Neal Cuthbert

Neal Cuthbert

Neal Cuthbert is the Vice-President of Program at the McKnight Foundation and oversees a grantmaking budget of $90+ million that supports children, families, and communities in the Twin Cities, the water quality of the Mississippi River, renewable energy, climate change, economic development in greater Minnesota, neuroscience research, third-world food security research, work in East Africa and Southeast Asia, and the arts. Prior to this, he was the Arts Program Director for 16 years. McKnight’s arts program provides between $8-10 million annually to support arts organizations and artists in Minnesota. While directing the arts program he developed a variety of reports and studies including an examination of cultural development in the suburbs, the impact of the arts in rural communities, and the condition of individual artists. With curator Steve Dietz, he led the development of the artist website, mnartists.org. He was formerly the director/publisher of the monthly art and culture journal, Artpaper, and a planner at the Metropolitan Council in the arts program and housing program. He is also a visual artist and writer, and has exhibited artwork and published writing both locally and nationally.