Art Project Grant
Art Project Grant
Spirit Lake Poetry Series 2019-20. In our 23rd year, we will produce a series of high quality poetry readings in Duluth featuring both nationally known and regional poets with new books on the market.
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community.
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner
ACHF Arts Access
Our primary goal for this project is to host five poetry readings during our 2019-20 season: Minnesota-based poets Donte Collins, Jayson Iwen, and Michael Torres; our annual Saint David's Day open reading; and Connecticut-based poet Marilyn Nelson. The more general outcome for our project is to connect a significant number of poets and community members in a meaningful way that will continue to help nourish a healthy literary community in our region. To measure our stated goal and outcome, our Board members attend all scheduled readings, identify ourselves to the audience and stress that we welcome questions and feedback. We track attendance by taking both a head count and photographs, and we meet after each reading to discuss both the specific event and our ongoing work. Additionally, we are developing a more structured survey process that will incorporate both quantitative and qualitative feedback and so provide a visible means of assessing our year's work. When the final event is completed, we will meet to assess the strengths of the entire season, event attendance, and any feedback or questions that have arisen. Finally, we follow up with the featured poets to see how they felt about their reading experience in Duluth. Each year, the lessons and insights we have gleaned help us refine goals and identify proposed readers for the following season.
Other,local or private