Jan. 23, 2020

A dozen-member task force will spend the next couple of months preparing to provide the city with direction on how to best support the growth of arts and culture in Sioux Falls.

“The performing and visual arts scene in Sioux Falls has matured greatly over the past few decades. Multiple organizations and individuals have made incredible contributions, and there is an appetite for more,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said in a statement.

“For our arts programming to move forward in a collaborative, unified and focused direction, I believe now is the time to investigate how the city can more effectively and efficiently interface with community needs as it pertains to arts and culture.”

The task force will be facilitated by Janet Brown of Sioux Falls. According to the city, Brown is one of the most experienced community arts initiative facilitators in the U.S., having spent over 40 years working with city, county and state government arts agencies throughout the country. She is the past executive director of South Dakotans for the Arts and CEO/president of Grantmakers in the Arts.

“I am thrilled to be asked to help the city of Sioux Falls in assessing how it will approach cultural growth in the future,” Brown said. “The city has a great record of supporting artists and arts groups. We have matured to the point where it’s important to find more sophisticated and systemic ways to assure continued growth for the creative sector that will benefit all who live in and visit Sioux Falls.”

Members of the task force are:

• Tom Dempster, chair
• Nan Baker
• Brian Bonde
• Tatiana Chance
• Hector Curriel
• Claudia Dail
• Apolonia Davalos
• Michael Jamison
• Katrina Lehr-McKinney
• Ivy Oland Dandar
• Jim Speirs
• Myrna Stanley

The group will hold a public meeting at 4 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Cooper Conference Room at City Center, 231 N. Dakota Ave., and again in March.

A final report is expected in May.