Region 2 awards arts grants

BEMIDJI — The Region 2 Arts Council recently awarded $71,085 through the Arts and Cultural Heritage Grants Program to individual artists, arts organizations and non-profits in Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, and Lake of the Woods counties. The funds will be used to create opportunities for arts access, arts education, and cultural heritage activities that build bridges between Minnesotans, officials said in a press release. Grant recipients included:

•The Bemidji Sculpture Walk, $6,000 to purchase fiberglass blanks for 2-D artists to paint/embellish for public display.

•Pequana Playhouse in Baudette, $3,580 to contract with Prairie Fire Theatre to provide a team of two directors to facilitate and present the children’s theater production of “Peter Pan” by carrying out the auditions, rehearsals, and direction using primarily all local children or youth.

•Carol Charnoski of Bemidj, $1,000 to purchase materials and provide instruction in the Native American community in the creation of Spirit Walk moccasins and regalia.

• Bemidji Community Theater, $6,000 to produce the children’s musical “Disney’s My Son Pinocchio.”

•Watermark Art Center in Bemidji, $6,000 to host acclaimed poet and translator Jane Hirshfield, who will provide a craft lecture and evening reading as part of a weekend festival honoring poetry and haiku.

•Northern Light Opera Co. in Park Rapids, $3,100 to mount a production of the opera “The Apothecary” by Franz Joseph Haydn at the Park Rapids Armory.

•The Beltrami County Historical Society in Bemidji, $4,460 to hire photographer Todd Geiger to create an artistic display consisting of current and historical photographs of Beltrami County scenes.

•The Park Rapids Area Community Band, $1,462 to perform a concert and sponsor a master class with Myroslava Hagen as guest clarinet soloist and educator.

Headwaters School for Music and the Arts in Bemidji, $6,000 to bring two international performing arts groups to Bemidji in collaboration with Arts Midwest World Fest.

•Lake of the Woods Art Guild in Baudette, $6,000 to offset the cost of student tuition for their annual Frank Covino Classical Academic Oil Painting Seminar.

•Aaron Tank of Bemidji, $1,040 to direct and produce three performances of an original musical.

•City of Bemidji Parks and Recreation Department, $3,760 to provide a summer theater camp for youth in the Bemidji area.

•Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, $6,000 to present a concert featuring a commissioned work by composer Tod Machover for flute soloist Carol Wincenc and the symphony.

•Nemeth Art Center in Park Rapids, $1,970 to host a Minneapolis Institute of Art satellite show in Park Rapids.

•Paul Bunyan Playhouse, Bemidji, $6,000 to produce the play “Noises Off.”

•The Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council, $2,713 to sponsor the Youth Music & Art Showcase VI, showcasing the musical and artistic talents of Park Rapids area youth.

•Rail River Folk School in Bemidji, $6,000 to host the 2nd Annual Indigenous Arts Festival, outdoors on North Lake Irving.