GMRPTC Update: Happy Fall? More like welcome back to Summer!

Below is a message from GMRPTC Executive Director Renee Mattson. You can reach her at renee.mattson@gmrptcommission.org.

It is with great joy that I can report this month on the Minnesota Parks Artist in Residence (MNPAiR) pilot project with our partners at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Metropolitan Council Regional Parks. This is an amazing project two years in the making, and finally being able to say that it has launched is beyond exciting!

The MNPAiR program will bring an artist or artists to parks across Minnesota for 12 months, creating projects with each artist’s interpretation of Belonging. The DNR and Met Council systems will each have an artist in three of their parks. In Greater Minnesota, we chose to go bigger by having the artist(s) work in multiple parks in each of three districts: District 3, District 4, and District 6.

The MNPAiR artists will work with park staff to develop a program plan for each park that explores community and belonging over the next year. The program will focus on how the artists can serve as partners to—and ambassadors for—the parks, contributing ideas as well as art.

The cost of the program is paid for out of the Coordination Among Partners Fund—1% off the top of the Parks and Trails Legacy allocation goes into this partner fund annually. The intent is to spend the funds on collaborative projects that benefit the three systems and bring new users to the parks.

For Greater Minnesota, the parks and artists pairings are:

• District 3 – Granite Falls Memorial Park + Douglas County Lake Brophy Park
  • Artists Tammy Isfeld and John Sterner
• District 4 – Wright County Robert Ney Park + Sherburne County Two Inlets at Bde Hehaka – Omashkooz Zaaga’igaans Regional Park
  • Artist Lindsay Buck
• District 6 – Rochester Cascade Lake Park and Quarry Hill Nature Center + Olmsted County Oxbow Park and Chester Woods Park
  • Artist Cassandra Buck

We plan for the program to continue another year, which will provide an opportunity for an MNPAiR project in the remaining three Greater Minnesota districts.

As the program develops, we will provide regular updates on our website, so stay tuned!