By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota
The path of an artist is not an easy one. It takes courage in the best of times and today we need you to be extra courageous, facing our current challenges with your creative spirit. That creativity will help us all negotiate the uncertainties of tomorrow, embrace what we can do today and bring us together as one community.
This land we now call South Dakota has been blessed by a creative spirit that runs deep in our roots. That spirit lives on in you as an artist, filling our communities with the best of what makes this place home. We don’t show our appreciation as often as we should or as fully as you need—and we resolve to do better.
It is with a full realization and a heartfelt dedication to the work of serving artists that I write this message of gratitude. Your work—and the work of all creative people throughout our state—matters! Thank you for being the heartbeat and soul of our state. Thank you for living your creative life in South Dakota and thank you for sharing it with all of us.
As today’s artists and culture bearers, please know your work is more important than ever. I know you are creating right now. Your late night studio sessions, the hours spent alone wresting with how this time we are living through manifests itself through your art, the hope you express for tomorrow by sharing work that is our future, and the discipline in your process—all these things inspire me.
We can’t wait to experience what you have created during these months of pandemic trial and turmoil. Speaking for our state’s residents everywhere, thank you, artists of South Dakota!
