NW Minnesota Arts Council Monthly News

Submit your Entry for the 7th edition of Artists of NW Minnesota booklet! Submissions Due December 31 from

Artists and Organizations/Businesses!

It's time to submit an entry for the 7th edition of our Artists of NW Minnesota booklet. Email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com or call our office at 218-745-8886, ext 1 to receive a paper form.

Cost: $20 for a ¼ page listing + you receive 20 copies of the booklet! 2,000 - 3,000 booklets are printed, plus an on-line version.  

This next booklet will be designed and printed in 2027. The booklet will be in libraries and retail locations in 2027, 2028, and 2029. Our call for entries for individual 1/4 page entries is this fall until the end of this calendar year. This is a great opportunity to promote yourself!

Submissions accepted through December

Businesses or organizations that sell local art or that serve artists can also apply for a listing at the back of the booklet. The submission deadline for arts-serving businesses and organizations will also be December 31



To learn more and to download the entry form visit this page on our website. Find our a free print edition of our current booklet Artists of Northwest Minnesota at your local library, from featured artists, or in other public spaces throughout our region.

We are requesting bids from design/layout artists to complete this next edition of our Artists of Northwest Minnesota booklet. November 18 is the deadline to submit a design for the next booklet. Work activities happen between January - April 2027. We anticipate that the project will take about 40 hours of time. Please email our office at nwartscouncil@gmail.com to request information on the budget for the designer and more specifics on this specific contract. Or call 218-745-8666, ext 1.

Individual Artist Grants

 of $5,000, $3,000 & $1,500

September 15 Deadline!

Free Grant Writing Session

September 1 at 3:30 PM

It's time to start writing your grant application for an Individual Artist Grant. The deadline this year has moved to September 15.

Individual Artist Grants. Applications are open for arts grants to individuals from our seven county Minnesota service area including Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties. This year individual Artist Grants for $5,000, $3,000, and $1,500 have a September 15 deadline; and then a January 15, 2027 deadline. These grants are awarded to performing artists, visual artists, media artists, and creative writing artists.

Individuals must be out of high school and at least 18 years of age to be eligible. College tuition is not an eligible expense. This is the main category that individuals use to support their artistic business or advance their technical skills. This category is for non-hobby artists who make a substantial yearly income from their art. Grants are awarded annually with $1,500 going to four individuals, $3,000 going to three individuals, and $5,000 going to three individuals. Support for this program comes from The McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. 

Individuals absolutely must reside in our region (for one year prior) and remain living in our region during your entire grant year (2027). In the case of college students, your school or your home mailing address must be in our region. You will have to show proof of residency, usually your driver’s license. 

We offer free grant writing sessions to help you write your grant application or to answer any questions. The upcoming session will be

Tuesday, September 1 at 3:30 PM

These free Grant Writing Workshops are on Zoom -- contact our office for a link. You can also come to our office in Warren and attend from our grant writing station. You must RSVP to attend! Email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com to RSVP or with questions. Don’t let your questions about the grant process keep you from applying! We are here to help. This is a great opportunity to come to our office and work on your grant in our grant writing space. If you can’t attend these trainings but would like assistance, please contact our office.

Grants Available for Schools for Artist Residencies & Arts Equipment

NW Minnesota area schools can apply for up to $12,000 of grant funding from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council for this next school year into next summer. Funding can be used to bring in professional artists to work with students and/or to purchase arts equipment that is used by your community and your school; and stored/used primarily in the school building. To apply, schools fill out an application showing interest in funding, then requests are made with add-on forms within our online grant software for specific project funding requests. The program accepts funding requests from July 1 until April 30 each year, but remember that it is first come, first served so applying early is best. Each add-on funding request can be for up to $3,000 in grant funds.  

Artist Residency Grants

Schools can apply for an Artist Residency grant of $3,000. Schools can initially apply for 2 residencies. Then, based on remaining funding, can request up to 4 residencies total. Each residency requires a 10% cash match. Our teaching artist roster is a great resource to view artists available to teach in our area and is available on our website at www.NorthwestMinnesotaArtsCouncil.org under the artists tab. We have many new artists on our list. Another resource to find teaching artists is COMPAS. Ideas also include children's theater camp and/or arts camp during the summer at your school, and community education workshop series for adults on artistic techniques.

Tips for applying... ask for the Google slide deck that takes you through our grant process.  

• Remember that most schools are already in our system as organizations, so you probably only need to call our office to add yourself as a User.  

• The first thing to do is show interest in our funding by completing the very easy Arts Grant application and hit submit. Tutorial available.  

• Next our staff reviews your school's interest and then assigns add-ons to the teacher/coordinator/administrator listed in the app that would like add-on forms. 

• Teachers login, complete and submit their add-on follow up form with details related to their project and their $ request. This form is short and friendly to fill out.  

• Then as your school waits to hear back, someone needs to complete the required data collection app online and submit.  

Contact our office with questions or for help with your application. We are happy to help!

As with all of our grants, applications are only being accepted from our 7 county Minnesota service area including Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties. 

Questions? Call our office at 218-745-8886, ext 1 or email nwartscouncil@gmail.com. 

Let's Talk Art Podcast

Our podcast program features artists, arts organizations, and arts events in our region. The program is broadcast weekly on Wednesday afternoons at 3 PM. To hear all of the past podcasts visit our website here.

8.26.26 Elizabeth Rockstad and Deb Alexander Ada Artists and Residents Elizabeth Rockstad and Deb Alexander spoke about the process from start to finish in creating a community mural in Ada. The idea came from the historical society to acknowledge and celebrate Ada’s 150th birthday. It was painted inside on sign board and then installed outdoors. Barn quilts, mosaic butterfly wings for photo ops, and many other images are included. The project received funding from the NWMAC and donations. Listen here.

8.19.26 AFRAN Richard Hagen and Josué Savoie Association of the French of the North (AFRAN) Board Members Richard Hagen and Josué Savoie shared information about AFRAN’s upcoming Chautauqua and Arts Festival on August 22-23 at Old Crossing and Treaty Park in Huot, including the location of the event and its meaning, history, and cultural importance, as well as and the lineup, like Metis fiddler Jamie Fox, Fiddler and Stepdancer Danielle Enblom, The Skally Line, and more. The event is free to attend and free to camp. Listen here.

8.12.26 Gail Ose This Thief River Falls multidisciplinary artist spoke about her background (engineering degree, creative frequency coach, and more). Gail completed our TARP training this spring and is on NWMAC’s teaching artist roster. A frequent contributor of art in our exhibits, she is the owner of Serendipity Art Hub and offers visual art workshops like Creating from Within: Portals of Self Discovery. Listen here.



8.5.26 Mara Hanel NWMAC Executive Director spoke about 1) NWMAC’s Call for Folk Art (submissions due by 8/21), what folk art is, and examples of art or items individuals or groups can submit for the exhibit and the timing -- open from Sept 3 through Nov at our gallery at NCTC in Thief River Falls. 2) Active Artist Award, a reimbursable award for eligible art purchases up to $500. Artists are encouraged to reach out to Mara before they make the purchase to ensure that it is eligible. It’s a much simpler process than applying for a grant. 3) The Emergency Relief Fund. Find the simple forms and information for the Active Artist Award and the Emergency Relief Fund at the top of our website under forms and also under resources. 4) Upcoming grant deadlines for arts projects, individual artists, artist residencies, and arts equipment. Learn more on our website, monthly e-newsletter, and social media (FB, Instagram, and more!) Listen here.

Ada's mural. Artist Elizabeth Rockstad and her daughter Nora with mosaic butterflies they created for the mural.

AFRAN's Chatauqua and Arts Festival

Gail Ose

Emergency Relief Fund

The Emergency Relief Fund (ERF) provides short-term relief to individual artists facing housing, healthcare, income, transportation, legal, or property loss emergencies that impact their wellbeing or ability to work. This program offers one-time awards of $500. In general, payments for emergency assistance are considered gifts and are not taxable income. Individuals must be currently active in a creative practice and live in Region 1: (Minnesota counties of Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, or Roseau). The Artists Emergency Relief Fund Network is stewarded by Springboard for the Arts and supported by F. R. Bigelow Foundation, Jerome Foundation, McKnight Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. The application process opened May 1, 2026. Upcoming application deadlines are October 15 and December 1 as funds allow. Read more and download application here. Reach out to NWMAC Executive Director Mara Hanel with questions about the program or application process at nwartscouncil@gmail.com or 218-745-8886, ext 1.

We offer active artist awards up to $500 reimbursement.

Artists desiring an active artist award for reimbursement of eligible purchases can talk with our staff to see if what they would like to purchase qualifies. One active artist award per artist in a calendar year. Individuals must be currently very active visual artists, performing artists, media artists, and writers who legally reside in Region 1 -- Minnesota counties of Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, or Roseau.These awards are available as funds allow.

Reach out to NWMAC Exec Director Mara Hanel with questions about the program or process at nwartscouncil@gmail.com or 218-745-8886, ext 1. Read more on our website here.