Arts Alive | 50th Anniversary 2016 - South Dakota

ArtsAlive

Celebrating 50 years of the South Dakota Arts Council

On the cover:

“Ceremonial Dancer,” by Oscar Howe, 1966, casein on paper, used here with the gracious permission of the Oscar Howe Family.

Editor’s note:

The complete history of the South Dakota Arts Council’s first 50 years and a list of the programs, communities and artists touched during that half century could fill volumes. This publication celebrates 50 years of organized arts support with highlights of the areas of service which have spanned those decades and continue today. Arts South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council hope the short feature stories included here will be a touchstone to your own personal memories of 50 years of the arts in South Dakota.

Strengthening the arts in South Dakota for 50 years

By Governor Dennis Daugaard A half century ago when Governor Nils Boe and the South Dakota Legislature formally threw their support behind the brand new South Dakota Arts Council, they knew their action would impact the future of our state.

But as far-sighted as those leaders were 50 years ago, they could not have anticipated the depth of cultural opportunity, appreciation and economic impact the Arts Council has brought to South Dakota.

From monumental sculpture to the schoolroom art projects of countless children, the Arts Council has proven its ability to impact the lives of South Dakotans and visitors. By providing grant funding matched by the National Endowment for the Arts, our Arts Council has jumpstarted the careers of some of our most prominent artists, and is helping to inspire a new generation of creative visionaries in our state.

Arts organizations that draw annual audiences numbering in the thousands are supported and encouraged by the Arts Council. Our educational institutions at all levels are providing creative opportunities through artist residencies that nourish creative careers and young minds.

Most of all, our state-supported Arts Council has made a statement about the arts in South Dakota that has resonated for a half century. We care about creativity.

We understand the necessity of making the arts a part of our educational systems.

We value our working artists and the impact they make on all our lives. We appreciate the importance of cultural tourism to our state’s economy and the wealth of tradition and innovation that combine to create our rich artistic heritage.

I congratulate the South Dakota Arts Council, its staff, and all the artists and arts organizations that work with the Arts Council to make our state so creatively diverse.

I also congratulate all of us in South Dakota who can celebrate 50 years of an organization that has tirelessly worked to make our lives richer. We can all look forward to the next half century of inspiration from the South Dakota Arts Council.

SDAC 50th Anniversary Celebration December, 2016 Volume 19, Issue 2

Arts Alive South Dakota is published by Arts South Dakota PO Box 2496 Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496 605-252-5979 Page 2

Jennifer Braig’s “Hillside Hay Bales” is part of South Dakota’s Art for State Buildings collection.

“CON FRON TA TION,” a 2013 work by Donald F. Montileaux, former SDAC board member and former intern with Oscar Howe at the University of South Dakota.

Looking toward the next half century

By Patrick Baker, Director, South Dakota Arts Council When the South Dakota Legislature passed a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the South Dakota Arts Council earlier this year, the legislators noted that the state arts agency was “established in 1966 to coordinate the development of the arts through public awareness, arts education programs, access and inclusion, cultural tourism, grants and services and to act as the steward of the state’s federal appropriation from the National Endowment for the Arts.”

That’s a fairly broad scope of work for a small state department. Thanks to executive directors who were selflessly devoted to advancing the cultural life of our state, staff members who worked tirelessly to build effective programs from nebulous dreams and 50 years of Governor-appointed volunteer Arts Council members who became the creative conscience of South Dakota, those goals were met and exceeded.

As you will see in the pages of this celebration of 50 years of the arts in South Dakota, the achievement of our purpose, laid out by the 1966 legislature, happened because of the people of our state. From governors to school children, from symphony conductors to sculptors of mountains, South Dakotans came together to design an exciting artistic tradition, built on our cultural diversity and shaped by the role of creativity in all our lives.

We’re proud of this half century milestone and grateful to those who have gone before us, laying the groundwork for the next 50 years. We’re seeing a generation of South Dakotans becoming artists, teachers and community arts leaders who have been nurtured by the work of the Arts Council. They understand the intricate and colorful way in which the arts have been woven into the fabric of our state—and they are ready to take our creative culture to the next level throughout this new century.

That’s a powerful legacy, a promise packed with potential. Here at the South Dakota Arts Council, when we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we’re also celebrating the next half century and the dramatic impacts the arts will have on South Dakota during those decades.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

A state agency of the Department of Tourism

Dennis Daugaard, Governor James D. Hagen, Secretary

South Dakota Arts Council

James L. Walker, Bath, Chair Lynne Byrne, Sioux Falls, Vice Chair Mary Bordeaux, Rapid City, Secretary Lynda Clark Adelstein, Rapid City, Treasurer Linda Anderson, Rapid City Brian Bonde, Sioux Falls Laura Diddle, Brookings Mary Haug, Brookings Andrew Kightlinger, Pierre Deanna Lien, Rapid City Jane Rasmussen, Sisseton

Staff

Patrick Baker, Director Rebecca Cruse, Deputy Director Kathryn Vandel, Arts Program Coordinator Paul Mehlhaff, Grants Officer Andrea Graham, Folk Arts Consultant 711 E. Wells Ave., Pierre, SD 57501-3369 In-State Toll Free: 1-800-952-3625 Email: sdac@state.sd.us Website: www.artscouncil.sd.gov Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @SouthDakotaArts

South Dakota Arts Council receives support from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

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Partnership leverages success for the arts

By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota

Board of Directors

Brian Bonde, Sioux Falls Janet Brown, Seattle, WA Richard “Dick” Brown, Custer Brian Hildebrant, Brookings Dr. Craig Howe, Martin Katie Hunhoff, Yankton Dale Lamphere, Sturgis Ellen Lee, Pierre

Staff

Jim Speirs, Executive Director Shari Kosel, Programs and Communications Director PO Box 2496, Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496 Phone: 605-252-5979 Email: info@ArtsSouthDakota.org, jim@ArtsSouthDakota.org or shari@ArtsSouthDakota.org Website: www.ArtsSouthDakota.org Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! @ArtsSD

Arts Alive South Dakota is a collaborative publication of Arts South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council. SDAC receives funding through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the State of South Dakota through a portion of the tourism promotion tax. The South Dakota Arts Council is a state agency within the Department of Tourism.

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From the first days of the South Dakota Arts Council in 1966, citizen arts advocates have wanted to be active partners in spreading the arts throughout our state. Starting with the Foundation for the Arts, advocacy groups have helped to connect South Dakota communities and residents with their state arts agency.

Today, as Arts South Dakota, the statewide arts education and advocacy organization continues to be an active partner in leveraging the success of the arts in our state.

Arts South Dakota has three primary areas of focus. First and foremost, the organization is about service—meeting with artists, providing a vibrant, informative and accessible website, connecting community arts organizations. The second area of concentration is education. The group works to provide more opportunities for arts education to flourish in our state. Our third priority is advocacy, being a voice for the arts in Pierre and everywhere in South Dakota.

Citizen advocacy begins with awareness, and Arts South Dakota creates a heightened awareness of the arts in South Dakota through the publication of Arts Alive, distributed free to members; through a monthly column which runs in weekly newspapers, and through an interactive website and extensive social media communications. By working to be an engaging and effective source of information throughout the state, Arts South Dakota enables citizens of all ages to become more closely involved in the creative culture of our state.

One of the most successful ways for local residents to involve themselves and their families in the cultural life of our state has been through community arts councils.

An early effort of the South Dakota Arts Council was to encourage cities of all sizes to form local organizations to parallel the work of the state arts agency. One role of Arts South Dakota is to connect those councils, to inform them of state and national arts news and to represent those local arts councils in interacting with state legislators in Pierre. It is a responsibility we take very seriously and a connection with the local creative scene that informs much of what we do.

All of us at Arts South Dakota congratulate the South Dakota Arts Council on 50 years of cultural leadership in our state. We are proud to be your partner as we begin our next half century of creativity in South Dakota.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

$18 million

South Dakota Legislative appropriations since 1969

Clark Mitze from the NEA, with Ethel Hunstad, left, and Bea Premack of Aberdeen, enjoying a HAPPY art exhibit at a 1970 Community Arts Council statewide meeting.

ECONOMIC IMPACT:

A legacy of investment in the arts State and Federal Funds since 1969:

$20.6 million

awarded to the South Dakota Arts Council by the National Endowment for the Arts since 1969

$28.1 million

grants distributed by the South Dakota Arts Council since mid-1980s

$289.1 million

in private, local and earned matching funds for the arts in South Dakota since the mid-1980s

250

Today’s nonprofit arts and culture industry annually totals

$96.7 million

in the state of South Dakota according to the most recent data available from Arts & Economic Prosperity IV from Americans for the Arts

artists, schools and organizations received a total of Powwows are among the cultural activities that attract audiences throughout the state and from across the nation each year.

$1,272,618

in SDAC grants for FY 2016

2,989 full-time jobs

$7.9 million

annually in local and state government revenue

$36.2 million

in direct annual spending by nonprofit arts groups

$60.5 million

For a complete copy of the Americans for the Arts Arts & Economic Prosperity IV results for South Dakota, go to www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov for a downloadable PDF version.

SD Tourism Photo

spent by resident and non-resident arts and culture audiences yearly across South Dakota

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FIRST STEPS:

State leaders worked to provide access to the arts

“There are so many achievements, and it was all so enjoyable to see.

I loved every day I went to work— so many great memories. Each community arts council has something special that’s happened in these 50 years—and together, all the people and their excitement have made South Dakota a better place for creativity and the arts.”

South Dakota State Historical Society photo

Charlotte Carver, Founding Executive Director, South Dakota Arts Council

In a cascade of cultural creativity, organized arts efforts sprang from Washington, DC and rippled through the states beginning in 1965 with the founding of the National Endowment for the Arts. South Dakota’s Governor Nils Boe was one of the first state leaders determined to forge a South Dakota Arts Council to “commence its work in developing the cultural aspects of our state.”

The 1966 Legislature agreed unanimously with Boe, passing an act creating the South Dakota Arts Council as a state agency for receiving the federal funds soon to become available for cultural activities across the nation.

By August of 1966, the first Arts Council members, chosen by Governor Boe from every corner of South Dakota, met and

SD’s first Artist Laureate, Oscar Howe, presents one of his paintings to Governor Nils Boe.

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received a federal grant check of $25,000 to begin its work.

“The Council should consider carefully how the money is spent,” Boe said at the presentation ceremony, “because it will be the best, well-spent money ever sent to South Dakota by the federal government.”

By the spring of 1967, the fledgling group had a blazing sun logo, an executive director in Charlotte Carver from Sioux Falls and its first program, the Black Hills Summer Arts Festival.

Showcasing South Dakota artists in venues all over the Hills from Spearfish to Custer, the festival drew the National Endowment’s director of state and community activities, Charles C. Mark, who keynoted at a public forum in Deadwood and met with Arts Council members at Sylvan Lake Lodge.

“That was a wonderful event,” Carver remembers. “Every council member worked to make it a success and we impressed the National Endowment with South Dakota’s enthusiasm and the quality of our art.”

The first challenge to fulfilling the mission of the Arts Council to develop the arts throughout South Dakota was a basic one, Carver quickly discovered.

“When I met with that first council, I knew what our problem was,” she said.

“People didn’t know how to talk to each other about the arts. I knew that we had to get across the state and connect artists, educators, communities and people who were ready to support the arts in South Dakota. Communication was the first thing that had to happen.”

Responding to that initial challenge, the council instituted key programs that continue today. Touring programs,

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Governor George Mickelson presented a special Governor’s Award in the Arts to SDAC’s first director, Charlotte Carver, following her retirement.

funded with a $6,750 grant, were created “to make arts available to areas of the state where such opportunities generally are not afforded.” Aid to Institutions began with a grant to supplement personnel of symphony orchestras in Aberdeen, Brookings, Huron, Sioux Falls, Vermillion, Watertown, Yankton and the Black Hills Chamber Orchestra in Rapid City. And South Dakota’s first Directory and Calendar of Events was printed— connecting people and events in the first statewide network of creative activities.

Carver and the volunteer Arts Council were soon joined by staff members Dennis Holub, SDAC’s first program director, and Rose Marie Tornow, for decades the administrative secretary for the state arts agency.

Holub served as executive director after Carver’s retirement in 1988, to be succeeded in 2008 by long-time council and subsequently staff member Michael Pangburn. Upon Pangburn’s retirement in 2016, Patrick Baker of Pierre became just the fourth executive director the Arts Council has had during its 50 years of service to the state’s creative growth.

During that time, the Artists In Schools & Communities residency program was developed. Artists were recognized with Fellowship and Emerging Artist grants. Project grants brought exciting new arts opportunities to towns of all sizes, and the Traditional Arts program spotlighted the diverse and vibrant blend of cultures that makes South Dakota

unique. The mission of “developing the cultural aspects of our state” outlined by Boe has led to the Art for State Buildings program; local arts councils in communities throughout the state, and working artists who have found a home and an audience in South Dakota—accomplishments that we can all be proud of, Carver said.

“There are so many achievements, and it was all so enjoyable to see,” she said.

“I loved every day I went to work—so many great memories. Each community arts council has something special that’s happened in these 50 years— and together, all the people and their excitement have made South Dakota a better place for creativity and the arts.”

“Prior to the inception of the State Arts Council, there were quite limited arts opportunities in the state. Most everything artistic occurred in the two largest cities—Sioux Falls and Rapid City—and in university and college towns. Early Arts Council discussions and decisions centered on ways of equitably distributing state and federal funding across and throughout the state. Touring Arts and its sister roster program, Artists In Schools & Communities, have contributed to SDAC being able to boast that its funding reaches every legislative district in the state.”

Michael Pangburn, South Dakota Arts Council past board and staff member and Executive Director from 2009 to 2016.

SDAC Touring Artists Jasmine Pickner and DallasChief Eagle brought the South Dakota arts message to Washington, DC, teaching Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and others the Lakota hoop dance at the Library of Congress in 2007.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

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ARTS EDUCATION:

Helping students connect to culture has been a 50-year mission

“The research is very clear—in spatial reasoning, brain development, creative problem solving—the arts strengthen educational achievement and social growth. We see students from Eugene Field become leaders in the arts in other schools. They tend to be very confident performers and confident as learners. Students here are taught from their strengths, so they develop a love of learning.”

Ann Davis, Former Principal at Eugene Field A+ Elementary in Sioux Falls

Experienced Artists In Schools & Communities roster artist Mary Wipf demonstrates line and composition during one of her early residencies.

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The homesteaders of South Dakota were determined to bring education and culture to the open prairies and rocky ridges of their vast new state. Schools dotted our early maps, beacons of hope for the next generation.

The poignant story of Representative Ben Reifel, who helped assure funding for the fledgling National Endowment for the Arts by telling Congress his story of a horseback quest for books on the reservation where he grew up, dramatizes the link between arts and education. Creativity was taught along with the 3 Rs, and South Dakota students of all ages experienced the arts in one-room schoolhouses and two-story stone school buildings in small towns throughout the state.

The South Dakota Arts Council tapped into that wellspring of creative strength in one of its most successful early programs. The Hometown Art Project Planned for Youth (HAPPY) began

as a 1969 summer arts project in Flandreau, Salem, Wessington Springs and Woonsocket before spreading across the state in six years of showcasing student art. Student designed totem poles kicked off the HAPPY program, which eventually toured 200 works of young people’s art around the state and gained national recognition at the White House Conference on Children.

Creative Artists in the Classroom broke new ground in 1971 by supporting two poets for a residency in the LeadDeadwood schools, followed by a pilot Visual Artists in the Schools program in Sioux Falls the next year. The program grew into Artists In Schools & Communities (AISC), which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Arts Council this year with a roster of 51 endorsed artists and ensembles who participated in 220 weeks of residencies at 99 sites around South Dakota. Among the artists on the most recent AISC roster is one of South Dakota’s longest-serving and most popular residency artists, Mary Wipf.

“I enlisted as a visiting artist with the state in 1984, having done similar work for Ruth Brennan and the Rapid City Arts Council the year before,” she said. “Now, over 820 weeks of residencies later, I know that this program has been a steady, long-term anchor for cultural exchange in the state that has delivered very meaningful experiences into the communities and lives of South Dakotans over a long period of time.”

Wipf believes that artists participating in the program have been great messengers—helping people understand the richness of experience, finding assets, strength and success and discovering the power of creativity. When

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Visual artist Tom Rickers works with students at a 1999 Artists In Schools residency.

“Being in the program has lent me the opportunity to stay in the arts over a very long term and share the alchemy of art with all types of people from all over the state,” she said. “Being in the position of teaching has contributed to my own artistic skills, and the experience of meeting and working with so many people in so many places has made me a better person.”

As schools grow all across the state, South Dakota Arts Council teaching artists are poised to connect a new generation of students to creativity and artistic promise—potentially building a roster of artists for the next 50 years.

Poet and AISC artist B.J. Buckley assists students with a classroom writing project.

Peggy Reynolds with a paper column created by her students during a residency with AISC artist Cheryl Halsey.

Photo by James Kegley

professional teaching artists visit South Dakota classrooms, student learning and thinking skills are acquired that go beyond the artwork created, according to principals and teachers. Whether in schools with an art teacher, like John Harris Elementary in Sioux Falls, or schools with no art teacher on staff, as is the case in Hot Springs elementary school, the Artists In Schools & Communities program is making a difference.

“The artists are so valuable to our school and our students,” said Patty Schuh, Title 1 teacher for the Hot Springs school district. “Since we don’t have an art teacher, the students don’t have formal art training on a regular basis.

The artists that have come to our school have commented on the amount of growth they see in our students; their fine motor skills, their creativity and the confidence in their own art.”

At John Harris, art teacher Peggy Reynolds, who has been at the school since it opened 25 years ago, said her students are excited to learn from visiting artists.

“It’s important that students are learning from someone else,” she said.

“Having an artist here in the classroom broadens students’ outlook and teaches them there is more than one way to solve a problem.”

Artist residencies benefit artists as well as students, according to Mary Wipf.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu presents South Dakota’s Maddie Lukomski with her award at the 2016 National Poetry Out Loud finals. The state’s program is administered by SDAC, Arts South Dakota and SD Public Broadcasting.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

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The Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute was held on the USD campus in Vermillion and offered instruction to talented young Native artists. Shown here are students who participated in the 1998 Institute, administered by the University’s Dean of Fine Arts John A. Day and Margaret Quintal of the Institute of American Indian Studies.

Then US Rep. John Thune presents the annual 1999 Congressional Art Award to Daniel Van Gerpen, shown with his art teacher, Marsha Selle.

“The creation of state arts agencies meant that artists could live in the states they love and make a living.

The quality of art in South Dakota has always been so high, and the South Dakota Arts Council from the beginning recognized and promoted the artists within our state. In addition to all the other achievements of the Arts Council, I consider the fostering of artists to be the highlight.”

In 2002, the National Symphony Orchestra made an exciting 10-day tour of the state.

The once-in-50-years experience was called, “the most outstanding statewide arts event ever in South Dakota, “ by enthusiastic SDAC executive director Dennis Holub.

Below, conductor Leonard Slatkin addresses the audience at the Rushmore Civic Center in Rapid City. The tour brought concerts, school assemblies, master classes, clinics and talks on music advocacy to rural and reservation communities as well as the state’s largest cities.

Jocelyn Hanson, Former South Dakota Arts Council Assistant Director

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First six community arts councils formed

1971 ●

Charlotte Carver hired as first SDAC executive director

1968

1973 ●

Creative Artists in Classrooms connects with schools

1975 ●

1967

●

First Governor’s Awards to Oscar Howe and Jeanette Lusk

First advocacy group formed as SD Arts Foundation

Office on Wheels takes SDAC around the state

1981 ●

●

1966 ●

Touring Arts program begins

First Community Arts Congress held in Pierre

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

1982 ●

Legislature unanimously passes act creating South Dakota Arts Council

Community Arts Council Network formed

South Dakota Symphony Orchestra members at Crazy Horse Memorial.

SDSO was one of the first organizations to receive support from SDAC.

SDAC’s Traditional Arts program includes apprenticeships which help to pass on cultural knowledge and skills to the next generation. Here Robert Dennis, right, helps Tee Ridley fit a leather piece to his handmade saddle.

Traveling art exhibitions bring the works of South Dakota artists to communities throughout the state. The retrospective show of Arthur Amiotte’s collages debuted in Pierre at the Cultural Heritage Center. At right is “We Ride Everywhere.”

SDAC helps fund South Dakota programs promoting accessibility in the arts, including residencies at Rapid City’s Suzie Cappa Center nonprofit studio, where participants discover the joy of artistic self-expression.

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society’s educational outreach programs include the Jazz Diversity Project, which brings jazz history and performances to schools across the state, including this audience at Mitchell Middle School.

1988 ●

Dennis Holub chosen to lead SDAC

1999 ●

Five artists donate work to start Art for State Buildings

2000

State’s first A+ arts education program at Howard Elementary

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1985 ●

First Arts Education Institute welcomes teachers

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

2008 ●

Dale C. Lamphere named Artist Laureate

2009

Michael Pangburn becomes SDAC executive director

●

Folk Arts program debuts

Patrick Baker named fourth SDAC director

2015 ●

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The second annual Arts Education Institute in 2000 featured hands-on workshops for teachers including making raku pottery.

2016 ●

New advocacy group, Arts South Dakota, created

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ADVOCACY:

The private-public partnership that propels the arts

“We were colleagues in planning and program development. SDAC executive director Dennis Holub and I were even asked by the National Endowment for the Arts and regional organizations to speak on our successful partnership model.”

Janet Brown, Arts South Dakota founding board member and former South Dakotans for the Arts Executive Director

After a decade of growing arts programming, more people throughout the state were ready to connect with the state arts agency’s mission. The South Dakota Arts Council’s annual Touring Programs were bringing nearly 300 arts events to dozens of communities, building annual audiences over 100,000.

South Dakota communities were clamoring for more—and looking for ways to be part of the creative excitement building throughout the state.

To meet the need for a personal connection between citizens and their state arts agency, the Arts Council created the first arts advocacy organization—the South Dakota Arts Council Foundation, which became the Foundation for the Arts in South Dakota.

Incorporated in 1975 to develop a statewide citizens’ advocacy group for the arts and provide a non-governmental base of financial support, the organization gave South Dakotans a new voice in

From left to right: South Dakota Arts Council Executive Director Dennis Holub, Governor Bill Janklow, South Dakotans for the Arts Executive Director Janet Brown and State Representative Dick Brown at the 1997 South Dakotans for the Arts Day at the Legislature.

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the development of cultural programs.

The alliance forged between the state Arts Council and the advocacy group leveraged the efforts of community arts activists and facilitated a new, more flexible style of communication with grantees and arts patrons. The Foundation for the Arts in South Dakota was a good beginning, but there was much more that could be done.

“The organization was not very visible nor did it offer memberships or provide services to artists and arts organizations,” said Janet Brown, a founding board member of today’s advocacy organization, Arts South Dakota.

“In 1987, the Arts Council decided that the advocacy group should be more proactive and I was hired to create a viable statewide service, education and advocacy organization—South Dakotans for the Arts.”

South Dakotans for the Arts began developing new programs in collaboration with the Arts Council and strengthened arts advocacy in communities and with state government.

The Arts Council’s confidence in a nonprofit, citizen-run organization has always been the foundation of a strong partnership serving artists and communities in South Dakota. Brown said that the Arts Council and the advocacy group have a collaboration that is nationally recognized.

“We were colleagues in planning and program development,” Brown said.

“SDAC executive director Dennis Holub and I were even asked by the National Endowment for the Arts and regional organizations to speak on our successful partnership model.”

In addition to its active partnership with SDAC, the advocacy group created and presents the Governor’s Awards in

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

SDAC Director Patrick Baker, NEA National Heritage Fellowship recipient Bryan Akipa, Arts South Dakota Executive Director Jim Speirs and Mary Red Leaf at the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Headquarters.

Sisseton was one of the stops on the Summer Arts Road Trip, celebrating the Council’s 50th anniversary.

the Arts, coordinates the annual Arts Education Institute and hosts statewide meetings for people from around the state who organize and produce arts activities in their communities. Since its inception, the advocacy organization has brought South Dakotans together to secure support from state government for a strong South Dakota Arts Council and its grantmaking process.

Arts South Dakota has broadened its service to the creative life of the state.

Beginning with enhanced communication, Arts South Dakota staff members meet with artists, provide a vibrant, informative and accessible website, connect community arts organizations and publish Arts Alive to inform members throughout South Dakota about what’s happening in the arts.

Education has become an equally important aspect of Arts South Dakota, with the Arts Education Institute offering arts educators and administrators effective, fun and revitalizing arts workshops. Arts Advocacy Day at the Legislature, which frequently features student artwork, informs legislators about the Arts Council and Arts South Dakota programs which help inspire the next generation of our state’s artists.

One of the advocacy group’s proudest achievements was helping to create an arts oriented A+ School at Eugene Field Elementary in Sioux Falls.

Built on a proven national system that integrates the arts into all subject areas, Eugene Field attracts students from all over the city, as parents and teachers

realize the importance of arts integration in every lesson.

Another arts education success story was ArtsCorr, a juvenile corrections program which connected residency artists with incarcerated youth. Created through a grant from the NEA at the request of then Governor Janklow, the program was subsequently taken over by the Department of Corrections.

Advocacy efforts helped pass the Lasting Legacy Act, public art legislation signed by Governor George Mickelson, which paved the way for the creation of a state art collection based on the work of South Dakota artists. Arts South Dakota staff members also work with SDAC staff to provide technical assistance and capacity building workshops to local arts groups and artists throughout South Dakota. The advocacy organization works hard to carry the message of cultural awareness—not just in Pierre, but everywhere in South Dakota.

“Arts South Dakota was created to give a voice to the people of South Dakota who are passionate about experiencing the benefits of the arts in their communities and their schools,” said Jim Speirs, executive director of Arts South Dakota. “We are excited about the support of people all across South Dakota who are joining us. Our members are the people who create, who volunteer, who attend and who genuinely support the arts in South Dakota. They are the reason the arts happen in our communities throughout the state.”

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

Arts South Dakota’s Jim Speirs and Programs and Communications Director Shari Kosel at the “Dignity” sculpture dedication this September near Chamberlain.

Visual artist Tina Blatter leads a 1999 workshop for teachers during the pilot program which led to the development of today’s Arts Education Institute, coordinated by Arts South Dakota.

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COMMUNITY ARTS COUNCILS:

Grassroots cultural organizations leverage creative success

“A local arts council serves as the hub of arts activities in a community.

Because the arts council is not tied to producing specific arts disciplines, it is able to cross artistic boundaries to sponsor events and projects.

In Rapid City, the Arts Council has provided the connection between the community, city government and artists for a wide variety of projects.

We’ve been able to provide public art works, local artists in the schools and juvenile detention center, festivals and activities for children, the Art Alley project and administration and curatorial management of the Dahl Arts Center, a city-owned facility.”

Ruth Brennan, Past SDAC member and chair, first chair of the South Dakota Community Arts Council Network

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Early in its mission to maximize arts experiences for all South Dakotans, the state arts agency knew it would need partners in communities throughout the state. The first Arts Council members represented large and small towns in South Dakota and brought the voices of their constituents to early statewide meetings.

The first South Dakota Arts Council newsletter, from December of 1967, pointed out that meetings with arts leaders throughout the state had focused on “a new concept in community activity—local arts councils.” The news story mentioned that towns which hosted citizen meetings had already formed community arts councils, creating the first local arts groups tied to the state arts agency, in Aberdeen, Freeman, Huron, Pierre, Rapid City and Watertown.

From the beginning, connection was the most valuable aspect of local The Dakota Theatre Caravan performed “In the Heart of the Hills” in Sisseton on the company’s 1986 tour. From left to right are cast members Paul Higbee, Rhonda Smith, Sisseton’s Jane Rasmussen, Maggie Affelder and Joe Nelson.

arts councils—connections to the SD Arts Council and to each other.

Communications regarding new programs and grants flowed into towns with their own arts organizations, and successful strategies in one community were shared with other towns through the arts clearinghouse that SDAC became. By 1974, the state’s 19 community arts councils were surveyed, showing a high level of support by local governments and residents. And SDAC’s Touring Arts programs were stimulating communities to think in new ways about a local arts organization.

“The program that gave birth to the arts council in Sisseton was the Dakota Theatre Caravan’s original play Dakota Roads, performed in a church basement in 1980,” said Jane Rasmussen, SDAC board member. “Its authenticity made an immediate connection in our community.

Our response was to want to bring them back—five plays in six years, including a weeklong residency to create our own local performance. And out of that came the Sisseton Arts Support Committee.”

SDAC staffer Dennis Holub brought the Arts Council’s “Office on Wheels” to the Sisseton Library in 1984 to challenge the local Arts Support Committee to join the community arts council movement.

“It had taken us four years and a string of successful arts programs, including Artists in the Schools and the Missoula Children’s Theater, to come to the point where we could be convinced that an arts council could actually exist in Sisseton,” Rasmussen said. “It all started with the Dakota Theatre Caravan, which included my colleagues on the SDAC board decades later—Paul Higbee of Spearfish and Jim Walker of Aberdeen.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Faulkton students work on a downtown mural during an Altman Studeny artist residency.

Jim is the current chair of the SDAC and Paul and I are former chairs, which says something about continuity and commitment to the arts in our state.”

The creation of the Community Arts Council Network in 1982 brought 29 local arts organizations even closer together under the leadership of its first chair, Ruth Brennan of Rapid City. Working with the state arts advocacy group, the CAC Network enabled enhanced communications and shared programming, leveraging the grant dollars available from SDAC to enrich the lives of more people in more communities.

As the number of local arts councils grew, so did their importance to the South Dakota Arts Council. Community arts activists emerged as strong state leaders for cultural affairs and were appointed to the Arts Council board.

Local arts education challenges helped shape new creative programming from the state—and encouraged a larger number of artists to share their gifts through residencies in South Dakota communities. And the conversation among the local councils—shared first through a printed newsletter and eventually through the Community Arts Network email communications—strengthened the grassroots creative movement and spotlighted local arts activities.

“The voices of community arts organizations are heard and respected,” Rasmussen said. “SDAC, in partnership

with Arts South Dakota, convenes regional round tables and conferences to listen to the ideas and concerns of arts organizations. Changing needs and priorities are addressed through granting programs, services and in the long-range plan that drives the arts forward.”

Today, the links are stronger than ever through the efforts of Arts South Dakota, whose executive director Jim Speirs met with local leaders during the Summer Arts Road Trip celebrating SDAC’s 50th anniversary. Arts South Dakota also publishes a weekly email calendar of events, opportunities and news which is distributed statewide and valued by over 50 local arts councils and their community volunteers.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

Rhythm In Shoes toured six South Dakota communities in early 2007 as part of SDAC’s Dance On Tour program.

The South Dakota Arts Council has always been a vital link between our state’s communities and national arts leaders. Pictured below, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Arts Council in 1986, are advocacy group president Clark Redlinger, SDAC chair Margaret Quintal, Charlotte Carver, NEA Deputy Chairman Anthony Turney and Community Arts Council Network chair Ruth Brennan.

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CULTURAL TOURISM:

State draws national audiences for diversity and scope of art

South Dakota Secretary of Tourism James D. Hagen speaks at Mt. Rushmore.

JazzFest draws thousands of people from across the nation to the annual summer music festival in Sioux Falls. This year JazzFest celebrated its 25th anniversary. Photo by Bill Tetrault.

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From the day that Gutzon Borglum began blasting the faces of revered presidents into Mount Rushmore, South Dakota has been attracting global audiences to our state’s ambitious artistic vision. When Korczak Ziolkowski added his dream to honor Crazy Horse to our reputation for monumental sculptures, cultural tourism emerged as a growing sector of South Dakota’s economy.

The South Dakota Arts Council has fueled the fascination for our diverse cultural creativity, supporting community celebrations and artists throughout 50 years of grants making. From Czech Days in Tabor to the He Sapa Wacipi Na Oskate Black Hills Powwow, annual events honor our ancestors and the blend of cultural heritage they brought to South Dakota.

“The unique attraction of South Dakota is our diversity,” said James D. Hagen, SD Secretary of Tourism. “People

may come to see Mount Rushmore, but along the way they experience Native creativity at a powwow, be a Viking for a day in Viborg or discover the incredible Harvey Dunn collection at the South Dakota Art Museum. It’s a cultural feast that brings travelers back again and again.”

From directories to feature stories in Arts Alive and other publications, the Arts Council has consistently spotlighted the places, events and artists that attract everyone from locals to international visitors. During the past half century, South Dakota’s galleries and public art have impressed tourists and their local hosts with their quality and variety.

“Just look at the sculpture that downtown strollers will encounter in Rapid City and Sioux Falls,” Hagen said.

“We’re building a growing reputation from these collections, in addition to works like Dignity, which travelers encounter near Chamberlain while crossing our state.”

In addition to providing organizational funding for exhibitions at South Dakota galleries, performances by symphony orchestras throughout the state and other community performances, the state arts agency encourages the creative careers of artists through a wide range of support programs, from Artist Career Development to Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants. This financial support helps us build a population of artists who in turn fill museums, galleries and local public viewing spaces with exciting new creative expressions.

Visitors to South Dakota can see some of our state’s finest art in the state’s own collection. Art for State Buildings was created by legislative statute stipulating that state buildings should

The South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings is home to one of the world’s best collections of paintings

by South Dakota native Harvey Dunn. Shown here is Dunn’s “The Prairie Trail.”

include works of art for public display.

Kicked off by the donation of works from five prominent South Dakota artists, including Artist Laureate Dale C.Lamphere, Art for State Buildings is consistently selecting new artwork based on the quality of the work; the artwork’s relevance to South Dakota’s environment, history, heritage or culture, and the professional experience of the artist.

“The best thing about cultural tourism in South Dakota is that it’s a

living, growing element of our economy,” Hagen said. “Increasingly, our interstate highways, national lifelines for travel and trade, are also cultural corridors.

Communities along I-29 and I-90 are adding their distinctive cultural attractions to the mix—and visitors are stopping in.

Here in South Dakota, we celebrate our cultural heritage as a year-long parade of creativity and excitement.”

South Dakota Artist Laureate Dale C. Lamphere’s “Dignity” sculpture is a new landmark near Chamberlain.

A past production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the Black Hills Playhouse which draws audiences to Custer State Park each summer.

“The arts and cultural opportunities in Aberdeen draw a significant number of visitors and enhance the quality of life for Aberdeen-area residents.

A Midwestern city of our size typically does not have the resources to host national and international talent, as we frequently do thanks to World Fest, touring dance companies and SDAC sponsored artists. Add the local events co-sponsored by the Aberdeen Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, Dacotah Prairie Museum, Granary Rural Cultural Center, Aberdeen Area Arts Council, South Dakota Film Festival and performances at Northern State University and the Aberdeen Civic Theatre, and you have a rich array of arts and culture that builds our economy and encourages artists and audiences.”

Stacy Braun, Executive Director, Aberdeen Area Arts Council

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THE NEXT 50:

Celebrating new voices in the arts Post Pilgrim Art Gallery, Sioux Falls, SDAC Artist Career Development Grant winner

Jennifer White has been a professional painter for only a handful of years, but her art, shown from the Smithsonian to her own Post Pilgrim Gallery in Sioux Falls, keeps gaining her new fans. Her artistic vision and willingness to speak out has made her an important voice for other South Dakota artists.

"I believe it is crucial – especially in these crazy times – to speak as loud as we can as Native people of this country,” White said. “Our culture is more than what we have been told, our culture is more than what we expect from ourselves.

We are going to continue to evolve and conquer our fears; I chose to do it through my art. I am proud to be a Native painter.

I am proud to be a woman gallery owner, and work very hard to do right by the people I love."

White received an SDAC Career Development grant in 2015, a testament to the quality of her work and her place among South Dakota’s best working artists.

“The South Dakota Arts Council has benefitted so many careers by bringing awareness of artists and their work to many places not everyone travels to,” White said. “In the same breath, it keeps the people of South Dakota abreast of what's happening now in the arts. I am grateful to SDAC for keeping SD arts connected and solid. We need art to understand the people of South Dakota.

Art is a wonderful way to understand and learn about each other.”

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Jami Lynn Singer-songwriter and SDAC touring and teaching artist

While she currently calls Spearfish home, folk and Jazz singer/songwriter Jami Lynn originally hails from Corona, South Dakota. As it happens, both of her solo albums carry strong themes of South Dakota landscapes—one in the past and one in the present.

If not on the stage, Jami Lynn brings her folk music into elementary schools and healthcare systems through the South Dakota Arts Council’s Artists In Schools & Communities program.

“I find that the banjo makes quite an impression on kids and adults. Not only is it great at catching and holding attention, it seems to stick with people. They remember—you’re that banjo lady!”

Lynn has worked as an AISC residency artist at Sanford Cancer Center in Sioux Falls, and at Canyon Hills Center in Spearfish. But some of her best residency moments come during her time with South Dakota elementary school students.

“I was performing to an assembly mainly of second graders. They were very well behaved and super quiet, almost like they were afraid of getting in trouble,” she said. “I play a song where I yodel at the end. When I got to the yodeling part, they completely cracked up—and then it was contagious. They couldn't stop, even when their teachers put the smack down. It was awesome!”

While she’s having fun making music and inspiring young people, Lynn said her affiliation with the South Dakota Arts Council has had a profound effect on her life and art.

“My artist residencies through SDAC have not only allowed me to stay in South Dakota to pursue music rather than moving elsewhere, they've deepened my connection with this place, and the people who call it home,” she said. “I’ve always been drawn to stay in South Dakota, I just didn't know why. Spending a week or two in a small community sharing folk music with students gives me a why. It turns out this landscape and these stalwart people are my muses. It's a darn good thing I didn’t leave.”

Photo by Dario Acosta

Jennifer White

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Andrew Kightlinger

Filmmaker, SDAC Artist Fellowship winner, SDAC board member After graduating from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, Andrew Kightlinger was one of 12 students selected from around the world for Boston University’s Graduate Concentration in Film Production program, the same training ground where some of Hollywood’s elite filmmakers of today got their start.

Kightlinger’s well-received film Dust of War was shot on the South Dakota prairie.

The film depicts a lone soldier on the postapocalyptic American Frontier fighting to rescue a girl fated as the savior of humanity.

Kightlinger says he’s drawn to South Dakota as a canvas for his films because of the state’s rugged beauty. He’s also made

South Dakota his home, teaching filmmaking classes, working with the South Dakota Arts Council and making new films. Asked if living in South Dakota poses challenges for young artists, Kightlinger has a ready answer.

“We live in a state where the tangible outweighs the intangible,” he said. “But in my mind, that is not to be viewed as a negative. Rather, artists thrive when faced with a challenge. It engenders deeper

passion. You can feel that in the art that comes out of our state.”

Kightlinger serves on the state arts agency board because he believes that SDAC support is important to a new generation of artists in South Dakota.

“Artists are the curators of the human condition,” he said. “In a world where interconnectivity is boundless and deafening, the arts remain the purest emotive means of human connection.

SDAC continues its support of artists because they are the curators of the past, present and future of our state, fostering an understanding of who we are as South Dakotans. That will be more important than ever moving forward.”

Check out the South Dakota Arts Council “50 Artists to Watch” blog at southdakotaartscouncil.wordpress.com.

Add your voice to the future of the arts in South Dakota!

We need YOU!

Custer Elementary ukulele students prepare for their debut with the Black Hills Ukulele Orchestra, a program of the Custer Area Arts Council.

Keep Arts Alive coming to your mailbox by becoming a member or renewing your membership in Arts South Dakota today.

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You know how artistic creativity changes people’s lives and the ways in which art changes our state.

We’re asking you to join in—and help.

You create. You volunteer. You attend. You support.

You are the reason the arts happen in our communities.

We are your advocacy and service organization.

It’s your gift that makes it all possible.

Arts South Dakota serves a creative South Dakota because of you!

Arts South Dakota is a fully operational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your gift is fully tax-deductible.

Give securely online at

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org to help build the arts in our state.

Arts South Dakota

PO Box 2496 Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496

Celebrate with us!

PO Box 2496, Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496 Phone: 605-252-5979 www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

711 E. Wells Ave., Pierre, SD 57501-3369 In-State Toll Free: 1-800-952-3625 www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov