Band member wins competitive arts grant

Published

Catherine Colsrud, who lives in District III, is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB). This was a competitive process, and Catherine competed against many other artists from across the State of Minnesota.

Catherine has been an active artist for many years, and she submitted an application along with samples of her work in September 2020. Now she will be able to share her love of the creative process with others using online methods and plans to offer a handful of painting classes to participants.

”This is a very humbling experience,” said Catherine. ”I am honored to be selected for this grant. I know many of our Band members are voters and taxpayers, so I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for making these vital funds available for the arts.”

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

According to The Minnesota State Arts Board website, the MSAB relies on the generous involvement of Minnesota citizens to evaluate artistic activities and review grant applications to help determine which will be recommended to receive funding. This involvement, and the insights advisory reviewers bring, are the vital foundation for the Arts Board’s grant decisions each year.

The website goes on to further state: For this reason, hundreds of people — ranging from individuals who don’t work in the arts, but have knowledge or passion for the arts, to individuals who have experience with Minnesota nonprofits in paid or volunteer positions, to professionals working in the arts — are needed to experience arts activities and review applications remotely, ongoing.

A number of reviews are completed on a project at each step of the review process. Using a scoring system, an art project requires a minimum score to move onto the next review cycle. After an application has been through the mandatory review stages, it is presented to the MSAB for final consideration. This is the final step in the competitive process, and approval from the MSAB is not guaranteed.

As an added challenge in this already highly competitive process, with the contraction of the state economy, the funding for the arts also contracted significantly. With fewer dollars available to extend grants, the review process was even more intense.