status are eligible to apply, but must be formed for non-profit purposes, must have the equivalent of a governing body similar to a board of directors or advisory council, and must use a a Minnesota-based non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization, or other tax exempt entity such as a school, institution of higher learning, or city, town, county, or tribal government as a fiscal sponsor.

Click here to learn more and apply 

The Anishinaabe Arts Initiative (AAI) Art Exhibit features traditional and contemporary artwork by regional indigenous artists who either serve on the Region 2 Anishinaabe advisory council, or have received or been part of, a Region 2 Arts Council grant award.

OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, December 6
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Region 2 Arts Council
(located inside the Watermark Art Center)
505 Bemidji Ave. N.
Bemidji MN

The AAI Exhibit runs through January 16, 2020 and can be viewed Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Anishinaabe Arts Initiative program is supported with funding from the McKnight Foundation to promote indigenous arts and artists in our region.

For more information contact Region 2 Arts Council staff at 218-751-5447; toll-free at 800-275-5447; or by email at staff@r2arts.org.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

The Region 2 Arts Council offices will be closed on Thursday, November 28 and remain closed through Thanksgiving weekend. We will re-open on Monday, December 2nd, at 9:00 am as usual. Have a great holiday celebrating with family and friends!

On October 21, 2019, the Region 2 Arts Council Board of Directors granted $53,836 in Arts and Cultural Heritage funds to arts organizations, groups with a fiscal sponsor, schools and non-profit institutions and organizations for the creation and production of arts activity that would benefit community members residing in our five-county region.

Red Lake Middle School received $6,000 for a music video production residency with Lady Midnight and Garlic Brown for 7^th grade students, resulting in a public performance, music video, and book documenting the process.

Bemidji Community Theater received $4,791 to mount a musical production of Treasure Island in March of 2020.

Bagley Area Arts Collaborative received $6,000 for “Creativity Explored,” a series of art workshops offered by artists from the Clearwater County area as well as two nationally known artists.

Clearbrook-Gonvick Community Education received $2,705 to bring Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre to their community to conduct “Beauty and the Beast” for their Summer Recreation program.

Northern Light Opera Company received $6,000 to produce its 19th Annual Summer Production to be held July 24 through August 8, 2020.

Clear Waters Life Center received $5,540 to provide a variety of quality art classes to engage those that are experiencing difficult transitions in their lives: Seniors (13 weeks), Men in a recovery program (12 weeks), and Youth (20 weeks) from December 2019 – April 2020.

BSU Honors Program received $4,800 to bring together national professional directors and playwrights with regional actors and playwrights to create a Short Play Festival that highlights the earth as its subject for local audiences.

Bemidji Symphony Orchestra received $6,000 to host Saxophonist Scott Sandberg for two rehearsals of special music in a jazz/swing style in which Dr. Sandberg will provide expertise to help BSO musicians and director learn to perform this unique musical style.

Bemidji Contra Dance received $6,000 to hold 7 public participatory traditional dance events with live music, support local musicians as they build their dance repertoire and skills, and do 2 BSU outreach events to college students in the area.

Red Lake Nation College received $6,000 for a professional writing coach to help RLNC students write professional-quality theatre scripts, and to pay renowned Navajo playwright Rhiana Yazzie to direct a student-acted theatre performance, open to the public, of these scripts at RLNC.

Please join the R2AC Board and staff for this month’s business meeting and application review.

Tonight’s Schedule

Bemidji-based Artist Fellows poet Erin Marsh and percussionist Eric Sundeen were selected on October 12, 2019, when a committee of established community artists and Region 2 Arts Council board members convened to review 12 Artist Fellowship applications. This award is intended for dedicated artists who have created a substantial independent body of work, and have received recognition for their work. More info here.

Erin Lynn Marsh is the author of the poetry collection Disability Isn’t Sexy, which is a finalist in the NM/AZ Book Awards. Her poems have appeared in Post Road Magazine, Sugar House Review, Paper Darts, Emrys Journal, and the anthology Hers: Poets Speak (while we still can), Vol. 2, edited by Jules Nyquist.

Erin shared in her application that she has recently started writing poems that contain elements of magical realism, explaining that by suspending both her own and her readers’ disbelief, she can communicate truths that can seem at odds with perceived reality. She notes her poems are often bold, honest, and specific; and that her goal is to create for her readers a moment in a body that is often considered “other” by our society. Erin Lynn Marsh lives and works in Bemidji, MN.

Eric Sundeen holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion Performance from St. Cloud State University. He is the Percussion Instructor at Bemidji High School, and has been an Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Bemidji State University since 2005.  Aside from his teaching duties, he runs drum circle clinics, is the Camp Director of the Lakes Area Drumset Camp, instructs at Headwaters Music and Arts, plays in the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, and Bemidji Community Band.

Eric has performed throughout the United States, internationally in Mexico, England, Scotland, Whales, Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia and Cuba. He has been a member of the Minneapolis-based percussion ensemble CRASH since 1997, and is a current member of the Bemidji-based band, Corey Medina and Brothers.

Eric Sundeen is active as a freelance musician, has been active as a studio percussionist with multiple local artists, is a percussion arranger and composer, and owns and operates a private home drum studio. He lives in Bemidji, Minnesota with his wife and sons.

Region 2 Arts Council Board of Directors and Staff would like to thank each of the Artist Fellowship applicants and congratulate Eric Sundeen and Erin Lynn Marsh as the 2019-2020 Artist Fellows!

The Region 2 Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award is made possible through the generous support of the McKnight Foundation.