Pictured: Avery Rieke, recipient of a SMAC Art Study Opportunity for Youth Grant, attends a music enrichment camp. If you would like to help SMAC raise funds for this program, please visit SMAC'S Art Study Opportunity for Youth Fundraising Page.

The following two arts organizations were awarded SMAC Equipment & Facilities Improvement Grants. These grants provide up to up to $10,000 in matching funds to arts organizations for the purchase of equipment items and facilities improvements that will strengthen the organization’s capacity to serve the arts needs of the SMAC region.

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

Pictured: VHS tape version of A Granite Falls Home Companion, Companion Episode 1 and sketch-related stickers produced by Miles Taylor.

Deb Meyer of Madison received a SMAC Individual Artist grant in 2021 to produce watercolor paintings using photographs from her time in Ski Lanka as a reference. Deb was part of a volunteer group from Minnesota that responded to the aftermath following a tsunami in December 2004. Deb's grant focused on producing, and professionally framing, her watercolor artworks.

"Sri Lanka in Watercolors" will be in the SMAC Gallery from November 10th to December 22nd, 2022.

On Thursday, December 8 join us on zoom at 5:30 pm for a virtual artist talk and virtual tour of the exhibit. Join Zoom Call Meeting ID: 849 1376 6476, Passcode: 415122. If joining by landline, find your local number.

I have always had an interest in art and now, in retirement, I can dedicate more time to a growing passion. I took an online class in watercolor portraits and people are my favorite subject.

“Sri Lanka in Watercolors” is a collection of custom framed watercolor paintings made possible, in part, by funds received through an Emerging Artist Grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council. The funds paid much of the cost of the custom framing.

“Sri Lanka in Watercolors” is also an opportunity for me to relive the time I spent in Sri Lanka on a mission trip 15 years ago. I traveled with 32 volunteers from Minnesota to help Sri Lankan coastal villages recover from the devastating tsunami that occurred December 26^th 2004, following an earthquake off the shore of Indonesia. We were in Sri Lanka for four weeks in February of 2005.

Experiencing a different culture was enlightening as I am not a well-traveled person. The people I met were very gracious, even after losing most of what little they had. Their smiles and resilience was inspiring. As I was looking for painting ideas, I remembered the photos I had from this trip. Most of the ones that I used for reference photos were taken by Paul Jackson of Monticello, MN. I use them with his permission.

Did you miss our previous exhibit from Jammie Niemeyer?

You can still:

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.

You're invited to network with artists and arts supporters in the Murray County area during this free event open to all! Join us at the Painted Prairie Vineyard (1575 250th Ave in Currie) from 6:30-8 pm for some tasty treats provided by SMAC and networking with area artists and arts supporters. Please note: Participants are welcome to purchase wine and other beverages on their own.

Take some time to relax and make casual art in a social setting. SMAC will provide some flowers as observational inspiration and the art supplies to experiment with. We'll have watercolor sets, pencils, colored pencils and alcohol markers.

As part of our Needs Assessment for 2022, SMAC has and will continue to host listening sessions on regional arts needs. Take a few minutes to tell us about you, your community and arts organizations, what arts-related needs you have, and how SMAC can help.

SMAC staff will be available to connect with attendees, whether that's answering questions about grants or just getting the word out about who SMAC is, what we do, and what services and assistance we can offer you and your community.

This will be our twelfth program in our 18-county series of networking events for every county in our region. Keep up to date about this event through our social media on Facebook and Instagram, or you can always email us for details: info@swmnarts.org.

Last month SMAC started conducting our Needs Assessment initiatives to learn how we can better serve YOU and YOUR COMMUNITY as YOUR regional arts council!

By completing our survey, you will have the option to be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift card! (2 Winners)

Surveys must be completed by Tuesday, November 15, 2022. SMAC will draw for the gift cards on November 16th.

Please note: SMAC will also be doing listening sessions with focus groups a crossed our region.

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. Every child is worthy to pursue what the arts have to offer.

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.

Your gift of $100 or more by December 31st will help SMAC say "yes" to more kids who want to pursue the arts! If 15 donors gave $100 each, we could award 3 more students this spring. With 30 donors we could award 6 more students, and with 40 donors ($4,000) we could DOUBLE the amount of students awarded grants this spring!

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.

BONUS: Because this fundraising campaign goes until the end of December, all your Give to the Max Day donations of $5 or more, starting November 1st through November 17th, will be eligible for extra incentive prizes:

Give to the Max Day was created in 2009 to launch GiveMN, a collaborative venture led by Minnesota Community Foundation and many other organizations committed to helping make our state a better place. That initial spark touched off an outpouring of generosity — $14 million in 24 hours. Since then, Give to the Max Day has become Minnesota’s annual giving holiday, raising more than $250 million in its first 13 years. Every year, thousands of organizations and individuals generate donations and excitement for Minnesota causes that are working to improve the quality of life for all Minnesotans. Give to the Max Day has become a national model for giving days.

SMAC encourages our region's non-profits to take advantage of resources to help your organization fundraise, especially on this giving holiday!

To our constituents: Please help us show the generosity of Minnesotans and give generously if you are able to the organizations that mean so much to you. We can't do it without support!

SMAC is seeking a representative from Swift county and Yellow Medicine county 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.

SMAC held it's Meeker County Arty Party at the Litchfield Opera House in October. We snapped pictures of our setup and tables with arts activities, as well as just a few at the very start of the event. This was SMAC's first listening session this year to gather our regions arts needs. Thanks for coming out and letting us know the arts needs in Meeker county!

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).

Earliest project start date: February 1, 2023

Request staff to review application before submission: November 23, 2022

Earliest Project start date: February 1, 2023

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

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, November 8th. 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

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!