Heartland Arts Incorporated

Your support will help make arts events happen in the greater Park Rapids area

Who we are: Heartland Arts Incorporated serves as an umbrella organization for 16 arts and cultural organizations in the greater Park Rapids area. Representatives from these arts groups, along with individual arts project champions, meet monthly to coordinate arts calendars, share information and incubate interest in new arts projects. In 2019, Heartland Arts  sponsored successful projects including Art Leap, Noon Hour Concerts and the Great American Story storytelling contest and created content for a new quarterly newspaper publication, Art Beat,  to promote arts events and activities in our community. In 2020, Art Leap, a driving tour to artists' studios and other cultural destinations, Noon Hour Concerts and the storytelling contest were cancelled. Heartland Arts continued to publish Art Beat and sponsored artist Lili (Payne) Lennox to paint a mural on the wall of a Downtown business at a location highly visible to state highway traffic. The mural is lighted so it can be viewed 24/7. This project culminated with a community celebration, and won the first Park Rapids Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce Distinction Award for a Heartland Lakes Community Project and praise from local businesses owners, staff and residents.

Through its website - https://www.heartlandarts.org - and Facebook page - Park Rapids Arts, Heartland Arts also promotes other organizations' arts projects. 

Our Medici Fund provides a way to recognize and support artistic talent and growth for youth through stimulation, scholarship and enrichment. 

What we do: Founded in 2005, Heartland Arts (formerly Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council) has earned recognition as the leader in making arts happen in the greater Park Rapids area and has accomplished this goal with no paid staff.  Financial support from member organizations and donations from at-large members, bequests and other sources go toward ongoing expenses. Heartland Arts relies on grant funds from the Region 2 Arts Council to support projects, such as Art Leap. However, these grants require a 20 percent cash match, which can be difficult to find since most other funders do not support ongoing projects.

Why give: If you believe as we do that arts and supporting artists help create a vibrant community and are essential to the fabric of life in rural Minnesota, your support can help Heartland Arts continue to make arts happen in the greater Park Rapids area.