On May 30, 2023 the MRAC board approved $1,383,358 in funding for the following 94 groups or organizations to receive grant awards in Round 2 of the Flexible Support grant program for FY23.

For Round 2 of Flexible Support, MRAC received 326 applications from all 7 counties in the region (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington). The total amount requested from groups was $4,210,866. Approximately 165 groups requested and received applicant services (i.e. meetings with MRAC staff, assistance via email, language support), and 160 applicants viewed the Grant Information Webinar and/or attended the program Q&A sessions. Grant guidelines and documents were provided in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and in accessible formats.

The Flexible Support grant provides up to $15,000 in funding to help groups create and sustain Minnesotans’ access to the arts. This program supports the production of artistic projects, and/or projects that strengthen the organizational capacity and operations of groups providing access to the arts. A portion of grant funds in Flexible Support is reserved specifically for groups whose Leadership is more than 50% people who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC); and/or disabled/people with disabilities; and/or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual/Agender, Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2+).

Awards are noted below by the county in which the organization is based.

Anoka County

10th Wave Chamber Music Collective
10thwave.org
$14,700.00
Funding to produce a collaborative music program featuring the traditional Korean Gayageum alongside 10th Wave musicians and chamber music repertoire by living composers of East Asian descent.

Rise
http://www.rise.org
$15,000.00
Funding for an accessible clay arts program for 32 adults with disabilities to increase community access, self-expression, and exposure to the therapeutic benefits of clay arts.

Carver County

Watertown-Mayer Community Education
http://www.wmcommunityed.com
$12,000.00
Funding to support Summer Youth Theatre in executing our annual seven-week youth theatre experience for approximately 60 students ages 10-18.

Dakota County

Bach Roots Festival
http://www.bachrootsfestival.com
$15,000.00
Funding for the 2024 Bach Roots Festival Emerging Artist Program, Family Concert, Bach & Brews, and Masterworks Concert Series.

Chione Quintet
http://www.chionequintet.org
$15,000.00
Funding to create, film, and share two live performances of an original musical story based on Yuyi Morales’s book “Dreamers”.

Eagan Parks and Recreation
http://www.eaganarthouse.org
$13,200.00
Funding to expand accessible outreach programming of digital art and traditional craft arts to underserved neighborhoods in Eagan.

International Friendship Through the Performing Arts
http://www.iftpausa.com/index.html
$15,000.00
Funding for a multicultural concert and 2 outreach events featuring top professional musicians performing on traditional instruments from China, India, and Venezuela, plus cello.

Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community
http://mendotadakota.com/mn/
$14,750.00
Funding for an indigenous arts and cultural exhibition. This will be the largest and most engaging indigenous arts experience in Minnesota. Additional funding budget to support operations.

SEA Echoes Through Rivers
https://seaechoes.wixsite.com/rivers
$15,000.00
Funding for a 3rd Annual Southeast Asian street theatre production.

South Saint Paul Arts Council
https://sites.google.com/view/sspartscouncil/home
$13,000.00
Funding to support a “Free Little Art Galleries” (FLAGs) project, outdoor gallery walk and monthly special events featuring local MN artists of all types in South St. Paul.

Hennepin County

AFOUTAYI HAITIAN DANCE, MUSIC, AND ARTS COMPANY
http://www.afoutayidmaco.com
$15,000.00
Funding to pay Afoutayi company lead artists and accompanying musicians, providing a financial backbone to further artistic creation, deepen artistic vision, and sustain organizational capacity.

Alive & Kickin
http://aliveandkickinmn.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support up to 20 Community Concerts in 2023-24, performed by participants in Seniors Rock Academy. Concerts will take place from June 2023-May 2024.

Analog Dance Works
http://www.analogdanceworks.org
$15,000.00
Funding for Analog Dance Works’ second project, ‘The Awe Factor’. Analog will present a series of roundtables, studio presentations, and an evening-length dance premiere June 2023-February 2024.

Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs
http://www.angelicacantanti.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support our new Glee Club Music Class for Singers in Grades 3 – 12 with Special Needs.

Art is my Weapon
$15,000.00
Funding for the Healing Heart Program that will address young people and families affected by gun, peer and community violence. Project will serve youth and families using art as a catalyst for change

Association of Sino-American Neocultural Exchange
$15,000.00
Funding to support an artistic and cultural event from 12 pm to 7 pm to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on the Picnic Island and Picnic Pavilion in the Phalen Regional Park.

Autism SIBS Universe
http://www.alapa-living.org
$15,000.00
Funding for poetry mentorships for neurodivergent learners age 13-21 at South Education Center in Richfield who will each write and publish books of poetry under the Unrestricted Interest imprint.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities
http://www.bigstwincities.org
$12,060.00
Funding to support BBBS Free Arts Artist Residencies with teens in partnership with community-based organizations and featuring documentary filmmaking by Film North.

Camp Masala
http://www.campmasala.org
$13,450.00
Funding for a south Asian heritage summer camp with the core mission to educate adopted south Asian children about their heritage and birth culture via exploration of south Asian arts.

CAPI USA
http://www.capiusa.org
$15,000.00
Funding for CAPI’s Twin Cities World Refugee Day event will provide a platform to publicly celebrate and uplift the 120,000+ refugees who are our neighbors.

Centro Tyrone Guzman
http://www.centromn.org/
$15,000.00
Funding to work with COPLA to hire 2 bilingual, bicultural artists to guide children and parents from our early learning program to design and create a mural on the Centro Tyrone Guzman building.

Chinese American Cultural and Friendship Association
$14,630.00
Funding to produce “Chinese Melodies,” a Chinese performing arts show that is open to anyone within or interested in the Chinese-American community.

Crossroads Panorama
http://www.crossroadspanorama.com
$15,000.00
Funding for “Scrooge in tha Hood,” a musical theater adaptation from the Dickens’ holiday classic with an urban twist, will be rewritten by director and founder Joyce Marrie and include new music.

Dance TV
gettheworlddancing.com
$15,000.00
Funding to design and create the scenic and costume elements for Dance TV’s 2023-2024 season.

DanceMN
http://www.dancemn.org
$15,000.00
Funding to 1) support the general operations for DanceMN, 2) gain a deeper knowledge of the DanceMN community, and 3) expand the DanceMN community.

DJ-U
dj-u.xyz
$15,000.00
Providing free/sliding scale space for BIPOC artists will create equity and accessibility during these times of need.

East Side Neighborhood Services
http://www.esns.org
$14,492.00
Funding for Creative Arts Therapy (CAT), the intentional use of artistic processes such as drama, art, or music to achieve therapeutic goals.

Emerging Curators Institute
emergingcurators.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support production for 2022-23 Emerging Curators Institute fellows’ public curatorial projects.

Fireweed Community Woodshop
https://www.fireweedwoodshop.org
$15,000.00
Funding for Fireweed Community Woodshop to build a solid foundation in our new woodshop through rent and tool and equipment purchases to deepen and expand safe, creative offerings for students.

Giving Voice Initiative
http://www.givingvoicechorus.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support the general operations of Giving Voice Initiative and help ensure continued access to high-quality arts programming through dementia-friendly chorus groups in the Twin Cities Area.

Heart of Dance
http://www.heartofdancemn.org
$15,000.00
Funding to provide Dancing Classrooms (DC) programming to fourth and fifth grade students at five Twin Cities elementary schools and to hold the annual Colors of the Rainbow Team Match (CORTM).

Indigenous Peoples Task Force
http://www.indigenouspeoplestf.org
$15,000.00
Funding for Stage Manager wages during the production and touring of the new play by Ikidowin Acting Ensemble.

J-HAP
http://www.j-hap.org
$13,805.00
Funding to provide arts and music programming for tenants at Cornerstone Creek, a low-income housing complex for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Kairos Alive!
http://www.kairosalive.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support engaging underserved elders and people with disabilities in 2-way interactive virtual music, dance, song and story experiences, in collaboration with partnering organizations.

Kalpulli Ketzalcoatlicue
$15,000.00
Funding for creation of a website, professional content for website, maintenance and electronic press kit for Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue

Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota
http://www.laocenter.org
$15,000.00
Funding for traditional & modern Lao refugee arts performances by Twin Cities-based emerging artists as we mark 40th anniversary of presenting Lao arts and culture programs

Memorialize The Movement
https://www.memorializethemovement.com/
$15,000.00
Funding for Memorialize the Movement’s monthly Paint to Express Workshops that promote creative expression and healing for BIPOC communities.

Minnesota Association of Community Theatres (MACT)
http://www.mact.net
$15,000.00
Funding to provide three days of workshops for community theatre participants, plus two intensive trainings for new audio describers, and a training for theatre captioners.

Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop
http://www.monkeybear.org
$15,000.00
Funding to hold our weeklong Puppet Performance Intensive, a few shorter puppetry workshops and rent for our space for part of the year.

MPLSART.COM
https://www.mplsart.com
$15,000.00
Funding to expand MPLSART.COM’s editorial capacity to provide more representative coverage of the Twin Cities visual arts community and cultivate more local arts writers.

New Arab American Theater Works
$15,000.00
Funding to support New Arab American Theater Works staged reading of three new short works by SWANA & Muslim Playwrights from our 2022 incubator series.

Off Broadway Musical Theatre, Inc.
http://www.obmt-newhope.org
$15,000.00
Funding to purchase lighting and sound equipment, allowing Off Broadway Musical Theatre to continue to provide high-quality, family-friendly performing arts opportunities to the residents of New Hope.

Pan Asian Arts Alliance
http://www.panasianartsalliance.org
$15,000.00
Seeking funding to purchase lighting equipment, in order to strengthen connections with Pan Asian Arts/Cultures through: 1) better performance, 2) expanding opportunity, and 3) access to new audience.

Praxis Photo Arts Center
https://www.praxisphotocenter.org
$15,000.00
Funding to improve visibility (localized community awareness of PPAC) & accessibility through updated visible signage to increase and direct visitor traffic to Praxis Photo Arts Center.

Reasons for Moving
$15,000.00
Reasons for Moving, an interdisciplinary, movement-based, and multilingual performance exploring the intergenerational scars of geopolitical displacement, followed by talkbacks with the community.

Sandbox Theatre
http://www.sandboxmn.org
$13,620.00
We seek funding for the Minneapolis launch of Trans Voices Cabaret, a celebration of trans and non-binary musical theatre performers with several productions across the country.

Sod House Theater
sodhousetheater.org
$15,000.00
Funding for Sod House Theater to develop/perform Leaving Time, a story of an interracial couple facing Alzheimer’s.  The production will tour memory care facilities in the Twin Cities.

Southeast Seniors, A Living at Home/Block Nurse Program
seseniors.org
$12,685.00
Funding for memoir writing classes where older adults will create 2-3 short written pieces about their lives in Minnesota which will be published in a book and recorded for a podcast.

SPARK theater + dance
http://www.sparktheater.com
$15,000.00
Funding for the production of a short film, and a community screening in conjunction with an all-ages music and movement workshop.

TaikoArts Midwest
http://www.taikoartsmidwest.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support TAM’s Community Taiko for BIPOC & LGBTQ+ Youth program will bring the vibrant, healing, and empowering artform of taiko with a focus on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth/homeless youth.

Taja Will Ensemble
$15,000.00
Funding for the Taja Will Ensemble’s technical residency (September ’23) and premiere of Dearest Liberator, DISASTER! DISASTER! DISASTER! at the Red Eye Theater, in April 2024

Tasks Unlimited, Inc.
https://tasksunlimited.org/
$15,000.00
Funding to partner with COMPAS to offer artist residencies in photography, weaving, and printmaking to provide adults with mental illness opportunities to access and maintain connection to the arts.

Telling Queer History
tellingqueerhistory.com
$15,000.00
Funding for storytelling events that center the history and lived experience of the Twin Cities’ LGBTQ+ community, plus art-centered gatherings reflecting the four storytelling events.

The DIAL Group
http://www.thedialgroup.org
$15,000.00
Funding to sustain our after-school digital media arts & service-learning program for under-served youths of color that provides greater arts access, leadership development, and communication skills.

The Park Theater Company
http://www.theparktheatercompany.com
$15,000.00
Funding for Park Theater to produce a documentary film about a cultural history of a predominantly black church and its relocation from St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood to a predominantly white suburb.

The Witness Project (at UROC)
facebook.com/witnesswriting
$14,980.00
Funding for a two-day Writers Academy, to include information tables, workshops, performances, and presentations, and to support seven workshops with themes paralleling those of the Writers Academy.

Threads Dance Project
http://www.threadsdance.org
$15,000.00
Funding this project, grounded in Langston Hughes’ famous poem, “Let America Be America Again”, will merge spoken word and dance highlighting the “America” that is and the “America” that should be.

UFG Project
http://www.tchorrorfestival.com/
$15,000.00
Funding for Twin Cities Horror Festival 12, an 11 day, juried, live-performance festival featuring original, horror-themed works in theater, dance, music, & more at the Crane Theater Oct 19-29, 2023.

We Win Institute, Inc.
http://www.we-win.org
$15,000.00
Funding for WE WIN Institute’s Community Chakula, which teaches the importance of reading, using Black books and art as a vehicle to strengthen literacy for Black children in Minneapolis.

Z-Fest
http://www.z-fest.com
$12,000.00
Funding for Z-Fest’s fifteenth annual film experience, to be held March 15, 16, & 17th, and April 12th of 2024 to promote, elevate and showcase Minnesota-produced short films.

zAmya Theater Project
https://www.zamyatheater.org/
$15,000.00
Funding to support salary for an Operations Manager in 2023 and 2024

Ziggy’s Art Bus
http://www.ziggysartbus.org
$15,000.00
Funding for general operating expenses to help Ziggy’s Art Bus continue to serve children with life-threatening illnesses and their families and provide them with free, joyful art experiences.

Ramsey County

(Neo)Muralismos de México
https://www.instagram.com/neomuralismos.mn/
$15,000.00
Funding for start-up, partnership-building, and “place-seeding” costs associated with Organizational Capacity and Operations activities (networking, community engagement, community meetings, etc).

30,000 Feet
$15,000.00
Funding will support 30,000 Feet’s capacity to hire an Arts Program Manager. This position will support the expansion of our arts programming to serve and empower more Black youth in East Saint Paul.

All of the Above
$15,000.00
Funding for new, multi-disciplinary theater company All of the Above to create a performance that explores the loss of a parent through a queer lens that will premiere in spring 2024.

Arcata Press dba Saint Paul Almanac
http://www.saintpaulalmanac.org
$15,000.00
Funding to amplify skills, equity responsiveness, and impact of our historic grassroots Community Editors program.

Borikén Cultural Center
borikenmn.org
$15,000.00
This grant will support a 6-week arts and music program and will allow us to hire a program coordinator and consultant to help us expand our organizational capacity.

BRKFST Dance Company
http://www.brkfstdance.com
$15,000.00
Funding for “Undercurrent” will provide BRKFST Dance Company with the resources to generate material, uninhibited by time and create a new work which will premiere at The Cowles Center in April 2024.

ComMUSICation
https://www.commusicationmn.org/
$15,000.00
Funding to support the launch of an afterschool choir program for High School aged youth to explore singing and the development of socio-emotional and leadership skills through music

Contempo Physical Dance
http://contempophysicaldance.org/
$15,000.00
Funding to commission a Latinx choreographer from within the United States to create a new full-length work and offer a series of community workshops in a four week residency in Minnesota.

East Side Neighborhood Development Company
https://esndc.org/
$15,000.00
Funding for the Uniquely Eastside Fall Festival, a cultural arts festival that brings art to the community to address justice and equity and celebrates the rich diversity of the Eastside of St. Paul.

Frogtown Tuned-In
http://www.wfnu.org
$15,000.00
Funding for rent  and staff expenses in our new, accessible WFNU studio.

Funny Asian Women Kollaborative (FAWK)
https://www.fawkollective.com/
$15,000.00
Funding to produce two comedy shows: 1) “The 20-Year Curse” and 2) “The Blessed Show” that will feature Asian American women comedy storytellers.

I A.M. Arts
http://www.iamartss.com
$13,986.00
Funding for arts workshops by Trinidadian artist, Jamie Philbert: movement/dance, writing, storytelling, and Minnesota history – woven together through technologies of the African Caribbean archive.

Karen Organization of Minnesota
http://www.mnkaren.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support a collective of Karen textile weavers in the St. Paul area to hold weekly gatherings for master weavers and to lead after-school programs for Karen youth in grades 6-12.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
https://www.lssmn.org/services/youth-homelessness/twin-cities
$15,000.00
Funding to increase access to art for youth experiencing homelessness via multidisciplinary workshops, co-created by youth in LSS Metro Homeless Youth Services programs and COMPAS Teaching Artists.

Merrick, Inc.
http://www.merrickinc.org
$15,000.00
Funding for “The Art of Me at Merrick, Inc,” an interactive art workshop for 15 adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities to create and stage an original performance with Upstream Arts.

Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health
http://www.macmh.org/fidgety-fairy-tales
$15,000.00
Funding to do fifteen touring performances of  “Sleeping Handsome & The Tortoise and the Hare – Two Musicals about Depression” at sites throughout the Twin Cities.

Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society
https://mnchinagarden.org
$15,000.00
Funding to offer Arts Activities to Celebrate the Opening of the New Hmong Plaza and 35 Years of Sister-City Friendship & Cultural Healing at the Phalen China Garden.

Mizna
http://www.mizna.org
$12,000.00
Funding for Mizna’s sixteenth edition of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival.

MN HARD BOP COLLECTIVE
$15,000.00
Funding for weekly jazz concerts featuring African American HBJ Composers. Each concert features different top Twin City professional Jazz musicians.  Each concert features a different HBJ composer.

NEW DAWN THEATRE COMPANY
newdawntheatre.org
$15,000.00
Funding to support New Dawn Theatre’s development of a one-woman play festival that includes original work by Twin Cities’ artists Jamecia Bennett, Thomasina Petrus, Kymani Queen and Jonatha Brooke.

Opera Reading Project
http://www.operareadingproject.com
$15,000.00
Funding will support our regular season expenses between June 2023 – June 2024, including staff pay, guest artists and audio/video event production.

Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute
http://www.ppgjli.org
$15,000.00
Funding for MN Black History Writing Competition will support the training of Black literary artists and the publishing of a culturally authentic children’s book that features a MN Black leader

Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective
http://www.twincitiesiranianculturefestival.com
$15,000.00
Funding for the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective Fall Festival, including music, dance, speakers and other programming to share Iranian art and culture with the broader Minnesota public.

Wingspan Life Resources
http://www.wingspanlife.org
$15,000.00
Funding for nine artist groups thru Compas from different cultures to teach and perform for approximately 60+ minutes for our clients with developmental disabilities and their accompanying staff.

Young Dance, Inc.
http://www.youngdance.org
$15,000.00
Funding for Mind:Body, Young Dance’s 2023-24 season centering health and wellness in fostering individual, organizational, and community growth and healing.

Zeitgeist
http://www.zeitgeistnewmusic.org
$15,000.00
Funding for STUDIO Z PRESENTS, an aesthetically diverse experimental music series that showcases musicians in the Twin Cities and welcomes audiences and artists back to live performing at Studio Z.

Scott County

APIA MN Film Collective
http://www.apiamnfilm.com
$15,000.00
Funding to provide a workshop series on how to navigate the film and TV world for Asian American artists in Minnesota.

Washington County

Lao Culture Dance and Fashion Show, LLC
http://www.laoculturedancefashionmn.com
$15,000.00
Funding for this project is to train students in classical Lao dances to be perform in traditional Lao cultural festival events.

St. Croix Valley Opera
https://scvopera.org
$15,000.00
Funding for St. Croix Valley Opera’s 5th Annual Opera on the River Festival

StoryArk
storyark.org
$15,000.00
Funding for a three week storytelling music camp for 24 secondary students to gain lyrical and musical skills to express their own stories through music and share their songs at the StoryArk Festival

The Belwin Conservancy
http://www.belwin.org
$13,000.00
Funding supports Music in the Trees, a two-day musical event featuring a diverse array of musicians playing from tree stands in the pines. Art and environment intersect in a unique musical experience.