Northern Spark 2021: Alchemy
June 12 – 27, 2021

This summer the Northern Spark festival returns and takes new forms: in the mail, online, and in person, focused on two neighborhoods in St. Paul for a two week span of time. 

In past years during Northern Spark, tens of thousands of people have gathered throughout the cities from dusk to 2am on two nights. In 2021 the festival supports artist projects that encourage our communities to safely connect and still inspire the kind of experimental, surprising experiences we love at Northern Spark.  

The theme for this year is Alchemy:

1. A seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination. 
2. An ancient practice from around the globe wherein sorcerers of science attempt to transform base metals into gold. 
3. A search for a universal elixir. 

Artists are the modern-day alchemists. We mix form, materials, and ideas to transform the collective emotional matter of this world into new shapes. If art were a universal elixir for healing, how do we hold space for grief and loss as well as concoct recipes to honor our hunger for joy? How do we transform isolation into intimacy? Orbits into intersections? What community wisdom might we mix together for recovery?

This year’s distributed Northern Spark takes on new forms. For a span of two weeks, you can engage with the festival’s artist projects online, at home, and if you are a resident of St. Paul’s Eastside and Rondo/Frogtown neighborhoods, through the mail. Bring your grief, your joy, your self and be part of the elixir of magical transformation. 

The theme was created by the Artist Council with Northern Lights.mn.

The festival’s first Open Call is now live! Click here to read about the Open Call for Mail Art Projects.

Northern Spark 2021 Open Call for Mail Art Projects

Application Deadline: Monday, January 25, 2021, at 11:59 pm, Central Time. This call is now closed. 

View or download a plain text PDF of this call here.

WHAT IS NORTHERN SPARK?

Northern Spark is a late-night participatory public arts festival that lights up the Twin Cities in early summertime. In 2021, the festival takes new forms: in the mail, online, and in person in St. Paul, MN during a two week span of time.

In past years during Northern Spark, tens of thousands of people have gathered throughout the cities from dusk to 2am on two nights. In 2021 the festival supports artist projects that encourage our communities to safely connect and still inspire the kind of experimental, surprising experiences we love at Northern Spark.

More information about previous years of Northern Spark: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Open Call Table of Contents

SUMMARY
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
FESTIVAL THEME
ELIGIBILITY
KEY CONSIDERATIONS
BUDGET
APPLICATION MATERIALS
SELECTION PROCESS AND TIMELINE
INFO SESSIONS
SUBMISSION FORM
FAQs: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

SUMMARY

Northern Spark 2021 is taking place virtually, in the mail and in-person in St. Paul, MN from June 12 – 27, 2021.

This is an Open Call for Mail Art projects that integrate the U.S Postal Service and St. Paul’s Rondo/Frogtown and Eastside neighborhoods as essential and dynamic elements within their proposal.

2- 5 project proposals will be selected by a jury consisting of the Northern Spark Artist Council.

Proposals must also respond to this year’s theme: Alchemy.

Keep reading for information on how to apply, who is eligible and full timeline of required dates and meetings.

For information on future calls and Northern Spark 2021 project opportunities, sign up for our e-newsletter here.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

This is an Open Call for Mail Art projects that integrate the U.S Postal Service and St. Paul’s Rondo/Frogtown and Eastside neighborhoods as essential and dynamic elements within their proposal. We hope to inspire you to safely create a confluence of artistic activity within these neighborhoods using the networks of the mail.

Examples may be, but absolutely not limited to: mailing handwritten letters, sending musical scores, dispatching postal carriers to plant seeds, or mailing small objects.

Why Mail Art?

In the past year, the post office has received unusual attention. Social distancing and quarantine have modified the value of hand-delivered packages, information and mail. Furthermore, in an election year, personal canvassing, political lobbying and voting created a viral hub of interest and debate concerning the postal service.

Large gatherings of people may not be safe by summer of 2021, despite the COVID-19 vaccines. Sending art through the mail is a way to extend Northern Spark’s ethos of “art for everyone” without asking people to leave their homes. It is also a way to reach St. Paul residents who may not normally attend an arts festival.

Mail Art has populist, anti-institutional roots, and experimental roots, as artists looked to disrupt traditional gallery systems by sending handmade or printed  postcards, letters, stickers, collages and even small objects through the postal service.

We love to support artists who tap into systems such as the mail service to connect people, places and ideas in unconventional ways.

For more information on the tradition and revival of Mail Art, check out some of these links:

https://www.printedmatter.org/mail-art/

https://iuoma-network.ning.com/main/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mail-art-from-quarantine

https://www.1ne3.org/postcard

https://dadafluxusmailart.blogspot.com

www.americantheatre.org/2020/10/13/turn-off-your-phone-check-your-mailbox/

Why Eastside and Rondo/Frogtown in St. Paul?

Initially, the 2021 Northern Spark festival was to take place in physical public spaces in the East Side and Rondo/Frogtown neighborhoods of St. Paul. We identified these locations because they have historically been excluded from arts investment even though they are sites of vibrant cultural expression and artistic spirit. Due to COVID-19, we have had to transition this portion of programming to virtual spaces and invite artists to design socially connective projects that still honor our initial place-based intentions.

Proposed projects do not need to be specifically about St. Paul, but need to articulate a connection between the proposed Mail Art and the residents of Eastside St. Paul or Rondo/Frogtown who will interact with the work.

Click here for a map of St. Paul’s Wards and District Councils.

Eastside neighborhoods: Payne/Phalen, Dayton’s Bluff, The Greater East Side, Eastview-Conway-Battle Creek-Highwood Hills (Wards 5, 6, 7; Districts 1, 2, 4, 5) 

Rondo: Summit-University (Ward 1, District 8) 

Frogtown: Thomas-Dale/Frogtown (Ward 1, District 7) 

Scale and Reach

The intention of the Northern Spark Mail Art projects is to connect meaningfully with as many people as possible in St. Paul’s Rondo/Frogtown and Eastside neighborhoods with the given resources.

For context:
Frogtown has 4,836 households
Rondo has 7,476 households
Eastside has a total of 15,308 households – 5,666 in Dayton’s Bluff and 9,642 in the greater Eastside

These numbers do not include businesses.

Is a project required to mail something to every address in the target neighborhoods with this budget? No. We know the materials and postage budget won’t cover all the addresses in these neighborhoods.

Does the artist / team need to provide the addresses for the mailing? No. Northern Lights.mn will work with the selected artists and St. Paul partners to source mailing lists tailored to the project’s goals and focus.

FESTIVAL THEME

Northern Spark 2021: Alchemy

Alchemy:

• A seemingly magical process of transformation, creation or combination
• An ancient practice from around the globe wherein sorcerers of science attempt to transform base metals into gold.
• A search for a universal elixir.

Artists are the modern-day alchemists. We mix form, materials, and ideas to transform the collective emotional matter of this world into new shapes. If art were a universal elixir for healing, how do we hold space for grief and loss as well as concoct recipes to honor our hunger for joy? How do we transform isolation into intimacy? Orbits into intersections? What community wisdom might we mix together for recovery?

This year’s distributed Northern Spark takes on new forms. For a span of two weeks, you can engage with the festival’s artist projects online, at home, and if you are a resident of St. Paul’s Eastside and Rondo/Frogtown neighborhoods, through the mail. Bring your grief, your joy, your self and be part of the elixir of magical transformation.

The theme was created by the 2021 Artist Council with Northern Lights.mn.

ELIGIBILITY

This call is for individual artists, artist collectives, and creative community organizers. This open call opportunity is open to anyone with a connection to St. Paul, preferably the neighborhoods of focus for this year’s festival: Rondo/Frogtown and Eastside. Non-profit organizations or companies are not eligible to apply.

Who is an Individual Artist?

Anyone who is a maker of things or experiences in the realm of art; can be self-taught, or academically trained, emerging or seasoned as an artist.

What is an Artist Collective?

Groups of artists who work together toward shared artistic goals or projects. These groups may be ongoing or temporary for Northern Spark. Artist groups that have 501c3 status are not eligible.

Who is a Creative Community Organizer?

A creative community organizer is a community member who has been involved with uplifting and organizing communities. This person has a deep understanding of community politics, privilege, and power and uses their voice to challenge the system to create social change.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROJECT SELECTION

Projects will be evaluated according to these primary considerations:

Theme. How is your project inspired by the 2021 festival theme?

Imaginative connection and creativity.  How is your project using the mail in different or uncommon ways to connect people creatively?

Clarity or Known Unknowns. What is your project? Who will create it? What materials, process and methods will you use? We are looking for clear project descriptions that showcase a commitment to creativity. If there are parts of your project that are unknown, that’s okay, tell us what they are and what process you might use to figure them out.

Accessibility. How will your project integrate accessibility? We acknowledge that no project can be 100% accessible to everyone. Consider how your project will be experienced by people with differing abilities of vision, hearing, touch, cognition, etc.

Relationship to place. The applicant artists do not need to live in or be from Eastside or Rondo/Frogtown St. Paul, but proposals need to articulate a connection between the proposed Mail Art and the residents of Eastside or Rondo/Frogtown who will receive the work.

In addition, while none of the following are strict requirements, they are factors in making our decisions:

Sustainability. We encourage artists to consider their carbon footprint and potential waste while creating and implementing their project.
Participation. How will people interact with your project?
Duration. All public project components must take place during the two week window of Northern Spark 2021.
Feasibility. Can your project be prepared in the 3.5 months between notification of acceptance and the start of Northern Spark? And executed within the two week timeframe of the festival? (June 12-27, 2021) Northern Lights.mn will assist with general production, but you are responsible for the creation, production and execution of your project.
Inclusivity. All content must be appropriate, inclusive, and safe for a wide public audience of all ages.
Safety. Please consider the personal safety, including COVID safety, of your audience, yourself and the artwork itself.  Here is a resource of prohibited and restricted items from the USPS.
Free. Participation in the majority of Northern Spark experiences must be free of charge.  Projects that intend to sell art or products are not eligible.

BUDGET

If your project is selected, you will receive a budget of up to $6,500. We suggest you plan for an artist(s) stipend of $2,000 within this budget.

You will submit a budget with your application that outlines the primary costs of your project: materials, postage, equipment, services or hired help. The budget should reflect everything you need to complete your project. Your project should be scaled to fit within this stipend and materials budget.  Projects that are contingent on further fundraising will not be considered.

View sample budgets here.

If you have questions, email submissions@northern.lights.mn or come to an online Info Session.

APPLICATION MATERIALS

The application process is entirely online. Applicants are required to submit:

Name of Artist, Artist Collective, or Creative Community Organizer (if collective, name Lead Artist)
Reliable Contact Information (phone, email, mailing address) Whoever checks these will be responsible for communicating with Northern Lights.mn staff for the duration of the project period.
Project Description (up to to 2 pages) Project title, project idea, material and equipment needs, processes for creation and your familiarity/experience with them, collaborators and feasibility (see Key Considerations, above). We encourage you to be as specific as possible. The proposal must explain the project’s connection to the festival theme and target neighborhoods in St. Paul (see above).
Artist bios and work samples of past work that communicates your ability to manifest the project you are proposing. Work samples do not need to be of the same material or media as your project idea, but give the jury a sense that you can complete a project on the scale you are proposing. Please include identifying information and/or brief descriptions.
A budget (1 page) that fits within the parameters of the open call and/or clearly identifies confirmed additional resources if you have any (not required!). Sample budgets will be available soon.

The submission form is on Submittable here.

For help with application for people unable to apply online or access the application, please contact us! submissions@northern.lights.mn. 

SELECTION PROCESS AND TIMELINE

Projects will be selected by Northern Lights.mn and the Artist Council, who reserve the right to request additional material and information after the proposal deadline, and to reject any and all proposals received.

Application Timeline:

Deadline for applications: January 25, 2021, 11:59 pm, CST
Artists notified no later than: February 12, 2021

Being a Northern Spark artist means being part of a community of makers. Festival artists take part in monthly meetings at which you receive and give feedback and problem solving for your and others’ projects, receive production and curatorial support and other networking benefits. Northern Spark is a professional development experience!

Before applying with a project, please make sure you will be available for the following dates and interested in a learning process. We want to help you succeed with your project.

Festival Artist Timeline:

• Festival Artists Introductory Meeting: February 24, 2021, 6-8 pm on Zoom. *Please save this date
• Monthly Festival Artist Meetings, 6-8 pm on Zoom: March 24, April 28, May 26
• Festival projects take place between June 12 – 27, 2021.

INFO SESSIONS

Please join us for an Info Session about Northern Spark 2021 Open Call for Mail Art.

• Wednesday, January 13, 2021 from 6:30-8:00 pm
• Saturday, January 23, 2021 from 3-4:30 pm.

Both sessions will take place on Zoom. Find more information on Facebook: January 13th, January 23rd (link forthcoming).

SUBMISSION FORM

The submission form is now live on Submittable. Find it here, as well as on the Northern Lights.mn Opportunities page.

If you are planning on submitting a proposal and would like to receive relevant open call updates, sign up for our e-newsletter.

If you have specific questions about the submission process, e-mail submissions@northern.lights.mn

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is a project required to mail something to every address in the target neighborhoods with this budget? No. We know the materials and postage budget won’t cover all the addresses in these neighborhoods. Be creative in how you think about where to engage in these neighborhoods.

Does the artist / team need to provide the addresses for the mailing? No. Northern Lights.mn will work with the selected artists and St. Paul partners to source mailing lists tailored to the project’s goals and focus.

How much detail about my production process do you want to see in my proposal? Be as specific as you can. We want to understand what you are proposing to send, to whom and how you will make it.  We want to see descriptions of any equipment you’ll use to make the work, any special processes would be needed or collaborators you’ll engage, etc. Basically, anything that will help us get a sense of how your project would come together.

I don’t need funding for my project / I can provide all the funding for my project, and I would like to present it at Northern Spark. What is the process I should follow? All proposals for Mail Art projects must go through the Open Call process. This is an equity practice, so all artists have a chance to be presented by the festival regardless of their access to resources.

Is there a set number of projects that will be accepted? At present we have funds to support 2-5 Mail Art projects depending on the proposal budgets. This may change depending on possible new resources or the proposed projects.

I’m not interested in presenting a project, but I really want to be a part of this festival. How can I get involved? You can volunteer! We love our volunteers. Email volunteers@northern.lights.mn for more information.

What should I do if I don’t see my question listed in these FAQ’s? E-mail submissions@northern.lights.mn with any additional questions.

Photo caption: A person facing away from the camera wears a tweedy vest with a patch on the back that reads “Night Time Post – Mail is Magical.” In the background a triangular tent with colorful flags glows in the dark night. This project pictured is Nighttime Post by Erin Lavelle and Anthony Chapin from Northern Spark 2014. Photo by Dusty Hoskovec.  

Poem by Liani Rey as part of Words for Winter on Nicollet Mall, 2017.

The long nights at this time of year mark a half-way point before the longest days of the year – a time when we are usually out in public with thousands of our friends enjoying art installations at Northern Spark.

2020 was going to be strange for Northern Lights.mn no matter what, with our intrepid founder stepping down last spring and the planned hiatus of Northern Spark. Little did we know those would be the least of our challenges.

Despite the entwined twin pandemics of disease and racism and their economic fallout, this year was not without joy and achievement. Here are a few bits to celebrate:

• We started, and paused, and restarted the 11th cohort of Art(ists) on the Verge.
• With the help of two brilliant artists, we converted an in-person fundraiser into an online project within the span of two weeks last March for Spring Howl 2020.
• The 3rd Artist Council (formerly known as the Program Council) dreamt up and put to PDF a set of guidelines for making our beloved night-time arts festival. Read it here Relationships & Reciprocity: A Guide to Making Northern Spark or watch the video.
• We teamed up with fellow St. Paul friends and partners to support the 24th Annual Drive In and Online Peace Celebration.
• In collaboration with a stellar intern from Macalester college we launched a research project to form a possible projector rental program for Twin Cities artists.
• Working again with All My Relations Arts, NACDI, Mississippi Park Connection and the National Park Service we commissioned and then paused a large-scale animated projection work by Moira Villiard as the 4th Illuminate the Lock project. Madweyaashka: Waves Can Be Heard is rescheduled for late February 2021.
• We made glow in the dark t-shirts and hoodies!

What we’re looking forward to in 2021: 

Participatory work by the artists of Art(ists) on the Verge 11. Look for public projects to emerge in spring / summer 2021.

A new form of Northern Spark, curated and crafted by the Artist Council with us to create COVID-safe form and trauma-aware modes of connection in summer 2021.

Working equitably with artists, partners, places and you to make meaningful, awe-inspiring, compassion-producing, fun works of art in the near and far beautiful future. 

See you there!

On sale now: glow-in-the-dark Northern Spark gear! T-shirts come in kid and adult sizes; hoodies in adult sizes only. 

Design is by veteran Northern Spark art director Matthew Rezac. 

Shirts and hoodies will be printed at Elpis Enterprises, a non-profit that provides job training, work experience and job placement for homeless or precariously-housed young people ages 16-23. 

Orders due by November 30th for winter holiday delivery. Shop our Etsy store here! 

All proceeds support the artistic programming of Northern Lights.mn.

Job Description: Northern Lights.mn Artist Council Manager 

Deadline: September 11, 2020.  Deadline extended: September 20, 2020
To apply, send letter of interest with details of relevant experience to jobs@northern.lights.mn.

Northern Lights.mn (NL) supports artists in the creation and presentation of art in the public sphere. Our largest and most visible program is the Northern Spark (NS), a free, late-night, public arts festival that takes place in June. To create NS, we work with many art, culture, and neighborhood organizations and the ongoing Artist Council (AC).  Initiated for Northern Spark 2017, the AC is a group of individual artists who are paid by and work with NL to shape the theme, artist and partner opportunities and public participation in the festival.  Read more about the history of the Artist Council (formerly called the Program Council) here. 

The Artist Council Manager (ACM) manages the Council and supports some functions of Northern Spark related to Community Partners.   

The ACM is chiefly responsible for overseeing the operations of the Artist Council, recruiting members, managing relationships, designing and facilitating meetings, and coordinating the AC’s presence on the night(s) of the festival. This position also coordinates between the AC and the designated Community Partners for Northern Spark for occasional joint meetings.  A core function of this position is to help build and nurture relationships with and between Council members, NL staff, and Community Partners. 

We are looking for an individual who has experience working with community-based artists, and is skilled in meeting design and facilitation. Self introspection and a commitment to anti-racism is necessary. Prior experience with NS as an artist, partner or attendee is strongly preferred. Experience working with or knowledge of arts-based economic development is helpful. 

Salary: $12,500 for 8-10 hrs/week
Status: Contract, 10 months (September 2020 – June 2021)
Works with: Executive Director, Northern Lights.mn

Responsibilities: 

• Schedule, design and facilitate Artist Council meetings
• One-on-one meetings with Artist Council members as needed
• Coordinate with Community Partners as needed for joint meetings 
• Design and conduct informal evaluation of Council once a year
• Recruit members; manage recruitment process with Council committee
• Strategize improvements in AC process with NL’s ED 
• Weekly check-in with NL’s Executive Director  

Required skills and experience:

• Awareness of Northern Spark, including attending the festival at least once in recent years. 
• 3-5 years experience working with multidisciplinary artists in community contexts and cultural organizations and/or art organizing  
• Excellent organizational and communications skills 
• Experience with meeting design and facilitation, including familiarity with anti-racist practices and communication strategies
• Leadership ability and experience
• Project management skills
• Good interpersonal skills; ability to work with and learn from different kinds of people
• Ability to work with a small, busy team of colleagues and self direct when necessary

Desired skills and experience:

• Knowledge of arts-based economic initiatives and organizing strategies
• Experience with Google Docs and Asana

Other requirements: 

• Must have own computer, access to the internet and transportation
• Ability to work a flexible schedule with occasional weekend and evening meetings
  

NL has an office in Minneapolis but all staff are working from home / remotely due to COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. Artist Council meetings take place on Zoom using an organizational account.  

To apply, send letter of interest with details of relevant experience to jobs@northern.lights.mn.
Deadline: September 20, 2020. 

Artists Moira Villiard (left) and Jonathan Thunder (right). Photo description: Two black and white photographs with portraits of a person smiling.

We are excited to announce a lead and mentor artist for a winter illumination at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock. 

Moira Villiard, lead artist, is a self-taught, dynamic visual artist, Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe direct descendent, and current Minnesota-based community organizer.  Though early in her career, her proficiency is in a wide variety of artistic genres, including portraiture, illustration, graphic and digital design and as a muralist. She’s worked as a curator and passionate arts educator, concentrating her efforts around issues of equity and justice including: arts access for underrepresented voices and communities, creative placemaking, environmental sustainability, youth empowerment, and acknowledgement of Indigenous land, culture, and history.

Of this opportunity, she says: 

“Art is a social process for me, so I’m most excited for the relational aspects of this project; things like working with Jonathan Thunder as my official mentor and engaging with community members around the creation of this piece and what they’d like to see. I’m also grateful to have the opportunity to explore this platform and medium in a way that elevates Indigenous perspectives.” 

Jonathan Thunder, Red Lake Ojibwe, will serve as a mentor artist, bringing his knowledge of projection to the project, among other skills. Thunder is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in canvas painting, digital animation and illustration. Northern Spark 2019 attendees at the American Indian Cultural Corridor saw Thunder’s work Manifest’o projected large-scale onto the side of the Many Rivers East Building on Franklin Ave. 

He says,

“I’m excited to work in collaboration once again with Northern Lights, Native American Community Development Institute and artist Moira Villiard on this unique and colossal event. The Mississippi has been a big part of my life since I can remember, and the lock and dam at St. Anthony has always been a destination for me during times of meditation and deep thought.”

Join us in congratulating these artists! Stay tuned for more details on the project as it develops. 

This project is a partnership with All My Relations Arts, a program of Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI),  Mississippi Park Connection and Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and is supported by the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board.

Last weekend would have been the 10th Northern Spark festival had we not decided, back in October, to take a hiatus this year. The weather was near perfect, I couldn’t help but notice. After 9 years of obsessively checking weather apps in June, minding the radar screen of Dark Sky has become an early summer habit. 

Our hiatus decision turned out to be serendipitous, as our spring has been uncommonly shaped by two intertwined pandemics: a contagious respiratory virus and a flare of systemic racism. 

This year, instead of worrying about the effect of rain and wind on Northern Spark artist installations, when the weather turns sour I think about the memorial at 38th and Chicago that honors George Floyd. I think about how the rain will dampen the signs and scatter the flowers. Unlike the festival that requires a coordinated staff, the community will return to that corner autonomously and rebuild. 

Here in the non-profit arts world we have a lot of unbuilding to do before we reconstruct. We need to discontinue racist systems across the spectrum of our work, in funding, curating, community engagement, and partnership. Northern Lights.mn is small in the big scheme of things, but the work is big to us, to the artists with whom we’re lucky to collaborate, our community partners and our cities. 

Although COVID-19 slowed down our process of finishing the Northern Spark Framework for Community Engagement this spring and early summer, we are working with the 3rd Program Council to complete this vision now. This crew of Indigenous artists, Black artists, and artists of color have created a plan that operationalizes equity through a set of values and processes that give time to relationship building.  We’ll soon be announcing more details of the content of the plan and opportunities for feedback and discussion. 

When the 4th Council is recruited and on-boarded with the mentorship of returning members, we will continue the messy conversations of building equitable arts practices together. The pandemics have cracked open new versions of familiar questions – what kind of public space do we need to collectively build? How are excluded voices centered instead of merely “seated at the table?” What would it look like to uplift and honor Black life through our work? 

To sit here today and look out a year from now to June 2021 when Northern Spark is scheduled to return in some form, we must ask what it may mean to be outside, at night, in the streets.  The uprising for justice of the past few weeks leaves a mark that we must honor. Maybe a late night arts festival is not the answer. Maybe it is absolutely necessary. What kind of a coming together of artists and community will be needed?

We will find the answers together, along with the rest of the questions. 

Image credit: Thunderstorm on West River Parkway at Northern Spark 2014. By Ian Hanson.

Northern Lights.mn is taking part in #GiveAtHomeMN, a week-long generosity spree! This state-wide campaign aims to support the arts, schools and non-profits who provide essential services to Minnesotans and beyond – especially now, through online programming.  

We believe that art and culture is always essential, even in times of crisis. 

As arts organizations we need to pivot our support for artists during spatial distancing, but moreover, we have to figure out how to rebuild the cultural public sphere when it is safe to do so. 

This is what NL does.  We support emerging and established artists in the creation and presentation of art in the public sphere. 

Our platforms focus on participation and engagement between people, artwork and place. 

Since Minnesota’s stay-at-home order was announced, we have: 

• shifted our Spring Howl fundraiser to an online project and paid those artists their full fees 
• paid our 7 Program Council members for their work in developing a Community Engagement Strategic Plan (stay tuned for more info!)  
• convened several conversations with our Art(ists) on the Verge 11 cohort to determine how best to support them while that program timeline is extended 
• started planning a winter return of Illuminate the Lock

We are also creatively planning for Northern Spark’s return in 2021. 

We need your support to keep creating platforms for artists to make new work, develop their practices and ultimately, help us get through this time with hope and beauty.  

Donations to Northern Lights.mn for #GiveArtHome are accepted through May 8th here, or anytime on our Support page.  Thank you! 

The Northern Spark 2019 Report reflects on the past nine year of the festival, while highlighting what made 2019’s festival special.

Check out theNorthern Spark for 2019 report here.