Project Name: Art Has Power
What is your first and last name?
Katy Carignan
What are your preferred pronouns?
She/her/hers
What city or village do you live in?
[534]Does your neighborhood have a name? If so what is it?
[535]Are you connected with anyone in your local government?
[536]Are you applying as a business owner, artist, non-profit, DDA, or Commercial Improvement District?
[280]Where will your project take place?
This project takes place downtown Rogers City, MI. We are a friendly town of about 3000 people. Located in Presque Isle County on the sunrise side of Michigan on Lake Huron. With miles of clean beaches, parks, conservation areas, bike trails, and birding locations this is a paradise for nature lovers, boaters, kayakers, hikers, bicyclists, dog lovers and anyone seeking a pristine and beautiful location.
Briefly describe your project idea:
A Poetry Festival & Art Walk to activate the empty business spaces in our downtown area with art & poetry. Installations will cover the empty windows and we will create traveling poetry that leads people from one end of 3rd street to the other. Partners are the library and the Stone House Studio.
How will you be involved in this project? Who will you worth with?
We plan to use Facebook and in person opportunities to allow the community to contribute images for the project and help us select which images we use. We have a very active photo site called “I Love Rogers City” on Facebook that we will use as a resource and polling space as well as our spring ArtWalk.
Describe the artist’s or artists’ work. This is not about credentials—what do they do as an artist?
Garrison is a local poet who participates in artwalks with a Poetry Depot. He published a book of poetry and contributes to area publications. Recent works focus on finding meaning in nearby parks.
Please upload a letter of support for your project from your local governing body:
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Additional Attachments (if any)
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Why does your community need this project?
We are a rural community including young families, retirees, young professionals who work remotely, farmers, blue collar workers, and service industry workers. The population in Rogers City has changed over the years including many new people who have moved into the area. These new residents often want the kinds of arts and cultural opportunities that they had in the larger cities and communities they came from. In addition, our long-time local residents have always valued the opportunity to come together for arts and cultural events. Art and poetry crosses boundaries and bridges divides in our community.
What do you hope to achieve through this project?
Our community has a long history of arts and culture. Beginning in the early 1900s this community has had movie theatres that showed film and vaudeville performances. Many artists have made this area their home from writers, to visual artists, to performing artists and filmmakers. Poetry is a medium that brings those arts together. A poetry slam is a performing art. A poem and image can be made more powerful by pairing them together. And poetry has a unique way of crossing generational and cultural boundaries in a community. As a northern town with snowy winters, we have a large population of readers, and our love of books and culture brings our town together. We want to create a new way to do that. We have empty business spaces in our downtown area that will be activated with art and poetry. In addition, we are lucky to have an active group of amateur photographers who post on Facebook, in “I Love Rogers City”. We want to leverage that population of artist posters and followers to find and select the art that we will pair with poetry to fill these empty spaces. We will create installations to cover the windows with poems and artwork that will draw people in and get our community talking. In addition, because of these empty spaces, during downtown events there are gaps in activity and these installations will create places of interest that will lead community members from one end of the street to the other, rather than losing them in a “dead” zone. We also want to create smaller poetry signs that can be placed one after the other through the downtown as “traveling poetry”. For our art walk in the fall, the activation of these storefronts, and the signs of traveling poetry will provide intrigue and lead attendees to the next location, from one end of main street to the other.
How do you plan to spend the $5,000 microgrant?
Artist $400 (selection of work and install of signs)
Art and poetry installations (Cling signs for glass install $2000; Signs for wood install $1200)
Traveling poetry signs $700
Artwalk signs $700
What resources do you already have to make this project successful? Resources could include things like time, partners, expertise, donated goods/materials/space, matching funds, and more. Please approximate the in-kind value if possible.
An active volunteer community of working age people, youth, and retirees. Expertise of locals and transplants who have brought their experience from other communities. We are a Main Street City and development ready city. Matching funds will come from local donors and businesses.
Will your project require special permits from the community you are in? For example, anything that requires a street closure or installing a permanent art piece will likely require a special permit from your local governing body or zoning board. If your project is funded, the MML Foundation is happy to help you navigate that process. Please note that all applicants must obtain any necessary permits for their projects, if selected for funding. *
No
Anticipated project launch date:
August 1, 2023
Will you serve as the primary point of contact for this application?
[291]Lead Artist First and Last Name:
Garrison Benson
Lead Artist Website (If Applicable):
http://garrisonbenson.com
Business 1: Business Name:
Cory Budnick’s Insurance Agency
Business 1: Business Type:
Service
Business 1: Business Owner First and Last Name:
Cory Budnick
Business 1: Physical Location Address
333 N 3rd Street, Rogers City, MI 49779
Business 1: Twitter Handle (If Applicable)
Business 1: Facebook Page Link (If Applicable)
CoryABudnickStateFarmAgent
Business 1: Instagram Handle (If Applicable)
Business 2: Business Name:
Woodland Confectionary
Business 2: Business Type:
Handmade Chocolates and Sweets Shop
Business 2: Business Owner First and Last Name:
Katherine Wilbur
Business 2: Business Physical Location Address:
179 N 3rd St, Rogers City, MI 49779
Business 2: Twitter Handle (If Applicable)
Business 2: Facebook Page Link (If Applicable)
thewoodlandconfectionary
Business 2: Instagram Handle (If Applicable)
woodlandconfectionary
Business 3: Business Name:
[325]Business 3: Business Type:
[507]Business 3: Business Owner First and Last Name:
[326]Business 3: Physical Location Address
[327]Business 3: Twitter Handle (If Applicable)
[374]Business 3: Facebook Page Link (If Applicable)
[373]Business 3: Instagram Handle (If Applicable)
[383]Please list the names of any additional partners:
[336]Image Caption 1 (if any): One of the unused properties we wish to activate with art and poetry
Image 1 (if any):
Image Caption 2 (if any): Empty space next to the theatre
Image 2 (if any):
Image Caption 3 (if any): Empty building next to Woodland Confectionary
Image 3 (if any):
Image Caption 4 (if any): An empty space that needs to be activated
Image 4 (if any):
Image Caption 5 (if any): This fence is a space we would like to include traveling poetry
Image 5 (if any):
