Career Development Grant
Career Development Grant
The Latelys Full Length Album - Record an album consisting of ten original songs by local Duluth band, The Latelys.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, cultural programming coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; 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; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Kristina Estell: visual artist, university fine arts instructor; Faith King: creative writer, visual artist, arts organization member; Karen McManus: musician, administrator at Mesabi Symphony Orchestra; Sarah Waddle: Program Manager for the North House Folk School, arts educator; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Kathy Neff: musician, director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
Our goal for recording and releasing an album is to reach a wider audience by means of physical and digital distribution of our music, to create an artistic foundation from which more artistic and financial opportunities will present themselves, and to document the songs that were written as a band between late 2016 and mid-2018. Our method to measure outcomes consists both of summative and formative evaluations. After the completion of the project we will assess the quality and success of our first goal, reaching a wider audience by means of physical and digital distribution. This goal can be measured by the number stores that sell our album and by the number of users that we can reach through digital distributors such as Spotify, who has 83 million subscription-based users. Our second goal will be evaluated formatively over the course of the year following the album release. This goal consists of opportunities that may present themselves as a result of releasing an album. This can be measured by increases in performance inquiries, increases in revenue, and growth in social media followings. These numbers will be compared to our current growth rate to help demonstrate the impact of the project. Finally, our third goal will call for a summative assessment. This goal consists of accurately documenting the songs that we have written between late-2016 and mid-2018. Having a completed album that showcases our songs will be the ultimate form of measurement in gauging whether or not we have met this goal.
First, we completed our primary goal of successfully recording and producing an album showcasing ten of our songs. Second, our goal to reach a wider audience by using physical and digital distribution is well underway. Within the past two weeks since the album release we have sold 105 physical CDs or Vinyl albums, 25 digital album downloads, and have roughly 5,500 plays across streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, etc. Third, our goal that the album will create new opportunities for the band is already taking shape. Since we started promoting the new album and releasing a few singles throughout the summer months, we been have seen an increase in performance inquiries and also managed to book a few shows that would otherwise be reserved for artists with a more substantial following. For example, due to the success of our single releases we were able to work with the talent buyer who is in charge of all of the First Avenue venues. We arranged a bill on November 15th in St Paul at the Turf Club alongside a few strong local Twin Cities acts. We have also seen an 800% increase in social media growth rate. Our following hasn't grown by 800% but the rate at which we're growing is up by that amount. This number is obviously inflated due to the recent album release but we expect that within the next year we will see a steadier growth rate overall compared to previous years.
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