Building Organizational Capacity: Part One
We are excited to have received a Creative Support for Arts Organizations Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
This is the first grant from the state arts board we have received and are looking forward to putting it to good use.
This grant, in the amount of $14,400, will allow us to hire contract employees Heidi Jeub and Tom Wicks on a part-time basis through June 2021. Heidi and Tom’s work will primarily impact our future programming from what we offer in the line of classes to the audiences (students) we engage.
Having Heidi and Tom on the team will allow us to pursue the following important work:
Engage local and regional artists and makers in conversation to explore their work, their interest in our Mission and possible collaboration.
Engage local and regional organizations in conversation to understand their Mission and audiences served to explore possible partnerships, collaboration.
Collaboratively, with these artists, makers and organizations, create digital content that both the Avon Hills Folk School and the artists, makers, organizations can use in future communications and promotion.
Through all this work, one overriding principle is to expand both our audience and instructor base to include representation from all members of our ever changing Minnesota communities.
Based upon this and other work arrive at programming and classes for the balance of 2021 and into 2022.
Heidi Jeub-
Heidi’s extensive connections and experiences within the local and regional arts community make her an ideal candidate for this work with the AHFS.
She is also an artist and craftsman (in book binding), knowing the complexity in building a valuable program that supports artisans in a variety of ways. She has a masters degree in Arts & Cultural Leadership from UMN where her capstone concentrated on rural arts communities and inequitable distribution of resources to rural communities. She is a fellow with National Arts Strategies (2019-2020), a Creative Community Leadership Institute Fellow with Springboard for the Arts, and a recent quarter-finalist for the Bush Foundation Fellowship.
She has been acknowledged for her work in arts advocacy as the Morrison County Arts Leadership Award with FWAC, and has been involved with many small and medium sized arts organizations and groups over the past several years. She was the executive director of Visual Arts Minnesota from 2010 – 2014, before deepening her work in arts leadership in her graduate program. She is also a nationally recognized teaching artist with CMAB, VSA- MN (now disbanded), Lifetime Arts, and COMPAS, and is currently being trained with the Teaching Artist Project out of New York City.
Having been involved in the local, regional, and national arts and culture community for over 15 years, and with ample experience working with marginalized communities, Heidi will bring to bear her experience and energy to the AHFS. Heidi currently lives in St. Joseph, MN.
Next week we’ll share with you more about Tom Wicks and his special connection to the AHFS that goes back 40 years. You’ll also learn about our upcoming, first ever Youth Hand Camp coming this summer.
“This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.”
