Bright Stars

SMAHC
Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council

Charting the Impact of the Arts in Rural Minnesota

Greater Minnesota's communities are coping with economic challenges and a declining population by reinventing themselves. A new report about the arts in rural Minnesota finds that, for many towns, the tools of the reinvention are the arts and artists. The report confirms that the arts act as invaluable communication tools, economic drivers, and vital cultural links with the rest of Minnesota, the nation, and the world.

Bright Stars: Charting the Impact of the Arts in Rural Minnesota is published by The McKnight Foundation and was developed in partnership with Creation In Common in St. Paul, a firm dedicated to facilitating creative discourse and communication in order to strengthen communities. The stories featured in Bright Stars are examples of how the arts are playing a critical role in maintaining the traditional vitality of rural Minnesota. Highlights include:

· Community leadership and civic engagement took the north-central town of New York Mills from a bleak economic outlook and business closings to its current standing as a national role model for innovative rural economic development.

· Artists, business owners and community leaders from 40 miles around the southwest town of Montevideo held a three-day traveling arts festival that brought visitors from over 100 cities in 13 states to see the area's art, business, and natural beauty-and established a unique niche for regional arts development and patronage

The arts have long been thought of as cultural and economic fixtures of urban-and increasingly suburban-communities. In rural communities, however, the growth of arts programs can actually make the difference between a small town surviving or thriving.

To receive a copy of Bright Stars: Charting the Impact of the Arts in Rural Minnesota, please call SMAHC at 1-800-622-5284 or go to http://www.mcknight.org/brightstars/

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