The Region 2 Arts Council Board of Directors awarded $89,500 in Arts and Cultural Heritage Funds to area non-profits on Jan. 16.

According to a media release, this followed a community panel review of 18 applications, with each organization submitting up to two proposals.

Five local organizations are among 17 awarded projects that promise to bring high-quality, accessible arts activities to primarily benefit the people of Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods and Mahnomen Counties, the release states.

The grant awards are as follows:

• $6,000 to the City of Park Rapids to enable the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission to increase stipends for artists selected for the Park Rapids Sculpture Trail.
• $6,000 to Heartland Arts in Park Rapids to sponsor Art Leap 2025, a fall driving tour of area artists and local cultural destinations.
• $6,000 to Heartland Lakes Community School in Park Rapids to contract with local mural artist Mary Therese to engage students, staff and community members in painting a mural depicting pollinators in a pollinator garden.
• $6,000 to the Hubbard County Developmental Achievement Center to provide workshops in sculptural papermaking with Jill Odegaard, basket weaving with Shannon Westrum and painting with Kent Estey at the Northern Hearts art studio.
• $3,575 to Kitchen Sink Productions in Park Rapids to provide a community theater production in “kitchen sink realism” in March.
• $6,000 to Loon County Arts in Bemidji to offer 15 free art classes, plus $6,000 to offer another 15 free art classes plus two internship opportunities for young people.
• $6,000 to Bemidji High School to help fund their fall musical in September.
• $6,000 to Bemidji Early Childhood Collaborative to organize a multi-organization musical event at the Bemidji waterfront.
• $6,000 to the Bemidji Parks and Recreation Department to host a summer theater day camp for youth, known as BCT Jr., in partnership with Bemidji Community Theater.
• $4,242 to the Bemidji Senior Center to host a Bemidji Woodcarvers Club workshop presented by Marty Dolphens, who uses a technique called “realism in the round.”
• $6,000 to 4 Directions Development in Red Lake to host the 2025 Anishinaabe Art Festival.
• $5,500 to Lake of the Woods School Community Education in Baudette for a free musical theater camp for area children in August.
• $2,683 to the NordaGonvick Rosemalers in Leonard for a three-day workshop in September with Carol Bender, who will teach the Numedal rosemaling method. 
• $1,500 to the Clearwater County Historical Society in Shevlin to provide a community concert in the spring.

These grants are made possible by a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

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