2023 Cultural STAR Awards

(Neo)Muralismos de México
Chiapas - Minnesota Residency and 10,000 Alebrijes
$30,000

(Neo)Muralismos de México, a Saint Paul-based nonprofit focused on Mexican and Latino public art, seeks support for two programs:

• Chiapas - Minnesota Residency: Visiting artist program for painters from Chiapas, Mexico, who will present art and share indigenous Maya Tzotzil culture
• 10,000 Alebrijes: Community workshop series to co-create "Alebrije" art, and residency for visiting artists from Mexico City

113
Lowertown Improv Series
$10,000

113 seeks support for a series of nine community-oriented concerts led by a diverse roster of local and traveling musicians, with emphases on free and guided improvisation, invented instruments, noise, free jazz and audience participation. 113's project goal is to offer a platform for diverse artists working in mediums with little or no institutional support.

African Economic Development Solutions
2023 Little Africa Fest and Parade
$20,233

The Little Africa annual festival and parade advance a vibrant Little Africa cultural business district. Cultural STAR funding is important to attract other funding sources. Through its Cultural STAR funding, the City of Saint Paul has been supporting the Little Africa annual festival for many years, increasing our capacity to produce festivals and parades and leverage other funding sources.

Ananya Dance Theatre
Digital Infrastructure to Build the Future
$20,233

Ananya Dance Theatre will engage Next in Nonprofits to design, build and implement two digital tools: a constituent relationship management (CRM) system and the digital infrastructure to support a new communications strategy. From October 2023 to July 2024, consultants will work with staff/board to build mission-aligned efficiencies that support long-term organizational sustainability.

Art from the Inside
Supportive Arts Programming
$22,232

Art from the Inside (AFTI) elevates the voices of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists in Minnesota through community-centered exhibitions of their art. We will pilot supportive arts programming centered on healing and our collective power to transform. A special focus this cycle will be centered on engaging youth as we re-imagine a paradigm for community safety through the arts.

Asian Economic Development Association
2024 Little Mekong Night Market
$20,235

The Little Mekong Night Market street festival will be held June 22-23, 2024 at University Avenue and Western Avenue. The night market celebrates Saint Paul's cultural diversity; provides Southeast Asian art & cultural performances, offers food and retail experiences; and provides Southeast Asian artists and vendors and Little Mekong businesses revenue-generating opportunities. Cultural STAR will help bring back this beloved street festival after four years of cancellation.

Bach Society of Minnesota
Bach Society Mobile Mini-Concerts
$12,560

Mobile Mini-Concerts are free 15-minute outdoor pop-ups by solo musicians in neighborhoods across Saint Paul.

Our goal is to introduce new audiences to classical music in ways that enliven community life.

STAR will support over 100 mobile mini-concerts in 35 neighborhoods from September 2023 to June 2024, with two multi-performer, culminating concerts in Central Village Park and the Lowertown Farmers Market.

Ballet Minnesota
Minnesota Dance Festival
$10,000

Funding to support the 34th Annual Minnesota Dance Festival, the largest annual gathering of young dancers and professional dance artists in the upper Midwest, taking place in Saint Paul. Minnesota dance artists and audiences will be artistically inspired and challenged through performances, education and exchange.

Cantus
Cantus and Canadian Brass: In Concert
$10,000

Cantus will host international brass quintet, Canadian Brass, for a once-in-a-lifetime collaborative concert at the Ordway Concert Hall in February 2024. This concert will provide access to virtuosic artistic quality and a message about international collaboration to Saint Paul residents and attract visitors to the Saint Paul cultural district.

Chinese American Association of Minnesota Chinese Dance Theater
Engaging Audiences at Lunar New Year
$7,000

Funding for new marketing efforts to recover and increase audiences after COVID, for the Chinese American Association of Minnesota Chinese Dance Theater's hallmark dance program created each year to celebrate the Lunar New Year at the O'Shaughnessy.

Chinese American Association of Minnesota Chinese Dance Theater
Exploring Chinese Legends with Young Audiences
$30,000

Working to bridge cultural gaps, increase racial equity and encourage access, CAAM Chinese Dance Theater will create an original live performance and interactive program at Landmark Center in Downtown Saint Paul based on a Chinese legend ("Nezha's Amazing Underwater Adventures") to serve primarily young audiences through their schools and other programs during Asian Heritage Month.

CLUES (Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio)
Fiesta Latina 2023
$20,000

CLUES intends to use Cultural STAR project funding for festival celebrations of Latinx artistic and cultural heritage and tradition during our Fiesta Latina for National Hispanic Heritage Month at our Saint Paul CLUES building. This free event brought over 3,500 people to Saint Paul last year.

COLLIDE Theatrical Dance Company
Wonderland School Tour
$22,000

This grant will support nine free performances of "Wonderland," our educational show on mental health, for Saint Paul schools serving diverse student populations, as well as a public community show. Our goal is to open up conversations about mental health and offer valuable resources for help. The shows will positively impact up to 2,000 people: approximately 1,850 students and 200 community members.

Como Community Council
D10 Como Community Events Diversity Programming
$8,500

Our project will increase diverse vendor representation at the Como Community Council's five annual community events. This funding will allow us to more publicly celebrate the growing diversity of our neighborhood by hiring a representative group of performers and artists. This project will increase the sense of welcome at our community events and within our organization, for all of our neighbors.

COMPAS
Emerging Young Artists
$12,000

COMPAS will curate an exhibit to showcase exceptional 2D & 3D visual art by Saint Paul and East Metro middle and high school students. The exhibit will be open to the public for 2-3 weeks in March 2024 and include events to invite a diverse audience to attend. STAR funding will underwrite staff and artists' pay to curate the show and lead workshops; space rental; marketing; and accessibility costs.

Compassionate Action for Animals
Music at 2023 Twin Cities Veg Fest
$8,900

Funding from Cultural STAR will bring audiences to hear music in downtown St. Paul, enable musicians to share their music with new audiences, and give audiences access to musical experiences they would not otherwise be able to access.

Consortium Carissimi
Introducing Paolo Costa's Organ to Saint Paul with Monteverdi
$10,989

Our project is two-fold: 1) Bring to Saint Paul, MN, and introduce, permanently, an exquisite portative hand-crafted Italian organ, unique among local instruments; and 2) Introduce this instrument with a performance of Monteverdi's great collection Selva morale e spirituale - which translates as 'moral and spiritual forest.' Performances will occur April-June 2024 at venues described below.

Creative Enterprise Zone
2023 Chroma Zone and Art Festival
$15,000

Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival is an annual celebration (September 14-16, 2023) of artistry and community that connects people to place, advances creative and economic development through tours and events, and ensures representation by BIPOC, Women, Queer and Nonbinary artists with the commission of outdoor public murals in Saint Paul's Creative Enterprise Zone (South Saint Anthony Park).

District 6 Planning Council
2023 Marydale Festival
$5,000

Marydale Festival is in its seventh year. The festival is held on the fourth Saturday in September and at Marydale Park (542 Maryland Avenue). An annual event such as Marydale Festival can be especially effective in a community with great social, ethnic and economic diversity.

East Side Freedom Library
Digital repository for community connection
$20,233

Creating a digital repository of cultural information at the East Side Freedom Library to augment community connection, organizing, and collective action in the community. Access to these materials will improve understanding and outcomes for the diverse communities of Saint Paul, focusing on materials previously unavailable in digital formats.

Face to Face Health & Counseling Service, Inc
Arts Programming at SafeZone
$35,000

Our proposed project is Arts Programming at SafeZone, our day shelter for youth experiencing homelessness. The intent is to provide creative, therapeutic opportunities for expression for under-resourced young people, so that they can pursue their creative aspirations. Prior funding allowed us to expand the program to include multiple art forms and we are seeking funding to continue these offerings.

FilmNorth
Studio Thirteen
$5,000

FilmNorth requests funding to support Studio Thirteen, an intensive lab for talented creative youths who are interested in honing their filmmaking skills. Studio Thirteen will take place three days a week from September 26 through December 21, 2023 at FilmNorth in the Creative Enterprise Zone in Saint Paul. Cultural STAR funds will be used to bring in guest artists and ensure the lab is free.

Full Circle Theater Company
Full Circle’s Production of ANON(YMOUS) presented at Park Square Theatre
$35,000

Full Circle's production of ANON(YMOUS) by Naomi Iizuka, directed by Stephanie Lein Walseth, at Park Square Theatre, November 2-19, 2023. Based on Homer's Odyssey, ANON(YMOUS) will illuminate the many refugee and asylum seeker crises around the globe, as it follows the harrowing journey of a mother and son. STAR funds will support professional theater artists and accessibility costs.

Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies
Harmony
$20,000

Harmony is an extra-curricular year-round strings program that transforms low-income BIPOC students' lives by creating long-term access to music. Funding would support instruction for 2nd - 5th grade Harmony participants at Riverview Spanish/English Dual Immersion School (Saint Paul) and costs for Harmony alumni (6th - 12th grade) to participate in lessons and GTCYS' orchestras as they progress.

Historic Saint Paul Corporation
Theory of Change
$18,250

Historic Saint Paul respectfully requests funding to complete a Theory of Change and resulting workplan. As historic preservation evolves into a more diverse, community-involved endeavor, this effort is crucial for our future Historic Saint Paul is the only preservation group focused on Saint Paul, and we are excited to more fully demonstrate the effects that the city's histories and stories have on its culture.

Hmong Cultural Center of Minnesota
2024 Minnesota Qeej and Hmong Arts Festival
$30,000

Hmong Cultural Center will host the 2024 Minnesota Qeej and Hmong Arts Festival at Landmark Center on June 2, 2024, involving a Sunday of comprehensive daylong programming to educate Hmong & non-Hmong about the Qeej instrument and other Hmong art forms including traditional musical instruments and dance.

Illusion Theater and School, Inc.
IN THIS MOMENT…NOW: Illusion Theater in Saint Paul
$20,000

Illusion requests $20,000 to help pay artist & ADA expenses to produce IN THIS MOMENT NOW (ITMN) for 3 weeks at the Lowry Lab in Downtown Saint Paul during Spring 2024. Led by renowned African American artists, T. Mychael Rambo & Amiee Bryant, ITMN features Black artists who share their views on how theater, spoken word, dance and song serve our community as we continue to deal with systemic racism.

In Progress
The Collective
$12,704

THE COLLECTIVE is a digital arts project that provides mentorship, access and presentation opportunities to developing artists that face barriers to participation due to cultural, social and economic barriers. Activities take place in the North End neighborhood, with exhibitions extending to City Hall and State Capitol. Funding supports mentorship, participant goal planning and exhibit activities.

Indian Music Society of Minnesota (IMSOM)
IMSOM presents virtuosos Kaushiki and Ambi
$20,000

IMSOM will present a special duet concert to commence their 45th season, featuring the sensational young virtuosos, Kaushiki Chakraborty (Vocal) with Ambi Subramaniam (Violin).

The concert is expected to enthrall an estimated 600 attendees and raise IMSOM's profile in the Twin Cities cultural landscape as it furthers its mission to bring people and cultures together through musical offerings.

Indigenous Roots
Intertribal Cultural Corridor Mural Expansion
$20,233

We are planning on creating a series of murals on the side of the building at 781 Hope Street and the Indigenous Roots Arts and Cultural Center. These murals will become part of our initiative to highlight the 7th Street Intertribal Cultural Corridor and raise a sense of ownership and representation within the community.

Irish Fair of Minnesota
Irish Fair of Minnesota
$35,000

Each August, Irish Fair of Minnesota (IFM) hosts a three-day arts and culture festival on Harriet Island intended to immerse our attendees in Irish culture. We offer popular and traditional Irish music, dance, history, sports, cuisine and more. Our event attracts 30,000+ people. Cultural STAR funds are used to ensure high quality programming and an enhanced guest experience.

Lower Phalen Creek Project (dba Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi)
Wakan Tipi Center - Star Map Exhibit
$22,232

WTA is requesting support for the design, fabrication and installation of a Dakota Star map for the main gathering hall at the new Wakan Tipi Center. Minnesota is the ancestral homeland of the Dakota people, numerous sites hold sacred significance representing Dakota spiritual beliefs and cosmology.

Minnesota Hard Bop Collective
The MetroNOME Jazz Mentorship Project
$30,000
 

The MetroNOME Jazz Mentorship Program aims to provide a formal opportunity for music students to perform with and learn directly from professional musicians at the MetroNOME (Nourishing Outstanding Music Education) Stage from November 2023 to June 2024. This will provide students with performance skills and confidence building that is not available in the classroom or open mic jam sessions.

Minnesota Museum of American Art
Lambert's Landing Mural Re-envisioning Project
$35,000

The M will support artist Seitu Jones in the process of restoring "Confluence," an important public mural the artist mounted along Lambert's Landing in 1986. The work has fallen into disrepair, while the site along the Mississippi has become an encampment for the unhoused. This project will take place August 2023 - July 2024, and will involve re-envisioning "Confluence" for today's communities.

Minnesota Museum of American Art
Seitu Jones Retrospective
$22,226

The M seeks funding for an artist residency for Seitu Jones to prepare an immersive exhibition featuring his multi-faceted, community-based work that pushes beyond traditional art spaces. Seitu will collaborate with Black archivists and co-curators Alexandra Nicome and Ego Ahalwe Sowinski and the M's curator, Laura Joseph, on a community-based archival process to inform the exhibition.

Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Music Month Showcase
$35,000

MPR's The Current will host a Minnesota Music Month showcase in downtown Saint Paul and adjoining neighborhoods in April 2024. We envision hosting one event per weekend for four weeks, starting on April 5 and ending on or about April 28. Funds will make it possible to bring 12-16 of the best local bands and a buzzy atmosphere to venues and businesses in the cultural district.

Minnesota Transportation Museum
African American Railway Workers Exhibit
$20,233

Add to the cultural identity of Saint Paul by exhibiting the legacy of early 20th century African American railway workers who worked at Union Depot, as porters on the trains, supported and educated their families, and helped build the cultural and economic fabric of Saint Paul. The project will create a permanent home for this exhibit at the Jackson Street Roundhouse which was unveiled early in 2023.

Minnesota Vietnamese Language School
Lunar New Year (Tet) Celebration
$14,500

The Lunar New Year (Tet) Celebration is a free event at Washington Technology Magnet School in Saint Paul on January 27, 2024. Tet is the pinnacle celebration of Vietnamese culture, and the goal is to promote Vietnamese culture and diversity through cultural performance and artistry. Cultural STAR funding would expand programming, outreach, access, and inclusion to a wider audience.

Mizna
Publishing Mizna: SWANA Literature and Art
$30,000

Mizna is seeking support for the publication of two issues of our award-winning literary journal, "Mizna: Southwest Asian Literature + Art," one of which will be a special Cinema Issue, and the other will feature a tribute to Baya, the overlooked early 20th-century Algerian painter whose work was coopted by Picasso and other modernist artists.

One Voice Mixed Chorus
The Art of Joy at the Ordway Concert Hall
$25,000

One Voice will perform "The Art of Joy" at the Ordway Concert Hall during Saint Paul Pride Weekend, June 22-23, 2024. Featuring music and performances by LGBTQ artists, "Joy" will celebrate One Voice's 35th Anniversary Season, and spotlight the role Joy plays in binding together the multidimensional and intersectional queer community.

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Ordway's Flint Hills Family Festival
$35,000

For four days next spring, the Ordway's 2024 Flint Hills Family Festival will transform Rice Park and the downtown Saint Paul area. In part, our goal is to provide an exceptional, positive arts experience for schools and families. Funding will support our ability to host 2 outdoor and 2 indoor stages, and a wide range of interactive arts experiences-highlighting over 200 artists from varied cultures.

Penumbra Theatre
Flex
$20,233

The goal of this project is to enhance, explore, express, and celebrate Black culture through a series of interdisciplinary activities combining arts and athletics including: the regional premiere of the play FLEX, a fellowship for young creative professionals, an arts-driven youth basketball clinic, an intergenerational panel discussion, and student matinees.

Ragamala Dance Company
Children of Dharma: Interactive Workshop & Community Conversation Series
$25,000

To create an original six-month Interactive Workshop and Community Conversation Series hosted by multiple partner venues in the Saint Paul Cultural Corridor, in alignment with our new multi-disciplinary production Children of Dharma, premiering January 2024. The Series will incorporate live performances & engagements to address critical issues of culture & identity impacting our local communities today.

Rhythmically Speaking
Rhythmically Speaking presents: CHILL - The Entire Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack, Played Live and Danced!
$6,352

CHILL is a crowd-favorite evening of original jazz dance works, set to the "Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack and played live by the Nordeast Jazz Band. The show - being held 12/1/23 - 12/3/23 at the space of long-time partner Amsterdam Bar & Hall - will add vibrancy to downtown Saint Paul during the holidays, and STAR funding will help us compensate the artists at the center of the project.

Saint Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation
Bringing Us Together Again at Rondo Night
$9,538

The Saint Paul Winter Carnival saw great success bringing the community together through Rondo Night as part of the annual festival in 2023. We are again requesting funding to pay for artists, performers, and educational experiences. The purpose of the project is to celebrate the diversity and vibrancy of the Rondo community of Saint Paul as we come together at the Coolest Celebration on Earth.

Saint Paul Public Library
Saint Paul Public Library Collections Materials
$175,000

Saint Paul Public Library uses Cultural STAR funds to purchase a wide range of cultural & art materials for patrons across the City to borrow. Materials are purchased in multiple formats for all age groups including books, DVDs, CDs & online access. These funds expand the cultural reach of more authors of color, local authors, debut & self-published authors, & ensure a broader range of stories & voices are represented.

Six Points Theater
TORCH SONG by Harvey Fierstein
$13,950

TORCH SONG, a comedy about a Jewish drag queen, will be produced to increase understanding and tolerance, and will enlarge SPT's LGBTQIA+ audience. It will run May 4-19 in Highland Park Community Center. Several free/open to the public programs ("Doorways") will complement the play. Funding will enable SPT to hire top actors, appropriately compensated, and have design elements with high artistry.

Sounds of Hope, Ltd.
Songs of Hope Downtown Concert
$9,000

In the upcoming summer of 2024, building on the success of last year's first efforts, we intend to continue looking for new Songs of Hope audiences in the downtown area. STAR funding will help support a concert within the Cultural District in Wacouta Commons, a small, attractive, and underutilized City park near the corner of West Seventh and Wacouta Street.

Springboard for the Arts
Springboard on Ice: Artist-Led Creative Programming in Saint Paul’s Frogtown/Rondo communities
$15,000

Cultural STAR funds will support "Springboard on Ice", a series of artist-led performances and programming hosted on a pop-up outdoor ice rink at Springboard's University Avenue location (winter 2024). With partner Brownbody, we will bring culturally responsive creative programming to Saint Paul residents who do not have access to and who frequently do not see themselves represented on the ice.

TaikoArts Midwest
TaikoArts Midwest International Taiko Concert
$35,000

TaikoArts Midwest will produce an international collaborative concert at the Ordway concert stage on May 12, 2023. Performers include local taiko favorite, Enso Daiko, and special guest artists, Yuichi Kimura & Daichi no Kai (Taiko group from Kobe, Japan), and Japanese folk tenten (vocals/shamisen from Toronto, Canada). We are making Saint Paul and international center of excellence for taiko arts.

Ten Thousand Things
Free Performance Series in Saint Paul
$15,000

Ten Thousand Things (TTT) will increase arts access by presenting 12 free theater shows in 2024 in partnership with: St. Paul Opportunity Center; Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists; Episcopal Homes senior facilities; Ramsey County Corrections; Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts; Dellwood Gardens; Black Youth Healing Arts Center; Avalon School; and MSS.

The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library
2024 Minnesota Book Awards
$7,068

The Minnesota Book Awards connects thousands of readers and writers in MN through the stories of their neighbors. The program, in its 36th year, identifies and celebrates the best books by MN writers over the past year through a judging process, awards ceremony, and events showcasing finalists and winners. Cultural STAR funding would support expenses for the awards ceremony and panel discussions.

The Great Northern Winter Festival
Tunde Olaniran
$19,056

TGN will present events featuring Tunde Olaniran, a multidisciplinary artist from Flint, MI. In addition to a concert at Amsterdam, the festival will share a screening of their film Made A Universe followed by an artist conversation. Olaniran's work draws on their intersectional identities as a Black and queer person. STAR funding will make the project possible.

The Saint Paul Conservatory of Music
The Saint Paul Chamber Music Festival at MetroNOME Brewery
$9,528

SPCM seeks Cultural Star funding to support four free public concerts at MetroNOME Brewing in Lowertown, as part of our new Saint Paul Chamber Music Festival. These performances will feature nationally renowned professional musicians and SPCM faculty and students in an accessible, informal setting for audiences of all ages.

The Schubert Club
Schubert Club Mix presents Shruthi Rajasekar and Friends
$10,000

Shruthi Rajasekar & Friends- Sunday, February 18, 2024, Ordway Concert Hall. Rajasekar curates a concert celebrating South Asian arts and culture in Minnesota.  Fusing western classical and Carnatic music, it includes a new work by Rajasekar, script, film, dance and food samples.  Dual goals are to elevate the visibility of local South Asian artists and to bring the MN South Asian community to the Ordway.

Theater Mu
Blended Harmony: The Kim Loo Sisters
$35,000

To support the world premiere production of Blended Harmony: The Kim Loo Sisters, a new musical co-commissioned by Theatre Mu and History Theatre. Cultural STAR funding will support the co-production, which shares an important piece of MN history and shines a light on often overlooked Asian American stories. Cultural STAR will also support increased community engagement.

Tlalnepantla Arts (Fiscal Sponsor: Springboard for the Arts)
Festival de las Calaveras presents Dia de los Muertos Festival and Family Art Day 2023
$26,000

Festival de las Calaveras' Dia de los Muertos Festival and Family Art Day 2023 is a public community gathering that will share vibrant Latinx cultural arts centered on the Mexican Day of the Dead traditions. This all-day festival will create space for Latinx community-building and sharing in Saint Paul through cultural arts expression, ancestor celebrating, while demonstrating artistic excellence.

Transforming Generations
Pride BBQ Festival
$35,000

Held at Harriet Island in June, TG Pride BBQ Festival is a free LGBTQ+ Hmong family-friendly event combining TG's programs: Pride BBQ, Drag Tale Times and Pride Concert with the goal of providing space for LGBTQ+ Hmong/Southeast Asian community to celebrate Pride. Cultural STAR funding would support us to pilot an event combining these three programs and a 9 month Drag mentorship program/cohort.

TU Dance
Yusha-Marie Sorzano’s THREAT at The O’Shaughnessy
$20,233

TU Dance requests support for the development and premiere of THREAT by Yusha-Marie Sorzano, a new full-evening dance work, to be performed at The O'Shaughnessy, April 26-27, 2024.

Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective
2024 Nowruz (Persian New Year) Concert and Community Gathering
$10,068

Our 2024 Nowruz (Persian New Year) Concert and Community Gathering, to be held March 30 at the Ordway Center Concert Hall, will share Iran's rich musical heritage with the larger Minnesota public, raise awareness of Iranian culture, and help to transform public perceptions of the Iranian people. Cultural STAR funding will make it possible to afford artists and a venue of the highest caliber.

Twin Cities Jazz Festival
Twin Cities Jazz Festival
$35,000

STAR funds will be used to support the 26th annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival held in Mears Park and surrounding Lowertown venues June 21-22, 2024. The goal is to once again have a diverse thriving free civic event in St. Paul to include over 200 diverse performing jazz artists and youth musicians in as many downtown venues as possible.

Twin Cities Metro IBA
Lowertown Sounds
$19,056

Lowertown Sounds, an outdoor music series nearly every Thursday evening from June - August, serves as a local music, beverage maker, and food truck showcase, celebrating community by bringing all ages and backgrounds together to enjoy a fun evening in historic Mears Park. The grant will bolster our budget for bands and sound production to enrich our programming and expand our audience.

Twin Cities PBS
Don't Believe the Hype: Next Generation
$19,056

TPT requests support for the 2023-34 program year of DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE: NEXT GENERATION, TPT's youth media arts and mentorship initiative that amplifies the unique voices of BIPOC high school students. HYPE helps youth craft their own narratives through hands-on media production, relationship building and career exploration, all informed by youths' desired outcomes for the program.

Victoria Theater Arts Center
2024 SPEAK OUT AND LEAD Youth Arts Festival
$13,000

VTAC seeks funding for the 3rd annual SPEAK OUT & LEAD Youth Arts Festival, Happening in April of 2024 at the Black Youth Healing Arts Center. This festival centers the art and voices of youth ages 13-21, providing them a platform for their talent via paid performance, workshop, and vending opportunities.

Wonderlust Productions
Hidden Stories of Saint Paul
$22,232

Inspired by the STAR program's focus on Saint Paul's cultural district, Wonderlust seeks support to use stories gathered from people who live and work behind the scenes downtown to create short, place-based, audio plays peeling back the curtain on what makes our city tick. Audiences will be invited to take a listening tour of the city by following an online map and QR codes displayed around town.

Young Dance, Inc.
Young Dance All Abiltiies Dancing Strategy Development
$10,000

Young Dance will create an All Abilities Dancing strategy including codifying curriculum and training Teaching Artists and educators. All activities will take place at Young Dance and Saint Paul community partner sites from September - June. Funding will support embedding All Abilities Dancing into our infrastructure, laying the path for Young Dance to be a leader for access and inclusion in our community.

zAmya Theater Project
A Challenge to Change
$20,000

"A Challenge to Change" is a 60-minute performance and dialogue event developed by zAmya with residents of Catholic Charities' Dorothy Day Place. Grounded in personal experiences with homelessness, the event is designed to build understanding and connection between residents and employees in downtown Saint Paul. A STAR grant would support 11 events in downtown Saint Paul locations and online.