A small group of Crookston leaders have announced the receipt of a $5,000 grant to cover the cost of “Artspace,” the national non-profit housing developer, to come to Crookston for a two-day visit on April 14-15.
The grant comes from the Laura Jane Musser Fund, http://www.musserfund.org/index.php, which seeks to encourage collaborative and participatory efforts among citizens in rural communities that will help to strengthen their towns and regions in a number of civic areas including, but not limited to, economic development, business preservation, arts and humanities, public space improvements, and education. The Fund places priority on projects that:
• Bring together a broad range of community members and institutions
• Provide the opportunity for diverse community members to work together
• Contain measurable short term outcomes within the first 12 to 18 months
• Include community members actively in all phases of the process
• Work toward an outcome of positive change within their community
Artspace has a goal of providing preliminary feedback about the feasibility of creating a major multi-purpose arts facility development.
There are five areas of consideration:
• Project Concept
• Market Need
• Site Suitability
• Potential to Fund and Sustain a Project
• Local Leadership
The visit will include a tour of community and potential sites/buildings including the Palace/Wayne Hotel, an interactive community presentation, artists and arts organization focus group meeting, finance leadership focus group and public meeting, a civic leadership focus group and other meetings, working lunches and dinners to be arranged.
The main purpose is to help Crookston understand the space needs of artists and arts organizations including economic considerations. Artspace will provide an executive summary of their findings for potential development in Crookston within 30 days of completion of the visit. This could result in the possible redevelopment of one or a number of historic Crookston structures.
The grant follows an earlier “Legacy” grant award of $7,000, which is to be used to study the reuse of the Cathedral building as a possible center for the arts.
Your participation and comments are important to the success of their visit. You can comment, and follow the project at www.ourcrookston.blogspot.com and/or contact any one of the core group: Dan Johanneck, Wayne Melbye, Joyce Johnson, Sandy Kegler, Sonja Spaeth, Jim Kent, or Kay Hegge.
