Hi everyone, in this post I will provide you with some basic information about the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission before our presentation tomorrow.
The Arts and Culture Commission advises the City Council about the development of arts and cultural activities, organizations, and facilities in Northfield. It was created by the City Council in January 2007 following a recommendation from ArtsPlan06 which identified its mission. ArtsPlan06 is a community arts and cultural planning process initiated by the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) and funded by the City of Northfield.
The Arts and Culture Commission’s purpose is to assist Northfield in becoming a community in which arts and cultural activities:
- Are recognized as vital components of community life worthy of investment and support from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors
- Are valued and promoted for their economic benefits and development potential, especially in the downtown
- Include new ethnic groups in Northfield’s identity and sense of community
- Represent an integral part of Northfield’s educational mission and programs for young people
- Engage the talents and involvement of retirees and senior citizens
- Develop a wider array of opportunities for collaboration between faculty and student artists at the two colleges and community artists
- Cooperate to enhance the public perception of Northfield’s identity and quality of life in the community itself, the surrounding region, and beyond
They have the following mission: The City of Northfield’s Arts and Culture Commission supports arts, culture and creative experiences as ways for us to connect with one another, with ideas, and within ourselves.
And their vision is: Northfield is a community which values, integrates, and engages in arts and cultural experiences – in all their diversity – throughout the fabric of civic life.
They have Meetings on the second Monday of every month at 4:30 p.m. at the Northfield Public Library.
According to the Northfield city code Ordinance No 1022, division 4, the members of the arts and culture commission should come from the following sectors:
(1) Arts and cultural organizations;
(2) Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges;
(3) Local schools;
(4) Business community;
(5) Independent artists; and
(6) Community at-large.
Its current members are: Martha Anderson, Paula Granquist, Karna Hauck, Matthew Klooster,Heather Lawrenz, Leah Rich, Juliane Shibata, Kate Woodstrup, Edie Meehan, Sam Nelson, Kamalie Nieves and Carsten Walter.
On their website they mention all of their accomplishments organized by year. They don’t have their 2021 accomplishments yet, but here are some of the most relevant ones from 2020.
- Approved the temporary installation of the sculpture Straight Through the Heart by artist Dale Lewis at Highway 3 and 3rd Street.
- Conducted the SEMAC and City of Northfield-funded 2020 Sidewalk Poetry contest, with poems in English and Spanish; capstone event was first Sidewalk Poetry virtual event created for winning poets.
- In partnership with the NDDC, conducted the Public Art Review Committee for the selection of artists for round 2 of Artists on Main Street, funded by Rethos: Reimagined and Springboard for the Arts, with additional funding from the Bush Foundation.
- Approved the creation of a Northfield Arts and Culture Commission logo.
- In collaboration with the Complete Count Committee, juried artworks and installed the art in City Hall show “The Beauty of the Count”.
- Celebrated the installation of the 2019 1% for the Arts Public Art project Art Information Kiosk in February 2020.
I currently don’t have any connection with the Council that I know of, but knowing that one of their spots is always saved for a Carleton or St Olaf student, who are people I would expect policy makers to ignore because of our age, is actually great and makes me trust them more than I would other organizations.