TOOLKIT AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

As mentioned in our book, Northern Lights.mn From Agency to Wonder, here is a collection of downloadable templates and examples for anyone to use.

NL staff crafted these resources over the years based on best practices from the field, including resources from other institutions and grassroots projects in which the staff worked. We are happy to pass these along! Feel free to adapt.

Keep scrolling for our select bibliography with links.

TOOLKIT (Folder link is forthcoming.)

Budgeting
-Artist Project Sample Budgets
-Organizational Budget Template

Conflict Resolution resources

Contracts and Letters of Agreement

Event/Project Planning Playbook

Invoices

Open Call examples (PDF only)
-Jury tracking spreadsheets
-Artist Commission Acceptance and Rejection emails

Production and Promotional Support Forms (PDF only)
-Promotional Information form for artists (used to gather project descriptions, images, credits)
-Production Information form for artists (used to gather technical, spatial, and production needs)

Waivers
-Assumption of risk, Contract Staff, Right to Record, Volunteers, etc.

Select Bibliography 

Northern Spark Artist Council Publication, Relationships and Reciprocity: A Guide to Making Northern Spark, 2020

Steve Dietz, “Interview with Piotr Szyhalski,” Gallery 9, Walker Art Center, 1997.

Susannah Schouweiler, “Stay Up All Night with Andrea Stanislav, Piotr Szyhalski, and Wing Young Huie,” mnartists.org, May 24, 2011. 

Marianne Combs, “The Reviews Are In for Northern Spark,” Minnesota Public Radio News,  June 7, 2011. 

Priscilla Frank, “The Kuramoto Model (1000 Fireflies) to Coordinate Citywide Synchronized LED Light Network via Bicycle,” Huffington Post, May 21, 2012.

Sheila Regan, “Art(ists) On the Verge at the Soap Factory,” City Pages, May 8, 2013.

Michael Tortorello, “Burning Down the House,” New York Times, June 9, 2013. 

Molly Priesmeyer, “Northern Spark: Kickstarter as the First Stop in a Community Gathering,” Star Tribune, May 7, 2014.

Claude Peck, “Kids in the Hall,” Star Tribune, June 16, 2014. 

Michael Rietmulder, “Fourth Annual Northern Spark Was Wet and Wild,” Star Tribune, June 16, 2014. 

Amy Carlson Gustafson, “Northern Spark Returns with 70 Art Experiences in Six ‘Zones,’” Pioneer Press, June 8, 2015. https://www.twincities.com/2015/06/08/northern-spark-returns-with-70-art-experiences-in-six-zones/

Chrissy Sarinske, “Northern Spark to Light Up the Night June 13,” Minnesota Monthly, June 10, 2015. 

Sheila Regan, “What to See and Do at Northern Spark: Part 2,” City Pages, June 10, 2015.

Corina Bernstein, “Wander, Explore, Illuminate, Together at This Year’s Northern Spark,” Twin Cities Daily Planet, June 11, 2015. https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/wander-explore-illuminate-together-at-this-years-northern-spark/

Allison Herrera, “Syrian Portraits Evoke Humanity, Dignity and Resilience amid the Ruins,” Twin Cities Daily Planet, June 11, 2015. 

Euan Kerr, “Northern Spark Art Festival Takes All-night Gaming to a New Dimension,” Minnesota Public Radio, June 12, 2015.

Mary Abbe, “Northern Spark Will Light Up Minneapolis with an All-night Art Party,” Star Tribune, June 13, 2015. 

Sheila Dickinson, “A Nighttime Journey through Minneapolis in Search of Art,” Hyperallergic, June 19, 2015. 

Amy Bartner, “Two-day Interactive Light Festival to Spark Up the Canal,” IndyStar, June 30, 2016. 

“The Uncompromising Hand: An Interview with Andrea Carlson,” Northern Lights.mn Public Address blog, September 27, 2017.

Andrea Carlson, “On the Uncompromising Hand: Remembering Spirit Island,” Open Rivers Journal 9 (Winter 2018).

Savannah Simms, “The Things They Carried On: A New Public Art Humanizes Immigration,” MPLSart.com, May 16, 2018.

Russ White, “An Uncommon Experience: A Preview of Northern Spark,” MPLSart.com, June 14, 2018.

Pamela Espeland, “Northern Spark 2019 Theme Is ‘We Are Here,’” MinnPost, October 24, 2018.

“Illuminate the Lock: Returning the River, an Artist Interview,” Northern Lights.mn Public Address blog, September 12, 2018.

Alicia Eler, “Northern Spark Co-director/founder Leaving the Organization,” Star Tribune, May 3, 2019.

Leah Lemm,  “Minnesota Native News: Collaboration Brings Arts Festival to The Ave,,” Minnesota Native News/Ampers, June 3, 2019.

Sheila Regan, “Northern Spark Expands, Public Functionary Returns, and Other Art Happenings This Week,” City Pages, June 11, 2019.

Kathy Berdan, “Night Arts Fest Northern Spark Will Shine in Rondo and Minneapolis This Weekend,” Pioneer Press, June 13, 2019.

Marianne Combs, “Art Hounds: Northern Spark Lights Up the Night,” Minnesota Public Radio News, June 13, 2019.

Alicia Eler, “With a Theme of ‘Resilience,’ Northern Spark Flies into Rondo and Franklin Ave. Neighborhoods,” Star Tribune, June 13, 2019.

Euan Kerr, “Northern Spark 2019 Shines Spotlight on Native American Community,” Minnesota Public Radio, June 14, 2019.

Suenary Philavanh, “Resilient: Searching for Connections through Waves,” Northern Lights.mn Public Address blog, February 17, 2021.

“On Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can Be Heard with Moira Villiard,” Open Rivers Journal 18 (Spring 2021). 

Alicia Eler, “Northern Spark Returns with Its Original All-nighter Format,” Star Tribune, June 9, 2022. 

Jenna Ross, “All-night Northern Spark Arts Festival Announces End,” Star Tribune, January 30, 2023.

Alicia Eler, “All-night Twin Cities Arts Festival Northern Spark Says Goodbye,” Star Tribune, June 6, 2023. 

H. Jiahong Pan, “A Night with the River Marks the End of Annual All-night Arts Festival,” Spokesman-Recorder, June 7, 2023.

Northern Lights.mn From Agency to Wonder is a multi-vocal, image-filled publication featuring a glossary of terms, memories, and essays that commemorates and reflects on Northern Lights.mn’s 17 years supporting artists’ work in the public sphere, published on the occasion of our sunset in June 2024.

A free, digital edition is now available thanks to a partnership with the University of Minnesota Library Publishing Services. You may find the digital book in their catalog, or via direct link here. Please share!

A limited number of print copies can be purchased from the following retailers:
Moon Palace Books, Minneapolis in store and online
SubText Books, St. Paul
Next Chapter Books, St. Paul

Find a copy for check out or reference at these institutions*:
Hennepin County Libraries (Twin Cities, MN)
Saint Paul Public Libraries (St. Paul, Minnesota)
John M. Flaxman Library, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Macalester College Library
Minneapolis College of Art and Design library
University of Minnesota’s Performing Arts Archive, Anderson Library, and College of Design Library
UCLA Arts Library

*As of August 2024

About the book: Contents

The full-color, 320 page, softcover book includes:

• A glossary of 171 terms central to NL’s practice, written by NL staff and 45 authors from the NL community. Terms include: bicycle, collective effervescence, duration, free, interconnection, joy, public art alchemy, river, spectacle, and more. 
• Anchor essays by NL’s founder and long-running Artistic Director Steve Dietz; NL’s long-time Co-Director Sarah Peters, and NL’s long-time Projects Manager and de facto librarian Ady Olson McNair 
• Artist interludes by NL luminaries Molly Balcom Raleigh, Mike Hoyt, Hawona Sullivan Janzen, Roger Nieboer, Aki Shibata, Piotr Szyhalski, and Pramila Vasudevan  
• Innovative book design, including ruminations on NL’s design history and strategies by Matthew Rezac
• Chronology of all artists and partners who participated in NL programs  
• Over 150 full-page, full-color images from beloved NL endeavors, including the Northern Spark festival, Art(ists) On the Verge fellowships, Illuminate the Lock and others.  

The title From Agency to Wonder directly references the glossary format of the book and it also summarizes the zeitgeist of NL – an organization that has always sought to support artists to inspire audiences toward agency in their environments, while providing a sense of uncommon wonder.

Contributors

Renee Alexander, Christine Baeumler, Molly Balcom Raleigh, Lana Barkawi, Leslie Barlow, Kate Barr, Elizabeth Cole, Chris Conry, Neal Cuthbert, Steve Dietz, Dan Dressler, Katie Hargrave, Jess Hirsch, Mike Hoyt, Kerri Jamison, Emily Janisch, Hawona Sullivan Janzen, Muhammad Jiwa, Jamie Kalakaru-Mava. Gülgün Kayim, Erin Lavelle, Kim Loken, Meredith Laura Lynn, Ryan McGoff, Ady Olson McNair, Amy McNally, Michael Murnane, Roger Nieboer, Katie Nyberg, Valerie Oliveiro, Tyler Olsen-Highness, Taylor Rose Payer, Alejandra Pelinka, Sarah Peters, Matthew Rezac, Rebecca Ryan, Aki Shibata, Sara Shives, Moheb Soliman, Tyler Stefanich, Liza Sylvestre, Piotr Szyhalski, Elle Thoni, Sara Van Norman, Pramila Vasudevan, Matt Wells, Margit Wilson, Peng Wu, Marina Zurkow

Book Leadership Team

This project is steered by Sarah Peters, Ady Olson McNair, Steve Dietz and Matthew Rezac. All of us, in our own ways, have given a big part of our lives to the vision and everyday workings of Northern Lights.mn, including the decision in January 2023 to sunset with grace.

For us, working on this book was an important process of closure. It allowed us to reflect, remember, and consider our years of work with a concentration of attention not often afforded to an organization when facing an operational sunset.

It also gave us the chance to engage in conversation with 45 artists, partners, and colleagues with whom we worked over the years, and learned so much from. Their voices are critical to this publication, and to NL’s existence. We are honored to publish their words and images as part of our story.  

Please email sunset@northern.lights.mn with any questions related to Northern Lights.mn From Agency to Wonder.

Common Ground

by Witt Siasoco and Diver Van Avery

at A night with the river

 

Common Ground is a roaming series of poetry “blankets” installed as a platform for conversations about land and water issues. In July 2022 the installation was presented at the Walker Art Center and featured talks about housing discrimination through racial covenants, affordable home ownership land trusts, community supported agriculture, and the Stop Line 3 movement. The image above is from Poetry and Pie Picnic in Powderhorn Park, also in 2022. 

Borrow one to sit on in the park at A night with the river! 

Accessibility note: This project takes place on grassy ground which may be uneven. Seating is on the ground, which may not be physically accessible to everyone. 

Read more about this project:
https://wittsiasoco.com/Common-Ground

Back to A night with the river

Northern Spark Memory Station

A night with the river

Saturday, June 10, 2023
9pm – 1am
Upper Landing Park
Downtown St. Paul
Facebook event

Gather with friends and strangers for a final night with Northern Lights.mn. Wander through installations by artists Bayou Bay and Studio Strange. Linger at the Northern Spark Memory Station and contribute your remembrances from long nights of art in the city.

Slow down to be with water.

In contrast to the energetic flurry of past Northern Spark festivals, this final event invites you to slow down and spend a quiet evening of collective listening and remembering. Bring a blanket, lay supine and listen. From sunset to late night, we’ll reflect, rest, wander, and send wishes to the water.

Read more about each project on our website, and RSVP to the Facebook event here.

This final program is made possible by grants from Capitol Region Watershed District and St. Paul’s Cultural Star program.

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Two volunteer opportunities

Volunteers have been at the heart of Northern Lights.mn programming for all of our 15 years of existence. We have two final opportunities for you to volunteer with us.

A night with the river
We’re looking for volunteers to tend to an experience of sound, light and reflection at our final program on June 10. We have two volunteer shifts available – “early” (8:30 – 11:30pm) and “late!”  (11pm – 1:30am). Fill out a brief interest form to sign up, or email volunteers@northern.lights.mn with any questions. We are excited to make art + outdoor magic come alive with you one more time!

Merch Sale Fulfillment
If you’re not a night owl, we have a daytime project we’d love some help with. We’ve been getting lots of orders from our Northern Spark Merch Sale, and it will soon be time to pack up the goods and ship them out. We’ve reserved a room at Rondo Library on Saturday, May 20th from 2:30 – 4:30pm. Snacks, seating, and good conversation will be provided. Email volunteers@northern.lights.mn if you’re interested.

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Piotr Szyhalski Letterpress Prints

One of the gems of the Northern Spark Merch Sale is a limited-edition letterpress print created by beloved Northern Spark artist Piotr Szyhalski. The iconic black-and-white print, From Dusk to Dawn, was printed in collaboration with Lunalux to commemorate the 2015 Northern Spark festival.

A limited number of prints are still available, now through May 15 on our Etsy store.

AquaSonos: River Sequences for voice, electronics, bells, and gong chorus

by Studio Strange

Primary artists: Dameun Strange, Sayge Carroll, Matshoshi Matsafu
Contributing artists: Claudia Eriksson, Kahlil Brewington

at A night with the river

Bring a blanket, rest, listen and watch. Clusters of musicians and vocalists create live sounds among the trees that line the river walk. Ambient synth, bells, voice and gong activate lights within the trees. Motivated by the strong sense that we all have relationships to water, this project encourages fellow voyagers to contemplate that relationship and asks us what reciprocity with water means. How will you move towards water protection?

A gong ceremony begins each hour. Four ceremonies; one for each of the bird protectors perched at the park. 

Accessibility note: This project contains sound and changing lights. It takes place on grassy ground which may be uneven.

Artist Bios

Dameun Strange
Instagram: studiostrange_
Facebook: dameunstrange

Dameun Strange is a sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, and award-winning composer of conceptual electronic and improvised electro-acoustic works focusing on the African diaspora’s stories and themes, often exploring surrealist and afro-futurist ideas with unique impressionism. Dameun is compelled to express through sound and poetry the beauty and resilience of the Black experience, digging into a pantheon of ancestors to tell stories of triumph while connecting the past, present, and future. 

Dameun has composed music with such artists as Leslie Parker, Ananya Chatterjea, J. Otis Powell, and Sha Cage and has been a featured performer in concerts celebrating the work of George Lewis, Thurston Moore, and Henry Threadgill. He is a 2018 recipient of the ACF | Create Award and 2019 Jerome Hill Fellowship. Most recently, his work was commissioned by BMI Foundation for renowned flutist Adam Sadberry, _not running. (The Life of L. Alex Wilson) for flute and electronics was premiered at Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center in March 2023. 

Dameun lives in Saint Paul, MN with his wife, Corina, and their 4 yo, Ezra. Like any good nerd, he enjoys a good sci-fi story and has a soft spot for anything related to cosmology.

Sayge Carroll
Instagram: Mudluk_pottery

Sayge Carroll is a potter, maker, and sound artist. She works with clay to co-create worlds with other artists, ancestors, storytellers. 

Carroll was born and raised in Minneapolis MN. As an artist she has held several residencies, given lectures, curated shows and received grants, and shown her work in the United States and abroad. She has worked in arts education for over two decades building community and establishing art programs at Juxtaposition Arts (Ceramics), Franklin Art Works Gallery, Phillips East, Youth Link, and Little Earth to name a few. Carroll also founded Women of Color Artist Gathering (WOCAG), Art Church, and the Harvest Feast. Her passion about arts access and building a healthy community is seen most recently in the creation of MUDLUK Pottery, a ceramics sanctuary that Carroll co-founded and co-directs in Minneapolis.

Matshoshi Matsafu
Instagram: matshoshi

Matshoshi Matsafu is an illustrator, user experience designer, and all-round creatrix. She builds and designs in collaborative modes immersive experiences, art, and tech that centers blackness. As a South African who has lived and worked in South Korea and the US, immersion into various cultures feeds her curiosity. Matsafu enjoys the process of discerning patterns and behaviors that comprise identities and spaces. This has made her more adept at putting human centric design into practice.

 

Photo credits:
Dameun Strange photo by Matt Mead, TPT
Sayge Carroll image by Michelle Spaise
Matshoshi Matsafu image courtesy the artist.

Back to A night with the river

Watershed Whisperers

by Bayou Bay

at A night with the river

As the sun sets, wander the path alongside Wakpa Tanka / Misi-Ziibi / Mississippi River and listen. Swing, rest your body, dream. Whisper your wishes and affirmations into a small vessel of water and offer them back to the watershed.   

Watershed Whisperers is rooted in the notion that embodied learning is powerful. Learn about the watershed by touching water, walking with intention, whispering wishes and collective reflection. You are part of the watershed!

Accessibility note: Written information is in English. Swing chairs may not be accessible for everyone.

Artist Bio

Bayou Bay
Instagram: the_bayou_constellation

Bayou is a Twin Cities based installation artist and designer born in St. Paul on the occupied lands of the Dakota & Anishinaabe peoples. Bayou creates mixed-media art called Affirmation Mirrors composed mostly of fabric wrapped wood, yarn, mirrors, and beads. He also creates murals, art installations, digital illustrations, digital and print materials for artists and organizations, woodwork, and works as a teaching artist.  

Bayou’s art and design embody themes of nature from the micro to the cosmic, black and collective liberation, healing trauma, time, portals, geometry, setting intentions for affirmations, asking questions, symbols, and identity exploration. Water is an especially strong theme in the work as HaHa Wakpa (the Mississippi River) has been a major influence in many levels of Bayou’s life.

Bayou is 1/3rd of the Studio Thalo artist collective, a member of the Million Artist Movement artist cooperative, and a collaborating muralist with the Creatives After Curfew mural collective.

This project is supported by a grant from Capitol Region Watershed District.

Photo credit: image of Bayou Bay by Saymoukda Vongsay.

Back to A night with the river

Our Final Program

Save the date for our last program ever. 😢

Saturday, June 10, 2023
9pm – 1am
Upper Landing Park 
Downtown St. Paul

Join us for a final farewell.

Gather with friends and strangers for a night by the river. Wander through installation projects by Bayou Bay and Dameun Strange with Sayge Carroll and Matsoshi Matsafu. Linger at the Northern Spark Memory Station and contribute your remembrances from long nights of art in the city.

In contrast to the energetic flurry of past Northern Spark festivals, this final event invites you to slow down and spend a quiet evening of collective listening and remembering. Bring a blanket, lay supine and listen. From sunset to late night, we’ll reflect, rest, wander, and send wishes to the water.

Want to volunteer? Whether you lent a hand once or every year, we’ll need help one last time. Let us know here.

This final program is made possible by grants from Capitol Region Watershed District and St. Paul’s Cultural Star program.

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We’re having a sale!

We’ve collected a lot of stuff over the years. You can help us clean out our storage unit and become the proud owner of Northern Spark memorabilia during our upcoming merch sale. These items will only be available for a short time, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

All proceeds support our final program on June 10th.

Northern Spark Merch Sale
April 17 – May 15
On our Etsy store

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Remember when…?

Remember when we took over the sprawling grounds of the Union Depot in St. Paul and tucked art projects and installations into every nook and cranny?

Northern Spark 2013 was truly a site-specific event – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to locate art projects in and around a train station.

• Roger Nieboer and lesser mortals transformed the Amtrak ticket counter into an existential travel agency
• Revolver held a high-stakes writing duel via typewriters directly on the railroad tracks
• Center for Hmong Art and Talent turned the train platform into a runway for a version of the beloved Fresh Traditions fashion show
• Ananya Dance Theater honored the water in an installation and dance-procession to the river in the rainy dawn

These are four of the 76 projects in Lowertown that year.

How did it happen?
Northern Lights.mn staff had become familiar with the Depot building and grounds while working on a commission of two semi-permanent artworks in 2012. Walking around the glorious building we imagined the ways our vibrant arts community could animate the historic site, at a moment when it had been fully renovated but was not yet operational. This tiny slice of time allowed us to use spaces such as the train tracks and the Amtrak ticket counter.

Years of working relationships with the Ramsey Regional Rail Authority, Depot building managers JLL, and St. Paul city government were key to the success of Northern Spark 2013. In fact, our 15 years of experimental public projects have only been possible because of civic and private institutions’ willingness to embrace uncommon artistic practice. We are ever grateful!

Take a trip down memory lane (or track?) in the Northern Spark 2013 Flickr albums.

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Support the arts in a phone call

The CREATE Jobs bill was introduced last week in the legislature, and if passed, would fund $190 million in grants to help approximately 1,500 live entertainment venues and arts, cultural, historical, and humanities organizations across Minnesota. The arts sector needs everyone’s help to get it passed! Call your Minnesota electeds and tell them to support HF 2844 (House version) and SF 2867 (Senate version). Arts jobs are real jobs!

Find more information on this hand out created by Minnesota Citizens for the Arts or on the MCA website.

 

***The Merch Sale has ended!  We will be mailing items between May 22 – 26th. Thank you to everyone who bought our stuff!***

Northern Spark Merch Sale
April 17 – May 15
On our Etsy store

The Northern Spark Merch Sale is happening NOW through May 15.

We’re clearing out our storage unit and want to find good homes for the unique artwork and artifacts that mark the festival’s history.

Items available include limited-edition prints by Northern Spark artists and iconic red Northern Spark flags that have flown over the festival each year. Some of the items have particularly limited quantities, so take a look now to claim your piece of Northern Spark history.

All proceeds of the sale support our final program on June 10th.

Gratitude and What’s Next

We are filled with gratitude! Thank you for your messages of love and support upon the announcement of our planned sunset. Knowing how our projects have inspired and connected so many over the past decade helps ease the sadness of our necessary decision. We read them all, with tears and pride.

So, what’s next?

Aside from planning our final goodbye program, we are learning that there is a lot that goes into the dissolution of a 501c3 organization. This is something the non-profit sector doesn’t talk about very much! A fair number of resources tell you how to start an organization, but not so much how to end one. So we’re learning as we go. Here’s what we’re currently working on:

• Looking for an institution to preserve our digital and physical archives. If you have ideas, let us know!
• Brainstorming a framework and content for a publication about our decade + of initiatives
• Thinking about how to collect the hundreds of Northern Spark memories, and how to preserve these (see bullet point about an archive)
• Talking with watershed organizations to re-home the set and script for Aquanesia
• Tip-toeing into the legal paperwork required to formally dissolve.

All of this work will take us a little over a year from now to complete. Once we get past our final program in June, we’ll reduce our operations quite significantly to focus on archiving, giving away our physical stuff, and finishing our publication.

Details on the June program forthcoming!

 

Remember when…?

For immediate release

Important News about Northern Lights.mn and Northern Spark  

(St. Paul, MN) January 30, 2023 – After 15 years and 851 projects supporting thousands of artists, Northern Lights.mn (NL) announces that we have made the difficult decision to sunset our organization. Rather than a 2023 Northern Spark festival, we will hold a final program this June, and then share an artist-centered publication honoring our work, to be published in 2024.

NL is not in a fiscal or leadership crisis, but a careful analysis of our current finances and projections into the next several years show a picture of reduced income to such a degree that we would be unable to fulfill our mission and vision with integrity.  The reasons for this are complex, from the pandemic to shifting philanthropic focus to decreases in individual donations.

While we believe that participatory art in public space is what the world needs now, we also believe that not everything is intended to last forever. “We supported artists through 15 years of ambitious public projects that shifted how people experience this place where we live,” says Executive Director Sarah Peters. “We are proud of this work, and are choosing to close with grace rather than continue to do less with less.” After many conversations with our Board, staff, artists, and partner organizations, we have decided to intentionally dissolve the organization while honoring our many years of incredible programming.

Staff and Board are so thankful to everyone that has supported our work in myriad ways, trusted us to present their art, or partnered with us on adventurous projects. During the next few months we will announce our final summer programming, begin crafting a tribute publication, and start the process of dissolution.

Stay tuned for ways to contribute your memory of a Northern Lights.mn experience and for ways to celebrate our legacy.

In sparkling gratitude,
Northern Lights.mn Board

 

MEDIA CONTACT

Sarah Peters sarah@northern.lights.mn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthernSparkMN/
Instagram: @Northern Lights.mn

 

Sunsetting FAQs

Why is Northern Lights.mn closing now?

These are tough times for many sectors, and especially the arts.

• Financial instability: Shifts in philanthropy leave us in a challenged position; we face reduced funding for the arts in the form of smaller grants, fewer grants and more competition for those grants. Diminished corporate sponsorship and reduced overall individual giving due to continued economic inequities.
  • Artists and staff live and work within this economy, and thus deserve increased wages and budgets, at the same time as the current decrease in resources. In recent years we have raised artist stipends as much as possible within our budget, yet find that these awards are insufficient for those trying to make a sustainable living from their art.
• COVID-19: Planning events during a pandemic, even if they are in the relatively “safe” outdoors, has been challenging and planning multiple scenarios with redundant staffing in the case of illness exacerbates financial trouble. We know Northern Lights.mn is not alone in these struggles.
• Exhaustion: Constant adaptation in the face of these challenges is bone-tiring work, and it is exacerbated by the lack of stable funding for care and benefits for both staff and artists.

Is there no way to save Northern Lights.mn?

Our Board and staff have considered many scenarios, but we believe that closure is the most responsible choice at this time. We could potentially continue by having our volunteer Board take on more operational responsibilities, laying off all permanent staff and only offering part time contract work without benefits, running Northern Spark as our only program and converting it from free to ticketed. Our research and discussions with other ticketed festivals* reveals that ticket sales are not reliable or timely, especially at a logistically complex outdoor spectacle. It would be immensely difficult for ticket sales to cover the full cost of the event at affordable prices for patrons. We believe that sunsetting now is the sustainable choice rather than to compromise our professional standards of quality, artist care, and accessibility to the arts.

Also, importantly, NL is one part of the broader arts ecosystem in Minnesota (and beyond). Because so many of the challenges we face are shared by others, we don’t believe there is a solution that can “save” Northern Lights.mn that doesn’t address the larger inequities that inform funding structures in the arts. We hope that our decision to close helps prompt an opportunity for our ecosystem to reevaluate arts priorities and resources.

Lastly, we believe, in our hearts, that Northern Lights.mn is more than an organization with a 501c3 status. We are a web of relationships and knowledge between individuals and organizations, developed over years of partnership. Artists and staff with whom we have worked have gone on to make new opportunities for themselves and others, and likewise have informed our ways of working during their time with NL. This network of learning and making is alive.

*We support other festivals that have moved from free to ticketed models! We’ve simply determined that this will not work for Northern Spark.

Wait, didn’t Northern Lights.mn get pandemic support like PPP?

Yes, NL did receive one PPP loan in 2020 for a total of $20,000 that was forgiven. These one-time emergency funds helped recoup some of the expenses from loss of programming, but they did not fully replace lost revenue, nor are they likely to recur despite the ongoing pandemic.

Who made this decision?

Northern Lights.mn board, along with Executive Director Sarah Peters,  core staff, and long-time NL artists were involved in discussions over the last several months leading to this consensus. Major funders, program partners and members of our artist network were also informed or involved before the final decision was made.

What happens next, or what is your timeline?

Within the coming weeks, we will announce our final program for early summer 2023. (We will not host a 2023 Northern Spark festival.)

Over the spring and summer we will begin crafting an artist-centric publication honoring our history, which will be published in 2024. Stay tuned for a call for contributions.

We will also begin work with artists and community partners to determine the best way to archive our organizational history. We’ll file our legal dissolution paperwork with the Minnesota Secretary of State before the end of 2023, once we’ve created a plan to distribute remaining organizational resources.

How can I support Northern Lights.mn final programming and honor your legacy?

If you are a sustaining donor, please consider maintaining your monthly giving through June 30th as we have general operating expenses and close down costs, including staff time for legally required dissolution steps, final accounting costs and our planned publication. If you would like to make a final donation to this work, you may do so here: paypal.me/nlspark or contact Sarah at donors@northern.lights.mn.

Stay tuned for ways to contribute your memories of our programming!

If I have more questions, who should I contact?

Please email sunset@northern.lights.mn Thanks in advance for your patience.

NL’s Best of 2022

Bring out the journals, it’s the reflection time of year. At Northern Lights, 2022 has been continued uncertainty, beauty, mistakes, challenges, dance parties and joy. Sounds like the new normal, right?

In our reflection on 2022, we put together our own best-of list to celebrate the big and small moments of our year.

(Above photo: Amanda Lovelee and Colin Harris, Really Big Table, Northern Spark 2022. Photo by Drew Arrieta.)

 

Best Hard Decision: Postponing the Telethon to keep people healthy

COVID struck again. ‘Nuf said.

 

Best Lilacs: the fence near VTAC

We enjoyed these thoroughly while doing site visits for Northern Spark 2022 in the grassy lot near Victoria Theater Art Center. Make note for spring 2023!

 

Best Sunrise: June 12, 2022

5:25 am, after a night of traversing St. Paul amongst friendly strangers, the sounds of Lyz Jaakola & Oshkii Giizhik Singers and drummers welcomed the sun in a pink lavender sky over Ȟaȟáwakpa / Gichi-ziibi / the Mississippi River. Thank you Sequoia Hauck and collaborators for bringing ingiw mekwendamowaad ziibi: the ones who remember the river to life to close Northern Spark.

(Above photo: Sequoia Hauck, ingiw mekwendamowaad ziibi: the ones who remember the river, Northern Spark 2022. Photo by Gisell Calderón.)

 

Best Rendition of “Twist and Shout”: NS Kazoo band

What talent! The Northern Spark Kazoo band delighted with a wholly original version of “Twist and Shout” as we raised money for NL programs at the (rescheduled) Telethon at NanoTako studios in October.

 

Best Finally Finished, Long-Overdue Project: AOV11 booklet

If slow is the new fast, these are right on time. A picture-filled booklet with artist texts and an essay by Mara Duvra rolled off the press this December to celebrate the work of Art(ists) on the Verge 11 fellows Candice Davis, A.P. Looze, Kelley Meister, and Sarah Nassif. If you’d like one, email aov@northern.lights.mn. Or read on-screen from a downloadable PDF here.

(Above photo: The color proof of the AOV11 booklet! Photo by Matthew Rezac.)

 

Best Behind-the-Scenes Achievement: storage unit move

After years of driving out to Hopkins to access our festival signage and tech equipment, this May we rented a truck and moved all of our worldly possessions to a tidy storage facility in St. Paul, much closer to our projects. When Northern Spark 2022 rolled around, our crew had only to travel a few miles to collect and return the festival stuff.

(What is all that stuff you ask? Things like 10 pop-up tents, 42 eight-foot Northern Spark stanchion signs and the entire set of Aquanesia. And lots more. Huge thanks to Northern Spark festival Producer Erin Lavelle, Function Crew lead Sydney Petersen and volunteers Chris and Craig for their help!)

(Above photo: Sydney, Erin, and Sarah settle into the new space!)

 

Best Give to the Max Day Donor Response

This text came back to us after thanking a #GTMD22 donor. Hearing what our work means to you is one of our deepest joys. Thank you to all who supported us and artists this year, from the mundane tasks to the meaningful engagements.

 

Thank you for a fantastic year!

 

Give to the Max Day is here! A day when Minnesota non-profits join together to raise money to support our and each others’ work.

Today and all days at Northern Lights.mn, we are working to explore new possibilities for the world by supporting artists to create and present work in the public sphere. We believe in the power of art to create opportunities for connection, inquiry, healing, and growth.

Your donation today will be doubled, thanks to a generous $1,000 match from an NL donor. No matter how much you are able to give, your tax-deductible donation makes a big difference, helping us to reach more audiences, support more artists, and sustain Northern Spark. Donate here.

Thank you for supporting this work, and for helping us to sustain the arts in our community.

Also, we truly believe this statement from MN’s beloved political leader, Paul Wellstone: “we all do better when we all do better.”  In that spirit, we hope you load up your GTMD cart with donations to these organizations with whom we’ve worked or admire. Yes, this (incomplete) list is long! We live in a really great place! Please support as many with as much as you can.

All My Relations Arts / NACDI
Ananya Dance Theater
Art Shanty Projects
Climate Generation
Department of Public Transformation
Don’t You Feel It Too?
East Side Freedom Library
Emerging Curator’s Institute
Forecast Public Art 
Franconia Sculpture Park 
Hallie Q. Brown Community Center
HUGE Theater
Indigenous Roots
Irreducible Grace Foundation
Jungle Theater
Juxtaposition Arts
Lightning Rod 
Midtown Greenway Coalition
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
MN Fringe
MNIPL (Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light)
Mississippi Park Connection
Mixed Precipitation
Mizna
Penumbra Theatre Company
Pillsbury House + Theatre
Public Art St. Paul
Public Functionary
Red Eye Theater
Rosy Simas Danse
Saint Paul Almanac
Somali Museum of Minnesota 
Springboard for the Arts
The Great Northern  
Theater Mu
TruArtSpeaks 
Upstream Arts
Victoria Theater Arts Center
zAmya Theater Project

Thank you to our Northern Lights.mn Telethon collaborators!

Telethon Artists
John Gebretatose
Mayda
Sami Pfeffer
Northern Spark Kazoo Band (Morgen Chang, Scotty Reynolds, Jason Kornelis, Alex Yang)

Artist Testimonial Videos
May Lee-Yang
Scotty Reynolds
Yeej Moua
Lelis Brito
Gabrielle Civil
Riley Kleve
Felicia Cooper

Media Partner
Nanotako Studios

The Northern Lights MN 2022 Telethon was written and produced by Erin Lavelle with support from Sarah Peters and Adrienne McNair

Special thanks to
Tony Chapin
Emily Janisch
Sara Van Norman
Pamela Vázquez

Many thanks to YOU, our supporters!

Thank you to our Telethon sponsors
Minnesota Fringe
Eastside Food Co-op

Thank you to our In-kind sponsors
Arts + Rec Uptown
DuNord Social Spirits
Eastside Food Co-op
Fulton Brewery
The Luna Lounge
Minneapolis Bouldering Project
Pineapplefarm by Malena Phomsengdy
Pink Slip Photography Studio and Gallery
SKCoffee
Solo Vino Bottle Shop
SubText Books

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Watch here on YouTube starting at 7:30 pm CT!

Join us for the Northern Lights.mn Telethon on October 19th

The Northern Lights.mn Telethon is a live broadcast variety show fundraiser in partnership with NanoTako Studios to raise funds to support the artistic programming of Northern Lights.mn, including the beloved Northern Spark Festival.

Wednesday, October 19th
7:30 – 9pm
Free to watch on YouTube
Donate in advance on Eventbrite

Starring:
John Gebretatose from HUGE Theater and Blackout Improv as Host!
Sami Pfeffer returns as Telephone Operator!
Mayda as musical guest!
The Northern Spark Kazoo band!

Surprise guest storytellers featuring friends, supporters and alumni artists of Northern Lights.mn programs!
Dazzling Door Prizes!

New this year: IN-PERSON TICKETS! Be part of the show! In-person tickets include free food and drinks from Eastside Co-op, Du Nord Social Spirits, and Fulton Beer; fun Northern Spark merch; and your name entered into the drawings for prizes at all levels $100 and below (see ticket page for details)

The Telethon is free to watch on YouTube and Facebook, but your donations support our work and automatically enter you into drawings for fabulous prizes. Donate before the show for the best chance to win and help us reach our $10,000 goal!

Donation levels and prizes:

$25 Donation or more / FlipPhone Level

• $25 Gift certificate to SubText Books + a bag of new hardback books including The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• $75 Gift card to Arts + Rec Uptown

$50 Donation or more / NokiaBrick Level

• $100 Gift certificate to Solo Vino Bottle Shop in St. Paul
• A Cocktail kit with DuNord Social Spirits
• Any nail service at The Luna Lounge
• Your name also entered into the drawing for prizes at the $25 level.

$100 Donation or more / Coffee!

• A six month coffee subscription from specialty roaster SKCoffee
• A 1-month family membership at Minneapolis Bouldering Project
• Your name also entered into the drawings for prizes at all levels $50 and below.

$150 Donation or more / RotaryDial Level

• Custom “Glow Up” Luxury Facial by Glow_by_Pineapplefarm/Malena Phomsengdy
• Mini-session photoshoot at Pink Slip Gallery Minneapolis
• Your name also entered into the drawings for prizes at all levels $100 and below.

$200 Donation or more / Year of Beer! level

• 12 cases of beer or hard seltzer from Fulton Brewing! $750 value
• Your name also entered into the drawings for prizes at all levels $150 and below.

Our Telethon operator is holding the line for you: Purchase your tickets to watch all the antics. All donations raised in advance of and during the Telethon support the artistic programs of Northern Lights.mn. We look forward to taking your call! Thank you for your support!