On Aug. 20, the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) awarded 23 grants totaling $91,070 in funding to applicants throughout southeastern Minnesota.

This included seven Emerging Artist grants for $17,070, 10 Advancing Artist grants for $50,000, and six General Operating Support grants to arts organizations for $24,000.

In Mower County, Miranda Moen received a $2,500 Emerging Artist grant for “Watercolors: Reimagining Main Street Businesses,” and the Austin Symphony Orchestra received a $4,000 General Operating Support grant for staffing and salaries.

Moen is an Austin artist whose project was to work on watercolor images of small town businesses, mostly in Houston County. The images would reimagine storefront spaces no longer in use.

In Steele County, Andrea Arnold, of Owatonna, received a $5,000 Advancing Artist grant for “Exploring Hometown Sensibilities.” This project has her working on a series of relief prints in collaboration with small town businesses.

SEMAC is the State Arts Board-designated granting authority for local/regional arts producing and sponsoring organizations and disburses funds allocated for this purpose by the Minnesota State Legislature.  The SEMAC region includes the counties of Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona.

For information about the grant application process, eligibility, or grant writing assistance, contact the SEMAC office at 2778 D Commerce Dr NW, Rochester, MN 55901 or call 507-281-4848.   Information may also be found on our Web site at www.semac.org.