By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota South Dakota’s working artists have been among the groups hardest hit by the economic realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the best of times, artists must struggle to weave together a livelihood, and now this group is particularly vulnerable as their work relies on public gatherings and [...]
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 [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota As the situation in our state continues with a growing number of cases of COVID-19, most of us are trying to shelter in place to do our part to not spread the virus. We are all grateful to those essential services employees who continue to keep things [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota These are incredible times. Our world seems to be upside down and life as we know it has essentially come to a standstill. What did you have planned for last weekend? What did you end up doing? I'm sure most of us followed health experts’ advice by [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota New ideas have the power to energize people and organizations, and the State Arts Conference in Rapid City May 14-16 will be a catalyst of great creative ideas. This year’s conference featured speakers are Mary Anne Carter, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; Torrie Allen, [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota One of the key roles of Arts South Dakota is to encourage South Dakotans to speak out in support of the arts. We call it arts advocacy—but it is really just telling positive stories about the many ways the arts make a difference in your life. It’s [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota December marks the season of giving. As we consider those to whom we wish to be generous, we need to remember our friends in the nonprofit arts community. Throughout the nation, arts organizations are looking to audiences, patrons and arts advocates to help fill their stockings with [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota The South Dakota Department of Tourism, in partnership with the South Dakota Arts Council, has launched a social media campaign, #StateOfCreate—and we think it’s great. Tourism and the arts are vital partners in our creative life and our economy, and you can track the campaign by following [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota The strength of South Dakota’s creative community comes from its diversity, weaving together threads from all cultures across our lands and celebrating through the arts our common connections. This is especially meaningful to consider as we celebrate Native American Day and the first people to call this [...]
By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota Recently one of the people helping to bring arts funding to South Dakota toured our state and was blown away by the diversity and quality of our cultural environment. Michael Orlove directs National Endowment for the Arts funding and other assistance to 56 state and jurisdictional arts [...]
