On Tuesday, June 20, Flandreau had two visitors from ArtPlace America to visit the Crescent Street Bridge site and spend two hours in town.
The visitors wanted to see the community of Flandreau, the Crescent Street Bridge and that there are community partners assembled to achieve the goal put forth in a proposal submitted by Emily Firman Pieper, mainly to fix the bridge while utilizing the arts in the process for community engagement and input.
The Crescent Street Bridge in Flandreau was chosen as one of 70 finalists for a grant from the National Creative Placemaking Fund.
ArtPlace America’s National Creative Placemaking Fund is a highly competitive national program, receiving 987 applications this year.
Investing money in communities across the country in which artists, arts organizations and arts and culture activity help drive community development change across 10 sectors of community planning and development: agriculture and food, economic development, education and youth, environment and energy, health, housing, immigration, public safety, transportation or workforce development.
ArtPlace, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., is a 10-year collaboration among a number of foundations, federal agencies and financial institutions that works to position arts and culture as a core sector of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical and economic fabric of communities, according to its website.
“It was great seeing so many people from different walks of the community come together to work on our common goal of fixing the Crescent Street Bridge,” said Pieper, who submitted the proposal in March. “Should Flandreau be awarded this grant, it will be a fantastic opportunity for our community to build many bridges of trust and communication as well as the actual bridge itself.”
Pieper said around 25 people representing different parts of the community and outside resources attended the site visit to show Flandreau is ready to receive this grant.
Some of the local entities supporting this effort included the Flandreau Indian School, Flandreau Public Schools, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, the City of Flandreau, Avera Flandreau Hospital, Flandreau Development Corporation, Dakota Language Program, the Boys and Girls Club of Moody County, FSST Natural Resources Office, FSST Office of Historic Preservation, Bridge Flandreau, Studio 52 and many individual community members.
Other partners include Joe Bartman of Dakota Resources, Kari O'Neil of SDSU Extension, Vince Two Eagles and Amy Doom of Wagner Horizons, artist Joe Williams of Eleven Warrior Arts, Native cultural educator and performer Jackie Bird, Mary Bordeaux and Peter Strong of Racing Magpie Art Gallery and Studios, Hugh Weber and the Institute of Possibility and Dr. Fang Xu of SDSU's school of Architecture and Design.
If there are any other entities or individuals who would like to be included as a community partner in this effort, contact Pieper at emilyfirman@gmail.com.
The final grant submission is due in early August, and Flandreau will hear back from ArtPlace by early December
