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St. Olaf, along with Carleton and local arts groups, initiat

By Amy Gage
June 21, 2005

Stillwater, Minnesota, is known for its scenic river and antiques shops. Red Wing sits at the trailhead of a noted bike trail. Northfield has those amenities, too, but -- with the help of St. Olaf College -- it wants to become better known as an "arts town."

A new marketing initiative to attract visitors to Northfield kicked off in May with a meeting that included representatives of Carleton College, ArtOrg, the Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield Public Schools, the Northfield Downtown Development Corp., the Mill Town Trail, the Northfield News and the City of Northfield.

Representing St. Olaf were Mary Griep, chair of the Department of Art and Art History, and Assistant Professor of Art Jill Ewald, director of the Flaten Art Museum on campus.

"We want to market Northfield as an arts and cultural destination," said Sam Demas, chair of the Northfield Arts Guild board and a librarian at Carleton College. "We can be a model for higher education and community partnerships."

One longtime example of such partnerships has been the St. Olaf connection with the Northfield Youth Choirs under the leadership of Instructor in Music Cora Scholz, a 1961 alumna of the college who retired from directing the renowned youth choirs this year.

Current and retired art faculty members, including printmaker Jan Shoger and painter John Maakestad, also exhibit their work in town. "These are high-level shows available in a small town," Griep said.

St. Olaf has created a popular "public art" walking map of campus, and it mails a monthly calendar of events to 10,000 businesses and households in the area.

ArtOrg Executive Director Heather Robins, a Carleton alumna, presented an overview of other successful art towns, based on the John Villani book The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America. From Northport, Alabama, and Moscow, Idaho, to Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Bozeman, Montana, arts towns have several common qualities, Robins said: high-quality art available at reasonable prices, bookstores, a college or university, plenty of arts events, and hangouts such as coffeehouses and cabarets that also feature art.

Arts towns typically are within driving distance of a major metropolitan area while being far enough away to retain their small-town identity. "They spread their art out into the community," she explained.

One potential "arts town" model is Quincy, Illinois, whose Quincy Society for the Fine Arts has 53 member organizations. The society connects artists with local schools and publishes an arts resource guide.

"More arts organizations means more for everybody," Robins said.

Northfield has examined the "arts town" concept before, most recently in 2003, when Demas led an initiative to get a common arts calendar for the community. The next step: A smaller focus group will look at ways to fund a marketing initiative, possibly in partnership with the city, and to develop a strategic plan.

Robins urged attendees at the May 10 meeting to see the arts as an economic development boon. "Arts towns," she said, "become a weekend getaway."

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.