Artists can restore our perspective, help us view the future

by James D. Hagen, Secretary, Department of Tourism

Among the resources that make South Dakota great and help attract visitor s to our state is our creative community—the thousands of artists who call this place their home. The intricate tapestry of South Dakota’s culture helps define who we are as a people, connecting our past to our future through the efforts of artists working today.

As we have socially distanced from each other, the need to reach out, to find new ways to explore this new normal is in all of us. We want to find some perspective on the world as we find it today, and artists can help us discover that perspective. South Dakota artists have been thinking, working, collaborating and creating during this time, distilling their vision and emotions into works of art and finding new ways to share that art.

I believe that those works of art, which we will see and hear in the months and years ahead, will help us all make sense of this shared experience. South Dakota artists are our neighbors and friends, and their grounding in the soil of our state intertwines with each cultural touchstone in their lives to produce something we can relate to, and which can help us recover from the pandemic’s jolt to our lives. Their work will be an integral element of the South Dakota story we share with visitors and future generations.

Through new art, we can restore our emotional and spiritual perspective and prepare ourselves to view the future with optimism and a new resolve. Art can do that—South Dakota artists can do that—for all of us!

James D. Hagen