Arts Midwest

Filing Period

Jul 1, 2009 to Jun 30, 2010

Signed

Feb 10, 2011

Return Version

2009v1.7

Gross Receipts

$8,269,149

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

LITERARY ARTSThe third of three programs that Arts Midwest manages for the National Endowment for the Arts is The Big Read, which is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture by supporting community-wide reading programs throughout the U.S. This national program provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities. The initiative includes innovative reading programs in selected cities and towns, comprehensive resources for discussing classic literature and an extensive Web site providing comprehensive information on authors and their works.Each community event lasts approximately one month and includes a kick-off event to launch the program locally, ideally attended by the mayor and other local luminaries; major events devoted specifically to the book (panel discussions, author reading, and the like); events using the book as a point of departure (film screenings, theatrical readings, and so forth); and book discussions in diverse locations and aimed at a wide range of audiences. In 2009-2010, 267 nonprofits, including arts, culture, and science organizations; libraries; and municipalities received grants totaling $3.7 million to host Big Read celebrations between September 2009 and June 2010. The 2009-2010 Big Read grantees represent 44 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each community focused on one of 31 featured books, which included such well-known titles as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.Arts Midwest continues to manage The Big Read Egypt/U.S., a collaborative Global Cultural Initiative project of the U.S. Department of State and the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. It is designed to deepen cultural understanding and dialogue between Egyptians and Americans through the transformative power of literature.

Activity 3

SPECIAL PROJECTSArts Midwest also manages several special projects funded by private foundations. The Arts Learning Xchange is a four-year program designed to foster growth in public arts attendance and to identify, develop, and share useful lessons to help arts organizations reach more people. Funded by The Wallace Foundation and in collaboration with Minnesota Community Foundation, arts learning Xchange brings experts in audience participation to the Twin Cities for public presentations, provides advanced training and grants to selected organizations, and will offer opportunities for Twin Cities arts leaders to attend a national conference on arts marketing and participation. ArtsLab is a three-year capacity-building program whose purpose is to strengthen smaller arts organizations in Minnesota through an in-depth organizational assessment process, quarterly peer learning gatherings, one-on-one consultative support, distance learning, and modest operational support grants. The program has two peer groups - one in Minneapolis/St. Paul, one in rural Minnesota - of eight nonprofit arts organizations each that learn together, share best practices, and receive support to strengthen their organizational infrastructure. ArtsLab is funded by the Bush Foundation, F. R. Bigelow Foundation, Mardag Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and The Saint Paul Foundation.Arts Midwest also began planning, in collaboration with our fellow Regional Arts Organizations, for a program for Americans to experience the diverse artistic expressions and cultures of Muslim societies. Funded through a planning grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, we began envisioning a series of community-based, cross-sector cultural engagement programs that featuring art and artists from the world's diverse Muslim cultures that will 1) introduce to American audiences some of the most exciting and dynamic artists from the Muslim world, 2) enhance Americans' knowledge of the diverse cultures present in today's Muslim societies, and 3) advance mutual understanding among all program participants and audiences.

Filer

EIN

41-1000424