East Grand Forks (MN) Middle School choral teacher Donovan Hanson shares his first-year efforts within the public school system and the help that the NWMAC has given the public school system through a recent grant.

University of North Dakota professor Virgil Benoit secured an Arts Legacy grant from the NWMAC to sponsor a French Canadian band and dance group from Winnipeg to perform at a French Canadian Metis Music and Dance Festival (AFRAN). That event is annual and is held the fourth weekend in August.

The group performed musical numbers and vocals that are traditional and contemporary among musicians of French Canada and their audiences in both Canada and the United States. Their performances were introduced with background pertinent to the group’s style, its musical instruments, and the place the songs and music hold in the Canadian, French-Canadian and Metis communities where the group plays and draws its inspiration.

Benoit discusses the history of the French in the northern United Sates and why history is relevant today.”

NWMAC Executive Director Mara Hanel discusses the upcoming NWMAC Spring Art Exhibit in Halstad, MN, deadlines for nominating artists to receive art awards and cash and Arts Advocacy Day at the state legislature in St. Paul.

Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) Board member Eryn Gee Killough is a teaching specialist at the University of Minnesota’s Crookston campus. She discusses her duties as a board member, the role and impact of the NWMAC in the region and her love of teaching.

Music Director Brad Thompson of the Tri-County School in Karlstad, Minnesota discusses the benefits of grant funding from the NWMAC in achieving a higher level of success for the school’s students…….through music.