Arts and Cultural Heritage Grant

ôThe Legend of Paul Bunyan - the Musicalö will feature work of mature artists such as Gregg Wilimek, Mary Therese Peterson, Karen Bradley, Wayne Hoff, Cate Belleveau and others in conjunction with artistic works by young people exposed to high benchmarks for theatrical quality. This work will celebrate BemidjiÆs distinct historical heritage as a logging community by remembering and recreating the skills of the old-time lumberjack. Mask and Rose WomenÆs Theater Collective will encourage attendance of people from all socioeconomic backgrounds to attend this theatrical celebration of the community and folk icon Paul Bunyan and the ice cream social to follow the performance.In an exit survey of the participants in the production 90% will agree they had a positive experience using a Likert scale of 1-5 with 5 being the top score for a positive experience. Those completing the survey will also express positive attitudes about the mixture of theater skills learned in the process of the show and general enjoyment in being part of the production. Community members who volunteered to financially support another family to attend the performance will be asked to complete an online survey describing whether this was a positive community building experience, whether they sat with the family they supported or joined them at the ice cream social. Our goal is to have 25 families or individuals underwrite the cost of 25 other families or individuals to attend the show. Artists involved will also write an anecdotal summary of their experience working on the production and how the experience could have been improved.