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  • Brenda Flintrop, director of the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, was pleased to learn the council received a 19 percent funding increase from the state. The money will go toward boosting grants for arts organizations, such as the Carnegie Art Center and The Merely Players, among many others. Pat Christman

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  • Grants, such as those received by Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, help The Merely Players put on productions such as last year’s “Nunsensations!” File photo

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July 29, 2007

Funding boost good news for local arts

Amanda Dyslin

MANKATO — A few hundred bucks more a year in grant money might not seem like a lot for an arts organization that puts on several big shows a year.

Take The Merely Players, for example. The community theater troupe operates on about $50,000 per year and puts on several large-scale productions that require costumes and sets and many actors.

And although it might not seem like $200 to $500 more would do much, artistic director Gretchen Etzell knows otherwise.

“Every dime counts,” she said. “A couple hundred dollars would be absolutely incredible to us. It allows us to say, ‘All right, what extra thing can we do?’”

Brenda Flintrop, director of the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, recently spread the word to area arts organizations that Prairie Lakes received a 19 percent funding increase. She and others had lobbied for 30 percent, which would have restored the organization to where it was before severe cuts four years ago. But she still was fine with what they received.

“We’re very pleased with it because all of the state-funded programs needed additional increases,” she said.

Of the $28,500 increase in the budget, 95 percent is going to increasing grants to arts organizations and community groups, Flintrop said.

The Art Project Grant is now $2,500, up from $2,000, and the Small Arts and Arts-In-Education Grants are $700 each, up from $500.

Individual grants are funded by the McKnight Foundation. A new grant this year is the $2,000 Artist Fellowship Grant funded by McKnight.

Prairie Lakes’ budget before cuts was $216,000, which meant larger grants. When the big cuts came, the grant amounts also had to be reduced. The Art Project Grant was reduced from $3,000 to $2,000.

“A lot of our organizations have cut back on the programs they do, how many programs they do and how large of a production they can plan,” she said. “Organizations have to play it safe. They can’t take risks. ... A lot of them cut down on their publicity expenses.”

Representatives of Musicorum, a Mankato-based choral group, wrote a letter to Rep. Kathy Brynaert outlining the necessity of grants to its program and the hardship when grants were reduced:

“In our case, we had to change to a less beautiful, but less expensive performance venue, increase ticket prices, reduce pay to our music director and instrumentalists, or some combination of all three, in various years,” the letter read. “The change of performance venue from Good Counsel chapel to other places may have cost us some audience members.”

The Merely Players also rely heavily on grants, sponsors and donations. As grants have been cut, they felt the pinch because they will not raise ticket prices.

“If you get these ticket prices too high, a family of four, they can’t afford that,” Etzell said. “We’re not trying to make money, we’re trying to put on things and break even.”

Flintrop said arts organizations will see the grant increase in October. Grants for arts organizations and community groups are awarded in spring and fall each year.

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