Arts Midwest Archives - Arts Midwest https://artsmidwest.org/authors/arts-midwest/ Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:19:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://artsmidwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cropped-AM–Favicon_Favicon-512x512-1-32x32.png Arts Midwest Archives - Arts Midwest https://artsmidwest.org/authors/arts-midwest/ 32 32 Webinar: Healing & Internal Resourcing in Times of Unrest https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/webinar-healing-internal-resourcing-in-times-of-unrest/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:57:48 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=18707 Feeling like you need a little boost in your internal capacity, and want some knowledge and tools to help you get there? This workshop is for you.

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]]> How do we stay steady when the world feels unsteady?

How do we tend to our nervous systems while living through times that feel overwhelming, violent, unjust, or uncertain? And how can we reduce risk of experiencing long-term impacts of trauma while living through actively traumatic situations?

For artists and creative leaders, these questions aren’t abstract. Our work asks us to stay present, to feel deeply, respond honestly, and remain open to possibility, even when grief, fear, and rage are close at hand.

If you’re feeling like you need a boost in your internal capacity and want some help to get there, this workshop from Fynix Sun Park of Voice of Purpose is here for you.

Fynix will lead attendees through exercises that explore how to self-regulate when the world is on fire and co-regulate for our collective healing. Because we need all the tools, and all of us, right now.

Note: This session will include physical movement and internal reflection. We recommend finding a space where you feel comfortable to move and express freely. You may want to have a journal and water bottle nearby.

Healing & Internal Resourcing in Times of Unrest

Text reads Webinar Recording Healing and Internal Resourcing in Times of Unrest. Public art piece of giant blue fabric in wind on square frame.

Living through ongoing unrest can take a real toll on our bodies and nervous systems. In this webinar, Fynix Sun Park will share knowledge and tools for staying grounded, regulated, and resourced during stressful times, introducing somatic practices and deepening nervous system awareness to help you process and build capacity for yourself and your community.

Featuring

  • Headshot of a smiling Asian woman of medium skin tone with dark hair

    Fynix Sun Park

    Founder and Executive Director of Voice of Purpose

    Fynix Sun Park is the Founder and Executive Director of Voice of Purpose. A catalyst and systems-thinker, she believes that the changes that we make toward the future, must include integrating the sacred into our lives and work—and with healing ourselves.

    A leader in community arts since 2005, Fynix supports artists, organizations, and educators to embody transformation. Her current work stewards international collaborations across Canada, the United States, and New Zealand, advancing capacity building and strategic change in the arts.

    Her formal education is in Integrated Healing, bridging Western psychotherapy, Eastern energy medicine, and somatic healing, she also holds a degree in International Development.

    Rooted in her ancestral lineage of Corea and her community arts beginnings in Jane-Finch, Toronto, Fynix’s true calling is to be a catalyst of transformation, embody a new imprint, and build models for co-liberation.


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]]> Announcing the MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/announcing-the-mn-arts-rise-and-respond-fund/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 20:56:10 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=19377 Through a pooled fund, Arts Midwest and partners are distributing $330,000 and counting to Minnesota arts organizations.

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]]> When communities are forced into survival mode, the arts shift from dreaming and building to protecting and processing. They are where people go when the ground feels unsteady and they need grounding and support.

In recent months, artists and arts organizations across the state have stepped forward amid ICE activity, mobilizing as first responders and cultural stewards for their neighbors. 

Minnesota’s arts community has shown that it is an essential civic anchor, holding space for care, dialogue, and collective response when it is needed most.

MN Rise and Respond Fund Logo

Creative Care

Arts Midwest and our partners are honored to sustain, strengthen, and amplify the vital work of arts organizations in this moment through the MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund, a pooled fund.

100% of funds raised are going directly to 16 organizations that reflect the breadth and strength of Minnesota’s arts ecosystem, supporting their general operating expenses. If more funds are raised, we seek to strengthen and extend this rapid response effort.

The organizations supported through this fund include spaces for gathering and healing, artist-centered hubs, culture-bearing institutions, and rural and statewide networks.

They have provided emergency resources, supported youth and families, distributed mutual aid, documented the impact of brutality and violence, funded artists’ creative interventions, and opened spaces for connection, healing, and collective processing. They are responding in ways that are locally rooted, culturally specific, and urgently needed.

MN Arts Rise and Respond Recipients

These 16 organizations span Minneapolis, St. Paul, rural Minnesota, and statewide initiatives.

Ananya Dance Theatre (ADT) is a BIPOC ensemble company of TRAnsnational feminist dance artists who create and perform social justice work. They also provide space for the arts community to gather and movement opportunities as a mode of processing the impact of the ICE occupation. They are developing a project focused on love as public practice to spark the care and connectivity that lies on the other side of this traumatic moment. This experience will involve workshops engaging the community directly in the performance of the project.

Learn More

Art of the Rural resources artists and culture bearers to build the field, change narratives, and bridge divides. The organization supports cultural exchange programs to develop the skills, networks, and capacity of rural and urban leaders to bridge divides and make change. They are hosting multiple opportunities, including podcasts/articles/digital storytelling platforms, book groups to foster relationships with Native and Indigenous communities in rural MN, artist engagement projects along the Mississippi River, and more intimately scaled in-person regional gatherings for artists and culture bearers.

Learn More

Department of Public Transformation is a nonprofit organization that develops creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places. They believe in the power of rural creativity in activating local solutions to address community challenges and opportunities. This organization was involved in creating a Community Safety Plan for rural Minnesota communities. They are deeply involved in supporting rural community creativity and bridge building.

Learn More

Artists As Witness: Forecast is offering 20 small grants of $1,000 each to Minnesota-based artists and culture bearers who are documenting what is happening to their communities, countering disinformation, and telling the lived, human stories and strength of Minnesota’s people. This documentation and storytelling are critical. What happens in Minnesota now will be lessons for others around the country and the world. Any additional funding that comes in will be used to expand and continue this grant.

 

Learn More

In Progress is a media arts organization for a broad network of artists committed to sharing stories, honoring diversity, and strengthening communities through the arts. They are supporting space for media production, development of care networks, strategizing support for families detained/impacted by ICE—they are home to many artists. They are currently organizing a care, resistance, and remembrance calendar of events, including youth, healing, food sharing, and occupation storytelling events.

Learn More

Indigenous Roots Cultural Center (IRoots) is a coalition of artists, culture bearers, business owners, cultural groups and organizations dedicated to building, supporting and cultivating opportunities for and with Brown, Black, Native and Indigenous Peoples through cultural arts and activism. They offer space for artists to work, for community support and organizing and wellness and healing. IRoots is actively supporting families through mutual aid and culturally appropriate responses who had and continue to have direct encounters with ICE. While Indigenous Roots has been involved in immigration justice work and mutual aid for over a decade, the work has shifted into appropriate response initiatives last summer (2025) through the formation of an action network. The MniSota Community Action Network (MniCAN) is dedicated to supporting mutual aid and appropriate rapid response efforts across the nine regional areas of the state of Minnesota.

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Mixed Blood, a BIPOC-led space, is gathering a people’s history of this moment. They are soliciting stories from the community, including interviews with someone from the community, poems or pictures or a piece of flash fiction that captures a feeling or a snapshot of what is happening right now in our communities. This project is emergent and will be adapted. As story tellers, Mixed Blood’s intention is to capture and preserve the stories of this moment, as people want them told. They expect to post these stories as part of a gallery of responses to create a tapestry of experiences of the now. They are guided by the creative commons licensing (freely sharing the work) that others can use to create, study, make, remember. The organization is also hosting Say Your Rights workshops that we often pair with the Know Your Rights workshops, giving people practice in saying their rights out loud. They have a large demand for these and will be doing a “train the trainer” session for other theaters in town so that they can help meet the need.

Learn More

The gallery, a Native American-led space, began serving as a community hub for observers and organizers to meet the challenges for Native American community that has been impacted by ICE. They are primarily focused on safety and security planning and space and materials for Native American artist and BIPOC artist interventions. Read Executive Director Angela Two Stars’ article to learn more about their work.

Learn More

This Black-led space is a home for BIPOC theater and additional activities for artists and the community responding to the challenges of this time. Penumbra is facilitating panel conversations, offering racial healing workshops, offering book groups to discuss banned books, and hosting drives for art supplies for families who are unable to leave their homes due to the occupation of DHS agents in the Twin Cities. Their focus is on healing, wellness, and learning opportunities through the arts.

Learn More

Pillsbury House, a Black founded and led organization, is providing creative space for artists and small arts initiatives in South Minneapolis, blocks from George Floyd Global Memorial and blocks from the Renee Good memorial site. Pillsbury House is providing space for a range of activities including workshops, organizing meetings, performances, printing-making workshops, healing circles, safety and security neighborhood planning meetings, legal support for families of people abducted, community radio, digital production, and mutual aid. Rapid response funding will support the staffing and material resources needed to do this work in an ongoing way.

Learn More

This Rapid Response Fund is designed to help us raise $1.5 Million to help 250 families with housing support, utilities, medicine, and health care needs. This fund can also help with emergency needs as they arise. People are struggling because they fear going to work. As we continue to navigate this tense and scary moment with care and love, we will show up for our community in these ways because that is what being a loving and caring neighbor looks like. As we always have in our nearly 150 years of being part of our communities, we are here to help ensure radical care, love, and support.

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Public Functionary is a BIPOC artist-led space that includes artist studios, exhibition, performance, and workshop space. To address urgent needs, Public Functionary is offering free weekly open house and community meals for artists and organizers. The events are designed to offer information, resources, opportunities to meet collaborators, and support for art projects that respond to the current moment. These gatherings help artists who may feel isolated and keep our community connected during uncertain economic times. With additional funding, we can maintain this much-needed stabilizing space for artists in Minneapolis.

Learn More

Red Eye is a BIPOC and Queer artist-centered organization where artists, staff, and community form a relational collective, stewarding shared resources, relationships, and creative potential. Red Eye has been supporting in person and virtual space and programs, working to accommodate the safety of the artists involved. They have supported Monarca trainings and other safety focused events and well as 24/7 access to space to accommodate artists’ varied schedules. Red Eye has partnered with Powwow Grounds, which has been collecting supplies for people on the frontlines—those patrolling or serving as legal observers.

Learn More

Soomaal House is a Minnesota-based Somali artists collective that works with students, emerging, and established artists find artistic community, mentorships, and opportunities. They are supporting Somali artists and working to ensure safety and access for the artists.

Learn More

Springboard for the Arts support artists with the tools to make a living and a life, and to build just and equitable communities full of meaning, joy, and connection.

Artists Respond: Safety in Neighbors

The Artists Respond: Safety in Neighbors program supports neighborhood-scale projects that help neighbors find sanctuary places in their communities where care, safety, and solidarity already live. Many immigrant, refugee, BIPOC, and working-class neighbors are living with increased fear, surveillance, and the threat of being questioned or displaced. At the same time, there are people, spaces, ideas, and networks that quietly hold things together. This program activates the local: neighbors, block clubs, apartment buildings, whisper networks, and local businesses, and asks artists to make it easier for neighbors to find resources, solidarity, and each other.

There are currently 137 pending projects, and 20 are up and running. Our plan is to continue this call, which is approving projects weekly through a statewide network of advisors, throughout the occupation. When our communities are able to start thinking about repair and recovery, this call will evolve to focus on artist-led healing and repair projects, still focused on small, neighborhood and community-specific actions.

Creative Business Recovery Fund

While small-business relief efforts are emerging, Springboard for the Arts recognizes from experience that many of these initiatives may not be relevant or accessible to artist micro-businesses (small, home-based, and/or solo businesses). These small businesses are an essential part of our culture and economy. Many of these businesses have had to pause operations or divert resources to advocate for their communities’ needs.

The Creative Business Recovery Fund was created to respond to ongoing economic instability affecting artist micro-businesses, particularly those with limited access to capital and relief infrastructure. This fund will support 50 Minnesota micro-businesses and artists by providing $2,000 to help recover from months of lost sales and to reinvest in their creative businesses in preparation for the upcoming Spring/Summer season.

Artist Emergency Relief Fund Network

Artist Emergency Relief Fund Network is a statewide direct emergency relief for artists across MN. This fund is led by Springboard for the Arts and Minnesota’s Regional Arts Councils. Artist Emergency Relief Fund Network: If you want to support the Artist Emergency Relief Funds: please include a dedication to ‘Artist Emergency Relief Fund’ with your donation.

With technical assistance from Springboard, the Artists Emergency Relief Fund Network is a new locally rooted emergency relief fund that is up and running. The programs are having a lot of success reaching local artists across the state. Three of the programs have immediate need for additional emergency relief in their regions, including MRAC which is only able to fund about 30% of applicants currently. Our goal is to fund this network at capacity for 3 years for the 11 RAC-led programs, adding at least 1 additional partner which will establish and stabilize the system and provide a ready network to deliver emergency relief dollars during locally specific crises.

Funders interested in supporting individual artist relief and response efforts should contact Springboard for the Arts: laura@springboardforthearts.org

 

Learn More

Theater Mu, an Asian American theater, creates community, gives artists a place to be seen and accepted, shows audiences that Asian voices and experiences matter. As ICE continues to occupy MN, Southeast Asians (Laotian, Hmong, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Karen, Filipino) and Asian transnational adoptees are two of the many Asian sub-communities are being targeted, forcing thousands into a fear to leave their homes. Mu is developing a podcast series to provide a safe forum that is accessible, intimate, and immediate, featuring grassroots activists, small business owners, and artist/activists on both a local and national level. They will also join forces with TaikoArts Midwest to co-produce a project that revisits the experience of Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during WWII. This immersive event speaks directly to the moment of occupation and civil rights violations across our country.

Learn More

A group of seven barefoot dancers perform on a lit stage in vibrant, colorful draped costumes of orange, teal, blue, and green. Their arms are raised and faces tilted upward, with a blue ocean-like projection behind them.
Photo Credit: Greggory_Addison
Swapnō Jhnāp (Dream Jumping), Ananya Dance Theatre’s 20th-anniversary production, faces ongoing chaos and escalating destruction by bringing connectivity and liberation out of the dream world and into reality.
Two performers on a warmly lit stage laugh as they shake out a large patchwork quilt between them. The set depicts a cozy bedroom with clothes, string lights, and wall decorations.
A performance of Theater Mu’s MAYBE YOU COULD LOVE ME. Saint Paul’s Theater Mu is the second largest Asian American theater organization in the country.
Four musicians walk along a tree-lined path playing a hand drum, bassoon, acoustic guitar, and soprano saxophone. Lush green forest surrounds them.
Photo Credit: Forecast Public Art
Forecast Public Art artist James Everest leads a Sound Garden walk. Based in Saint Paul, MN and working both locally and nationally, Forecast connects artists with cities, institutions and communities to courageously tackle the vital issues of our time.
A packed gallery opening with a diverse crowd facing bold, flat-style paintings in primary colors depicting figures in desert landscapes. The white-walled industrial space is filled with standing attendees.
A gallery show at Soomaal House Library & Archives Center. This Minneapolis organization supports Somali artists and communities in Minnesota and beyond.

About the MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund

MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund is a time-sensitive pooled fund created by Arts Midwest and the Jerome Foundation in partnership with other philanthropic partners and donors.

This fund exists alongside the Artist Emergency Relief Fund Network, led by Springboard for the Arts and Minnesota’s Regional Arts Councils, which provides direct emergency support to individual artists across the state.  Together, these efforts reflect a coordinated, community-led response—supporting both institutions and individuals during an ongoing crisis. 

We are grateful to share that 10 partners have joined MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund, and together, have raised more than $330,000. All funds raised are going directly to Minnesota arts organizations on the ground.

MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund Partners

Support for MN Arts Rise and Respond is provided by the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation Rapid Response Fund. Support is also provided by an anonymous donor.

An Ongoing Need

The MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund remains open, as the needs that gave rise to this fund are ongoing. Frontline efforts have come at real cost: increased staffing and security needs, emergency planning, unexpected demands on space and resources, disrupted programming, and lost revenue.

Any additional contributions will further strengthen and extend this rapid response effort, supporting arts organizations doing the essential work of community healing, wellness, and repair.    

We invite funders to continue standing with Minnesota and Minnesota’s arts community.

Want to Contribute?

If you’re interested in making a gift to support the MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund, please email Arts Midwest, and we’ll follow up with more details.

Contact Us

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]]> Meet the Midwesterners Preserving Black History and Shaping Culture https://artsmidwest.org/stories/meet-the-midwesterners-preserving-black-history-and-shaping-culture/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:03:30 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?p=19250 Black history is Midwestern history, and these artists and organizations are carrying it forward.

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]]> This Black History Month, we’re returning to some of our favorite features. From Ohio to South Dakota, Black Midwesterners are shaping culture, preserving memory, and imagining the future. Here are some of their stories, featuring farmers, dancers, historians, educators, organizers, and so much more.

Black History is Midwestern History

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]]> 15 Midwestern Walking Together Grantees Announced https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/15-midwestern-walking-together-grantees-announced/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:56:00 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=18495 From beadwork and blues to weaving and canoe building, 15 Midwestern grantees are receiving Walking Together support to sustain living cultural traditions rooted in community.

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]]> Arts Midwest and the other US Regional Arts Organizations (USRAO’s) today announced the grant recipients of Walking Together, a program administered by Mid Atlantic Arts.

A total of $3.34 million has been awarded to 96 grantees, including 15 grantees from the Midwest. Organizations will each receive a $50,000 grant. Individuals will each receive $15,000.

This pilot program awards significant nonmatching grants to traditional artists, practitioners, nonprofits, local and Tribal governments, and community organizations and knowledge keepers that demonstrate a deep commitment to sustaining folklife rooted in community. 

  • 15

    Midwestern organizations and individuals have recieved Walking Together grants

  • $540k

    Total amount of Walking Together grants made in the Midwest

“Supporting folklife means directly supporting the intrinsic role art plays in everyday life.”

Juan Souki, Executive Director of Mid Atlantic Arts

Meet the Midwestern Walking Together Grantees

An adult leans in to guide a young person as they pluck a traditional stringed instrument with multiple tuning pegs. Both focus closely on the strings during a music lesson in an indoor community space.

AfriWell Hub, Inc.

Organization

Dubuque, IA

East African Traditions

Walking Together support will allow AfriWell Hub to expand our folklife programming, deepen community partnerships, and elevate African cultural traditions through storytelling, music, dance, and intergenerational learning.

$50,000

A close-up of a handcrafted necklace made from fur, bone-colored curved pieces, and red and green beads, arranged symmetrically on a wooden surface.

Sylvia Brown

(Individual)

Meskwaki Settlement, IA

Sac and Fox Beadwork, Regalia Making

Walking Together funds will help increase our supply base and ensure generations to come can keep making traditional clothing for their tribe

$15,000

A blues guitarist performs outdoors in front of a seated audience. The musician stands on a small stage area while audience members watch from folding chairs, with a keyboard player visible behind him.

Chicago Blues Revival

(Organization)

Chicago, IL

Chicago Blues

Walking Together funding will help Chicago Blues Revival form a Blues Engagement Council that can help guide the organization’s work and keep it connected to residents of the Bronzeville community that is the cradle of Chicago blues. This group will include senior citizens who regularly attend our Silver Fox Pop-Up Series, younger residents invested in Bronzeville’s cultural life, and working Blues musicians from across Chicago.

$50,000

A man wearing glasses and a yellow shirt holds an acoustic guitar covered in colorful signatures. He smiles at the camera while standing outdoors, with buildings visible in the background.

Juan Díes

(Individual)

Chicago, IL

Mexican Traditional Music

In the next three years, I hope to solidify and share the legacy of my folklife practice from the past 35 years, while creating new materials for younger generations.

$15,000

Six women pose around a wooden floor loom inside a studio space. Several wear handwoven textiles draped over their shoulders. Clothing racks and woven garments are visible behind them.

Winding Wednesday

(Organization)

Indianapolis, IN

Chin (Myanmar) Craft Traditions

Walking Together support will help us expand needed workshops to include traditional dance and music, traditional headdresses, and jewelry, while allowing us to offer stable, more frequent, and diverse workshops such as weaving, basket-making, cooking, and storytelling. More importantly, it will help us reach more youth, creating intergenerational bridges that ensure cultural knowledge is not lost but carried forward, ensuring that cultural heritage remains a living, evolving part of community life in Indiana.

$50,000

A collage shows children and youth participating in Chinese cultural arts, including traditional dance with flowing costumes, diabolo performance, and a small group singing or presenting onstage.

Kalamazoo Chinese Academy

(Organization)

Portage, MI

Chinese Language, Traditions

Walking Together will transform KCA’s ability to address our most critical need: capacity building for our organization – including fair compensation for the artists, educators, and staff who keep our traditions alive.

$50,000

A large group of adults and children stand behind a long wooden birchbark canoe under an open-sided shelter. The canoe rests on tables, and several children sit or kneel in front. Trees are visible beyond the structure.

Ronald Paquin

(Individual)

St. Ignace, MI

Chippewa Canoe Building, Other Craft

Walking Together will play a critical role in my ability to access the natural materials I need, help me bring environmental issues relating to availability of materials to light, and host a hands-on gathering of all of my apprentices and Michigan tribal cultural divisions to share stories and knowledge.

$15,000

A birchbark container wrapped with horizontal rainbow-colored bands and stitched details sits against a white background. A heart shape made from white porcupine quills appears at the center.

Penny Kagigebi

(Individual)

Detroit Lakes, MN

Anishinaabe Quillwork

With Walking Together support, I will increase my Woodland porcupine quillwork and birchbark basketry skills, amplify public exposure to these endangered artforms, and create more options for beginner and advanced learners. Storytelling, ceremony, land relationship, and Anishinaabe Queer Two-Spirit cultural knowledge will continue to be shared through these venues and more.

$15,000

Multiple hands hold padded drum beaters arranged in a circle around a large hand drum. The beaters are evenly spaced, pointing toward the center of the drum.

Waawaate Programs

(Organization)

Ely, MN

Anishinaabe Traditions

Walking Together funds will be used to increase our Indigenous cultural arts programming and assist in greater collaboration projects with Bois Forte Anishinaabeg.

$50,000

A man stands in front of a display wall featuring film posters and media images. A circular logo reading “Grey Willow Music & Production” appears prominently behind him.

Grey Willow, Inc.

(Organization)

Fort Yates (Standing Rock Sioux Reservation), ND

Media Production, Standing Rock Sioux Traditions

Walking Together funds will help in achieving our goals and more community involvement as we strive for the future of our organization.

$50,000

A large group of performers in colorful traditional costumes pose on the steps of a historic building. Adults and children wear dresses, hats, and cultural attire representing different Latino traditions.

Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center

(Organization)

Cleveland, OH

Puerto Rican, Other Latino Traditions

Walking Together will support our Latino cultural arts programming in the Greater Cleveland area.

$50,000

A polished, curved buffalo horn vessel decorated with an intricate monarch butterfly pattern in orange, black, and white rests against a neutral background.

Kevin Pourier

(Individual)

Scenic, SD

Lakota Buffalo Horn Craft

Walking Together funding will catalyze preservation initiatives with impact extending far beyond my individual artistic practice. This support will enable the systematic documentation and transmission of buffalo horn artistry – knowledge that exists nowhere else and faces extinction with my generation.

$15,000

Community members of multiple ages sit around connected tables, sharing a meal during an Keya gathering. A handmade sign reading “Good Job!” with colorful handprints is placed at the center of the tables in a community room kitchen.

The Keya Foundation, Inc.

(Organization)

Eagle Butte (Cheyenne River Indian Reservation), SD

Lakota Traditions and Community Health

Walking Together support helps us continue building programs that empower young people, honor cultural values, and create lasting change across our community.

$50,000

A large group of adults and children pose indoors after a performance, wearing coordinated Polynesian dance attire. Some dancers wear leaf headpieces and grass elements, while others wear flowing dresses. The group smiles toward the camera.

Na Hale Cultural Arts Center, Inc

(Organization)

Menomonee Falls, WI

Native Hawai’ian, Polynesian Dance

Walking Together funds will help us to build organizational capacity and stabilize programming.

$50,000

A woman stands behind a wooden display table showcasing multiple pairs of handmade moccasins in different colors and styles. She wears a teal blouse, patterned skirt, and layered jewelry. A wooden canoe and plants are visible in the background.

Rachel Jeske

(Individual)

West Allis, WI

Moccasin Making

The Walking Together funds will allow me to create professional instructional materials and a complete workshop curriculum for multiple moccasin styles, and to test this work through pilot workshops. This support will strengthen my ability to preserve, teach, and share traditional moccasin-making with the community.

$15,000

About Walking Together

Organizations and individuals deeply engaged in sustaining their community’s traditions receive unrestricted grants through Walking Together, with the aim of supporting their existing work and bolstering community traditions and knowledge into the future.

Walking Together aims to facilitate a robust regional and national support network for traditional arts, support collaborative documentation and marketing services, and address historic precarity and disinvestment in folk arts and culture that communities of color face.

Grant recipients are from all 50 states, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. All states and jurisdictions have at least one grantee.

More than 2,000 organizations and artists applied for Walking Together funding in 2025. Eligible applicants were reviewed by six review panels—one per region—and selected applicants were invited to a second round of review.

Each region also assembled committees of consultants composed of traditional artists, folklorists, scholars, arts professionals, and advocates as “Working Circles.”

These Working Circle members were involved in every stage of the program, including the development of grant guidelines, outreach to potential applicants, and application review and feedback processes as part of a participatory grantmaking model.


 

About the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations

The United States Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs)—Arts Midwest, Creative West (formerly WESTAF), Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and South Arts—are a collective of six nonprofit arts service organizations committed to strengthening America’s infrastructure by increasing access to creativity for all Americans.

The USRAOs partner with the National Endowment for the Arts, state arts agencies, individuals, and other public and private funders to develop and deliver programs, services, and products that advance arts and creativity.

Together, the USRAOs work to activate and operate national arts initiatives, encourage, and support collaboration across regions, states, and communities, and maximize the coordination of public and private resources invested in arts programs.

In 2024, they invested over $33.6 million across the United States and Jurisdictions, through nearly 3,000 grants that reached more than 1,300 communities.

Learn more at usregionalarts.org.

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]]> 87 New GIG Fund Grants Power Creativity and Wellness Across the Midwest https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/87-new-gig-fund-grants-power-creativity-and-wellness-across-the-midwest/ Wed, 07 Jan 2026 20:21:35 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=18389 These Midwestern organizations have received more than $780k to fund creative, engaging arts activities in their communities.

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]]> Arts Midwest has awarded more than $780,000 to 87 nonprofit organizations across the Midwest, supporting art projects that invite people into shared creative experiences and nurture well-being.

This year’s awards were made across two funding tracks, each reflecting a different—but deeply connected—approach to how art can support thriving communities:

  • GIG Fund: For organizations with budgets under $2 million annually whose projects reach underserved audiences. These grants fund creative, engaging public activities, ensuring that audiences have access to high quality arts activities.
  • GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness For organizations of any budget size whose projects have an arts and wellness focus. These grants fund high quality arts activities such as efforts that engage veterans in the arts, creative aging programs, artists working in schools, and more.

Grants of up to $15,000 were awarded to organizations across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Native Nations that share this geography.

Funded projects will take place between December 2025 and June 2026.

Funded Projects Include

In Chicago, IL, Chicago Composers Orchestra is partnering with youth music education organization MUSIC Inc. to invite students in grades 3–8 into the world of composition with its Drawn Together project.

Guided by professional musicians, students will create their own graphic scores—using drawings, symbols, and color to express pitch, tempo and dynamics—which will be performed at the end of the workshop and later premiered for a public audience at CCO’s spring concert, a performance dedicated solely to world premieres.

At Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg, WI, Hay Rake Ballet transforms everyday farm work into performance. Directed by Berlin-based choreographer and Wormfarm resident artist Sarah Butler, this site-responsive event will feature local farmers driving tractors and equipment in carefully choreographed patterns during the hay harvest.

Leading up to the fall 2026 performance, rural students and residents will take part in workshops, pasture walks, and open rehearsals, all honoring the craft, beauty, and significance of family-scale farming.

In Milwaukee, WI, Danceworks is expanding its Dance for Multiple Sclerosis program to provide accessible arts experience for people living with MS.

Developed in collaboration with medical researchers, the program will offer various workshops including improvisational dance, singing and visual art-making to address challenges like mobility, fatigue, and emotional stress while cultivating confidence, creativity, and joy. The workshops are open to people living with MS as well as their family and caregivers.

The Bay Mills Indian Community is hosting an artist-led initiative that brings Indigenous youth and mentors together for regalia-making workshops rooted in Anishinaabe culture.

Led by Indigenous artists and culture bearers, the program weaves together traditional and contemporary techniques, storytelling, and intergenerational learning as pathways to healing and belonging. The project culminates in a community dance exhibition at the Bay Mills annual powwow, celebrating cultural resilience, creativity, and collective wellness.

In Central Illinois, Freedom Sings USA uses songwriting as a tool for healing and connection among veterans and their families. Through a two-day immersive retreat, veterans are paired with professional songwriters to transform lived experiences into original songs.

The program culminates in a community concert and is followed by optional songwriting classes and production of an album.

  • 87

    GIG Fund Grantees received awards this cycle

  • 62%

    Have never been funded by Arts Midwest in the past

  • 31%

    Are organizations from rural areas

“Research shows that art and creativity can strengthen community wellness. It helps people build connections, feel a sense of belonging, and access resilience. We are honored to support these grantees who are using creativity to nurture well-being across the Midwest.”

TORRIE ALLEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO AT ARTS MIDWEST

GIG Fund 2025-26 Grantees

Organization CityStateAward Amount
artsBASICSBettendorfIA$5,000
Dubuque Museum of ArtDubuqueIA$15,000
Great Sounds PromotionsDavenportIA$5,000
Standing Bear Council, Inc.KeokukIA$7,500
Wieting TheatreToledoIA$3,000
Uplifting Puppet CompanyOskaloosaIA$5,000
About Face TheatreChicagoIL$5,000
American Indian CenterChicagoIL$9,500
Chicago Composers OrchestraChicagoIL$5,000
DuPage Symphony OrchestraNapervilleIL$7,000
FilAm Music FoundationEvanstonIL$10,420
Fonema ConsortChicagoIL$15,000
Heritage Museum of Asian ArtChicagoIL$12,000
Legacy Theater FoundationCarthageIL$5,400
Monroe County Arts AllianceWaterlooIL$1,500
NCI ARTworksLa SalleIL$860
Poco a PocoStreatorIL$4,410
Festival 56PrincetonIL$2,500
Quincy Art CenterQuincyIL$4,000
The Still Searching ProjectChicagoIL$15,000
CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education CenterTerre HauteIN$15,000
Bloomington Early MusicBloomingtonIN$5,000
Pearl ArtsFort WayneIN$7,000
Propel New WorksZionsvilleIN$7,500
Terre Haute Symphony OrchestraTerre HauteIN$12,500
Equity in the Arts ProgramSouth BendIN$5,000
Elberta Heritage CenterFrankfortMI$5,500
Good Hart Artist ResidencyHarbor SpgsMI$15,000
Lake Effect Community Arts CenterManistiqueMI$2,000
Lowell ArtsLowellMI$4,000
Marupo ACTSAnn ArborMI$15,000
Michigan Arts AccessDetroitMI$8,250
Pine Mountain Music FestivalHancockMI$8,000
Play House LaboratoriesDetroitMI $4,000
Pure WindsLansingMI$9,070
TapologyMount MorrisMI $15,000
RADFest by WellspringKalamazooMI$15,000
Indigenous RootsSaint PaulMN$15,000
Lakes Area Music FestivalBrainerdMN$11,400
Project 412Detroit LakesMN$15,000
White Earth Land Recovery ProjectCallawayMN$10,000
Frost Fire Summer TheatreWalhallaND$15,000
Rendezvous Region FoundationCavalierND$5,000
Federal Valley Resource CenterStewartOH$14,750
The Ghostlight Stage CompanyCincinnatiOH$10,000
Kennedy Heights Arts CenterCincinnatiOH$7,000
Les DélicesClevelandOH$7,040
Northeast Ohio Musical Heritage AssociationClevelandOH$2,500
OhioDanceColumbusOH$10,000
ORMACOHomervilleOH$4,800
Summit Choral SocietyAkronOH$15,000
River City Blues Festival hosted by the Blues, Jazz, and Folk Music SocietyMariettaOH$15,000
Wyoming Fine Arts CenterWyomingOH$5,000
Red Cloud | Mahpiya LutaPine RidgeSD $15,000
The Matthews Opera House and Arts CenterSpearfishSD $4,000
Black Arts MKE, Inc.MilwaukeeWI$15,000
Hmong Autism Neurodiverse Disability SupportDe PereWI$5,000
Prairie Music & Arts, Inc.Sun PrairieWI$6,500
Pump House Regional Arts CenterLa CrosseWI$8,400
River Arts, Inc.Prairie Du SacWI$5,000
Wormfarm InstituteReedsburgWI$12,000

GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness 2025-26 Grantees

OrganizationCityStateAward Amount
Hearst Center for the ArtsCedar FallsIA$4,130
TanagerCedar RapidsIA$15,000
KOI InstituteChicagoIL$15,000
Freedom Sings USA – Central Illinois ChapterHeyworthIL$3,500
Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC)ChicagoIL$15,000
Hear My Cry, StageplayChicagoIL$15,000
Fort Wayne Dance CollectiveFort WayneIN$15,000
Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library (KVML)IndianapolisIN$15,000
Bay Mills Indian CommunityBrimleyMI$15,000
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Inc.BirminghamMI $5,000
Creative 360MidlandMI$9,730
Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilantiMI$5,170
Pelvic SanctuaryDetroitMI $10,000
Vista CenterFlintMI$5,000
WMCATGrand RapidsMI$2,250
FamilyMeansStillwaterMN$7,600
Lake Street CouncilMinneapolisMN$15,000
Kori ArtGrand ForksND$10,000
The WellCincinnatiOH$10,000
CACCincinnatiOH$10,000
Forever Amber AcresMedinaOH$4,000
The Actor’s VillageClevelandOH$15,000
Cheyenne River Youth ProjectEagle ButteSD$7,000
First Peoples FundRapid CitySD$8,250
Danceworks, Inc.MilwaukeeWI$5,000
Fox Valley Memory ProjectMenashaWI$15,000

Explore all Arts Midwest Grantees

Learn more about the organizations funded by Arts Midwest in our grant and award database.
See All Grantees

Want to learn more about the GIG Fund?

Visit the program page or sign up for our newsletter for updates on all Arts Midwest grant opportunities.

Sign Up for the Newsletter Visit the GIG Fund Page

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]]> Arts Midwest 2025 Wrapped https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/arts-midwest-2025-wrapped/ Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:56:37 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=14220 A look at the creativity you powered — and the stories you couldn’t get enough of.

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]]> Hey, you!

You really showed up for Midwestern creativity in 2025, and we want to say thanks.

Creativity is what makes the Midwest feel connected, curious, and full of possibility. But it doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s because of you!

Whether you were making art, holding together an organization, or cheering from the sidelines, you helped creativity keep flourishing this year.

And we’re so grateful.

We’re honored to amplify your efforts through Arts Midwest’s resources, grants, and stories championing the creative Midwest and beyond.

Here’s what our 2025 looked like, together:

A large ensemble performs onstage in colorful choir robes, singing and dancing with raised hands in front of a stained-glass church backdrop
Photo Credit: Black Arts MKE

Join Arts Midwest’s efforts to strengthen and amplify creativity across the Midwest.

Sign Up for Updates
A musician with long hair plays an electric bass guitar against a bright orange background. Text reads “You loved DIY Everything.”

You loved stories about DIY everything.

There’s something unmistakably Midwestern about rolling up your sleeves and making it work, wherever you are, with whatever you’ve got.

You gravitated to stories about people who didn’t wait for permission to get creative:

You helped power creativity in communities.

Support from our donors and partners fueled opportunities for organizations in the Midwest and across the nation. These grants brought artists into schools, libraries, parks, and public spaces, connecting people through creative experiences.
Explore Grant Opportunities
A large silver fish puppet with wings is carried through a crowd outdoors during a parade. Text reads “You loved Midwest Quirk.”

You loved stories about Midwest quirk.

The Midwest is full of joyful weirdness that’s whimsical, curious, and deeply rooted in place.

You couldn’t get enough of stories that celebrated curious, collective expressions of Midwestern creativity:

You helped artists get their flowers.

You showed up to celebrate Midwestern artists doing deeply meaningful work — from culture bearers to artists with disabilities to community-rooted creative leaders.
Explore Awards
A person adjusts a custom prosthetic leg for another person seated on a workbench; smaller inset photo shows two people smiling outdoors while holding woven baskets. Text reads “You loved Arts & Wellness.”

You loved stories about arts and wellness.

All across the Midwest, people build connection, healing, and belonging through art.

You were drawn to stories about creativity that supports well-being:

You got a little nerdy (in the best way).

You dove into tools, guides, and webinars designed to spark new ideas and support creative leaders.
Explore Resources

Together, we created so much.

Year

  • Invested
  • Participants
  • Grants Awarded
  • Communities Reached
A vocalist in a flowing purple dress sings with joy while a guitarist plays seated beside her, accompanied by a student choir in the background.
Photo Credit: Suncast Studios

Just as 2025 was ending, something extraordinary happened.

Arts Midwest received a historic donation from MacKenzie Scott — the largest in our organization’s history.

Learn More

And you’re part of what comes next.

In 2026, we’re thinking big and bold about how to support Midwestern creativity in meaningful and enduring ways.

If you’d like to help shape what comes next, consider making a donation.

Every contribution, at any level, helps keep Midwestern creativity visible, valued, and thriving.

Graphic with bold text reading “More Arts. More Creativity. More Midwest Magic.” with the Arts Midwest logo on a dark background.

Here’s to another year of you.

Thank you for showing up in 2025.

For making art.

For supporting artists.

For building community.

And for believing that creativity belongs to everyone, everywhere.

Here’s to more Midwestern magic in 2026.

XOXO

Arts Midwest

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]]> John Davis Receives 2025 Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity & Entrepreneurship https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/john-davis-receives-2025-peter-capell-award-for-midwestern-creativity-entrepreneurship/ Tue, 02 Dec 2025 15:10:05 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=14346 From New York Mills to Lanesboro to Warroad, John Davis has spent his career proving that small towns can spark big ideas.

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]]> We’re thrilled to announce John Davis of Warroad, Minnesota as the 2025 recipient of the Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity & Entrepreneurship.

For more than 35 years, Davis has been one of rural America’s most visionary arts leaders. His work has centered around weaving arts into the fabric of small communities, connecting economic impact with innovation.

A portrait of John Davis standing against a plain white wall. He wears a dark blazer over a paisley shirt and smiles softly at the camera. A small metal tractor pin is attached to his lapel.
Photo Credit: Marie Bergman
John Davis, recipient of the 2025 Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity & Entrepreneurship.

Davis began his career founding the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, where he launched programs like the Great American Think-Off, a national philosophy competition that continues to draw participants from across the country.

During his time as Executive Director of Lanesboro Arts, he spent nearly two decades reimagining the entire town as an Arts Campus. Under his guidance, Lanesboro became the first small town in the nation to adopt a citywide arts campus proclamation, was named one of the top 12 Small Town Artplaces in America, and saw more than $3.3 million in investment in its downtown and creative infrastructure.

Most recently, as the first Executive & Artistic Director of Warroad RiverPlace in northern Minnesota, Davis has shepherded the development and activation of a 20,000 sq. ft. arts, culture, and event center—a $20 million project with a mission of bringing the community together through innovative access to arts and culture.

Across every chapter of his career, Davis has championed rural creativity, cross-sector collaboration, and the belief that small towns deserve big artistic ideas. In celebration of his efforts, he has received a $2,500 unrestricted cash award from Arts Midwest.

About the Peter Capell Award

Established in 2022 to honor the legacy of longtime Arts Midwest Board member and former Board Chair, the Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity & Entrepreneurship recognizes individuals whose work exemplifies entrepreneurial thinking, creative accomplishments, and a commitment to community.

This year’s award focused on individuals based in Minnesota. Details about next year’s award will be available in 2026.

“John’s work using the arts and creativity as an economic engine in small towns and demonstrating the positive impact of these initiatives in our rural communities is a true example of the values, initiatives and results this award is meant to support.”

Peter Capell, longtime Arts Midwest Board member and former Board Chair

Q&A: John Davis on Cultivating Rural Creativity

The historic brick facade of the N.Y. Mills Regional Cultural Center in Minnesota. The two-story building has tall windows, green trim, and a sign above the entrance reading “N.Y. Mills Regional Cultural Center.” The evening light glows warmly through the lower windows.
Photo Credit: Betsy Roder
The New York Mills Arts Retreat and Regional Cultural Center—founded by John Davis—is located in the west-central Minnesota town of New York Mills (population 1,294).

You’ve spent your career showing how rural communities can be national leaders in creativity. What led you down this path?

After graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, I knew I wanted to live in rural America. I bought an abandoned farm outside New York Mills, Minnesota.

I really didn’t have a plan other than wanting to be involved in the arts. I painted barns to make money and listened to farmers, community members, senior citizens about their hopes and dreams for the future.

As it turns out, there was a yearning for the arts, just no access in a small rural community. I wanted to change that narrative.

So that’s what led me down this path. Listening.

Your motto is “the audience is everyone.” How has that shaped your leadership?

I came to my philosophy of “the audience is everyone” when I started working in New York Mills to renovate the first brick building in town into a cultural center and start an artist residency program. It seemed obvious that in a town of about 1,000 people, it was critical to reach everyone.

That’s when a friend gave me a toy plastic tractor and I had my ah-ha moment. The tractor would be the logo for the organization. The mission: Cultivate the arts.

Cultivation takes time. The day-to-day challenge was simply how to make art, culture and creativity relevant in everyday people’s lives. Do that with your programming, and you have your buy in and your audience.

A group of people gather inside the Lanesboro Arts gallery for an event. A speaker holds a microphone while others stand around listening. Artwork hangs on the walls, and a wooden staircase rises to a lofted second floor behind the group.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Lanesboro Arts
Community members gather inside Lanesboro Arts during a gallery event.

You’ve partnered with beef councils, veterans groups, senior centers, civic government and more. How do you approach bringing such different groups into the arts? 

Sometimes it’s as straightforward as having a cup of coffee and starting a dialogue. It’s really not even about having an “arts conversation.” It’s more important to listen and learn how to make arts, culture and creativity relevant in people’s lives.

This can mean having conversations about the arts honoring veterans, or how the arts can help solve civic challenges.  Or, showing the value of the arts as a tool for economic development, rural narrative uplift and positive publicity. Or, engaging and cultivating the creativity of young people.

It’s all about inviting people to share ideas. Nontraditional partnerships expand your audience!

A black streetlamp in Lanesboro, Minnesota holds a poetry sign that reads, “Corn staring at stars. Soy beans sitting in the sun. Wheat in the soil.” Trees and a bright blue sky with clouds fill the background.
Photo Credit: Yvonne Meyer
A poetry sign from the Lanesboro Arts Poetry Series — part of the town’s pioneering Arts Campus initiative shaped by Davis’s vision.

Transforming a town into an arts campus or opening a $20 million cultural center takes long-term vision. What helps you stay focused?

For me it’s really not about focus, it’s about being patient and planting seeds of ideas.

It took 7 years for the Lanesboro Arts Campus vision to become a shared vision, and 15 years from concept to City Council proclamation declaring the entire community an Arts Campus.

In Warroad, it took guided hard hat tours of a 20,000 sq ft. facility under construction with civic organizations, teachers, school children, farmers and business owners to ask for their ideas for programming in order to get buy-in and to help create that shared vision.

Sometimes it just takes time to cultivate unique ideas that can spark community engagement and narrative shift. The Poetry Parking Lot in Lanesboro is one example. We replaced ordinary parking signage with regional poetry, solving a civic challenge and connecting visitor parking to downtown businesses.

What’s inspiring you lately? 

In September of 2025 Warroad RiverPlace culminated a one-year rural/urban partnership with Mixed Blood Theater who created a play by, for, with and about the people and cultures of Warroad. We had three sold out performances with dialog in Spanish and English.

In addition, we just hosted a “Festival of Cultures” with 12 different cultures represented through food, music, storyboards and dance. Cultures represented included Laos, the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Venezuela, Native America, Haiti, Canada, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua.

We had no idea if this event would work, however we had 50 people waiting in line for our doors to open, and over 450 attendees for the 3-hour event. (Warroad’s population is 1,983 for context.)

Two Laotian elders who were not planning on performing spontaneously took the stage to perform traditional Laotian music and dance. Multiple generations posed for selfies in front of their food and cultural booths. The definition of inspiring!

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]]> Now Accepting Applications: 2026-27 NEA Big Read https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/now-accepting-applications-2026-27-nea-big-read/ Wed, 29 Oct 2025 14:24:21 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=13120 This community-wide reading program offers matching grants of up to $20,000 for programming connected to the theme of America250.

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]]> Applications are now open for the 2026-27 cycle of the NEA Big Read, a national program that offers matching grants of up to $20,000 to support community-wide reading programs.

This year’s NEA Big Read will center around the theme America250, honoring the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, marking America’s Semiquincentennial.

The 24 NEA Big Read books available for programming this cycle celebrate America’s culture, history, and resilience through the eyes of its people.

Using a book selection as inspiration, applicants will facilitate discussions, writing workshops, and creative programming activities that explore this theme and celebrate the unique aspects of their communities.

The NEA Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with Arts Midwest.

NEA Big Read At-A-Glance

  • What is it? The NEA Big Read is a reading program that brings communities together around the central theme America250 using one of 24 available books as inspiration. It offers matching grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.
  • Who can apply? Nonprofit arts organizations, universities, libraries, service organizations, museums, school districts, and tribal governments are all encouraged to apply.
  • Where? Your organization must be located and operate within the United States or the Native Nations that share this geography.
  • When to apply? A mandatory Intent to Apply is due January 15, 2026, with final applications due January 29, 2025. Funded programs will take place between September 2026 and June 2027.

Read more about eligibility and how to apply in the guidelines.

About NEA Big Read

The NEA Big Read supports community reading programs designed around a single NEA Big Read book.

As our nation moves into its 250th year, the goal of this program is to honor America’s rich artistic and cultural heritage, inspire meaningful conversations, celebrate local creativity, elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives, and build stronger connections in each community. 

Grantees will receive funding for their programming and purchasing books, and tools to support them in working with local partners, developing public relations strategies, and leading meaningful book discussions.

NEA Big Read programs vary and can be as short as a week or as long as several months. Beyond discussions of the book, organizations may choose to include a kick-off event, invite the author for a visit, or have other events inspired by the content and themes of the book. These may include panel discussions, lectures, film screenings, art exhibitions, theatrical and musical performances, poetry slams, writing workshops and contests, and community storytelling events.

The NEA Big Read welcomes applications from a variety of eligible organizations, including first-time applicants; organizations serving communities of all sizes, including rural and urban areas; and organizations with small, medium, or large operating budgets.

Explore the 2026-27 NEA Big Read Library

The 24 titles available this cycle span fiction and nonfiction books that celebrate America’s culture, history, and resilience through the eyes of its people.

See the Books

America250 Logo for the 2026-27 NEA Big Read

Get Ready to Apply

Learn more about the types of projects that the NEA Big Read supports and review our grant guidelines.

Learn More

A group of about 40 seated people hold up books to the camera

Have questions about the NEA Big Read?

Be sure to check out our FAQs, and if you’d like to talk to us we’re just an email away. 

FAQ Contact Us

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]]> Now Accepting Applications: 2026-27 Shakespeare in American Communities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/now-accepting-applications-2026-27-shakespeare-in-american-communities/ Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:04:06 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=13448 Grants of up to $30,000 will support theater programming in schools, juvenile justice programs, and arts apprenticeships across the nation.

The post Now Accepting Applications: 2026-27 Shakespeare in American Communities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Applications are now open for the 2026-27 cycle of Shakespeare in American Communities, a national program that offers support to nonprofit theater companies bringing Shakespeare-inspired performances and educational activities to their communities.

For the second year, there are three different grant opportunities available.

Theaters can bring Shakespeare’s works to life for students with support from the Schools and Juvenile Justice Programs, or offer hands-on opportunities for early-career theater professionals with support from the Apprenticeships Program. The programming that apprentices support does NOT have to be Shakespeare-related

Shakespeare in American Communities At A Glance

  • What is it? Shakespeare in American Communities is a theater program that provides grants to nonprofit theater organizations in the U.S. to present high-quality productions and educational activities based on Shakespeare’s works. There are three grant opportunities available: the Schools Program, Juvenile Justice Program, and Apprenticeships Program.
  • Who can apply? Nonprofit theater organizations with at least two years of relevant experience for their chosen grant opportunity are welcome to apply. Take a short eligibility quiz to find out which opportunity is the best fit for your organization.
  • Where? Your organization must be located and operate within the United States or the Native Nations that share this geography.
  • When to apply? A mandatory Intent to Apply is due January 29, 2026, with final applications due February 12, 2026.

Take an Eligibility Quiz

Curious which Shakespeare in American Communities grant is the best fit for your organization? Take a short eligibility quiz to find out!

Schools Program: Brings Shakespeare-inspired theater and education programs to middle and high schools, with new flexibility to perform in community venues. Matching grants range from $15,000 to $25,000.

Juvenile Justice Program: Engages young people in juvenile justice settings, offering performances and workshops. Non-matching grants range from $15,000 to $25,000.

Apprenticeships Program: Supports theater companies in providing paid apprenticeships to early-career theater professionals. Matching grants range from $20,000 to $30,000.

Take the Quiz

Sixteen teenaged students standing on a black stage in front of metal scaffolding, posing next to a blue banner with an image of William Shakespeare superimposed over an American flag entitled "National Endowment for the Arts Presents Shakespeare in American Communities."
Photo Credit: Kelsey Tidball, courtesy of Actors’ Shakespeare Project

About Shakespeare in American Communities

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with Arts Midwest, Shakespeare in American Communities brings the works of William Shakespeare to students, communities, and juvenile justice facilities across the country.

Since its inception in 2003, Shakespeare in American Communities has supported more than 16,000 performances and 60,000 educational activities in all 50 states. Each year, the program reaches thousands of young people with inspiring productions and hands-on learning experiences.

Through the Schools program, organizations can also stage productions and educational activities in community settings, expanding access beyond traditional schools alone. Grantees are not required to produce original Shakespeare plays. Rather, they may use adaptations or create new work inspired by William Shakespeare.  

Grantees will participate in virtual and in-person gatherings with other program participants. Travel, lodging, and some meal costs for one representative will be covered.

Get Ready to Apply

For more details on how to apply and to explore our guidelines, visit the Shakespeare in American Communities program page.

Learn More

A person with curly brown hair dressed in a multi-patterned shirt and yellow pants, delivering a soliloquy from Hamlet while five other actors in brightly colored street clothes sit on chairs behind them, with their hands clasped in their laps.
Photo Credit: Ivan Lopez, courtesy of GableStage Theatre Company

Have questions about Shakespeare in American Communities?

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about Shakespeare in American Communities. If you’d like to talk to us we’re just an email or a phone call away. 

Contact Us

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]]> Meet the Winners of the 2025 Midwest Culture Bearers Award https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/2025-midwest-culture-bearers-awardees/ Mon, 06 Oct 2025 14:38:11 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=13006 Nine culture bearers from across the Midwest are being recognized with $5,000 awards for their artistry, cultural preservation, and dedication to teaching the next generation.

The post Meet the Winners of the 2025 Midwest Culture Bearers Award appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Arts Midwest is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 Midwest Culture Bearers Award.

This annual award celebrates Midwestern folk artists and cultural practitioners who keep traditions alive through craft, poetry, dance, visual arts, and more. This year, more than 365 culture bearers shared their work and stories with us.

Today, we recognize nine extraordinary practitioners who are preserving traditions and passing them on to the next generation.

  • John Medwedeff (Murphysboro, Illinois)
  • Calvin Small (Gary, Indiana)
  • Putu Tangkas Adi Hiranmayena (Grinnell, Iowa)
  • Jozefa Rogocki (Lansing, Michigan)
  • Judith Kjenstad (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
  • Roxanne C. Henry Laducer (Rolette, North Dakota)
  • Ryan K. Johnson (Columbus, Ohio)
  • Ken Cook (Martin, South Dakota)
  • Gabriela Jiménez Marván (Viroqua, Wisconsin)

John Medwedeff (Illinois)

“I have been a full-time studio artist creating monumental sculptures and site-specific architectural ironwork, furniture, and small objects since 1988. My work is represented in numerous public, private, and corporate collections, including the Illinois State Museum, SAS Inc., The Metal Museum, John Deere, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

At the age of 9, I learned metal casting techniques in my father’s dental office and started taking art classes with Nashville artist Chris Tibbott, who encouraged me to create sculptures out of wire, wood, and ceramics. At 14, I acquired my first anvil. At 19, I took a blacksmithing course from James Wallace, the founding director of the Metal Museum in Memphis, and started a three-year blacksmithing apprenticeship with him the next year. I earned BFA and MFA degrees in metalsmithing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 

Since establishing my studio, in conjunction with my commission work, I have also published articles in trade journals, taught visiting artist workshops, and presented at conferences, craft schools, art schools, and universities while nurturing and training studio assistants in my shop. 

As a member of the Metal Museum Board of Trustees and a full-time studio artist and educator, I am engaged in the development of deeper relationships between the public, art, and artists.”

A wooden staircase with ornate black wrought iron railings beside built-in bookshelves filled with books and sculptures.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of John Medwedeff
Sculptor John Medwedeff’s forged steel grand staircase railing blends traditional design elements, sculptural forms, and period correct fabrication details in this renovated late 19th Century home.

Calvin Small (Indiana)

“I am a lifelong artistic, freestyle, and JB skater. This style of skating mirrors the fancy onstage footwork of James Brown (JB), whose famous song ‘Say it Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud’ still means so much to Black communities.

Although I began roller skating in Gary, Indiana in 1967, Black skaters were excluded from roller rinks until 1969. With the opening of Black-owned Twin City Roller Rink in East Chicago, Indiana, my community was able to congregate and build new traditions.

As a competitive roller-skating athlete, I placed first in the Coca-Cola Skate Contest from 1976 to 1979 and won the 1979 Nationwide Skate Contest with the Gary Steel City Steppers.

I was also one of the co-originators of JB roller skating in 1971. JB skating has evolved to include new steps, skaters of diverse backgrounds, and a growing global community.

Although we have earned multiple honors, including a Midwest Emmy Awards nomination, my skate crew Glide8orz most strongly values connecting with youth. We perform for Boy and Girl Scout troops, community organizations, and K-12 school groups all over Chicagoland. As one of JB’s few living culture bearers, I maintain communal connections by teaching, specifically as the Dean of Skate University at The Rink in Chicago’s predominantly Black Chatham neighborhood. I have taught over 10,000 students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.”

Calvin Small leads a group of skaters on a wooden rink floor, demonstrating JB roller-skating footwork as students follow behind him.
Photo Credit: Monika Wnuk/AARP Illinois
Calvin Small teaches JB skating steps at The Rink in Chicago.

Putu Tangkas Adi Hiranmayena (Iowa)

“I am an Indonesian artist-scholar serving as Assistant Professor of Music (Performance and Creativity) at Grinnell College, where I where I direct the Balinese Sound Ensemble and teach courses on Heavy Metal Music, Sonic Installations, Performance Art, and Noise and Activism. I am also a founding member of the Balinese Experimental duo ghOstMiSt, with dancer-anthropologist Dewa Ayu Eka Putri.

My academic, performance, and compositional research focuses on the intersections of Cosmology, Indigeneity, Environmental Activism, and Performativity in Balinese Gamelan, Heavy Metal, and Noise. I take post-colonial, performance studies, and creative ethnographic approaches to looking at the state of cultural sound and glocal community.

As a creative ethnographer, I have written articles, coupled with artistic compositions, that interrogate the state of performance in South-East Asian performing arts. Most notably, my articles “If a Dragon Dies in the Forest, Do Humans Hear a Sound?” (2022); “Fix Your Face”: Performing Attitudes Between Mathcore and Beleganjur” (2022); and “ghOstMiSt’s Trails of Indigeneity” (2021) discuss myriad perspectives on traditional, popular, and experimental Balinese performance idioms. I continue to perform and compose internationally, most recently as a member of the CHAN percussion ensemble with Susie Ibarra.”

Two performers in red and gold Balinese attire prepare an offering with incense on stage.
Photo Credit: Ivan Indrautama
Putu Tangkas Adi Hiranmayena and collaborator, Dewa Ayu Eka Putri, give a banten (Balinese offering) before a performance

Jozefa Rogocki (Michigan)

“I was born in the UK to a Polish father and an English mother. As a child I loved the beautiful decorated eggs on the Easter cards we received from Poland. When I came to the US in 1999, I found a strong Polish community in Hamtramck, Detroit and began to participate in a traditional Polish art that represented community and belonging for me: Pysanky, or decorated eggs, a Slavic folk tradition that is thousands of years old.

I have practiced this art for 25 years and am honored to be recognized as an expert by my local Polish community. I learned the more advanced techniques from the Master Pysankarka, Helen Badulak, and have acquired extensive knowledge about the designs specific to various regions in Poland and Ukraine.

I participate in the Polish Dozynki Festival in Grand Rapids with the Polish Heritage Society, provide education workshops for the Polish Federated Home in Lansing, and offer workshops at libraries in the Greater Lansing Area as well as demonstrations anywhere from art galleries to gardening clubs to local schools. I have also been invited to present my work at the International Festival of Holland, Michigan. I am passionate about the art of Pysanky and excited to continue reflecting contemporary relevance within this Eastern European folk art.”

A purple egg intricately painted with geometric and floral folk patterns in red, black, yellow, and turquoise.
Photo Credit: Jozefa Rogocki
One of Jozefa Rogocki’s intricately decorated pysanka eggs, part of a centuries-old Slavic tradition.

Judith Kjenstad (Minnesota)

“I started painting by learning rosemaling, one of the trademarks of Norwegian folk art, earning a gold medal in rosemaling in 1981 from Vesterheim, the Norwegian American Museum.

Since then I have expanded my repertoire to include Swedish, German and Dutch decorative paintings as well as faux finishing.

I have produced large public and private commissions around the Midwest including the Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa. In Minneapolis I painted in the Black Forest Inn, Ingebretsen’s and many stints at the old Dayton’s Auditorium shows in Minneapolis as well as the Norway Pavilion at Epcot Cetner in Orlando, Florida.

I earned my bachelor of science degree in design from the University of Minnesota in 1990.”

A wooden bowl with floral rosemaling designs in red, green, and gold, flanked by two matching painted panels.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Judith Kjenstad
A hand-painted bowl with rosemaling by decorative painter Judith Kjenstad.

Roxanne C. Henry Laducer (North Dakota)

“I made my first Dreamcatcher in 2000. A cousin from Minnesota taught me and my children, and we made them as a family that summer. About ten years ago, I picked up the craft again.

I learned that the Dreamcatcher originated with my people, the Ojibwe, as a symbol of protection; I am part of the Bear Clan of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

The Dreamcatcher was originally made with Willow, a tree associated with the moon, the water, and the feminine; with dreams, deep emotions, and intuition. To me, the Dreamcatcher is a spiritual symbol of great love.

Making the Dreamcatcher has guided me into learning more of my culture and heritage. Through crafting dreamcatchers I have learned the healing properties of the Willow tree, and I have gone on to learn more Ojibwe traditions including smudging with sage and singing traditional songs.

Now I attend arts and craft shows and share what I have learned. I have taught at Dunseith Public School, the Turtle Mountain Heritage Center, and the Arts for Vets art gallery in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I feel honored that I am able to share the knowledge I have gained and keep such a tradition going. I honor my children and my people by doing so.”

An Ojibwe artist kneels on the floor, surrounded by dreamcatchers she crafted from natural materials, displayed on the wall behind her.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Roxanne C Henry Laducer
Roxanne C Henry Laducer with her handmade dreamcatchers in North Dakota.

Ryan K. Johnson (Ohio)

“I am an award-winning performer, choreographer, and cultural leader described by Dance Magazine as ‘one of the foremost percussive dance artists in the U.S.’ I am dedicated to preserving and evolving African Diasporic traditions through performance, education, and community engagement.

I made history in 2024 as the first African American body percussionist to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography, celebrating my boundary-pushing work at the intersection of sound, storytelling, and embodiment.

As Executive Artistic Director of SOLE Defined Percussive Dance Company, I blend technical excellence with visionary leadership. I have successfully led national tours, curated large-scale productions, and secured over $500,000 in arts funding. My performance and choreographic credits include Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theater, Cirque du Soleil, Amazon Studios, and STOMP, among many others.

Holding an MFA in Dance and Social Justice from the University of Texas at Austin, my work is rooted in cultural equity and artistic innovation. I bring deep expertise in body percussion, tap, immersive technologies, and arts education—bridging tradition and innovation to inspire audiences and empower communities across the country.”

A group of dancers in a beautiful room of windows.
Ryan K. Johnson leads a workshop at Williams College Workshop

Ken Cook (South Dakota)

“My work is primarily meter-and-rhyme cowboy poetry, memorized and presented to the listener. Four decades as a ranch hand, plus several seasons as an actor with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, are the cornerstones of my artistic history. Though my father’s death brought me back to South Dakota and put ranch work center stage, by the ‘90s I was writing poetry about ranch life and starting to perform again. By 2010, I was named the Academy of Western Artists Poet of the Year.

Cowboy poetry is a relevant art form that has tremendous value and appeal. I have worked with high school teachers seeking alternative lesson plans and provided cowboy entertainment at functions across the West.

I have recorded three spoken-word CDs of original poetry and co-authored Passing It On: Poetry by Great Plains Cowboys, which also includes a CD. I was a founding member at CowboyPoetry.com, a project of the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry. My poetry and recitations of classic poetry are included in compilation CDs available worldwide and my website. My work has also been included in the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering’s 30th anniversary anthology.

The poetry and music of the working cowboy has a past, a present, and a future. It frustrates editors, angers English teachers, and delights hundreds of thousands across America. It is real, heartfelt, and humorous. My work pays tribute to past as well as future generations.”

A man in a cowboy hat, glasses, and denim jacket stands against a vivid orange and pink sunset.
Photo Credit: Richard Carlson
Cowboy poet Ken Cook at sunset in South Dakota.

Gabriela Jiménez Marván (Wisconsin)

“My artistic path is rooted in cartonería (the Mexican folk tradition of paper-and-paste sculpture), first introduced to me in the vibrant festivities of my childhood in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In 2016, I began training with traditional masters such as Monica Franco and Raziel Pacheco, whose families have practiced cartonería for generations. Later, I had the honor of learning from the renowned Leonardo Linares. I also studied at the Center of Arts and the Folk Art Museum in Morelos before moving to the United States.

In 2020, I founded the Mexican Folk Art Collective, a space for artists to preserve and share traditions in Wisconsin. Since then, we have co-organized Día de Muertos celebrations in the Driftless Region, developed school programs, and curated exhibitions with museums and galleries. My workshops and presentations have been welcomed by nonprofits, ecological organizations, and institutions including the Consulate of Mexico in Milwaukee, the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., Latino Arts, and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

In 2021, I was selected for Mexico’s National Cultural Conferences for migrant artists, which produced the international touring exhibition “Corazón Migrante.” More recently, I received a Wisconsin Arts Board apprenticeship grant in 2024 and presented large-scale alebrijes (fantastical folk creatures) at Sauk County’s Art DTour.

I believe traditional art sparks creativity and fosters belonging, building bridges between heritage and community. Through teaching and sharing these traditions, I hope to cultivate cultural pride, freedom of expression, and understanding across communities.”

An archway of marigolds frames a glowing altar at night, covered with candles, flowers, and offerings for Día de Muertos.
Photo Credit: Natalie Hinahara
A community Día de Muertos altar (ofrenda) designed and led by Gabriela Jiménez Marván, decorated with over 1,000 marigolds, candles, natural elements and cartonería sculptures

The post Meet the Winners of the 2025 Midwest Culture Bearers Award appeared first on Arts Midwest.

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