NW Minnesota Arts Council Monthly News

We are pleased to announce a

Call for Folk Art

for our upcoming folk art exhibit

What is folk art? Folk art reflects culture, history, and daily life. It embodies the history, heritage, traditions, or identity of a community, region, or country. Pieces are typically created by self-trained artists for everyday use or community performance. They can be utilitarian and/or decorative. Folk art is created with skills and traditional designs that are passed down orally and practically. Examples include duck decoy wood carving, bead work on Native American clothing or jewelry, painting such as rosemaling, music such as mariachi and polka, storytelling of community lore, and Fraktur calligraphy writing.  

Performing artists can submit pictures of themselves or group in their traditional costumes or holding their instrument. Historical festivals may want to submit pictures of folk-art taking place at their festival. Folk music, dance, and theater entries can be enhanced with instructions/QR codes that help visitors hear your audio and/or watch your video online.

We are accepting folk art entries in a variety of mediums and materials including textiles, ceramics, painting, sculpture, woodworking, calligraphy, music, dance, metal, paper, and more. Not all art will be accepted -- only those deemed to be folk art. Here is a video that explains folk art https://youtu.be/PpNvx-5tz2M?si=al3gp1Ou6YTxAz_m

Submissions due by Fri, August 21 Submit (what, photos of your artwork, size, price, and comments) to treyeverettcreates@gmail.com.

Art will be dropped off at our gallery in Thief River Falls on Aug 31, Sept 1, or Sept 2. The exhibit will open Sept 3 until the end of November at our NWMAC gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. Email Trey with questions at treveverettcreates@gmail.com. 

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.

7.29.26 Heritage Days Teri Hammarback & Jeanne O'Neil East Grand Fork’s Heritage Days will take place August 8 and 9. Located at Heritage Village 219 20th St NE, it will include history, lots of live music, activities like broom making, and many other events. The theme this year for the music show is immigrants. Listen here.



7.22.26 Ross Hier & Beau Bakken The work of Artists Beau Bakken of Hallock and Ross Hier of Crookston is featured in the exhibit Iron and Feathers: Art of the Northwest open through August 13 at the Historic Fournet Building. An Artist Reception will be on August 13 from 6 to 7:30 PM. Lake Bronson Violinist Eden Johnson will be playing. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. The exhibit will close after the reception. For this exhibit, Ross concentrated on birds. He prefers to use watercolors on paper. Beau’s work is in acrylic on canvas. His work focuses on buildings and vehicles — old trucks, tractors, machinery, and elevators— that capture interesting scraps of light on metal. Both artists discussed their practice, process, our region, and more! Many pieces of the art is for sale. Listen here.

7.15.26 Alyssa Aune This Gatzke artist recently completed the NWMAC Teaching Artist Training. She spoke about the training — what it involved, the lesson planning, her residency, the TARP roster, the group of artists who took the training, and more. She also talked about her art and workshops that she has taught or will be teaching. 

Check out Alyssa's teaching artist page on our website https://northwestminnesotaartscouncil.org/alyssa-aune-tarp. She also has an Etsy account where she sells photos of Highland cows and more. You can find her on Etsy if you search alyssaaunephoto. Listen here.

7.8.26 Britt Dahl The Roseau County Historical Society Director and Curator spoke about the museum, the exhibits, events they host and sponsor — authors, music, art classes (wood carving, crop art) — history, and more. The museum is located in the Roseau City Center. They’ve received grant funding from the NWMAC for some of their arts events. Listen here.



7.1.26 Anna Pollock The Executive Director of the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council and the current Forum of Regional Arts Councils board chair spoke about the regional arts councils, the Legacy Amendment, other funding sources, and the impact of the Emergency Relief Funds on her region -- the NWMAC is promoting this program with $500 grants. Listen here.

The O'Neil Family will perform at Heritage Days in East Grand Forks

Hallock Artist Beau Bakken

Crookston Artist Ross Hier

Teaching Artist Alyssa Aune

Britt Dahl works to offer arts programming and experiences through the Roseau County Historical Society. Below is Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council Ex Director Anna Pollack.

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 August 15, 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.