Creative Individuals is designed to help individual artists and culture bearers develop or sustain their creative practices and meaningfully engage with Minnesotans. Grantees may use funds to support their creative practice and meaningfully connect to and engage with audiences, participants, students, and/or communities during the grant period.
| Grantee, City |
Grant Amount |
Vanessa Brooke Agnes, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Agnes will continue to develop an immersive Afrofuturist theatrical experience through a writing retreat, a week-long workshop with actors, and a staged reading open to the community. |
Lys Akerman-Frank, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Akerman-Frank will interview immigrants and native born Americans, create masks and videos reflecting their stories, and present them in an exhibition to raise awareness of the biases and stereotypes immigrants face. |
Akiem, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Akiem will create a multimedia album exploring his biographical journey as a DJ and recording artist from north Minneapolis. This project will be shared online and at a live performance to engage audiences, celebrate his roots, and deepen local community connections. |
Mike Alberti, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Alberti will conduct research for his second book and engage residents of rural greater Minnesota communities through four place based writing workshops. |
Elizabeth Albert-Peacock, Cloquet | $ 8,200 | | Albert-Peacock will develop and publish two Ojibwe children's books, organizing readings across the state, and conducting three writing workshops for Indigenous youth. |
Bo Young An, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | An will develop a series of mixed media works integrating printmaking, embroidery, and traditional Korean materials to explore themes of identity, cultural heritage, and protection, presenting the new work in a public exhibition, workshops, and artist talk. |
Angie Anderson, New Ulm | $ 10,000 | | Anderson will attend a songwriters' retreat to continue building her songwriting skills, record an album of her original music, and perform at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in greater Minnesota. |
J. Anderson, Saint Peter | $ 10,000 | | Anderson will edit text and photographs into a completed manuscript about nature, wonder, and resilience. She will present her work in Mankato, inviting the public to display photos of meaningful natural places at the reading. |
Sam Aros-Mitchell, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Aros-Mitchell will create new interdisciplinary performance work rooted in Yaqui cosmologies and Indigenous futurisms. His project will engage Minnesota communities through performances, workshops, and discussions. |
Drew Arrieta, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Arrieta will create and exhibit What Comes After, a documentary photography and interdisciplinary storytelling project that explores repair, resilience, and futures beyond extraction. The exhibition will also feature interactive workshops. |
Michael Arturi, Red Wing | $ 6,480 | | Arturi will offer a live musical performance and music career focused wellness talk, at the intersection of live music, storytelling, and theater. |
David Ash, Saint Anthony | $ 10,000 | | Ash will produce and screen a new episode of his TV series, Incompleteness, exploring meaning and connection while living with mental illness. The screening will be followed by an audience discussion. |
Karlyn Atkinson Berg, Bovey | $ 10,000 | | Atkinson Berg will produce painting pairs: a collage focusing on color and composition, and a painting using the collage as an archetype, employing the predominant elements of the collage to achieve a fresh vision. She will share the work and techniques in two workshops. |
Leila Awadallah, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Awadallah will gather an intimate group of multidisciplinary artists to engage in urgent questions around centering Palestine in performance through dialogue and workshops. Works in progress will be publicly shared at an informal offering in Minneapolis. |
Michael Banning, Minneapolis | $ 9,684 | | Banning will engage Minnesotans in the on-site creation of a large-scale panoramic painting at Water Power Park along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis during painting sessions, through online documentation, and a public presentation of the finished work. |
Tom Barna, Eagle Lake | $ 10,000 | | Barna will engage residents of greater Minnesota in the development of a new full-length play through multiple public readings and workshops. Feedback from these sessions will directly shape the script, which offers a unique storytelling perspective on a familiar piece of history. |
Darin Bergsven, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Bergsven will continue live streaming Coffee and Guitar with Darin Bergsven every Saturday morning, featuring monthly guest guitar players from across the Northwoods joining Darin in studio to drink coffee, play guitar music, and talk about guitar stuff. |
Cassandra Blackwood, Saint Cloud | $ 10,000 | | Blackwood will complete and debut a new video installation work at a group pop-up gallery organized and executed by the artist, featuring local Saint Cloud artists. |
Victoria Blanco, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Blanco will complete her second book manuscript and host two readings to foster dialogue and connection with Minnesotans about the themes of borders, belonging, and collective well-being. |
Cristeta Boarini, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Boarini will offer monthly writing workshops in speculative fiction for emerging BIPOC writers, culminating in an open mic performance recorded for broadcast on local radio. Participants will receive a printed chapbook of their work. |
Vie Boheme, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Boheme will perform PAM, a one-woman show about a mature Black woman arts administrator struggling to be heard. The performance will be followed by intergenerational community conversations to highlight the experiences of older Black women and femmes. |
Chip Borkenhagen, Aitkin | $ 9,000 | | Borkenhagen will complete a specialized oil painting course and create new work celebrating historical Indigenous leaders. Through collaboration, he will exhibit the paintings and teach related classes at the Mille Lacs, Fond du Lac, White Earth, Red Lake, and Bois Forte nations. |
Michael Bowman Sr., Bemidji | $ 10,000 | | Bowman will create traditional arts and regalia for Minnesota Indigenous communities, participate in an artist workshop to further develop skills, and teach traditional arts workshops to pass on knowledge. |
Dhana Branton, Minneapolis | $ 9,500 | | Branton will support her writing practice, using memoir to illuminate issues of race and class. She will grow her Substack page and offer workshops to writers hoping to do the same. |
Priscilla Briggs, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Briggs will create photographs and a zine exploring alternative farming solutions for social, economic, and environmental sustainability. She will exhibit the work and host zine-making workshops for communities in both the metro and greater Minnesota. |
Justis Brokenrope, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Brokenrope will acquire, digitize, and archive Indigenous music that has been historically underrepresented, and utilize it to create and share media in the Dakhóta language with Native youth. |
Mark Brown, Roseville | $ 10,000 | | Brown will work with incarcerated people and staff at Stillwater prison to create a short documentary about a tattoo apprenticeship program inside the prison. The resulting film will screen for prison populations across the state. |
Andy Butter, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Butter will write a lyrical nonfiction manuscript based on original research into Minnesota's land history, focusing on the Homestead Act and treaties, and engage the public by hosting a workshop and reading on personal connections to land history. |
Betsy Byers, Saint Peter | $ 10,000 | | Byers will create a series of diptych paintings examining Minnesota's glacial history for an exhibition at the Rural American Contemporary Art Gallery, inspiring exploration of our visible and hidden glacial remnants in Minnesota through a free downloadable guide. |
Ryan Bynum, Crystal | $ 10,000 | | Bynum will deepen his skills as a music producer and continue presenting Snapped Open Mic, a weekly event that connects emerging musicians with enthusiastic audience members. |
Mark Carlson, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Carlson will debut a new body of work using sculpture to explore neurodivergence, trauma, and healing. He will share his creative process and engage Minnesotans on the arts' role in neurodivergence visibility and mental health. |
Richard Carrick, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Carrick will elevate his conducting artistry by leading Handel's Messiah and the regional premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered, bringing world-class choral music to Duluth. |
Kaitlin Cassady, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Cassady will record, produce, and promote her second album of original music, performing and engaging audiences at local Minnesota venues, and providing a platform for shared experiences and emotional expression within the community. |
Khadija Charif, Saint Louis Park | $ 9,999 | | Charif will engage Minnesotans with poetry as a tool for connection and reflection through an audio archival project documenting diverse community voices. |
Alex Church, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Church will strengthen his playwriting practice and present a free staged reading of a new play that explores the limitations of creative practice in modern adulthood. |
MaryAnn Cleary, Cambridge | $ 10,000 | | Cleary will collaborate with rural Minnesota art centers to develop and offer a series of art workshops targeting young adults through seniors. Final artworks will be exhibited at the art centers and/or online. |
Josh Cobb, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Cobb will use grant funds to produce and distribute The Black Parachute Journal, a free and accessible publication exploring Black masculinity, promoting mental well-being, and fostering community dialogue in the Twin Cities. |
Eileen Cohen, Vadnais Heights | $ 10,000 | | Cohen will engage Minnesotans in hands-on clay activities during drop-in events and workshops in her studio. She will facilitate community, connection, and creativity through ceramic exploration and education. |
Felicia Cooper, Minneapolis | $ 7,600 | | Cooper will engage rural Minnesotans in an art project titled The Archive of Significant Objects, chronicling objects of personal significance interspersed with puppetry and storytelling workshops. |
Paul Creager, Stillwater | $ 10,000 | | Creager will produce a fifteen-minute film, Prairie Sustain, about Minnesota's last remaining native remnant prairies and their ecological importance today. The filmmaking process includes collaboration with Minnesota prairie experts and artists. |
Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra, Saint Paul | $ 9,950 | | Crisanta de Ybarra of the Maya-Lenca Nation will engage Minnesotans by creating and performing a new multimedia stage work as Lady Xøk, which centers on immersive Central American Indigenous stories. |
Chango Cummings, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Cummings will lead and teach a sculpture making workshop for BIPOC, queer, and low-income youth in North Minneapolis. Participants will explore Augmented Reality (AR) design and digital fabrication to create cultural healing sculptures. |
Aazhoo-bines John Daniel, Redby | $ 10,000 | | Aazhoo-bines John Daniel will create a digital representation through illustrations that capture unique and intricate detail of Ojibwe lifestyles and worldviews, and use his illustrations to create and share a book series to assist in language revitalization. |
Steven Date, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Date will develop his filmmaking practice by creating a documentary film about the successes and challenges of the town of Lanesboro, Minnesota, and present public screenings and discussions throughout the state. |
Brettina Davis, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Davis will engage collaborators in the production of a short film on the colonization of Black and Indigenous healing and wellness, incorporating immersive and interactive elements into the screenings and film marketing. |
Joe Davis, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Davis will produce Ancestors Rising, an immersive afrofuturist theater series featuring choreography, live band music, singing, and storytelling that invites participants to become active agents in their own journey of healing and liberation. |
Michelle de Joya, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | de Joya will develop their play Cowboys and Indians, exploring the difference between land tenure and land ownership. The research and writing of the play will include interviews with Minnesota farmers and Indigenous artists and will culminate in a public reading for community members. |
Amanda Degener, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Degener will engage Native elders in a series of workshops to create handmade books using illustration, hand papermaking, and writing. These activities aim to foster meaningful exchange and strengthen community relationships and healing. |
Chelsea DesAutels, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | DesAutels will complete her second poetry manuscript while hosting three workshops and readings in greater Minnesota that will include emerging writers. |
Danielle Dinger, Saint Cloud | $ 10,000 | | Dinger will expand her ability to transfer images onto ceramics and showcase these at the Makers' Market she hosts, where up to fifty other local artists will also showcase their art, demonstrate their artistic processes, and engage with the public. |
Sara Dovre Wudali, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Dovre Wudali will create new work centering farm and small-town community life, and develop that work into a chapbook manuscript to be shared in a series of poetry experiences in rural Minnesota. |
Antonio Duke, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Duke will write and perform a solo performance play called The Embers, a surrealist digital theater play about two brothers. |
Wesley Dunnagan, Northfield | $ 10,000 | | Dunnagan will digitally record and tour a recital program of nature themed songs by underrepresented composers, featuring Lori Laitman's song cycle, Becoming a Redwood, across Minnesota venues and schools. |
Emily Dzieweczynski, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Dzieweczynski will create and launch an interactive digital artwork for public parks, allowing Minnesotans to record environmental memories and observe changes over time. The project includes an artist talk at a metro area park. |
Karlyn Eckman, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Eckman will provide hands-on metal point drawing education (using silver, brass, bronze, and copper) with accessible materials for seniors and disabled adults. Classes will be held at two community sites and online for residents of greater Minnesota. |
David Edwards, Eagan | $ 10,000 | | Edwards will document the stories of parents of gender expansive youth to develop, stage, and record a public reading of a new play, Piano Camp. |
Emanuel Eisele, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Eisele will record his debut album, Blumen, and present an album release show, shining a spotlight on Duluth's vibrant community of hardworking BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists. |
Sophea Ek, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Ek will study Khmer art and history while developing a series of paintings to be exhibited at Indigenous Roots Cultural Center. The exhibit will be accompanied by youth art workshops thematically linked to her new work. |
Louis Epstein, Northfield | $ 10,000 | | Epstein will complete The Odyssey, a musical comedy adaptation of the Greek epic with music and lyrics by Epstein and Daniel Groll, by collaborating with an arranger/orchestrator. He'll offer workshop performances and Q&A sessions with elementary students. |
Kent Estey, Naytahwaush | $ 10,000 | | Estey will create and showcase new contemporary multimedia paintings. |
Hadley Evans Nash, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Evans Nash will develop her Safely Thus program, a theatrical outreach venture that uses Shakespeare to empower survivors of sexual assault. |
JG Everest, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Everest will compose and present a new outdoor site specific sound and performance installation for The Lost 40 old growth forest in northern Minnesota, with a series of free on-site community art and nature workshops. |
Olu Famule, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Famule will produce a short documentary, Sister Belonging, about a group of African women in northern Minnesota who created a supportive community. He will organize public screenings in the Twin Cities and Duluth. |
Barbara Farland, New Hope | $ 10,000 | | Farland will write and publish an original book exploring legacy and womanhood with mid century Minnesota images, history, and stories. She will promote the work by holding four book readings or writing workshops throughout greater Minnesota. |
Brian Few, Jr., Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Few will lead filmmaking workshops for Minneapolis and Saint Paul youth, empowering them to reclaim their voices by crafting short documentaries that spotlight community stories. A public screening of the films will celebrate their work and foster dialogue. |
Mychal "MMYYKK" Fisher, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Mychal "MMYYKK" Fisher will create Moods and Mantras, a meditative music project that culminates in a live album release sound bathing event, promoting healing through affirmations and mindfulness. |
Mary Flanagan, Mankato | $ 10,000 | | Flanagan will provide private violin lessons to twenty elementary through high school age students at Elmendorf Hutterite Community in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. |
Evan Flom, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Flom will create a documentary on the story of Aaron Kirk, a Duluth resident whose experiences provide a telling connection to the city's past. |
Thomas Flynn, Marshall | $ 6,300 | | Flynn will use precise photography equipment to engage Minnesotans in the production of sixteen new high-quality prints. These photographs will capture celebrations, topics, locations, and people of the LGBTQ+ community in rural greater Minnesota. |
Brian Frink, Mankato | $ 9,429 | | Frink will create a new body of collage artwork expressing the beauty and sense of place in the Minnesota landscape. He will engage Minnesotans by sharing the creation process online and hosting an open house. |
Pamela Gaard, Minneapolis | $ 8,900 | | Gaard will explore the stories of caregivers and those receiving care through portraiture, to amplify their stories and show the beauty and struggle in this dynamic. |
Casandra Garcia, Waseca | $ 2,411 | | Garcia will offer accessible arts classes in the south central Minnesota area and hold a reception to showcase student work. |
Anne George, Winona | $ 10,000 | | George will purchase a printing press to create a series of mono prints. The works will be displayed in her studio gallery for a public exhibition. Using this press, she will also hold a print workshop in her studio, that will be open to the public. |
Gita Ghei, Saint Paul | $ 8,500 | | Ghei will develop her practice with ephemeral materials via a biodegradable sundial stencil and share interplay and connection with earth via a river healing art activity at two public events. |
Maureen Gibbon, Bemidji | $ 10,000 | | Gibbon will develop a collection of short stories set in a fictional world where nature and the Earth intervene in characters' lives in unexpected ways. To engage the public, she will hold a reading and a writing workshop in Bemidji. |
Shannon Gibney, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Gibney will use excerpts from her middle grade novel trilogy to lead two interactive public workshops for Minnesotans. These workshops will focus on local oil refineries, their effects, and imagining other ways forward. |
Dahn Gim, Savage | $ 10,000 | | Gim will present a new body of work in a solo exhibition, and facilitate a gathering focused on the themes of memory, grief, and transformation through the lens of digital fabrication and 3D printing techniques. |
Catherine Glynn, Lanesboro | $ 10,000 | | Glynn will create and direct a community oriented theatrical performance, These Sovereign Woods, based on the Second Amendment and the rise in gun violence. |
Christy Goulet, Dilworth | $ 10,000 | | Goulet will create a new work in the form of a literary book titled The Knowledge Keepers, archiving the creation of the Ojibwe jingle dress traditions, and teach Ojibwe cultural arts classes for youth. |
Hilary Greenstein, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Greenstein will present a new body of velvet paintings in a solo exhibition, Disaster Femmes, and hold a workshop designed for LGBTQIA individuals to create oil pastel portraits on velvet. |
Terrell Grier, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Grier will expand his World of Music program to provide free songwriting and performance workshops for underprivileged youth, fostering creativity, confidence, and community engagement. |
Lyton Guallpa-Naula, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Guallpa-Naula will create a traditional Ecuadorian dance piece focusing on the popular rhythm of San Juanito, and engage participants in learning and performing various dance techniques and choreographies. |
Bradley Hall, Granite Falls | $ 10,000 | | Hall will develop new skills in plein air painting, creating a new body of work of vanishing structures and landscapes in rural Minnesota. This project will celebrate the road less traveled. |
Delanie Harrmann, Nerstrand | $ 10,000 | | Harrmann will create a series of multimedia pieces to raise awareness of the hardships faced by underserved farmers in her community, and hold her first solo art installation at two public venues in Northfield. |
Arlinda Henderson, Minneapolis | $ 6,749 | | Henderson will travel the state to create a new body of work for exhibition, painting large-scale gestural oil portraits of Minnesotans in the places they live, work, and play. |
Gina Hessburg, Hopkins | $ 10,000 | | Hessburg will present an interactive multimedia exhibit exploring her experience of the unseen, bridging universal challenges through art and sensory engagement. |
Elisabeth Heying, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Heying will explore the cultural, geological, and industrial stories embedded in the landscape of Minnesota through conducting fieldwork, teaching site specific creative workshops, and producing artwork for a culminating gallery exhibition. |
Jon Hinkel, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Hinkel will guide six apprentices in the creation of a fine press book edition documenting the voyage of a traditional Norwegian sailing vessel. The book project will include two open house events and a public presentation. |
Asako Hirabayashi, Falcon Heights | $ 10,000 | | Hirabayashi will write a Japanese folklore based story and compose music for a dance performance, choreographed by a collaborator. Audiences will experience Japanese culture and empathize with the struggle of relationships. |
Kat Hohenstein, Mankato | $ 10,000 | | Hohenstein will create a new album of songs exploring the process of grief through music. She will also develop a vocal technique workshop to teach supportive classical techniques in an approachable way for entry-level singers. |
Jaysen Hohlen, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Hohlen will produce new visual art work, culminating in a photography exhibition about historic gay spaces in the Twin Cities. |
Soojung Hong, Minnetonka | $ 9,825 | | Hong will present a greater Minnesota concert tour featuring piano music of diverse local and international female composers. |
Zhané Jackson, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Jackson will produce Divine Intervention, which merges narrative dance with supernatural themes, by hosting open training workshops that will result in a documentary film. The project culminates in a final performance and screening of the documentary to foster dialogue. |
Emily Jarrett Hughes, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Jarrett Hughes will enrich seasonal traditional folkdance performances in Twin Cities parks with new music and costumes, while expanding performances into residences for older adults. She will also improve her ability to write about her dance practice. |
Maggie Jaszczak, Shafer | $ 10,000 | | Jaszczak will explore the connections between her ceramics and mixed media practice, creating a series of sculptural ceramic objects and exposing Minnesotans to new art forms through gallery exhibitions, in studio, and online mediums. |
Kristina Johnson, Eagan | $ 10,000 | | Johnson will create a new collection of paintings and engage Minnesotans by hosting an exhibition of the new work at a gallery in the Twin Cities. |
Raven Johnson, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Johnson will hire and mentor four production assistants in Minnesota to work on her debut feature film, Ruby: Portrait of a Black Teen in an American Suburb. |
Sarah Johnson, Winona | $ 10,000 |
| Johnson will partner with Winona Housing and Redevelopment Authority's Kids First after-school program to provide ongoing art activities for youth in 2026. The activities will include mural making and smaller projects designed to improve the neighborhood environment. |
Ginger Juel, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Juel will offer collaborative mural making workshops, facilitating hands-on opportunities for youth and community members to contribute to a mural process from concept to completion, resulting in the creation of three public art projects. |
Ameet Kamath, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Kamath will create a new performance work, Juggernaut, for premiere at the Southern Theater, and other local queer spaces, in collaboration with local South Asian queer artists. |
David Kang, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Kang will train emerging artists of color in digital storytelling through the Pop-K: Multimedia Project Development workshops, fostering new voices and expanding creative and professional opportunities across Minnesota. |
Z Kaplan, Grand Marais | $ 10,000 | | Kaplan will bring Jewish ritual craft workshops to the Twin Cities and north shore Jewish communities in service of diasporic home building and supporting Jews at the margins in becoming agents in their own traditions. |
Lance Karasti, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Karasti will complete postproduction on a feature film titled Conflux and exhibit it throughout Minnesota. He will document and share the process in a behind-the-scenes video series. |
Miriam Khanan, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Khanan will present three candle making workshops and present their work to audiences at Southside Shtetl pop-up art market. Khanan will organize and curate these markets, highlighting Jewish artists of marginalized identities in the Twin Cities metro. |
Kevin Kling, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Kling will create and present a new theatrical storytelling show titled Kevin Kling: Unravelled, providing a pathway through trying times that renews the shared connections among us. |
Chad Knutson, Saint Paul | $ 7,000 | | Knutson will create a series of drawings, exploring his experience as a late diagnosed autistic adult, that will be exhibited in small gallery shows. Additionally, he will lead a series of after-school mixed media art classes for middle school students. |
Lokho Kotile, Woodbury | $ 10,000 | | Lokho Kotile will create The Wondrous World of Iftu, a children's book celebrating Oromo identity. She will host three outreach events in Saint Paul and Minneapolis for Oromo youth and families. |
Jennifer Kramer, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Kramer will continue production of a documentary film about the untold stories of rural senior women by engaging residents of northern Minnesota in the filmmaking process, both as on-screen subjects and behind-the-scenes collaborators. |
Elsa Krantz, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Krantz will collaborate with a diverse group of musicians to record a femme forward, folk music album, and facilitate a conversation around local change through community, at an album release event in Duluth. |
Aimee Kuiper, Savage | $ 5,800 | | Kuiper will write and illustrate the next chapter in her ongoing children's graphic novel, The Micaiah Monson Story, and teach youth arts workshops based on supplementary teaching material developed alongside the story. |
Fancy Lanier-Duncan, Minneapolis | $ 9,500 | | Lanier-Duncan will engage Minnesotans with her children's book, The Super-Special-Spectacular Fort!, through the Reading Roots program, a family focused initiative combining interactive storytelling, arts activities, and literacy engagement. |
Sarah Larsson, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Larsson will produce a concert series with her group Red Thread, featuring original compositions written in the Yiddish folksong tradition. These events will demonstrate how folk music offers opportunities to share immigration stories. |
Andrea Leap, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Leap will compose and workshop a set of new songs based on themes gathered from older Minnesotans. These songs will be performed by older artists at three senior residences, and the performances will be video recorded for online distribution. |
Nate LeBoutillier, North Mankato | $ 10,000 | | LeBoutillier will create a new album of songs and collaborate with other artists to bring these songs to people in greater Minnesota through a series of public events. |
Michael Lee, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Lee will engage Minneapolis northsiders in communal writing circles along the Mississippi River, examining its ecological and cultural significance locally and globally. |
Joanna Lees, Minneapolis | $ 9,988 | | Lees will complete the initial research and rehearsal phase for her new dance work, Shadowland, collaborating with sound artist Dameun Strange and local dancers. This phase will conclude with a public studio showing of the initial inquiry. |
Charlie Leftridge, Saint Peter | $ 10,000 | | Leftridge will compose and present a new song cycle for voice and string quartet about the Minnesota River valley with his original poetry. |
Sharon Lennartson, Apple Valley | $ 7,100 | | Lennartson will lead a series of classes to engage and educate participants on regalia making and Dakota culture. |
Gudrun Lock, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Lock will create new visual art work and offer public events and artist talks at the James K. Hosmer Special Collections Department of the Hennepin County Central Library in Minneapolis. |
Max Lopez, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Lopez is producing a short film that intimately examines the complex emotional dynamics of marriage. The project includes a series of community screenings and facilitated discussions to promote meaningful dialogue around love and identity. |
Alma Lora, Inver Grove Heights | $ 10,000 | | Lora will complete and publish her children's book, Tlahuilli Mi Nosiwapil. The book shares the journey to motherhood grounded in Indigenous Mexica/Nahuatl heritage and traditions. She will launch the book with a community event. |
Su Love, Roseville | $ 10,000 | | Love will offer three readings and discussions from their hybrid nonfiction/poetry book on atomic veterans and the Prairie Island Indian community, as well as develop a new poetry collection on nuclear age themes and debut it at a Minneapolis reading. |
Jeanne Lutz, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Lutz will revise her ekphrastic poetry manuscript, lead an ekphrastic writing session for students from the Minnesota Academy for the Blind (following a touch tour of a Minneapolis museum), and host a joint public reading with them in Faribault. |
Laura MacKenzie, Saint Paul | $ 9,865 | | MacKenzie will develop and perform her solo program of traditional Irish, Scottish, English, Swedish, and French music in five greater Minnesota communities, highlighting the cultural intersections of these styles. |
Mary Beth Magyar, Rochester | $ 10,000 | | Magyar will enhance her ceramic practice by learning slip casting and mold making, then offer free classes on the techniques to adults and teens in southeast Minnesota. |
Steven Makela, Moorhead | $ 10,000 | | Makela will compose a series of works incorporating cello, piano, electroacoustics, and video. Works will be premiered in greater Minnesota and recorded for dissemination to communities throughout the state. |
Brian Malloy, Grand Marais | $ 10,000 | | Malloy will complete a draft of a new novel and engage residents of Lake County, Minnesota, through a public reading and free creative writing class. |
Mikey Marget, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Marget will host a series of musical performances and discussions exploring concepts of queer community rest, culminating in a recording session with collaborative artists. |
Natalie Martell, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Martell will draft a preteen novel about a young beekeeper in Minnesota, and organize online workshops about writing fiction for young readers. |
Erika Martin, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Martin will expand the scope of their Empowered Movement project, teaching dance composition skills and sharing their creative process with sexual assault and intimate partner violence survivor advocates in the Twin Cities community through workshops and informal performances. |
Megan Mayer, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Mayer will deepen her artistic practice by developing 32 entrances, a dance work questioning interruption, attention span, and unfulfilled ideas. Artists will enhance performance skills by discussing and researching disruption and loss in rehearsal. |
Andrea Mazzariello, Northfield | $ 10,000 | | Mazzariello will create and present a work of speculative fiction that animates and honors his family's idiosyncratic history. |
Kathy McCurdy, Minneapolis | $ 5,225 | | McCurdy will engage senior care residents at twelve facilities through rhythms, music, interaction, and performance. |
Teresa McDowell, Williams | $ 10,000 | | McDowell will create six museum quality beaded pieces, sharing progress on social media and finished pieces with local community, with the intent of having a future solo exhibition. |
Catherine Meier, Finland | $ 10,000 | | Meier will test stop-motion methods to animate water, color, and atmosphere. She will lead a series of animation workshops in summer 2026 for teens and adults in Silver Bay, concluding with a community showcase of her work and participants' creations. |
Jared Mikach, Maplewood | $ 9,850 | | Mikach will present five recitals with local singers, in partnership with local organizations. The programs will include music from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, representing the work of the partnered organizations. |
Adelia Miller, Mankato | $ 9,456 | | Miller will complete her fiction manuscript and host workshops and readings to engage Minnesotans in discussions about the writing craft, climate justice, and stylistic experimentation. |
Lara Mimosa Montes, Brooklyn Center | $ 10,000 | | Montes will revise and expand her third book of poetry, and host a series of related writing workshops that center experiences of loss, grief, and exile. |
Eiko Mizushima, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Mizushima will complete and exhibit the String Theory rope sculpture series, accompanied by an artist talk and five art therapy workshops. |
Teresa Mock, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Mock will write a play on farming, inspired by personal and family history. She will collaborate with other playwrights to create a trio of one-act plays engaging with Minnesota's agricultural diversity. The finished work will be shared via a staged reading event. |
Nubia Monks, Minneapolis | $ 9,420 | | Monks will self produce a collaborative, devised musical theater production aimed at deepening Minnesotans' capacity for love, generosity, and community building. |
Mai Neng Moua, Maplewood | $ 10,000 | | Moua will strengthen her creative writing by documenting Hmong medicinal plant knowledge through intergenerational interviews and consultation. She will engage youth and adults in arts activities and presentations at farmers markets, libraries, and schools. |
Barbra Nei, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Nei will curate, print, and frame her photography series, Across the Water, and lead a workshop for postsecondary students, culminating in an exhibition featuring both her images and student work exploring art's power to tell personal stories. |
Blake Nellis, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Nellis will host a paid artist retreat at Silvae Spiritus Northwoods Nature Retreat in Finlayson, bringing together six artists to engage in creative risk-taking, develop new work, and present a public works in progress presentation. |
Autumn Ness, Stillwater | $ 10,000 | | Ness will develop an immersive theatrical experience for children with neurodivergence and complex developmental needs. This intimate production will take place in a therapy pool, and will build a new dynamic between the child and the performance. |
Bonnie Neumann, Chaska | $ 9,890 | | Neumann will complete specialized dance training, to work with individuals living with Parkinson's disease. |
Osip Nikiforov, Saint Paul | $ 9,910 | | Nikiforov will create a recording and present a series of piano recitals featuring music by Tchaikovsky and Liszt, in both education and entertainment settings, in greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities metropolitan area. |
Sabrin Nur, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Nur will revive old Somali poems and songs they came across while researching Somali astronomy. They will create original compositions and share the songs with the community through live performances and a recorded album available for digital streaming. |
Taliesin Nyala, Saint Paul | $ 9,910 | | Nyala will host a collaborative exhibition and artist demonstrations in Winona that explore and showcase the benefits of working by hand, emphasizing how craft improves human well-being. |
G. Obrycki, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Obrycki will develop Awaken to the River, a site specific opera exploring queer ancestry and intergenerational healing through music, movement, and ritual. Minnesota audiences will engage through performances, workshops, and participatory storytelling. |
Mark Odumuyiwa, Saint Paul | $ 9,500 | | Odumuyiwa will launch the second issue of his photography magazine highlighting local artists by hosting a series of workshops and artist talks that aim to educate and engage the community, as well as foster creative expression, cultural dialogue, and connection. |
Marie Olofsdotter, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Olofsdotter will write a collection of memoir poems recounting the story of her life in Sweden and move to the United States, and offer a series of poetry workshops for artists with disabilities with a focus on their life stories. |
Yara Omer, Woodbury | $ 10,000 | | Omer will host monthly writing workshops, manage an online classroom, and organize two open mic events to engage Minnesotan Muslim women from diverse backgrounds in using writing to express themselves and reflect on their culture and lives. |
Tearra Oso, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Oso will create a new album that blends Bomba with contemporary music to offer cultural storytelling and healing. The album will be launched at a release event and amplified by educational videos to maximize its reach and impact. |
Sara Pajunen, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Pajunen will create Mine Songs: Overlooking an Altered Landscape, a book of photographs of Minnesota's iron mining industry and its effects on the environment. |
Neve Palubicki, Dent | $ 10,000 | | Palubicki will develop textile skills to create a fashion collection and showcase a solo exhibition that informs and sparks conversation among Minnesotans about underserved endangered species in Minnesota. |
Kat Parent, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Parent will create an outdoor, multidisciplinary musical eco horror performance art project in collaboration with Minnesota artists and naturalists, where audiences will enjoy and learn about Minnesota wetlands. |
Juan Diego Perez La Cruz, Plymouth | $ 10,000 | | Perez La Cruz will create an experimental documentary project exploring the emotional and physical disconnection of migrants, to be presented in a public exhibition. |
Lois Peterson, Dakota | $ 10,000 | | Peterson will create a series of seven large-scale graphite drawings of dormant native plants and timbers, rooted in her family's history as fourth generation farmers. The work will be presented in three exhibitions and artist talks in Minneapolis, Chaska, and Winona. |
Sophia Pimsler, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Pimsler will develop the interdisciplinary performance SHRINK/we all need one with collaborators, integrating audience engagement to foster deeper insight into mental health's universality. A two-week performance run will take place in fall of 2026. |
Wendy Placko, Northfield | $ 10,000 | | Placko will engage participants during the filming of episodes two and three of her television series, DS Birch Carlson, sharing her artistic process through web stories, emails, and a public wrap party where the cast and crew will discuss their set experiences. |
Mary Plaster, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Plaster will expand her original puppet tale, The Forgotten Forest, bringing it live to Duluth Children's Museum in northern Minnesota. The piece features rare art of carved wood marionettes and whimsically promotes care for wild places and each other. |
Zachary Ploeger, Pipestone | $ 9,000 | | Ploeger will compose a set of musical pieces for wind band that highlights the culture of rural southwestern Minnesota, engaging area communities in the creation and premiere performances of the work. |
Perrin Post, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Post will produce a multimedia, theatrical staging of PROTEST!, an original musical highlighting the contributions of women artists and activists throughout American history. |
Sergio Lorenzo Quiroz-Ligeralde, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Quiroz-Ligeralde will lead workshops in Mexica drum making, fostering cultural appreciation and hands-on skill building. Through these sessions, Minnesotans will explore heritage, craftsmanship, and community connections. |
Emiko Rainbow, Eden Prairie | $ 10,000 | | Rainbow will debut as author/illustrator, creating a children's picture book about a Japanese-Caucasian girl in Minnesota, and bringing stories to life through engaging public and library events. |
Aparna Ramaswamy, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Ramaswamy will create a new dance work, Matrika, utilizing the language of Bharatanatyam to explore themes of multigenerational, matriarchal transmission of culture, lineage, spirituality, and joy as keys to understand today's world. |
Jodi Reeb, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Reeb will explore experimental techniques to create a new series of paintings which will culminate in a solo exhibition in conjunction with free encaustic painting workshops. |
Amy Rice, Minneapolis | $ 9,175 | | Rice will create a new body of work on learning a new skill, using linoleum relief printmaking. She will also offer a public printmaking demonstration and a hands-on embroidery workshop. |
Nina Robinson, Shoreview | $ 10,000 | | Robinson will explore clothing as camouflage through large-scale textile sculptures and engage Minnesotans through open studio events, artist talks, and demonstrations. |
Carla Rodriguez, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Rodriguez will document the dog sledding culture in Ely, Minnesota, using the wet plate photography process. The work will be shared online and presented at an artist talk in Ely. |
Maribeth Romslo, Edina | $ 9,750 | | Romslo will develop the script and creative lookbook for The Bliz, a magical realism film set during the 1991 Halloween blizzard. She will engage the public through a website and a community event featuring readings and presentations to gather feedback and support. |
Asha Rowland, Minneapolis | $ 9,800 | | Rowland will explore ways of making movement practice more accessible and collaborative to local South Asian diasporic style dance artists, informing the making of a new multidisciplinary body of work, Moon Gardens. |
Timothy Roy, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Roy will compose an original musical work, "A Saint Paul Garden," as a companion piece to Toru Takemitsu's "A Minneapolis Garden," and present a public performance of his work alongside Takemitsu's. |
Carlos Sabillon, Minneapolis | $ 9,950 | | Sabillon will expand his individual artistic practice by teaching introduction to photography to Hispanic youth. Class sessions will use the camera to provide arts access, uplift his community, and promote cultural expression and cross-cultural understanding. |
Suchitra Sairam, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Sairam will develop and present a new evening length work, In E-Motion, focused on the expressional aspect of Bharatanatyam, with live music and emerging local dance artists. |
Amy Sands, Golden Valley | $ 10,000 | | Sands will commemorate the 200th year of Norwegian immigration to Minnesota by creating editioned boxed sets of polymer photogravure prints and sharing it with the community through historical centers throughout Minnesota. |
Betsy Saurdiff, Grygla | $ 10,000 | | Saurdiff will expand ceramic surface decorating skills and connect with rural audiences of all ages with hands-on experiences, festivals, and a solo show. |
Bryan Schumann, Shoreview | $ 10,000 | | Schumann will compose and record a three-movement symphony for fifty-piece orchestra and share the recording with audiences at public listening sessions, and school and community workshops. |
Walken Schweigert, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Schweigert will compose and present of an original body of electro/orchestral work inspired by Silvia Federici's seminal work Caliban and the Witch. |
Anthony Scott, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Scott uses his fantasy novel series, Age of Cain, to share multiple queer perspectives and cultivate empathy within the Minnesota community. He will conduct statewide outreach via online engagement, book signings, readings, and panel discussions. |
Laura Sellner, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Sellner will produce new work from her music project Superior Siren, and complete a house show tour throughout Minnesota. |
Amin Sharifi, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Sharifi will produce and publish a collaborative, multidisciplinary album with Minnesota based artists, featuring Persian influenced music that celebrates and amplifies diverse voices and fosters cross-cultural dialogue across the state. |
Bailey Shatz-Akin, Minneapolis | $ 9,539 | | Shatz-Akin will bring aerial arts workshops to greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities as an avenue for creative expression, accessible movement, and celebration of LGBTQ+ and disability identity. |
Jna Shelomith, Saint Paul | $ 7,083 | | Shelomith will develop her first poetry manuscript through mentorship and offer readings and conversations to connect communities across difference, explore themes of home, amplify marginalized voices, and inspire solidarity. |
Crown Shepherd, Brooklyn Park | $ 10,000 | | Shepherd will finish her third picture book, print and donate copies to young readers, and set up author visits for underserved schools. |
Juliane Shibata, Northfield | $ 10,000 | | Shibata will offer clay workshops to Japan America Society of Minnesota's members and allies; their ceramic creations will be represented in a collective installation that will be featured during the Obon Festival at Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. |
George Slade, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Slade will use his photography and text artwork to inspire and create opportunities for northside Minneapolis neighbors to express their personal understandings of their shared community. |
Emily Slaubaugh, Grand Rapids | $ 10,000 | | Slaubaugh will record and release new original music, performing it for free at LGBTQ+ community events and festivals throughout the state. |
Tyler Stefanich, Savage | $ 10,000 | | Stefanich will prototype Wilderness Palace, an immersive paratheatrical game merging robotics, live performance, and set design to explore tensions of tech versus nature, shaping consciousness and intimacy in society. |
Ryan Stopera, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Stopera and disability justice advocates will produce the narrative film, What If We Didn't Go Back. It portrays apocalypse survivors who rebuild a society free of ableism and will be shared at community screening events across the Twin Cities. |
David Stordalen, Saint James | $ 5,600 | | Stordalen will arrange and present with the Armstrong Boulevard Brass Quintet concerts of new brass quintet music in several small towns in southern Minnesota. |
Suyao Tian, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Tian will lead workshops for children of incarcerated parents, where they will use abstract paintings to process their experiences, heal through art, and tell stories, resulting in a group mural, individual paintings, and a public exhibition. |
Ari Tison, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Tison will host a large, collaborative launch event for her forthcoming young adult novel, Together We See, in collaboration with other diverse young adult authors that showcases the excellence of young adult literature in Minnesota. |
Yuki Tokuda, Burnsville | $ 10,000 | | Tokuda will choreograph and produce a new dance show inspired by Asian art from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts collection, featuring original music by a collaborating composer. |
Joshua Tolkan, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Tolkan will build a cedar canvas canoe mold, reviving a design from a local canoe builder from 1930s Duluth, and teach boat building workshops. |
David Trelles, Roseville | $ 9,865 | | Trelles will offer interactive, educational violin performances that incorporate popular, classical, jazz, and world music in public spaces to traditionally underserved communities, and create a studio recording that complements these performances. |
Doyle Turner, Bemidji | $ 10,000 | | Turner will compose and record an album of original songs centered on the experience of growing up on the White Earth Nation. The album launch will be celebrated with a release show held on the reservation. |
Nakita Vang, Maplewood | $ 9,962 | | Vang will offer intentional dance programs for women and LGBTQ adults that empower them to liberate themselves through self-love, healing, confidence, and connection. |
Allison Vincent, White Bear Lake | $ 10,000 | | Vincent will develop Pants Roles, a performance that interweaves her personal experiences with stories from the Queer performing community and the life of actress Charlotte Cushman. A work in progress performance will debut at a Minneapolis theater in fall 2026. |
Ryan Vine, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Vine will present poetry readings at ten locations in greater Minnesota and build a professional website to promote his new collection of poetry. |
Madeline Wall, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Wall will facilitate the collaborative creation of an original play, engaging artists and audiences in an investigation of local histories of mothering and their ongoing legacies. |
Tracy Walsh, Maple Grove | $ 10,000 | | Walsh will invite Minnesotans to experience a photography exhibit showcasing macro and photomicrography of native plants, inspiring a deeper connection with and commitment to protecting our natural home. |
Miriam Webber, Bemidji | $ 10,000 | | Webber will premiere new chamber music for bassoon across a tour of northern and north central Minnesota. |
Samuel Weston, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Weston will host three table readings of an original fantasy screenplay to gather audience feedback and promote independent film in Minnesota. |
Jennifer Wilson Coats, Hopkins | $ 10,000 | | Wilson Coats will work with an editor to prepare her middle grade fantasy, titled WING, for publication. She will host panels and readings in the Twin Cities and Mankato, centering writers who write through and beyond breast cancer treatment. |
Paul Winchester, Duluth | $ 10,000 | | Winchester will engage Duluth area residents in the process of composing a choral cycle exploring the themes of community and generational wisdom using texts by Elizabeth Bartlett, a feminist author and retired University of Minnesota Duluth professor. |
Melissa Wray, Caledonia | $ 10,000 | | Wray will investigate rural belonging in a quilted textile and storytelling project, resulting in a series of quilted banners inspired by community conversations in rural Minnesota's Houston, Fillmore, and Otter Tail Counties. |
Nancy Xiong, Brooklyn Center | $ 10,000 | | Xiong will engage the Minnesota dance community through a series of workshops that will provide development and explore the fundamentals and innovations of hip-hop dance. |
Pa Chia Xiong, Woodbury | $ 10,000 | | Xiong will create a cookbook that preserves authentic Hmong comfort foods through storytelling and photography, celebrating tradition while making recipes friendly and accessible. This cookbook will be a cultural archive for future generations. |
Technica Xiong, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Xiong will collaborate with local Hmong dancers to create a dance film offering a unique perspective on the stories of Hmong people fleeing Laos. The film will be screened for the community and submitted to film festivals. |
Txhee Belinda Xiong, Saint Paul | $ 10,000 | | Xiong will study acting to refine her craft as a filmmaker, gaining a deeper understanding of directing actors and applying this knowledge in a micro short film she will direct and screen for audiences. |
Schoua Na Yang, Saint Paul | $ 9,500 | | Yang will create a visual album for their musical project No Word for Queer, and present a screening with a talk back on issues impacting marginalized queer and trans communities. |
Shun Jie Yong, Minneapolis | $ 10,000 | | Yong will photograph immigrants in their dining rooms and collect recipes that remind them of home. The photos and recipes will be printed in a zine and distributed in the Twin Cities, and will be exhibited in a gallery. |
