The performance of “Cyclops,” the puppet show, was created by Steve Ackermann as the artist in residence at the New London Little Theatre in 2021. Contributed / New London Little Auditorium
Building community, bringing people together through art BY SHELBY LINDRUD West Central Tribune
Art is valuable, though that value can sometimes be hard to quantify. While it definitely has monetary worth, it can also be used to bring a community together or help reinvigorate it. Many communities in southwestern Minnesota have started to believe in this value of art and have engaged in art projects and programs to create community togetherness and civic engagement. “I know how hard it is to measure the impact of public art. It is insanely hard to measure connectivity, but that is what we
are doing,” said Bethany Lacktorin, artistic director of the New London Little Theatre. “We are trying to connect people.” For a month in late summer, New London played host to an artist in residence through the Small Stage Artist in Residency program. A puppet artist, Steve Ackerman of Heart of the Beast in Minneapolis, brought a puppet show to town. But it wasn’t just Ackerman who made the show a success. From the very beginning the community was involved.
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They helped choose the artist, they helped prepare the theater, they hosted Ackerman in their homes and they helped create the pieces for the show. “It brings people together that normally wouldn’t be together solving problems,” Lacktorin said. Granite Falls also opened itself to an artist in residence. But, instead of an artist coming in for a short period of time for a single project, a year-long program was created to look at how art could be used as a way to engage the community.
