Pictured: Handmade flowers and installation by artist Eva Lopez of Windom. This project was made possible by a SMAC Artist Equity Grant.

The New Year rings in a time for reflection (especially during the “stuck at home” weather days), a time for goal setting and planning, and a time for looking forward. All these things are traditional annual preparations that set our minds and hearts to the coming 12 months.

At the Southwest MN Arts Council, we are reflecting and planning toward the creation of a two-year strategic plan. This biennial plan has been informed by data collected through surveys, personal conversations and focus groups representing our regional arts partners and arts interested public. We are grateful for the time our artists and arts organizations were willing to offer for these essential information collecting gatherings. We have a couple additional focus groups set up for early January, but so far there have some themes in our needs assessment data, including the following needs facing the arts in SW MN:

In late January, the SMAC Board of Directors and Staff will begin processing all the data and making a supportive strategic plan to address these needs.

If you missed the opportunity to share your thoughts through our survey or focus groups, please contact me as I welcome your input: nicole@swmnarts.org

Cheers to the New Year!

I wish you moments of energized planning and positive goal setting for 2023,

The following arts organization was awarded a SMAC Quick Support for Organizations grant. These grants provides organizations with up to $2,500 for activities such as planning for an Art Legacy project, strategic planning or board training, costs to apply for 501(c)(3) status, small equipment purchases, or small arts projects.

The following artist was awarded a SMAC Quick Support for Artists grants. These grants provide artists with up to $1,000 for activities such as purchasing supplies, attending classes, and small artist-led community projects.

Thanks to TWENTY-NINE wonderful and awesome donors, SMAC has PASSED our initial goal of $1,500 in our Art Study Opportunity for Youth Campaign! We had a BIG push during Minnesota's Giving Holiday for Give to the Max Day on November 17th, and a few more donations with our December newsletter and recent emails! Our current total is sitting at $2,234. This will enable us to award at least FOUR MORE Art Study Opportunity for Youth Grants, for a total of TWELVE or even THIRTEEN students to attend an arts enrichment camp or specialty arts study of their choosing.

For the past five years, SMAC has only had the funding available to award 8 grants in our Art Study Opportunity for Youth Grants program per year but there are more than 8 children in SW MN who wish to pursue art! SMAC wants to offer more children the opportunity to further themselves in arts education. Because of your support this year, we WILL be able to provide more opportunities for more kids!

What are our Art Study Opportunity for Youth Grants? These grants provide up to $500 to allow young artists entering grades 5 – 12 to attend an enrichment camp or specialty study. Costs for standard weekly lessons (such as piano or voice lessons) are allowed for students who qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program.

Want to do more? What opportunities does SMAC have now that our campaign is over? You can donate to SMAC through a membership, general donation, serve as a panelist to review grant applications, or even become a board member!

And, most of all, help us spread the word! Do you know students entering the 5-12 grade that have a special interest in art? Encourage them to apply for our Art Study Opportunity for Youth Grants! The deadline for applying is March 29, 2023. Visit the previous link for more information, register for our February 9 Art Study Opportunity for Youth Webinar on zoom (5:30-6:30 pm), or set up a meeting with out Grants Administrator.

SMAC gives a sincere thank you to the SW Initiative Foundation for providing free coaching & consultation to SMAC Staff and Board to create this fundraising campaign by RaiseMN, a subset of GiveMN. SMAC encourages MN non-profits to look into each of these opportunities and what resources they may have for you. Remember, SMAC Quick Support for Organizations grants support arts organizations with strategic planning or board training, which could be applied to working with RaiseMN on fundraising strategies.

Please join SMAC in a heartfelt THANK YOU to our retiring board members from Chippewa, McLeod, Kandiyohi, and Lyon counties. SMAC, as an organization and as a board, has grown from their thoughtful suggestions and input, and we are proud of the dedication they've shown to the arts and our communities during their time with us. Keep an eye out for these individuals, we know they will continue doing great things for the arts and our communities!

Chippewa: Georgette Jones of Watson started on our board during a partial term in 2016. She continued to served two more full terms (the max for our board) at 3 years each. That means she served for over 6 years, including some time as our Board President. You have done so much for us G'ette and are so involved within the community! Thank you for all your dedication and passion.

McLeod: Justin Beck of Hutchinson was elected last March to fill a partial term on our board and resigned due to his busy schedule at the close of 2022. Though he was only on our board a short time, he contributed a lot! We'll miss you, Justin!

Kandiyohi: Cheri Buzzeo of Spicer was elected in September of 2019 and served one full term ending in December 2022. We appreciate the time you gave us, thank you for all your enthusiasm and positivity, Cheri!

Lyon: Michele Knife Sterner of Marshall joined SMAC for a full term starting in 2016 and was re-elected for a second 3-year term from 2019 through the end of 2022. Michele also served as our board president. It's been a pleasure to have you as an integral part of our team, your perspective has always been a gentle but firm reminder of what SMAC can be!

Starting January 2023 SMAC's board has six vacanct board seats. We are seeking a representative from each of the counties listed above to serve on it’s Board of Directors. The Board meets monthly on the 4th Tuesday evening at the SMAC office in Marshall or on Zoom to set policies, make final decisions on grant awards with input from grant review panels, share ideas and information from their representative counties, and to design programs that enable SMAC to best serve our communities.

To learn more and to fill out an application visit SMAC's Become A Board Member Page. You can also schedule a meeting with our Executive Director, Nicole DeBoer, for further questions.

Please help SMAC welcome Willmar artist Laura Deleski! Laura will be exhibiting from January 12th through February 24th, 2023. Our gallery is open for viewing M-F 9 am to 12 pm and 1 to 4 pm. If these times do not work for you, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate a private viewing.

Laura Deleski lives in Willmar and works with her husband Stephen at West Central Printing, where she does much of the layout and print design work for their customers. When Laura isn’t working, she loves to express her creative interests through various mediums. She has no formal art training, but enjoyed junior high art classes and studied some photography in high school and college.

She received her first SMAC Individual Emerging Artist Grant in 2021 to create an original piece which merged both quilting and genealogy together into one finished genealogy quilt titled “Life is a Story”. This project includes photographs from five generations of ancestors on both sides of her family tree. She also designed a digital piece to accompany her quilt which shares a brief narrative about each ancestor, giving viewers an opportunity to learn a small part of their individual stories.

Laura began quilting 23 years ago. Her first quilt was created completely by hand, as she didn’t have a sewing machine at the time. Her quilting abilities were self taught through books in the early years, later utilizing the internet to advance her skills. She enjoys traditional piecing, English paper piecing and needle turn appliqué techniques.

Laura’s interest in genealogy began in high school. She grew up in St. Cloud and has strong family ties to that area, going back several generations. After taking a DNA test in 2018, she expanded her tree considerably, connecting with previously unknown family members, including a half sister and an aunt. This allowed her to acquire additional photographs for her quilt, as well as new details about older generations.

In addition to quilting, her interests also include, but are not limited to photography, digital and traditional scrapbooking, sashiko Japanese embroidery and locker hooking. Through this most recent project she has also developed a strong affinity for collecting old buttons, as she searched for just the right embellishments to add to her genealogy quilt. She has been working on incorporating buttons into some other pieces as well. She will have works from several mediums in the exhibit.

This is Laura’s first solo art exhibit, but she has shown in several group exhibits as a member of the Little Crow Photography Club of Willmar, the Willmar Country Quilters Guild Biennial Quilt Show and most recently the Minnesota Quilters, Inc. 43rd Annual Quilt Show in the non-judged exhibit.

Please let us know of any accommodations needed for you to enjoy any of our events, virtual or in-person: info@swmnarts.org. Visit SMAC's Access Page for more information and resources.

Where is the next Arty Party?!

Arty Party's are BACK in January after a short break in December and we'll be in Nobles county! Some of the details are still being worked out, but we know we'll be at the Memorial Auditorium in Worthington! Stay tuned to our social media (SMAC Facebook & SMAC Instagram), as well as the SMAC Website for more details on date/time, tasty treats and an arts element (art activity, featured artist and/or arts entertainment). As always, there will be networking opportunities and SMAC staff will be available to answer questions, listen to the arts needs in the community, and share who SMAC is and what we can do for the arts in Southwest Minnesota!

Application Deadline: 1st of the month August 2022 through May 2023 by 4:40 pm Request staff to review application before submission: One week before application deadline. Earliest project start date: 1st day of the following month (after submission).

Request staff to review application before submission: December 30, 2022

Earliest project start date: March 1, 2023

Request staff to review application before submission: January 11, 2023

Earliest project start date: March 1, 2023

Request staff to review application before submission: January 25, 2023

Earliest project start date: April, 2023

Request staff to review application before submission: March 8, 2023

Earliest project start date: May 1, 2023

Request staff to review application before submission: March 15, 2023

Earliest project start date: May 1, 2023

*Special Award* Prairie Disciple Award for $1,000: This award provides awareness and recognition of one individual per year from southwest Minnesota, whose activities and involvement have substantially contributed to the arts over an extended period of time. The accomplishments of arts advocates working in the region are often not widely known or appreciated. In recognizing these individuals publicly, the awards will raise the profile of the arts in their community and throughout the SMAC region. Nominations require letters of recognition from community members and peers. Start your nomination today!

SW MN Arts Council grants administrator Caroline Koska is available to meet with you by phone, web conference or in person to answer your questions on grant eligibility and using the application system or to review a draft of your application. Schedule a time with Caroline Koska.

Now that our move is over, we've resuming our Open Office Hours for grant support every 2nd Tuesday of the month! The office hours are from 10 am to 2 pm, and the next one will take place Tuesday, January 10th. You can use this time with SW MN Arts Council staff to talk through project ideas or get help with finding the right grant program, filling out your application, preparing work samples or budgets, or completing your final report.

Call 800-622-5284 or email us info@swmnarts.org with your questions. Please let us know of any accommodations needed for you to attend any of our events, virtual or in-person. View SMAC's Access page for more information.

The SMAC Board of Directors continually seeks panels of artists, arts administrators, arts volunteers, and arts appreciators representing multiple artistic disciplines from throughout the SMAC geographic region and from all our communities including BIPOC, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. Being a grant panelist is a positive way to strengthen your grantwriting skills by understanding the process as a whole. It's also a great way to learn and support what exciting projects are happening in rural SW MN! Panelists are compensated $75 for a panel. More details on being a SMAC panelist

For more opportunities and resources be sure to check out our latest news posts (updated DAILY!) on SMAC's website

Have you looked at our online arts calendar?

We post ANY arts events happening in our 18 county SW Minnesota region, not just SMAC events!

Email us information about your events, exhibit, classes, makers markets--you name it, it just has to do with the arts! You can send us poster files or social media images and we can plug them into our calendar. Include any helpful links, like websites, ticket links, Facebook event pages--however you market your events, share it with us and we'll post it!

Have something that's not an event, but an arts opportunity, like a RFP or call for local artists? We'll add it to our news posts! Send us those, too!

Finding our regional arts calendar from our homepage

We are continuing to post both in-person and virtual arts events in our region on our website calendar. If you have events to let us know about, please email the details to info@swmnarts.org!