arts alert: Amendment Access Points, Awards, and Hearing
MCA
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
2233 University Ave. W. #355
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-251-0868 fax 651-917-3561
staff at mncitizensforthearts.org
www.mncitizensforthearts.org
Arts Action Center
October 17, 2009
1. More Arts Access Points for Amendment Money
2. Citizens of Minnesota Given Award for Passing the Amendment
3. State Begins New Planning Process for Arts and Culture Fund
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1. More Arts Access Points for Amendment Money
After our many years of work and struggle to pass the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, I am happy to report that the benefits of the amendment in terms of grants are beginning to take shape. Primarily the grants of interest for the arts will be found at the Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils, which I discussed in my last alert. Funds have also gone to several other agencies, so artists and arts organizations would be well advised to pay attention to these other multiple “Access Points” for Arts and Culture Fund dollars. Today’s information covers the Humanities Commission and the Perpich Center for Arts Education. Much additional detail on opportunities for the arts with Public Television cultural programming is coming soon, and yet more info. will follow in the coming weeks. It will all be consolidated on our website at www.mncitizensforthearts.org.
From the MINNESOTA HUMANITIES CENTER:
The Minnesota Humanities Center, which received four $125,000 grants for work with each of the four Minnesota ethnic councils:
“The Minnesota Humanities Center, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Council on Black Minnesotans, the Council on the Affairs of Chicano and Latino Minnesotans, and the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans are collaboratively creating new programs and events that celebrate and preserve the artistic, historical, and cultural heritages of the communities represented by each council.
As the partnership between the Humanities Center and the four councils is entirely new, much of our work is still in the planning stages. Currently, we are:
1) Enlisting a wide variety of partners to highlight to a broad public audience the significant cultural and artistic contributions made to our state by members of the communities represented by the four councils. This undertaking will have multiple benefits – both for the communities highlighted and for us all – and will launch no later than January 2010. The Humanities Center will be responsible for linking this effort to our collective emphasis on strengthening k-12 education in the arts and humanities across our state.
2) Developing artistic and cultural programming in response to needs articulated by those communities represented by the four councils. Programmatic ideas will come through the councils. The Humanities Center will be responsible for bringing other cultural partners to the table, contributing to the quality of the programming, coordinating a uniform process of measuring success against stated goals, and reporting financial and programmatic impact to the state legislature and the taxpayers.”
The PERPICH CENTER FOR ARTS EDUCATION is conducting a State Arts Education Survey:
“Notice of Request for Proposal for State Arts Education Survey
The Perpich Center for Arts Education is requesting proposals for the purpose of designing and executing three elements of a project to establish baseline information about the status of arts education in Minnesota public and private schools. Work is proposed to start after December 4, 2009. Request for Proposals will be available by mail from this office through Monday, October 26, 2009 at 4:00 PM Central Daylight Time (CDT). A written request (by direct mail or fax) is required to receive the Request for Proposal. After Monday, October 26, 2009, the Request for Proposal must be picked up in person. The Request for Proposal can be obtained from: Byron Richard, Education Research Coordinator, Perpich Center for Arts Education, 6125 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley, MN 55422, Phone: (763) 591-4721 (work), Fax: (763) 591-4759, E-mail: Byron.Richard@pcae.k12.mn.us
Proposals submitted in response to the Request for Proposals in this advertisement must be received at the address above no later than 2:30 PM, Central Daylight Time (CDT), Monday, November 2, 2009. Hand delivered proposals must be delivered to the Perpich Center for Arts Education Receptionist in the Arts High School building. Late proposals will NOT be considered. Fax or emailed proposals will NOT be considered. This request does not obligate the State to complete the work contemplated in this notice. The State reserves the right to cancel this solicitation. All expenses incurred in responding to this notice are solely the responsibility of the responder.”
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2. Citizens of Minnesota Given Award for Passing the Amendment
The arts in Minnesota are more accessible to people with disabilities today – thanks in part to three individuals, one organization and a state full of voters who value the arts. The 12th annual Arts Access Awards are nominated by the public and presented by VSA arts of Minnesota, a statewide arts & disability organization, to recognize outstanding accomplishments by artists, arts organizations, advocates and educators that help create a community where people with disabilities can learn through, participate in and access the arts.
The 2009 VSA Arts Access Award recipients are:
The Voters of Minnesota for having the vision to pass the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment, which will result in improved access to the arts for all people, including people with disabilities. This year VSA’s Awards Committee decided to try something different because a phenomenal action occurred last fall:
The Amendment was the largest arts and culture ballot initiative in American history.
It is estimated that the Amendment will generate $2.2 billion for the arts, arts education, and arts access and to preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage over the next 25 years.
This will include about a quarter million dollars which the Metro Regional Arts Council is designating for a new grant program, to be administered by VSA arts of Minnesota, to assist arts organizations in making their facilities, programs and staffing even more accessible to people with disabilities.
Children who have not even been born yet will benefit from increased access to the arts and culture and to a cleaner, healthier environment because of the passage of the Amendment.
Dedicated funding for the arts is now in the Minnesota constitution.
There are literally a thousand heroes who contributed time and resources to this effort, led by Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Sheila Smith, MCA Executive Director, and Ken Martin, Vote Yes! Campaign Manager. Congratulations to the Voters of Minnesota – this Jaehny is ours!
The other 2009 VSA Arts Access Award recipients are:
Most Active and Visible Minnesota Artist with Disabilities – Nicole Zapko, Bloomington performer who is Deaf, co-director of StoryBlend;
Outstanding Artist Educator of Students and Adults with Disabilities – Anne Krocak, Prior Lake;
Outstanding Organization Actively Supporting Access to the Arts for People with Disabilities – WACOSA, Waite Park (St. Cloud area) nonprofit provider of arts programming for adults with disabilities;
Outstanding Individuals Actively Promoting Access to the Arts for People with Disabilities – Caryl Barnett, St. Paul, long-time advocate of Audio Description and accessibility training for arts organization staffs.
This year’s awards were presented on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at Vision Loss Resources in Minneapolis. The award, this year created by Nancy Ann Miller of Eveleth, is called the “Jaehny” in honor of Jaehn Clare, a co-founder of VSA arts of Minnesota.
Congratulations to all!
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3. State Begins New Planning Process for Arts and Culture Fund
The legislature has required the MSAB, Historical Society, and Humanities Commission to set up a planning group and process to recommend 10 and 25 year plans for the Arts and Culture Fund. There will be six public hearings at which they will take public testimony about what should be in the plan. It cannot be stressed more urgently that the arts voice needs to be heard loud and clear at these hearings.
The three organizations will host a series of listening sessions to obtain public input for a 10-year plan and 25-year framework for the use of funds made available through the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. The constitutional amendment, approved by voters in November 2008, added a provision to Minnesota’s constitution that provides for an increase in the sales tax to support outdoor heritage, clean water, parks and trails, as well as “Arts, arts education, arts access, and the preservation of our history and cultural heritage.”
The first two years of amendment resources have already been appropriated by the legislature to the MSAB, Regional Arts Councils, and other agencies. Therefore the result of this new process probably won’t affect appropriations for these first two years. It is also important to note that current legislators cannot bind the hands of future legislators. This means that the plan created by this group is only, in effect, advisory. Nonetheless, it could set some unwelcome precedents if done badly. The 13-member committee includes only three representatives of the arts: David O’Fallon, president and CEO, MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis; Rebecca Lynn Petersen, executive director, Fergus Falls Center for the Arts; and Pam Perri Weaver, board member, Minnesota State Arts Board. They are all wonderful champions for the arts. Still, it seems to me very inappropriate that the legislature has set up a process to talk about how the “Arts Amendment” should be spent that is not made up primarily of arts voices. Nonetheless, it is what it is. And that makes it important that we make the arts’ voice heard at the hearings.
The agency’s press release says, “Representatives from the three organizations and 10 other history, arts and cultural organizations and libraries will work together to develop a plan that will go to the legislature to recommend how the proceeds of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund should be spent. The first session will be held at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul on Oct. 21 at 5:30 p.m. Members of the public are encouraged to attend. Subsequent listening sessions will be held in coming months in locations across the state. An online survey will also be available. The results of this collaborative planning process will be reported to the legislature by Jan. 15, 2010. For more information about times and locations of upcoming public hearings and the online survey, visit www.ACHFMinnesota.org.”
Other members are Peggy Adelman, chief financial officer, Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley; Jennifer Bloom, executive director, Learning, Law and Democracy Foundation, St. Paul; Michael Garcia, president and CEO, Duluth Children’s Museum; Allen Harmon, president and general manager, Duluth-Superior Area Educational Television; Andrea Kajer, deputy director, Minnesota Historical Society; Patricia Mulso, executive director, Freeborn Historical Society, Albert Lea; Jeff Nelson, public strategy managing director, Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul; Brenda Raney, director of government relations, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul; Mark Ranum, director, Plum Creek Library System, Worthington; Stanley Romanstein, executive director, Minnesota Humanities Center.