Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
On March 16, 2021, the MRAC board approved $48,900 in funding for 20 organizations to receive grant awards in the fifth round of the Equity Response program and $1,130,735 in funding for 79 organizations to receive grant awards in the second round of the Flexible Support program. The awardees are listed below.
Note that the county designations indicate where the organization is located; Minneapolis and Saint Paul are listed separately from their counties.
The Equity Response grant program was created to serve the flexible needs of groups and organizations that are led by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), People with Disabilities (PWD), and/or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual/Agender, Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2+) individuals. There are two remaining deadlines for this grant program and we encourage you to visit the grant page at this link to learn more.
The Flexible Support grant provides up to $15,000 in funding to help groups create access to the arts and stay connected to audiences/community across the seven-county metro area. Funding can be used for organizational support or projects that bring the arts to the local communities.
EQUITY RESPONSE AWARDS
Minneapolis
ASH: Sacred Arts
$2,500
Funding to develop and launch an online teaching/engagement initiative that will build community support and interest in the BIPOC performance project ‘Invisible Cities.’
DisabiliTease Festival
http://www.disabiliteasefestival.com
$2,500
Funding for 2021 DisabiliTease Virtual Festival in July, which will provide a platform for talented people with disabilities to perform in the areas of burlesque, cirque and drag.
Folktopia
$2,500
Funding to purchase video and audio equipment to expand access for new work development and performance for intergenerational artistic team and audience.
Midtown Farmers Market / Corcoran Neighborhood Organization
http://www.midtownfarmersmarket.org
$1,400
Funding for an arts entrepreneurship program that will allow youth to sell, brand, and market their arts/crafts at the Midtown Farmers Market with support and stall space from market management.
Poetry for People
$2,500
Funding to work with Mike Hoyt to engage in two creative visioning sessions. We will emerge with a fresh mission statement and an articulated vision of our purpose and immediate future.
Public Functionary
http://www.publicfunctionary.org
$2,500
Funding for online marketing and digital shop developed by artists in the PF Studios program so that they can maximize their potential sales and commissions over the art-focused weekend.
Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment
http://www.revivingsisterhood.org
$2,500
Funding to support capacity building, staff development, and permanent purchase of storytelling equipment.
Sanguine Arts
$2,500
Funding to develop a website, social media presence and online arts events.
She Rock She Rock
$2,500
Funding to hire instructors for the Girls Rock n Roll Retreat.
The Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts
$2,500
Funding to adapt Semilla Center’s mosaic studio in a multidisciplinary art studio and classroom, to increase access by serving participants in more art forms and create a better learning environment.
Vivid Black Paint
http://www.vividblackpaint.org
$2,500
Funding for 2nd annual Summer 2021 “We Must Breath” Minneapolis Circus & Arts Pop Ups artist and coordinator/organizer stipends to allow Vivid Black Paint to continue to connect artists and community.
Saint Paul
Ballet Co.Laboratory
http://www.balletcolaboratory.org
$2,500
Funding for “Peter & the Wolf”, an outdoor production performed by the virtual pre-professional students of The School of Ballet Co.Laboratory.
Center for Hmong Arts and Talent
$2,500
Funding for the Peace, Love and Unity Concert II to bring together Black and Hmong artists to share the stage and promote positive messages and inspirational performances in these unsettling times.
Exposed Brick Theatre
http://www.exposedbricktheatre.org
$2,500
Funding for Exposed Brick leadership to expand and deepen their knowledge of decolonization in theater, and deeply question what it means to create theater on stolen land.
Flip the Script Festival
https://www.flipthescriptfest.org/
$2,500
Funding for Flip the Script Fest: an LGBTQIA2S+ film festival.
Grace Minnesota dba Don’t You Feel It Too?
$2,500
Funding for our new project, Body, Land, and Movement. We solidify new partnerships and create programming focused on the themes of land acknowledgement, Land Back, and decolonizing.
MIXTAPE
$2,500
Funding for MIXTAPE 5G: Sounding at the Speed of Movement that brings the Collective together in ways that reflect the future of interaction in cypherspace.
Suburban Hennepin
Great Northern Union Chorus
$2,500
Funding will help cover the costs of our responsibilities to staff and contractors for adapting the basic operations of the chorus during the pandemic, so as to emerge stronger than ever.
Make a Scene Scenario Festival
$2,500
Funding to distribute two MAS anthologies to creators and low-income community members, costs of date and venue changes, and health and safety measures at the festival to ensure access post-pandemic.
Suburban Ramsey
Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective
http://www.twincitiesiranianculturefestival.com
$2,500
Funding for a professionally-led Board Development workshop, followed by a planning retreat, at which the board will identify goals and priorities for the next 18 months.
Flexible Support Awards
Carver County
Watertown-Mayer Community Education
$9,750
Funding for Summer Youth Theatre offered through Watertown-Mayer Community Education during March-July 2021.
Dakota County
City of Hastings
$15,000
Funding for the Performances in the Park series in Hastings from July 2021 through September 2021.
International Friendship Through the Performing Arts
http://www.iftpausa.com/index.html
$15,000
Funding to provide live and/or virtual performances (followed by live Zoom Q & A sessions) for residents in retirement communities by top musicians from a variety of cultures and musical genres.
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community
$9,500
Funding for a new project to foster and proliferate the Dakota arts, culture, language, and more through a series of classes, community based projects, and new media initiatives.
People Incorporated
http://www.peopleincorporated.org
$15,000
Funding for Artability Art and Music Workshops in 2021 with new opportunities and platforms, expanding access to supportive arts instruction virtually and in person.
XV Latvian Song and Dance Festival, Inc.
http://www.latviansongfest2022.org
$15,000
Funding for a Masterclass led by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, followed by a choir concert of Ešenvalds’ works performed by Magnum Chorum in collaboration with two choirs visiting from Latvia.
Minneapolis
Art Buddies
$15,000
Funding to provide art mentoring and education, arts and crafts supplies to our kids at high-need schools of the Twin Cities, while they are isolated & Distance Learning.
Asian Women United of Minnesota
$15,000
Funding to create Talking Suitcases project. Participants will create a series of story objects to hold within their suitcases and work toward telling a complete story within the larger suitcase.
Average Mohamed
averagemohamed.com
$15,000
Funding to create Somali poetry and cartoons for the next generation. We will make 3 poems into 3-minute long cartoons. The primary topics will be opioid abuse, gang involvement, and education.
Black Storytellers Alliance
http://www.blackstorytellers.com
$15,000
Funding for interactive online African/African American Storytelling classes from an African/African American perspective to create a cadre of authentic African/African American Storytellers.
Black Table Arts
$15,000
Funding for a cooperative space by and for Black artists in the Twin Cities.
Community Peace Celebration
$15,000
Funding for the 25th Community Peace Celebration: a milestone commemoration featuring local artists and organizations building Peace in the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods of St. Paul.
Confluence: An East Lake Studio for Community Design
$15,000
Funding for a neighborhood studio and media incubator, the East Lake Autonomous Media Unit at Chicago Avenue & East Lake Street.
Emerging Curators Institute
emergingcurators.org
$15,000
Funding to expand staff capacity, build a CRM, expand grant writing, and plan long-term strategies with the advisory committee on relationship building with new partners and donors.
Folk Will Save Us
$15,000
Funding to build a community repertoire of Jewish folk music, and to organize socially-distant in person and online learning events in 2021-22.
Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual Transgender Pride Twin Cities dba/Twin Cities Pride
tcpride.org
$15,000
Funding to pay the Minnesota artists performing at the annual Pride Festival. If the Festival is in-person, it will also help pay the staging costs, if online, it will help pay for production costs.
Giving Voice
http://www.givingvoicechorus.org
$15,000
Funding to support the general operations of Giving Voice Initiative and help ensure continued access to high-quality arts programming through dementia-friendly chorus groups in the Twin Cities.
Honey
$15,000
Funding for Honey: A dance performance installation celebrating the bodies, movement, and music of queer club spaces. Performance space as dancefloor, dancefloor as sacred spectacle.
Hopewell Music Cooperative North
$15,000
Funding to support affordable music lessons in North Minneapolis.
Intro to Success
$6,500
Funding for equipment and rented studio space will enable participating ITS Factory residency artists to develop a community healing art installation project from concept to fruition.
Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project
http://www.reconciliationproject.org
$15,000
Funding to develop accessible arts programming, hire its next Executive Director, and partner with CarryOn Homes on a touring exhibition of new photography storytelling artwork.
Lightning Rod
$15,000
Funding to establish a multidisciplinary ensemble of queer and trans performance artists. Artists will research historical and contemporary queer art forms, and develop their own ensemble practice.
Minnesota Fringe Festival
http://www.minnesotafringe.org
$15,000
Funding for permanent expansion of online programming to continue offering virtual performances as a means of building organizational capacity to improve community vitality through Arts and Culture.
Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra
$15,000
Funding to compensate our Artistic Director, Concertmaster, and a guest composer for their work to create a free virtual concert series.
MOVO Space
$15,000
Funding for The Bridge Project – Incubation for Mid-Career Queer and BIPOC performing and multidisciplinary artists.
Open Eye Theatre
$15,000
Funding to support SURVIVE & THRIVE, a 3-show series of COVID-safe events that nourishes emerging & established artists and sustains & cultivates community connections.
Open Flame Theatre
http://www.openflametheatre.org
$15,000
Funding to hire ensemble members as administrative staff in the coming year.
Pan Asian Arts Alliance
http://www.panasianartsalliance.org
$15,000
Funding for a youth-led K-pop online showcase – Gen-K, to: 1) increase arts participation among youth of color; 2) use community-wide dialogues to redirect anxiety and inspire peaceful resolution.
People Serving People Charities, Inc.
http://www.peopleservingpeople.org
$15,000
Funding to bring the arts to People Serving People’s Early Childhood Development programs because music and storytelling gives children an opportunity to connect with others and express themselves.
Poetry for People
$15,000
Funding for “Free the Deeds”, a community-based public art project that uses storytelling, visual art and poetry to inspire people to erase racial covenants on their homes and practice reparations.
Somali Artifact and Cultural Museum
$15,000
Funding to present a full length (50min – 90 mins) Riwaayad, a Somali traditional play with music and dance, about current issues facing our communities.
Speaking Out
$14,625
Funding to support Speaking Out Collective’s storytelling partnership with 5 MPS classrooms & administrative support to sustain current operations and create future programming.
The DIAL Group
$15,000
Funding to collaborate with artists of color to evolve our arts-based school curriculum for the new distance-learning environment, which will help sustain our programming.
The Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts
$15,000
Funding to support the transition to a new Executive Director and new stage of the organization, including neighborhood youth, artists, the Board of Directors and community members in this process.
The Witness Project (at UROC)
facebook.com/witnesswriting
$15,000
Funding to engage 6-9 teaching artists for expanded programming, hire an expert to create an organization website, and support publication of a mini-anthology as part of a cross-mentorship initiative.
Time Track Productions
http://www.timetrackproductions.org
$14,700
Funding to create the first half of Toward Utopia, a new work engaging 6 dancers, 1 composer, 3 jazz musicians, and 1 visual/media artist.
Twin Cities Jazz Workshop
$15,000
Funding to purchase new equipment, diversify operations and staff, and offer weekly instruction on Latin music to Twin Cities’ area youth. To take place at Capri Theater in North Minneapolis.
Unicorn Riot
$15,000
Funding for the production and post-production of ‘The Mothers’ feature-length documentary about mothers who’ve lost their children to police killings to be released on Unicorn Riot.
Uprising Theatre Company
http://www.uprisingtheatreco.com
$15,000
Funding for artistic director salary support, website redesign for accessibility needs and a mission update, and launching an online marketing campaign for community growth and relationship building.
Weavers Guild of Minnesota
$15,000
Funding to support Fiscal Year 2021-Quarter 3 operations and programming.
Whittier Alliance
whittieralliance.org
$15,000
Funding for the 2021 Eat Street Food, Music, & Arts Festival to be adapted into a three-day, socially-distant event series with local artists/makers, dance, youth arts activities, and live music.
zAmya Theater Project
$15,000
Funding to support the creation of an Operations Coordinator position to expand zAmya’s ability to engage people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic and beyond.
Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre
$15,000
Funding to create a 3-part community performance series. The project includes five free outdoor performances and two tickets events of new choreographic works by local flamenco artists.
Scott
APIA MN Film Collective
$15,000
Funding for APIA MN Film Collective to purchase new equipment and to pay staff and APIDA film artists.
St. Paul
Alanna Morris-Van Tassel Productions
$15,000
Funding for the development and presentation of Black Light, a kaleidoscopic multidisciplinary collaboration of dancers, poets and musicians for the Great Northern Festival in February 2022.
Away Runakuna
$15,000
Funding to support an Ecuadorian dance project that represents a well known tradition called “El Capariche” through dance classes and performance.
Change Inc.
$13,450
Funding to create an arts learning experience for young adults ages who are immigrants, refugees, and English Language Learners, culminating in a video documenting their journeys and perspectives.
Creative Enterprise Zone
creativeenterprisezone.org
$15,000
Funding for an inaugural outdoor Graffiti Art Invitational event in May 2021, curated by Peyton Scott Russell of SPRAYFINGER in partnership with the Creative Enterprise Zone at Bang Brewing.
Eastside Stories Production Group
$4,650
Funding for an online weekly video series that highlights Eastside BIPOC residents and business owners. The purpose is to amplify marginalized voices and to create a deeper sense of community.
Exposed Brick Theatre
http://www.exposedbricktheatre.org
$15,000
Funding to support the development of four new plays in the “Through Our Eyes” project, in which Twin Cities playwrights explore the impact of multiple pandemics on their specific communities.
Face to Face Health and Counseling, Inc.
$15,000
Funding for the Recording Arts program at SafeZone drop in center for youth experiencing homelessness.
Fireweed Community Woodshop
$15,000
Funding to offer online woodworking classes and free educational video content to women and non-binary makers.
Funny Asian Women Kollaborative (F.A.W.K)
https://www.fawkollective.com/
$15,000
Funding to support the development of a FAWK Comedy TV Show.
JazzMN, Inc.
$15,000
Funding for JazzMN Orchestra to present a live streamed outdoor concert and to produce a virtual recording that will be marketed to underserved populations.
Lower Phalen Creek Project
http://www.lowerphalencreek.org
$14,950
Funding to support development of 20-month cultural arts and heritage programming plan for Wakaŋ Tipi Center in Saint Paul, MN.
Million Artist Movement
http://www.millionartistmovement.org
$15,000
Funding to support ongoing Million Artist Movement community engagement and programming.
Minnesota Jazz Education
$13,110
Funding for Experience Jazz, a 12-week music making lab engaging up to 30 middle and high school students. Sessions will take place online from March to June 2021, culminating in a recording project.
More Than a Single Story
morethanasinglestory.com
$15,000
Funding to present BIPOC+ writers discussing issues of importance to them in their own words, and to engage broad communities in those conversations.
Selby Ave JazzFest
http://www.selbyavejazzfest.com
$15,000
Funding for 2021 Selby Ave JazzFest in St. Paul, MN which will take place in September, 2021.
Shakespearean Youth Theatre
sytmn.org
$15,000
Funding to create the Dream Project, an interactive website and film project that will present Shakespearean Youth Theatre’s audio dramas alongside young artist commentary and creative concepts.
Six Elements Theatre Company
sixelementscompany.org
$15,000
Funding to produce the Count of Monte Cristo Web Series while exploring safe and socially distant film practices and provide work for 60 local artists.
Skylark Opera
$15,000
Funding for eight socially-distanced, COVID compliant opera/musical theater performances at senior residences and six digital mini concerts available to the general public.
Trilingua Cinema
$15,000
Funding to organize a series of multilingual, multicultural film screenings and film events on St. Paul’s East Side.
TruArtSpeaks
$15,000
Funding to bring increase access to arts programming for historically marginalized communities, increase our capacity by bringing on a grant writer and to sustain the work we do now.
Wingspan Life Resources
$10,000
Funding for collaboration with COMPAS for 3 residencies with teaching artists for adults with developmental disabilities.
Suburban Hennepin
Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs
http://www.angelicacantanti.org
$15,000
Funding to support outside in-person choir rehearsals and performance for singers in grades K – 12.
CHOICE, Inc.
$14,800
Funding for CHOICE Inc. to partner with Cow Tipping Press to enable its artists to learn to express themselves through the arts of creative writing and storytelling.
Crossroads Panorama
http://www.crossroadspanorama.com
$15,000
Funding to build capacity and increase staff and programs.
Les Jolies Petites School of Dance
ljpschoolofdance.org
$15,000
Funding for the 2021 Spring Performance.
Maia Maiden Productions
$15,000
Funding to hire a Technical Director and COVID cleaning company.
Minnesota Chinese Music Ensemble
$15,000
Funding for a 5-part Chinese music lecture series with student showcase. Presentations introduce different regional styles of Chinese music followed by student performances.
Placebo Records
placebo-records.com
$15,000
Funding to create a digital venue and re-establish programming and operations.
Reach for Resources
http://www.reachforresources.org
$12,500
Funding for our Art Abilities will allow help us fulfill our mission by providing access to art programming for individuals with cognitive disabilities and mental illness.
St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts
slpfota.org
$15,000
Funding to produce the St. Louis Park Art Fair, Artist Showcase Exhibit, and Art-Walk in the Park projects in alignment with St. Louis Park Strategic Roadmap for Advancing Arts & Culture
Thai Cultural Council of Minnesota (St Louis Park)
$7,200
Funding for Songkran, the Thai New Year, will be utilized to celebrate moving into a new year with our community.
Vail Place
$15,000
Funding to provide opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness to express themselves and their lived experiences through a collaborative theater project with the History Theatre.
Suburban Ramsey
Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging
$15,000
Funding to engage playwrights in the development of diverse scripts to be used to engage around a dementia capable society and to reduce the fear, stigma, & isolation associated with Memory Loss.
Washington
Art from the Inside MN
http://www.artfromtheinsidemn.org
$15,000
Funding to grow our organizational capacity to offer inclusive, engaging, community-centered exhibitions of visual art of incarcerated artists serving time in Minnesota state prisons.
Lao Culture Dance and Fashion Show, LLC
http://www.laodancefashionmn.org
$15,000
Funding for a traditional Lao dance, fashion, pageant and culture program for youth, with online programming highlighting current and past performances.
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