On November 23, 2022, the Blandin Foundation of Grand Rapids, MN awarded a $15,000 leadership boost grant to The Arts Collaborative to create a web site to function as a “virtual marketplace” for the arts in Alexandria in rural Minnesota. These grants are designed to support local ideas and the dreamers and doers who move rural places forward in the aftermath of two years of a complex health and social crises. The grant application addressed a one-time creative community project that increases connection and livability—in this case, through the arts:
“The Arts Collaborative, a group of arts-focused organizations in the Alexandria area, proposes to promote the “business of the arts” by developing a virtual marketplace to function as a modern-day Agora, a gathering place for all people in the community to “consume” the arts, to become “co-workers” in the arts, to deepen understandings of who we are as citizens of Alexandria, Minnesota, and beyond. Unlike the agora of old, we will not build colonnades, plant trees, or erect statues. Our virtual marketplace will enhance the ability of the arts to foster civic engagement, increase community pride, spur creativity among people of all ages.”
CYBERsprout LLC, a local web design company, was selected to create the website.