Arts Alive | Winter 2017 - South Dakota

ArtsAlive

Winter 2017 Governor’s Awards in the Arts

On the cover:

“Quarter Moon Rising,” by Mark Zimmerman.“Darkening ridges flare with the last light of day. Day drifts as night approaches. A moon bears witness.” Medium: acrylic on board.

Read more about Zimmerman, Mary Wipf and their Green Ink Gallery and Studios on page 7.

Invitation cover artwork is “Abstraction After Wakapana,” a 1973 work by Oscar Howe, courtesy of the Oscar Howe Family.

Winter, 2017 Volume 19, Issue 3

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

Governor’s Awards presented on Arts Day in Pierre rts South Dakota will celebrate the 2017 Governor’s Awards in the Arts on Wednesday, February 15, at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Pierre.

The biennial awards banquet honors the achievements of South Dakota’s artists, educators and arts supporters statewide. Governor’s Award recipients are selected from nominations submitted in four categories reflecting the work of professional artists and arts educators, and the support of individuals, businesses and organizations that encompass South Dakota’s arts community. The Living Indian Treasure Award, presented to a South Dakota Native American elder in recognition of preservation of excellence in traditional Indian art forms, will also be presented that evening.

Recipients of this year’s awards are Ward Whitwam, Sioux Falls, for Distinction in Creative Achievement; Graham and Anna Marie Thatcher, Rapid City, for Outstanding Support of the Arts by an Individual; Steve Babbitt, Rapid City, Outstanding Service to Arts Education, and the Mobridge City Government, for Outstanding Support of the Arts by an Organization. An Honorary Award for Outstanding Service to the Arts Community will be presented to Michael Pangburn, Pierre. The 2017 South Dakota Living Indian Treasure Award will be presented to Bryan Akipa, Sisseton.

Festivities will begin with a reception at 5 pm on February 15, followed by a banquet honoring the award winners. Governor Dennis Daugaard will deliver the State of the Arts Address and present the 2017 Governor’s Awards in the Arts. Ceremonies for the evening will feature a performance by the Jim Szana Trio and the exhibit 50/50/50: Celebrating 50 years of the South Dakota Arts Council with 50 South Dakota artists, looking to the next 50 years, curated by Peter Strong and Mary Bordeaux of Racing Magpie in Rapid City.

Arts Advocacy Day at the Legislature also includes the presentation of the 50th anniversary edition of Arts Alive to elected officials and legislators and floor announcements celebrating South Dakota’s arts in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Janet Brown, Arts South Dakota board member and president and CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts in Seattle, will lead a seminar on successful arts advocacy from 1 to 3 pm on February 15. On the morning of February 16, activities will conclude with a breakfast conversation with Christy Dickinson and Erin Brueggemann of Arts Midwest at 8:30 am.

Ward Whitwam began his career in Sioux Falls, where he achieved an early reputation for design-forward architectural concepts. But his most recognized design is not a building—and is not located in any South Dakota city. Whitwam designed the concrete tipis that mark our state’s rest areas on Interstate 90—a landmark for travelers since 1958, a source of pride for residents and a respectful homage to the state’s Native American heritage. Known affectionately as “Whitwam’s wigwams,” the structures’ creativity and iconic stature made them a unique South Dakota sight. In 2015, “Ward Whitwam’s Concrete Interstate Architect Ward Whitwam and Tipis of South Dakota” were one of his iconic tipis. named to the National Register of Historic Places.

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www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

The arts in South Dakota would sometimes-costly artistic relevance of be very different today without the their community, from the restoration contributions, leadership and examples of historic Oscar Howe murals to one of Graham and Anna Marie Thatcher. of the oldest sections of the original After meeting at the Black Hills Mobridge town site, Wrigley Square.

Playhouse in 1968, the Thatchers have In Mobridge, the daily support of worked together as a creative pair, artistic and historic elements by city always giving back to the community officials means that future generations and always working to enhance the arts will be able to experience and benefit in South Dakota. That partnership has from the creative legacy of their largely centered in the Black Hills, community. where the Thatchers have been active Michael Pangburn has worked Anna Marie and Graham Thatcher in arts organizations, from the with the South Dakota Arts Council Black Hills Community Theatre to the Foundation for the Arts in since 1984, but his dedication to the arts has been a lifelong South Dakota to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and commitment. An artist, teacher and arts administrator, Pangburn the South Dakota Arts Council. As performers, directors, playwrights served as a governor-appointed member of the Arts Council from and organizational leaders, the Thatchers have shared a vision for 1984 to 1998. He was the Council’s Chair from 1991-1993 and at creative life in South Dakota. various times during his tenure chaired the Council’s Theater Panel Currently professor of photography at Black Hills State and Arts Education Committee.

University in Spearfish, Steve Babbitt has been teaching at the In 1998, at the request of SDAC college level for 25 years. director Dennis Holub, Pangburn A motivator, artist and joined the South Dakota Arts mentor, Babbitt is Council staff as arts education committed to preparing coordinator and assumed his students for arts additional duties as assistant careers and introducing director in 1999. He was his students to growth appointed acting director opportunities that will following Holub’s retirement in make them the best January 2009 and became artists possible. Babbitt is executive director in April of that a working artist himself, year. He retired from the Arts Michael Pangburn participating in national Council in February 2016. and international juried For more about Arts South Dakota and the biennial Governor’s exhibitions. He is active Awards in the Arts, visit www.ArtsSouthDakota.org. on community arts Steve Babbitt boards and committees for promoting local artists and expanding access to the arts in schools and communities throughout South Dakota. Babbitt received a volunteer of the year award for leading the effort to build a successful community art gallery and continues to work for diversity and variety in the creative process.

Mobridge Mayor Jamie Dietterle and council members Thomas O’Connell, Jackie Quaschnick, Tony Yellow Boy, Amy Cerney, Randy Carlson and Gene Cox have consistently supported the arts and history of Mobridge. Despite challenges and budget realities, Mobridge City Government has found ways to embrace the

The 2017 Governor’s Awards in the Arts are sponsored by:

Mobridge City Government was instrumental in the restoration of the community’s historic Oscar Howe murals in the Scherr Howe Event Center.

Shown above is the restored “Hunkapi Ceremony” mural by Oscar Howe.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

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Akipa is 2017 Living Indian Treasure ecently honored with the National Heritage Fellowship, our nation’s highest award for folk and traditional arts, this year’s Living Indian Treasure, Bryan Akipa, has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally for his cultural contributions. A member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux tribe, Akipa’s artistry includes music, dance, visual art, storytelling and graphic design.

An award-winning traditional Native American flute player and creator of his own red cedar flutes, Akipa is a self-taught craftsman who recognizes his elders, relatives and friends for sharing their knowledge. An educator and life-long learner, Akipa studied under Oscar Howe at the University of South Dakota in the early 1970s and more recently at the Santa Fe School of Art and Design. Akipa’s “Dakota Horse Staff” was included in the Song for the Horse Nation exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Akipa’s work is a cultural bridge linking past, present and future indigenous

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National Heritage Fellowship winner Bryan Akipa is South Dakota’s 2017 Living Indian Treasure.

The arts provide meaning to our lives.

Americans Speak Out About the Arts Americans for the Arts’ Public Opinion Poll provides an in-depth look at the perceptions and attitudes about the arts in the United States.

The arts transform people and communities every day.

To learn more about how the arts impact all of our lives every day, browse more findings from the Americans for the Arts’ Public Opinion Poll.

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art. He is a culture-keeper of the Dakota flute song and the art of flute carving passed down from generation to generation, preserving traditions outlawed through much of the 20th century. In addition, Akipa is keenly aware of his responsibility to leave a legacy to future generations. As an educator, he mentors young Native artists in flute making on his own and through the South Dakota Arts Council’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program. Akipa eagerly takes his flute and his music into South Dakota classrooms to share his story and his culture with the next generation.

Akipa values the artistic and cultural traditions of our First Peoples and exemplifies the spirit of that heritage with real accomplishments in diverse art forms illuminating Native culture, history and modern life. The Living Indian Treasure Award will be presented to Akipa at the biennial Governor’s Awards in the Arts ceremony in Pierre February 15, 2017.

The award is sponsored by Sinte Gleska University, Northern Plains Indian Art Market and Arts South Dakota.

73% 64% 63% 63% agree the arts “lift me beyond everyday experiences.”

73% agree the arts are a “positive experience in a troubled world.”

64% agree the arts give them “pure pleasure to experience and participate in.”

Source: Americans For the Arts. Learn more at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/PublicOpinion.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Orchestra twice honored for innovation young composers, and the partnership’s ability to assist the SDSO By looking beyond its primary mission of presenting great music, in addressing the statewide issue of race relations through the the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra has won two prestigious Lakota Music Project, led the orchestra to choose Tate for the honors for its community outreach and innovative programming.

Music Alive residency.

The Bush Foundation has awarded SDSO the Bush Prize for Music Alive prioritizes collaborative work and immersion Community Innovation. Also, Jerod Tate and SDSO are one of only experiences for composers, orchestra musicians, artistic leadership five composer and orchestra pairs selected nationally to participate and community members. The program promotes active partnership in Music Alive, a three-year composer-orchestra residency program with the participating residency pairings, utilizing the power and value of the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA. of living composers working at the center of American orchestras.

The Bush Prize citation notes that SDSO is shifting the Tate will be incorporated directly into the orchestra’s paradigm of what an orchestra can and should be. By thinking operations, programming decisions and activities in South Dakota. differently about how orchestras engage in problem solving, the Dedicated funding is attached to the residency priorities, including Sioux Falls-based symphony asks ways in which the orchestra can workshops, rehearsals and developing new works or performing be used to make the community better. Two signature initiatives existing works by living composers. The residency also seeks to embody the spirit of innovation that earned the Bush Prize— create public access to the artistic process through the Lakota Music Project and Music as Medicine. open rehearsals, access to various media and The collaborative process and bold thinking other points of entry. behind these existing programs now serve as a “SDSO strives to build bridges in our community model for the creation of new community and across the state and region with the goal of engagement activities made possible by the connecting people through music, of creating $444,682, three-year Bush Foundation award. understanding through sharing something we all A newly-appointed committee of SDSO love,” said Music Director Delta David Gier.“This new board members, musicians and staff, as well as partnership will allow the orchestra to impact the community leaders, will make recommendations communities we serve in even more significant ways.” to the board on how to invest the Bush Prize to conceive, cultivate, nurture and sustain efforts that will advance the SDSO’s culture of service, innovation and relevance.

The Music Alive residency with Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate continues a long collaboration between SDSO and the Native Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate American composer. Tate’s success in mentoring

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

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STARR CHIEF EAGLE

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Continuing the hoop dance tradition

Starr Chief Eagle began hoop dancing before art and stories of the Lakota people in a she could walk. An enrolled member of the fun, educational way. The hoop dance Sicangu (Rosebud) Lakota Sioux Tribe, Chief encourages the use of important values Eagle accompanied her parents to powwows including respect, creativity, determination and participated in the dancing in her walker. and self-balance. She uses 200 hoops to Since then, she has continued to learn the teach the hoop dance and its history hoop dance tradition as part of her Lakota through a hands-on learning experience heritage—and has been working to share and often stages a final group performance that heritage. where friends and family are invited to Born Wichahpi Tokahe (First Star), participate in the event.

Chief Eagle was later given the Lakota “We can't turn back the clock,” name Wichahpi Ohitika Winyan (Brave Star Chief Eagle said. “We can only turn toward Woman) as she entered into adulthood. the future and work together. We as leaders, Daughter of noted hoop dancer and South Native American and white, need to change Dakota Arts Council residency artist Dallas attitudes. One thing that’s important to me Chief Eagle, Starr grew up in Rapid City and is not only to educate people about Lakota the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and has culture, but to also have them experience it practiced her entire life to perfect her in a good, positive and fun way.” techniques and skills.

Chief Eagle was featured in a short Now an Arts Council residency artist video sponsored by Arts South Dakota in Starr Chief Eagle performs herself, Starr Chief Eagle shares her culture celebration of the South Dakota Arts Council’s near the Crazy Horse Memorial. through art, language, dance and song in 50th anniversary. The video clips focused on hopes of restoring and maintaining the Lakota culture. She has artists who portray our state’s culture and represent a link to 50 taken the art of hoop dancing throughout the world, but said her years of excellence in the arts. favorite places to teach and perform continue to be in the heart of “In addition to focusing on the history of the Arts Council with the Paha Sapa at Crazy Horse Memorial, Mount Rushmore National a video featuring founding executive director Charlotte Carver, we Memorial and South Dakota schools, camps and gatherings. In her looked to the future with a group of artist spotlight videos,” said free time, Chief Eagle continues to learn more about the art, Arts South Dakota executive director Jim Speirs. “Starr Chief Eagle history and language of the Lakota people by pursuing her is a student of the Lakota culture and does a fantastic job of bachelor's degree in Lakota Studies. Her connection to that culture sharing that culture with people around the world and at home in can be seen in her craftwork in beading, sewing and other Native art.

South Dakota.”

In her artist residencies, Chief Eagle provides a complete The artist videos can be viewed on the Arts South Dakota ethnic dive into Lakota culture, helping others explore the language, website, www.artssouthdakota.org.

South Dakota Arts Council opportunity deadlines:

For information about each of these opportunities visit www.artscouncil.sd.gov, call 605-773-3301 or email sdac@state.sd.us.

Opportunity for artists, February 24 deadline: Art for State Buildings proposals

Artist grants, March 1 deadline:

Artist Fellowships Project grants Artist Collaborations Traditional Arts Apprenticeships Artist Career Development grants Page 6

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Grants to organizations, March 1 deadline: Project grants Importation of Musicians grants Artists In Schools & Communities residency grants

Opportunity for organizations, March 6 deadline:

ArtsLab Prairie States 2017, board development and capacity building program (see page 11). For more info visit www.artscouncil.sd.gov and click on the ArtsLab link.

Interim grant categories, deadline 45 days prior to project period: Educator grants Touring Arts grants Arts Opportunity grants

Excursion grants Professional Development grants Technical Assistance grants

For rosters of Touring Artists and Artists In Schools & Communities, go to www.artscouncil.sd.gov and explore the programs.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

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Residency artists draw inspiration from Dakota landscape

ark Zimmerman and Mary Wipf are known statewide as two of the most requested residency artists on the South Dakota Arts Council roster. Fewer know the couple as professional artists who have carved a piece of paradise out of a high meadow in the Black Hills they call Green Ink Gallery and Studios.

Built in an old horse barn, Green Ink offers views of a sheer white limestone cliff rising in the distance and a tumbling creek meandering through the meadow. The studios were hand crafted by Zimmerman and Wipf with the help of a carpenter friend. Visitors will discover Wipf’s delicate prints and drawings exploring nature’s smallest detail and her well-known hand marbled patterns on paper or scarves of silk. Zimmerman’s paintings, drawings and prints celebrate the places and spaces of the western landscape in striking colorist abstractions. Both artists draw inspiration from nature, but from very different perspectives.

Wipf and Zimmerman grew up in the same Fargo, ND neighborhood with no mountain landscapes or lichen-covered rocks to observe. Though they attended the same schools they did not meet until they were in their mid-thirties. Fate brought them together in the Black Hills, where they have now lived longer than anywhere else. Because the two artists are

constantly surrounded by nature, from lichens to mountain lions, they are deeply enmeshed in the flora and fauna, geology and history of the land they call home.

“Our curiosity is continually renewed,” Wipf said, “and we remain deeply in awe of the mysteries of the life that surrounds us.”

For Wipf, it is the small characters of the forest, the intricacies that are often overlooked, that inform her prints and drawings. Her artwork reflects an intense

The sweep and great space of the western landscape inform and inspire Zimmerman’s drawings and paintings.

“Bird’s-eye views of earth’s organic forms intermeshing with geometric grids on the ground below an airplane window I find endlessly fascinating,” he said.

“The streaming sequential views driving and steadily shifting transitions of hiking across the plains, through those vast spaces, are ever intriguing and often exhilarating for me.”

Zimmerman said his landscapes frequently find their genesis in combinations of randomly selected snapshots, arbitrary selections from maps and aerial or satellite images, random fragments of geometry and odd assortments of memories, together with drips, spatters, trails and the scrawl of unconscious automatic gesture.

Mary and Mark on Little Devil’s Tower with the Cathedral Spires in the background, Black Hills.

interest in botany and the intimate relationship she has with the natural surroundings of her Black Hills home.

Rich with biomorphic forms and patterns, her prints and drawings reveal a passion for things fragile yet essential. Natural and invented patterns echo the quiet pulse of small living things.

“Mossworks,” Broom moss, mixed media drawing by Mary Wipf.

A winter afternoon at Green Ink Gallery and Studios with a sunlit Easter Rock in the background.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

Zimmerman and Wipf are among the featured artists in a series of spotlight videos produced by Arts South Dakota to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the South Dakota Arts Council. To view the videos, go to www.ArtsSouthDakota.org.

To see photos of the mountain meadow views at Green Ink Gallery, go to www.greeninkgalleryandstudios.com or check out greeninkseen.blogspot.com.

For profiles of Zimmerman and Wipf, visit www.artscouncil.sd.gov and find the Meet the Artist tab on the Artists In Schools & Communities page.

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Dahl exhibits spotlight firefighting, mountain life, narrative painting

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apturing the art in each distinct moment of life, new exhibits at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City showcase the talents of a diverse group of Black Hills artists.

Exposed by Fire, an exhibit of the photographs of firefighter Caleb Munger, is on display now through March 1 in the Bruce H. Lien Cultural Café & Gallery.

Exposed By Fire is a photographic exploration of Munger’s ongoing relationship with firefighting, and his appreciation for the primal beauty of fire itself. Munger is a third-generation volunteer firefighter and

April Oedekoven’s “Some Kind of Blue,” the Dahl Mountain Photo Competition 2016 winner in the Adult Experienced/Professional Category.

seasonal firefighter with the US Forest Service. The exhibit is part of the Rapid City Arts Council’s Emerging Visual Artists Program, which showcases the talents of local artists and provides a cohesive structure to help artists organize, plan and sustain creative careers.

That show is followed by the 13th Annual Dahl Mountain Photo Competition & Exhibit, which runs March 10 through April 29 in the Inez and Milton Shaver Gallery. The Rapid City Arts Council, in conjunction with the Rapid City Journal, is once again inspiring photographers to show their best work. The Dahl Mountain Photo Competition is a juried photography exhibition based on mountain culture.

Judges will select the show through a blind jury process. Dahl Arts Center visitors can vote for the Peg Sagen Memorial People’s Choice Award, announced after the exhibit closes. The annual event is held in conjunction with the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Oil painting takes center stage at the Dahl starting March 31 with Occasional Void, a collection of paintings by Luke Gorder. Gorder’s current work draws on collected imagery from a variety of sources that he then collages into references for large-scale narrative oil paintings. This work

“Clothed For The Moment,” by Luke Gorder.

represents a tension between the artist’s observation of the natural world and his desire to inject it with a sense of “recklessness and mystery.” The interaction between human and animal, perceived and arbitrary color, and landscape versus abstraction represents the struggle to reconnect with primordial nature. Gorder earned his BFA from the University of Wyoming in 2008 and an education degree from Black Hills State University in 2012.

He currently teaches drawing and painting at Central High School in Rapid City.

For more information about these and other exhibits, visit www.thedahl.org.

Dakota Masterworks shows best of senior art The love of creating art is a lifelong passion, as “Aging does not mean giving up our creativity, evidenced by the strong annual showing of the inspiration and talent.”

South Dakota Health Care Association’s Dakota Categories included watercolor painting, oil MasterWorks Art Show. The show marked its 20th painting, acrylic painting, drawing/pastels, annual competition and exhibition at the Good photography, sculpture and woodcarving. Age Samaritan Society national campus in Sioux Falls. categories for the competition were divided into The 20th exhibition featured art created by South ages 60 to 79, and 80 years of age and older. The Dakota artists age 60 and older, with more than show has been recognized by the National Mature 190 entries, making it one of the largest Dakota Media Awards as an outstanding community MasterWorks ever. involvement project.

Professional judges awarded prizes for first, The best of show winner in two-dimensional second, and third place in each of seven categories drawing/pastel was “Vietnam Memorial” by and two age groups, as well as honorable mentions Dennis Linn, Rapid City. The three-dimensional “Strength” by Peggy Prouty of Bryant, winner of the People’s and best of show winners. People’s choice best of show prize went to “Year of the Woman Choice two-dimensional award. designations were awarded based on the votes of and Reaching for the World” by Corine Beving of those attending the show, which featured artists ranging in age Watertown. People’s Choice honors went to Peggy Prouty of Bryant from 60 to 98 years old. for her acrylic painting “Strength,” and Detlev Prautzsch of Hill City “The SDHCA Dakota Masterworks art show is about highlightfor his wood carving “The Guardian.” ing the remarkable artistic accomplishments by older South For more information and a chance to view all of the winning Dakotans,” said SDHCA Art Show Coordinator, LuAnn Severson. entries, go to www.sdhca.org.

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www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

South Dakota Art Museum exhibit looks Between Order and Chaos While known internationally for its collection of the works of Harvey Dunn, the South Dakota Art Museum is also the home of the Cockerline Collection, a unique and eclectic group of prints from the 1960s through the 1980s and an impressive assemblage of abstract works.

Alfred J. Barr, founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, identified two main traditions within Abstract Art—the geometric, identified with classical order, and the non-geometric, visions of romantic chaos. Between Order and Chaos: Nonobjective Abstractions, running through May 14 in Gallery 5, takes that division as its starting point and explores several movements within abstraction through the lens of non-objective or “pure” abstractions within the SD Art Museum’s collections.

“We had a great foundation of abstractions here and the more recently acquired Cockerline Collection of prints has really filled that out and complemented it in a wonderful way,” said Jodi Lundgren, curator and coordinator of SDAM exhibits.

“The show includes prints, paintings and

sculptures from artists of local, regional, national and historical significance, some of whom are living and others who have passed on.”

The 50 images in this exhibit include a good variety of works tied to a lineage of geometric abstraction: Op Art, Minimalism, Color Field, California Light and Space/ Finish Fetish, including work by Ilya Bolotowsky, who was a student of Piet Mondrian. Complementing the “order” of the geometric works are others tied to a non-geometric, expressive tradition:

Ab-Ex, Allover Painting, Post-Minimalism, Arte Povera, including work by Mark Tobey and poured/stained paint works by Larry Poons, Paul Jenkins, Alice Baber and others. Jackson Pollock was aware of and respected Mark Tobey’s work before he started doing the Action Painting he became famous for.

“This show is really a small survey of what we have and emphasizes form, color and design as well as expressive handling and explorations of media and materials,” Lundgren said. “It will be really visually exciting—and we have selected works for their visual impact in that sense.”

For more about Between Order and Chaos or other SDAM exhibitions, go to sdstate.edu/south-dakota-art-museum.

Located on the SD State University campus in Brookings, the Art Museum is open year-round and offers free admission to its galleries.

Carol Brown Goldberg’s “Spirit to the Hotel,” 2007, from the South Dakota Art Museum Collection, gift of International Arts & Artists.

Visual Arts Center offers the unique and familiar

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Art can be a voyage to landscapes both familiar and unknown—as proven by three exhibits on display in the Visual Arts Center at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls. From the exotic designs of Marrakech to the eclectic world of hipsters to the sweeping vistas of rural Minnesota, there’s so much to experience.

Ceca Cooper explores Elsewhere and Here, running through April 4 in the Contemporary Gallery.

Inspired by Cooper’s travels and studies of nature, the paintings in Elsewhere and Here explore a range of artistic styles, from the design sensibilities of ancient Arabic works in Marrakech, to the works of the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí. Ceca Cooper received her MFA from the University of South Dakota, and currently teaches as an Associate Professor of Ceca Cooper’s 2016 “Sumac and Art at the University of Sioux Falls.

Tea,” rug,tar and gold leaf on panel.

The Original Hipster, in the Permanent Collection Gallery until July 2, explores an intangible quality with a storied past. Today’s hipsters are known for beards, flannel and following their own paths. But the spirit of 21st century hipsterism is not new. VAC staff members combed their collection for art that breaks the mold and resonates with the contemporary hipster mindset. From mid-century prints by Adolf Dehn to more recent works by artists such as J. Charles Cox and Eyob Mergia, see the original hipsters in action. Visit this exhibition before it’s cool.

Brian Frink takes painting outside the rectangle with Wide Open Space, through June 25 in the Jerstad Gallery. Frink’s brightly colored, shaped canvases reflect the magical qualities he observes in the land of rural Minnesota. Poured and splattered paint alludes to natural forces such as rain, wind and gravity.

Repeated speckles and lines evoke the texture of mist, soil and plants. Frink “Portrait of Craig Carver” completed his MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is currently

by Mel Spinar, 1982, gift of Bill and Charlotte Carver.

Chairperson of the Department of Art at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The Visual Arts Center is located in downtown Sioux Falls. For directions, Brian Frink’s “Moon in Water,” hours and more information on exhibitions, go to www.washingtonpavilion.org.

2015, oil on canvas.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

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Vision for the arts Aiming for equity

By Patrick Baker, Director, South Dakota Arts Council

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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When I started my tenure with the South Dakota Arts Council one year ago, I was heartened to learn that a roundtable discussion about equity in the arts had already been scheduled. My previous position was with the state’s disability agency during a time when the 25th anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act was being celebrated, so accessibility was firmly positioned as one of my core professional values. I have believed for as long as I can remember that inclusion—not to mention accessibility—is among the linchpins of humanity.

It was exciting to kick off that meeting of artists, administrators and interested others in Sioux Falls in March 2016 and begin a conversation about what accessibility in the arts means. In a large, mostly rural state like South Dakota, accessibility means not only ADA compliance for venues, but also the ability to cross geographic and socioeconomic barriers so the arts are available to all, whether that means moving people, artworks, ideas or all of the above. It means more than helping to get people in front of art—it means remembering to invite everyone in the first place, whether to be exposed to art, appreciate it, create it or learn how to do any of those things.

When the arts community held a second roundtable in Rapid City in August 2016, it was clear the concept of inclusion is critical across the geographic expanse of the entire state, and across a diverse population spectrum as well. We need the arts to welcome and offer a meaningful seat at the table to all South Dakotans and visitors regardless of race, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, income, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, spirituality, politics, et al.

Equity in the arts is the ultimate goal, and perhaps accessibility is the door through which inclusiveness enters the equation. These concepts are far from new to the Arts Council. Two of its current strategic goals read “raise the standards for access and inclusion in the arts” and “support artists through inclusive programs and networks.” Grants annually support arts residencies, performances, projects and programming in hundreds of communities in every county across the state, and the Governor’s Biennial Art Exhibition is just one example of taking art on the road to meet people where they live—or at least trying to get close enough to make an opportunity feasible.

Many groups and individuals are already doing great work in the areas of accessibility and inclusiveness in the arts in South Dakota—far too many examples exist to try to innumerate here. Based on the conversations we’ve had to date, however, there is a need and desire to do much more. That is why the Arts Council has committed to placing equity at the center of its strategic planning through 2020.

The question is often rhetorically posed, does art imitate life? I sure hope so, because life is beautiful in its boundless variety, creating an infinite wellspring of inspiration.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Sioux Falls Arts Council names new executive director

Kara Dirkson

Kara Dirkson became the new executive director for the Sioux Falls Arts Council January 2.

Formerly the director of the Visual Arts Center at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, Dirkson has experience in arts administration, education and management, according to Sandra Pay, president of the Arts Council board of directors. Pay said that Dirkson’s skills will be a great advantage to the organization in its role to bring the city’s long-term cultural plan, Sioux Falls Imagined, to fruition. Dirkson holds a BA in Education and History from Augustana University, an MS in History with an Art History emphasis from Minnesota State University, Mankato and has done post graduate study at Northwestern University in Chicago in Appraisal Studies Certification and Accreditation.

save the date

Arts Education Institute scheduled for July 17-20

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The popular Arts Education Institute will be held on the campus of Northern State University in Aberdeen July 17-20. The 19th annual AEI offers professional development in arts and learning for all South Dakota teachers and administrators Pre-K through 12th grade. Handson workshops offer opportunities for enjoyable interactions with educators from across the state—and graduate, undergraduate and recertification credits are available. But you DO NOT need to be an arts educator to attend—everyone who cares about arts in education is encouraged to attend. AEI is sponsored by Arts South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council. Watch www.ArtsSouthDakota.org for class descriptions and registration forms.

In memoriam: Paul Goble

One of South Dakota’s most celebrated children’s author-illustrators passed away recently at his home in Rapid City. Paul Goble, the Englishman who proudly became a South Dakotan and a chronicler of early Native American life, was a gentle soul who fell in love with the Black Hills landscape, birds and animals, and the epic story of the American Indian. His book The Paul Goble at Bear Butte, photo by Ed Matsuka.

Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, winner of the Caldecott Medal in 1979, was one of many that richly illustrated Goble’s love of nature and his affinity with the American West. Goble donated much of his artwork to the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, which houses 500 of Goble’s original illustrations for his books. His books live on, but his enthusiasm, passion for nature and wisdom will be greatly missed by his friends and admirers throughout the state.

Remembering Barbara Newman

South Dakota’s music community lost a vibrant voice and boundless talent with the passing of Pierre’s Barbara Newman in December 2016. An active community member and dedicated educator, Newman taught music in Brookings and Pierre and was one of the co-founders of the Capital City Children’s Chorus. Throughout her career, she served as the choir director at Trinity Episcopal Church, as a judge at numerous regional musical competitions, as the president of the South Dakota Music Educators Association, as an advisory board member for the South Dakota Alliance for Arts Education and was also a recipient of the SDMEA Barbara Newman photo courtesy of Capital City Children’s Chorus.

Distinguished Service to Music Award. Her many friends, former students and singers will miss her quick and engaging smile, her unflagging spirit and her love of music and South Dakota.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

How do you build and sustain a resilient arts organization?

ArtsLab provides the tools a healthy organization needs to thrive, and it’s returning to South Dakota, beginning April 27-29. This sevenmonth peer learning community will explore for a healthy business model, including relevancy within community, leadership development, financial and resource development, and organizational infrastructure.

Participants will receive a toolkit for use in continuing the learning within their local community and will create a focused strategy roadmap with the flexibility to adapt to change, and a compelling story of vision, values and clarity of identity to invite engagement and support. Organizations interested in having representatives participate should visit the South Dakota Arts Council at www.artscouncil.sd.gov to learn how to apply; the deadline for application is March 6. ArtsLab is a program of Arts Midwest in collaboration with the South Dakota Arts Council, the North Dakota Council on the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council.

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Hitting the high notes People make the difference in growing 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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Recently, Arts South Dakota was honored to receive a grant from the Bush Foundation, one of our region’s most prestigious funding sources, in support of our operations for the next two years. By recognizing Arts South Dakota’s mission, the Bush Foundation grant will certainly help us strengthen the creative environment in our state. But even more vital to the success of Arts South Dakota and our state’s arts scene is the participation of people like you.

From the support of the South Dakota Legislature to the investment of those who have joined the work of Arts South Dakota, the involvement of individuals is key to our creative future. In our state, we are fortunate to have elected officials who understand the impact of the arts in education, in our economy and in the quality of life so important to all of us. Since 1966, the active support of state government has helped the creative industry and arts education grow and prosper in South Dakota.

The private sector has been involved in growing the arts in our state, as well. In this issue of Arts Alive, you will find a list of those companies and individuals who have joined Arts South Dakota (page 19). We’d like to add your name to that list. Receiving your copy of Arts Alive in the mail is just one of the benefits of joining, along with regular email updates on arts activities and events. By joining Arts South Dakota, you will also be an integral part of critical programming for South Dakota’s creative advancement, strengthening arts in education by supporting the annual Arts Education Institute, recognizing our state’s creative leaders with the biennial Governor’s Awards in the Arts and keeping our creative industry strong in South Dakota.

In cities and towns all across our state, individuals are growing the arts through their involvement in community arts councils, the grassroots strength of South Dakota’s cultural identity. By working cooperatively in community arts activities and collectively with Arts South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council, our local arts groups are supporting professional artists, innovative arts programming and a brighter future for our children.

Another group that contributes to the success of South Dakota’s creative environment is our volunteer board of directors. We are proud to welcome four new members to our board: Dick Brown of Custer, Brian Hildebrant of Brookings, Dr. Craig Howe of Martin and Katie Hunhoff of Yankton. Each of these people has a unique and deeply committed connection to our state’s creative community and are fantastic additions to our board. Thank you for serving and welcome to Arts South Dakota.

Individual voices, speaking together for the arts in South Dakota, have sustained and enriched the arts in our state for a half century. We can do even more in the years to come. We welcome your voice to our organization. To learn more about Arts South Dakota, visit us at www.artssouthdakota.org. We think you will be inspired and energized by the information you find there!

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

Arts South Dakota adds new board members Four South Dakotans have joined the board of directors of Arts South Dakota. Leaders in communications, business, finance and education, the new board members bring a wealth of talent and experience to Arts South Dakota and its mission.

Dick Brown, a fifth generation South Dakotan and native of Dell Rapids is a graduate of USD’s BA and MA programs in political science and attended The American University, Washington, DC, for PhD work.

He served four terms in the South Dakota House of Representatives as a strong legislative advocate of arts education in his positions as Chairman of the House Education and Taxation Committees. He is a current board member the SD Humanities Council, the Chiesman Dick Brown Foundation for Democracy and the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board which he serves as chairman. Brown and his wife Sue are principal partners in Brown Associates, a consulting firm for nonprofit organizations.

Brian Hildebrant earned his professional certification as a Certified Public Accountant in 1984 and began his CPA practice in Brookings in that same year. He is married to Laura Diddle, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at South Dakota State University. Hildebrant has been active in music all of his life, and was an organist at the St. Thomas More Parish for a number of years. He has been active in the Brookings Summer Arts Festival, the South Dakota Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the North Central Division of ACDA and numerous other organizations in support of the arts.

Brian Hildebrant

Americans Speak Out About the Arts Americans for the Arts’ Public Opinion Poll provides an in-depth look at the perceptions and attitudes about the arts in the United States.

For (37%)

Don’t Know (13%)

Against (16%)

No Impact (34%)

Craig Howe, founder and Director of the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies (CAIRNS), earned a PhD in architecture and anthropology and taught at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. He served as Deputy Assistant Director for Cultural Resources at the National Dr. Craig Howe Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Howe, an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, has developed innovative tribal history projects and creative museum exhibitions, lectures on American Indian topics and provides professional development and cultural awareness programs. Howe lives on his family’s cattle ranch in the Lacreek District of the Pine Ridge Reservation where he is designing and building Wingsprings, an architecturally unique retreat and conference center.

Katie Hunhoff is the publisher of South Dakota Magazine. In addition to her publishing duties, Hunhoff coordinates the magazine’s feature articles and photography and guides the editorial process along from issue to issue. Through the years, the editorial content of South Dakota Magazine has focused on the state’s people, history, culture, nature and adventure. The magazine has grown to a total circulation of more than 50,000.

Hunhoff is a native of Yankton and a graduate of the University of Minnesota. She serves on the board of the SD Humanities Council and is a founding board member of RiverWalk, a sculpture project in her hometown. She lives Katie Hunhoff in Yankton with her son, Steven.

“Our new board members share an enthusiasm for the arts and a love of South Dakota that makes them perfect for our organization,” said Jim Speirs, executive director of Arts South Dakota. “Their connections to our state’s cultural heritage and creative future are unsurpassed.”

We will support candidates who want to increase arts funding.

Americans are more than twice as likely to vote in favor of a candidate who increases arts spending from 45 cents to $1 per person than to vote against them.

Source: Americans For the Arts. Learn more at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/PublicOpinion.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

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Photo by James Kegley

Each year in South Dakota, the month of March brings about a little-known, yet outstanding event that lets high school students shine through the words of great poets.

Through Poetry Out Loud, students bring the work of famous poets to life on a stage in Sioux Falls on a Monday afternoon. It’s fascinating to hear high school students recite the lyrical poems of Walt Whitman, the ironic and dark works of Sherman Alexie, the scintillating words of Margaret Atwood.

This year 8 to 10 students from across South Dakota will be featured in the Poetry Out Loud state finals competition, beginning at 1 pm, Monday, March 13, at Edison Middle School Auditorium in Sioux Falls. The competition is free and open to the public.

In addition to the recitation event, the work of three high school poets will also be featured as part of the original poetry component of the South Dakota competition. The students compete in three rounds of recitation, and the state champion goes on to the national finals.

Shivalo Soldier Wolf competes at the 2014 Poetry Out Loud Finals.

Poetry Out Loud is a national partnership among the Poetry Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and state arts agencies.

Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 3 million students and 50,000 teachers from 10,000 schools in every state, Washington, DC, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. And one of the coolest things about the program is the wonderful opportunity it allows students to compete at the national level.

Each winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington, DC, to compete for the national championship with 53 other students. The state winner’s school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 for his or her school. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends is awarded annually at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals.

South Dakota has had students place second and third in the nation, receiving $10,000 and $5,000 cash prizes. And in the 10-year history of the program, four more of South Dakota’s state champions placed among the top 12 in the nation, bringing home $1,000 prizes, apiece.

If you haven’t had the chance to see Poetry Out Loud, your chance is coming up March 13. The competition will be live-streamed on www.artscouncil.sd.gov if you can’t make it to Sioux Falls. You can also see past National Finals recitations on the YouTube channel poetryoutloudvideos.

South Dakota’s Poetry Out Loud program is managed by the South Dakota Arts Council and the state competition is carried out in partnership with Arts South Dakota, South Dakota Public Broadcasting and the Sioux Falls School District. To learn more about the national program and competition, visit www.poetryoutloud.org.

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Photo by James Kegley

Wiyaka His Horse Is Thunder at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in 2009.

Madison Lukomski performs at the 2016 POL National Finals in Washington, DC.

www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Photo by James Kegley

Poetry Out Loud lets students shine

Art Place America funds two South Dakota programs

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The National Creative Placemaking Fund, a program of ArtPlace America, has awarded 2016 grants to two programs which provide vital services to South Dakota’s Native American community. The grants are made annually to projects in which residents use arts and culture strategies to strengthen the social, physical and economic fabric of their communities.

The Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Lakota Youth Arts Institute, part of the Cheyenne River Youth Project in Eagle Butte, has received a three-year, $325,000 grant. The project manages two youth centers on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. To address persistent challenges faced by young people on the reservation, the Cheyenne River Youth Project will expand its arts programming and make optimal use of its spaces by creating a Lakota Youth Arts Institute. Classes taught by local and regional Native and non-Native artists will include fine art, Lakota art, graffiti art, media and performance art, among others including artist entrepreneurship.

The Lakota Youth Arts Institute is an investment in the future of the Cheyenne River youth and community by ensuring consistent access to education and training that will deepen and strengthen their connection to Lakota art and culture.

Throughout its 28-year history, Cheyenne River Youth Project has provided children on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation with access to culturally relevant arts programming. Executive Director Julie Garreau has overseen the evolution of that programming from the very beginning.

“For indigenous peoples, art and culture are inseparable,” she said, “and art

is not an individual pursuit; rather, it taps into something more meaningful within our indigenous communities. For that reason, our program has been dedicated to strengthening our young people’s connection to their Lakota culture, understanding that this connection provides the healing and reconciliation our Native communities need to move forward.”

Thunder Valley Development Corporation will receive $500,000 in a two-year grant to deploy Native design and architecture to address the negative health effects of unemployment and poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Porcupine through the creation of a cultural center.

This cultural center will provide spaces for youth to connect socially, culturally and artistically that will promote overall

A young Lakota fancy shawl dancer during the Cheyenne River Youth Project’s 2016 RedCan Graffiti Jam cultural exhibit at Eagle Butte. Photo by Richard Steinberger.

Art institutions add value to our communities.

Americans Speak Out About the Arts Americans for the Arts’ Public Opinion Poll provides an in-depth look at the perceptions and attitudes about the arts in the United States.

community well-being and programmatically support Thunder Valley’s landmark housing developments.

ArtPlace America held informational meetings in several South Dakota communities in early February. The sessions were held in Pierre, Flandreau, Renner, Aberdeen and Sisseton and discussed the Creative Placemaking program.

The National Creative Placemaking Fund invests in planning and development projects where arts and culture play a central role. Since 2011, the National Creative Placemaking Fund has invested in 227 projects across 152 communities of all sizes in 43 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit www.artplaceamerica.org.

87%

People agreed regardless of whether they engage with the arts or not.

83%

87% agree they are important to the quality of life.

83% agree they are important to local businesses and the economy.

Source: Americans For the Arts. Learn more at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/PublicOpinion.

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

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Check out one of South Dakota’s 6 film festivals this year

By Rebecca Cruse, South Dakota Film Office

If you haven’t made it out to one of South Dakota’s six (that’s right, six) film festivals, 2017 is the year to make it a priority.

Black Hills Film Festival, April 26-29

Headquartered in picturesque Hill City, just a half-hour drive from Rapid City, the Black Hills Film Festival is a quaint and cozy event filled with intriguing and entertaining films accented by lavishly catered parties in fascinating settings. With education being a big part of the BHFF mission, the festival includes outreach events in nearby Rapid City and often in other neighboring communities. If you enjoy compelling films and engaging conversation, this is the festival for you.

Insider tip: Don’t skimp on this one, go for the VIP pass, which will get you access to the pre-parties at the wonderful museums and galleries that help sponsor the film festival. It will include most of your food and some beverages throughout the festival. www.blackhillsfilmfestival.org

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SoDak Motion Festival, October—Dates TBA

The SoDak Motion Festival in Brookings features new independent animation and video games from around the world. In 2016, festival jurors reviewed almost 1,500 submissions, and narrowed that down to 20 for the public viewing at the South Dakota Art Museum. Animation enthusiasts flocked to the theater for an evening that entertained and inspired boisterous reaction from the crowd. If you’re a fan of animation, then this fun and whimsical event is the one for you!

Insider tip: Even though these are animated films, some content is not suitable for young children. This is a PG-13 event. Also, theater capacity is 150, so go early, visit the art museum and get your seats. www.sodakmotion.com

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South Dakota Film Festival, September 21-24

The largest and longest-running festival takes place in the fall at Aberdeen’s historic downtown Capitol Theatre. The South Dakota Sioux Empire Film Festival, May 19-21 Film Festival screens a wide range films with a goal of sharing Carrying the designation as the youngest film festival in South regional work and boasts special guest stars, such as Kevin Costner, Dakota, the Sioux Empire Film Festival, held in vibrant downtown Jane Rosenthal, Bai Ling, Doug Jones, Anthony Michael Hall, Sioux Falls is slated for its second year. This is a casual festival where Stephen Tobolowsky, Molly Ringwald and Carey Elwes, as well as after the films, groups of filmmakers many who work behind the scenes and watchers wander to one of the in Hollywood. Festival producers many downtown restaurants or bars facilitate onstage conversations to socialize. In 2016, the festival with filmmakers and celebrity screened 50 films Friday evening guests and each night ends with through Sunday afternoon, working an after-party (or sometimes and two workshops with local filmmakers after-after-party). If you’re into all in to the mix. This year’s event will types of film, raucous parties and be moved from the Orpheum rubbing elbows with filmmakers Theatre to the Washington Pavilion. and celebrities, don’t miss this Insider tip: Keep a close film festival. eye on the SEFF website or Facebook Insider tip: Splurge page for information to be released. on the VIP pass and you’ll be full With this being such a young event all weekend, with plenty of adult and a change of venue, who knows beverages provided, as well. what else they might try this year? www.southdakotafilmfest.org Actor/writer Stephen Tobolowsky with festival directors Tom Black (left) and Brent Brandt at the 2016 South Dakota Film Festival. www.siouxempirefilmfestival.com

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Fischgaard Short Film Project, Spring—Dates TBA

There are a slew of film festivals in which filmmaking teams fully produce—write, shoot, edit and score—a short film in 48 hours.

This is South Dakota’s 48-hour festival, held once a year in Aberdeen.

The filmmakers gather for a kickoff party Friday evening and learn about the required elements for the film—which often include a specific line of dialogue, a special prop and a character they must include in order to show they didn’t make the film ahead of time.

After the films are turned in Sunday afternoon, the filmmakers and public get to see them. It’s pretty impressive what these teams are able to accomplish in two days with no sleep.

Insider tip: Bring a highly caffeinated beverage to give to the sleepy filmmakers who may be seated beside you. Or, if this sounds like fun to you, get involved! There’s an online registration process which is first come, first served. www.fischgaard.com

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Cinema Falls, throughout the year

Though not a traditional festival, Cinema Falls aims to bring films to Sioux Falls that typically bypass the large commercial theaters.

But it’s not just another night at the movies. Events might include Q&As with filmmakers, a special evening with a film great, dinner and a movie, art and a movie, or other thoughtful content. Cinema Falls events are hosted at Icon Lounge and West Mall 7 throughout the year.

Insider tip: You know all those Globe and Oscar nominees you’ve never heard of? The folks at Cinema Falls probably have, and they’re probably going to bring them to you if at all possible. Connect with them on Facebook for the most up-to-date Sioux Falls showings. www.cinemafalls.com

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www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

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NEA awards grants to South Dakota groups

The National Endowment for the Native American artists in Main Arts has made three grants totaling Street Square, the downtown public $122,500 to South Dakota organizagathering space in Rapid City. Native tions for innovative and cultural POP features an exhibition, performdevelopment programs. The First ances, film festival, culture bearer Peoples Fund of Rapid City, the activities and displays. The festival’s Rapid City Arts Council and the organizing committee will conduct South Dakota Symphony were outreach and marketing efforts to selected to receive funding in nearby Native American reservations separate categories. to promote the event.

First Peoples Fund will receive South Dakota Symphony $100,000 from the Art Works: Orchestra will receive $12,500 from Creativity Connects program to NEA’s Art Works program in the Native artists meet local residents in downtown Rapid City at the 2016 Native POP Art Market. support the Rolling Rez Arts mobile music category to support a perunit, in partnership with The Lakota formance project exploring music as Fund. The Rolling Rez Arts mobile unit will provide art classes, a means to creating openness and cultural understanding. Under professional arts business and entrepreneurship training, asset the artistic leadership of music director Delta David Gier, the project, building, financial education and mobile banking to artists on the Cultures in Conflict, will focus on the relationship between Syria Pine Ridge Reservation. Emerging and mid-career Lakota artists also and Iran through a musical dialogue between Syrian-American will be able to take art classes to further hone their artistic skills. composer and pianist Malek Jandali and Persian-American composer Rapid City Arts Council was chosen to receive $10,000 from Behzad Ranjbaran. The orchestra will collaborate with the Muslim the Challenge America program to support Native POP, a festival Community Education Center in Sioux Falls, the Symphony Youth celebrating Native American artists, Orchestra, and key individuals such as performers and culture bearers, with former U.S. Senator James Abourezk and associated outreach activities. The free his wife Sanaa. Concerts will be presented event showcases the work of Great Plains at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls.

Arts South Dakota receives Bush Foundation grant

Recognizing the work of Arts South Dakota in focusing attention on the creative environment statewide, the Bush Foundation has chosen the arts advocacy group to receive a 2017 Ecosystem Grant. Ecosystem grants provide general operating support over two years for organizations that provide critical data and analysis, spread great ideas, build capacity, advance public awareness and support leadership networks.

The Bush Foundation invests in great ideas and the people who power them, according to Bush Foundation President Jen Ford Reedy.

This year, the foundation awarded more than $6.5 million in Ecosystem grants to 39 groups that help create an environment for programs and initiatives to be successful.

“Some might call these infrastructure organizations or intermediary organizations or just ‘can’t-do-without’ organizations,” she said.

“We call them Ecosystem organizations because they help create an environment for big things to happen in the region.”

“This Bush Foundation grant acknowledges the role Arts South Dakota plays in our state’s creative life. Our mission is to have an ‘ecosystem’ impact on the growth of the arts across South Dakota.”

—Jim Speirs

As a private, nonprofit organization, Arts South Dakota serves as the voice of the arts for the people of South Dakota. The mission of Arts South Dakota is grounded in public awareness and policy solutions that affect the arts throughout the state.

By working directly with the South Dakota Arts Council and reaching out to the state’s legislators and executive branch, Arts South Dakota plays an important role in support of the arts and creative industry in South Dakota. Arts South Dakota is the primary arts advocate for funding and arts policy issues within state government and functions as the expert resource for arts issues with statewide media.

“This Bush Foundation grant acknowledges the role Arts South Dakota plays in our state’s creative life,” said Arts South Dakota executive director Jim Speirs. “Our mission is to have an ‘ecosystem’ impact on the growth of the arts across South Dakota.”

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

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Arts at the Heart: South Dakota’s folk arts program

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People sometimes say they grew up in, or they live in, a place with “no art.” But that is simply not possible, because wherever there are people, there is art. It may take the form of quilts on a bed, or beadwork on moccasins, or a cowboy playing a guitar and singing.

Those makers and musicians might never call themselves artists, but they contribute beauty to their surroundings and express shared ideas of creativity that often have been passed down for generations. These folk or traditional arts are everywhere, carried on in local communities, tribal and ethnic groups and occupational cohorts, reflecting regional styles and heritages. And they are a rich and vital part of South Dakota’s arts landscape.

The South Dakota Arts Council first established a Folk Arts Program with support from an NEA grant in 1984 and hired folklorist Mennonite quilters from Freeman work on a quilt top as a gift for their pastor.

Elaine Thatcher to coordinate the program. Dennis Holub, then assistant director of SDAC, was always a champion of supporting traditional arts and continued that advocacy through all the years he In the late 1990s, the NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Program served the Arts Council. Thatcher spent much of her time traveling initiated a new grant category for support of folk arts infrastructure the state interviewing and photographing folk artists; this fieldwork initiatives, including hiring professional folklorists. By this time forms the foundation of any good folk arts Dennis Holub was the director of SDAC and program and was especially important for the saw an opportunity to restart the folk arts fledgling South Dakota program as it worked program which he had always valued. He to gather information on previously unknown applied for funding to hire a contract artists. In partnership with the Old Courthouse folklorist, rather than to try to fund a new Museum in Sioux Falls, Thatcher curated an staff position, and Elaine Thatcher returned exhibit called “Made in Dakota: Folk Arts of to the job, working long distance from her South Dakota,” which toured to five other home in Utah and making several trips to the locations around the state. state each year to do fieldwork and meet When Thatcher left the job in 1986, the with constituents. She also re-started the Arts Council wasn’t able to continue hosting Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program that the folklorist position, but the State Historic one of her predecessors had founded, and Preservation Office was able to pick it up, which continues to this day, supporting the again with NEA funding. Melanie LaBorwit teaching and passing on of traditional arts. was hired as the second state folklorist and When Thatcher left the consultant Belinda Joe of Ft. Thompson shows the beaded moccasin tops she made as part of served from 1987 to 1990. She worked position in 2002, Andrea Graham was hired an apprenticeship with master artist extensively with tribal artists in the state, and to continue the program work which she has Linda Thompson. coordinated the 1989 Centennial Folklife now done for 15 years, first when she lived in Festival in Sioux Falls. A third state agency, the Cultural Heritage Idaho and now from her home in Wyoming. In addition to Center in Pierre, then picked up the position in about 1992 and managing the Apprenticeship Program, Graham has undertaken a Michael Miller served as the folklorist for another three years. series of special projects focusing on various cultural groups or However, they also were unable to make the position permanent. regions of the state. These have included fieldwork, exhibits and festivals with fiber artists, woodworkers, cowboy and ranching traditions, local projects in Sioux Falls, Sisseton and Roberts County, and a current project in the Black Hills. All of these undertakings have been produced in partnership with other cultural organizations such as local arts councils and museums—indeed they would not have been possible without the support and participation of these allies in communities around the state.

The Traditional Arts Program, though small, is now an integral part of the Arts Council, with ongoing support from the NEA and the state. The program’s documentary materials—photographs, recordings and field notes—eventually are housed at the state archive as a permanent record of the state’s rich and varied cultures.

These cultures are very much alive, thriving and ever changing, keeping our traditional arts at the heart of communities everywhere.

To learn more about today’s SDAC Traditional Arts Program, visit Woodworker Arnold Bortnem of Sioux Falls carves a Norwegian clock face. www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov and click on Traditional Arts.

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www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov

Arts South Dakota Sponsors January 2016 - February, 2017

$1000 to $1,999 VistaComm

$2,000 to $2,999 BankWest Delta Dental of South Dakota $3,000 to $4,999 Den-Wil, Incorporated

$5,000 plus First Dakota National Bank

In-Kind Donations January 2016 - February 2017

up to $999 Racing Magpie Sisson Printing

$1000 to $1,999 Advanced Certified Fundraising, LLC The Comfort Theatre Company Brian Hildebrant CPA Shari Kosel Dale Lamphere Katrina Lehr-McKinney Mailway Printers Thurman & Thurman $3,000 to $4,999 Media One Advertising

Organizational Members as of January 15, 2017

Thank you to the following business and organizational members who have come alongside Arts South Dakota as partners, sharing our mission to improve the lives of all South Dakotans through creative communities and artistic expression.

Aberdeen Area Arts Council Acts of Nature Augustana University Visual & Performing Arts Black Hills Chamber Music Society Black Hills Playhouse CAIRNS Castlewood Arts Council Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines Dakota Choral Union, Inc. Dakota Discovery Museum Dalesburg Scandinavian Association Decorative Walls and Murals Discovery Mime Theatre Downtown Sioux Falls Faulkton Area Arts Council Frank Farrar Law Office Haggerty’s Music Works & Audio Visual Hill City Arts Council Historic Homestake Opera House Historic Lead Deadwood Arts Center Hot Pink Ink Johns & Kosel Law, LLC Northern State University School of Fine Arts Poet’s Round Table Reptile Gardens

SculptureWalk Sioux Falls South Dakota Friends of Traditional Music Shoemaker Visual Art Studio Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society Sisseton Area Arts Council South Dakota Art Museum South Dakota Humanities Council South Dakota Magazine Sturgis Area Arts Council Tallgrass Recovery The Center for Western Studies, Augustana University Warrior’s Work & Ben West Gallery Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science Yankton Area Arts

Individual Donors as of January 15, 2017

Arts South Dakota sincerely thanks the generosity of the following arts advocates.

Their donations lead the way in advocating for a creative South Dakota.

$0 to $99 Ariadne Albright, Vermillion Phil and Jill Baker, Sioux Falls John Banasiak, Vermillion Don and Janet Beeman, Vermillion Thom C. Berg Melanie and Norman Bliss, Sioux Falls Sally Blomster, Wetonka Liz Bowling, Canton John E. Brockelsby, Rapid City Rosemary C. Buchmann, Martin Susan Burgard, Pierre Jami Buttke, Spearfish Brent and Amy Clouser, Sioux Falls Tami Comp, Winner Ron and Rachel Conkling, Flandreau Janet B. Cronin, Gettysburg Rebecca Cruse, Pierre Ann and Tim Deckert, Rapid City Margaret Denton, Brookings Kristin Donnan, Hill City Don and Mary Downs, Rapid City Beverly Daniel English, Sioux Falls Van and Barbara Fishback, Brookings Ellen Fockler, Reno, NV David J. Fraher, Minneapolis, MN Michelle Friesen, Freeman Barry W. Furze, Sturgis Carol Cook Geu, Vermillion Bonnie Halsey-Dutton, Spearfish Gary and Carmen Hansen, Rapid City Jerry and Jackie Hanson, Sioux Falls Rosemarie Hanssen, Sisseton Steve and Monica Harding, Pierre Harry and Helen Harryman, Pierre Linda M. Hasselstrom, Hermosa Melissa Hauschild-Mork, Brookings Donna Hazelwood, Madison Connie Herring, Sioux Falls Susan Hines, Rapid City Josh and Rose Ann Hofland, Sioux Falls Shirly Holt, Gary Dennis Hopfinger and Carolyn Clague, Brookings Joan K. Irwin, Lead Richard A. Johnson, Sioux Falls Peter Kilian, Aberdeen Karen Kinder, Brookings John and Cheryl Koch, Freeman Joe and Shari Kosel, Lead Marilyn Kratz, Yankton Paula Manley and Jim Knutson, Spearfish Mary Jo Marcy, Custer Sheila Martin, Custer Lynn and Frank Mason, Hot Springs Pepper Massey, Rapid City Jim McKinney, Brookings Johanna Meier, Spearfish Jay and Beverly Mickelson, Pierre Deborah Mitchell, Rapid City Jody and Jim Moritz, Faulkton Rodney and Marla Mosiman, Onida

Ronald Moyer and Caitlin Collier, Vermillion Jenny and Neal Nelson, Sisseton Sandra Newman, Rapid City Jeannette Noel Beemer, Pierre Ken and Lavonne Pickering, Pierre Ellen Plocek, Spearfish Jim Pollock, Pierre Jeannette Rahja, Aberdeen Carol Rogers, Sioux Falls John and Alla Ruffolo, Brookings Terry and Mary Ryan, Madison John Rychtarik, Brookings Ron and Renea Schoenfelder, Dimock Chuck and Bonny Schroyer, Pierre Lonnie Schumacher, Fort Pierre Carol Schwarzenberg, Rapid City Marica Shannon, Mitchell David Sieh, Sioux Falls Susanne Skyrm, Vermillion Vance and Virginia Sneve, Rapid City Linda Stoops, Harrisburg Judith Thompson, Orange City, IA Rose Marie Tornow, Sioux Falls Dennis and Julie Walkins, Spearfish Linda and Jon Wiley, Spearfish Roberta Williams, Pierre Ruth Williams, Wakonda Norma and Jerry Wilson, Vermillion Milo Winter, Rapid City Jo Vander Woude, Sioux Falls Lavina Wuger, Faulkton Joan Zephier, Sioux Falls

$100 to $249 Rob and Sheridan Anderson, Pierre Reuben and Marlowe Bareis, Rapid City John and Anne Barlow, Rapid City Bonnie Bjork, Rapid City Bill J. and Jane Bobzin, Yankton Anne Bodman and Andrew Hollander, Sturgis Dave and Linda Bonde, Fort Pierre Greg Boris and Joan Reddy, Sioux Falls Stacy Braun, Aberdeen Ruth Brennan, Rapid City Roger and Merlene Broer, Hill City Allen and Gloria Brown, Dell Rapids Susan W. Callahan, Rapid City Dick and Ginger Carstensen, Sturgis Jim Clark, Sioux Falls Paul and Mary Ellen Connelly, Sioux Falls Mike and Judy Connor, Sioux Falls Marty Davidsohn, Sioux Falls Beth Deiter, Faulkton Tony Diem, Lead Catherine Duenwald, Pierre Kris and Steve Egger, Sioux Falls Doug and Justine Estes, Rapid City Carla Fauske and Peter Lieberman, Sioux Falls Allan and Eve Fisher, Madison Rod and Glenna Fouberg, Aberdeen Jacquelyn Fuller, Lead Karen A. Gerdes, Fort Pierre Kathie and Rudy Gerstner, Yankton Linda Mickelson Graham, Sioux Falls Jeff and Darlene Hallem, Pierre Lori Hansen, Yankton Susan and Tim Hanson, Vermillion Hank Harris, Rapid City Erica Howell, Volga Mildred K. Hugghins, Brookings Regina and Dale Jahr, Sioux Falls Terry and Sandi Jaspers, Sisseton Sandy Jerstad, Sioux Falls Heath A. Johnson, Aberdeen Corliss and Anne Johnson, Sioux Falls Larry and Mary Jo Johnson, Pierre James and Ardis Johnson, Brookings Phil and Diana Kappen, Sioux Falls Pat Kosel, Naples, FL Merle and Virginia Larson, Yankton Mark Law, Clear Lake Christine Leichtnam, Rapid City Edith Lien, Spearfish Larry and Gail Lyngstad, Pierre John R. McIntyre, Sioux Falls

www.ArtsSouthDakota.org

Mark and Kristol McKie, Rapid City Bob and Mickey Miller, Sioux Falls Doug and Mary Miller, Brookings Jonathan Neiderhiser, Sioux Falls Janice Nicolay, Chester Karen Gundersen Olson, Rapid City Phyllis Packard, Vermillion Jessie Park, Sioux Falls Douglas and Sandra Pay, Sioux Falls Scott and Maryanne Petersen, Sioux Falls Tamara Pier, Rapid City Gordy Pratt, Spearfish Andrew Reinartz, Sioux Falls Patrick Roseland, Rapid City Daniel and Rebecca Schenk, Ft. Pierre Jeff and Katie Scherschligt, Sioux Falls Miles and Vickie Schumacher, Sioux Falls Jacqueline Sly, Rapid City Clayton and Anella Southwick, Rapid City Myrna Stanley, Sioux Falls Gary and Nan Steinley, Spearfish Dick Termes & Markie Scholz, Spearfish Graham and Anna Marie Thatcher, Rapid City Lesta and Mike Turchen, Hill City Karyn Veenis, Sioux Falls Lynn Verschoor, Brookings Judy Vidal & Brent Cogswell, Rapid City Merritt and Pamela Warren, Brookings Mark and Susan Wismer, Britton Mary and Mark Zimmerman, Deadwood Steve and Sandy Zinter, Fort Pierre

$250 to $499 Linda J. Bartholomew, Faulkton LaVaughn Busse, Highmore Brian Hildebrant and Laura Diddle, Brookings Tom and Donna Haber, Sioux Falls James D. Hagen, Pierre Dody and Boyd Hopkins, Sioux Falls Dick and Cindy Koch, Sioux Falls Ellen and Tom Lee, Pierre Larry and Diane Ness, Yankton Michael Pangburn, Pierre Shirley Sneve and Thomas Rickers, Lincoln, NE Jim and Jill Speirs, Sioux Falls Jim and Sandy Szana, Pierre Larry and Suzanne Toll, Sioux Falls Norman and Kathleen West, Yankton Ron and Glenda Woodburn, Pierre

$500 to $749 Stanford and Lynda Adelstein, Rapid City Steve and Nancy Babbitt, Rapid City Sandra Christenson, Sioux Falls Dan and Arlene Kirby, Sioux Falls Gerry Berger Law, Clear Lake Deanna B. Lien, Rapid City Jim and Kara Mathis, Sioux Falls Kenneth and Kathryn Pangburn, Corning, IA John and Jane Rasmussen, Sisseton Janet and Lloyd Sohl, Rapid City Jack and Linda Stengel, Sioux Falls Steven Zellmer and Kitty Kinsman, Rapid City

$1000 to $1,249 Brian and Kaija Bonde, Sioux Falls Janet Brown, Seattle, WA Dick and Sue Brown, Custer Lynne and Bill Byrne, Sioux Falls Scott and Julia Jones, Pierre Dale Lamphere, Sturgis Douglas and Sandra Pay, Sioux Falls Rudy and Doris Rudel, Rapid City

Arts South Dakota is in part supported through the generous grant support of the South Dakota Arts Council and the Bush Foundation.

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Arts South Dakota

PO Box 2496 Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496

We need YOU!

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.

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

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