List of Acceptable Projects
Acceptable projects may include, but are not limited to, the following examples. This list is to serve as a guide and as a starting point. A list of successful projects will be compiled after the first year of funding.
Construction and Capital Improvement
- New buildings and construction (ie: art exhibitors building, heritage center, stage, history of agriculture building)
- Additions and enhancements to existing structures (ie: stage enhancements, additions to a history center, art and agriculture wing to 4-H building)
- Large to medium scale restoration of historic structures (ie: restoring a log cabin, restoring an old church)
- Small capital enhancements related to the programming which will occur in the new or improved structure (ie: sound system to complete a newly constructed stage; display cases and materials for a historical exhibit inside a newly restored historical building)
Event Enhancement
- Display cases (ie: to showcase a loaned exhibit from the historical society)
- Display racks (ie: for quilts)
- Improved lighting in the arts building
- Improved sound system for a stage
- Making a historic structure, such as an old school house, handicap accessible
- Small to medium scale restoration of a historic structure (ie: historically accurate shingling on a log cabin, new windows, improved displays in the historic structure)
- Signage—to explain artistic, historical, agricultural, cultural heritage relevance.
- Easels to display paints and photographs
- Public Art
- Murals
Programming
- Demonstrations (ie: spinning, harnessing draft horses, weaving, watercolor, basket weaving, butter making, pottery, waltzing)
- Reenactments (ie: one room school house, rendezvous, living history museums)
- Presentations (ie: heirloom varieties, county history, history of immigrants, portrait photography)
- Artists in residency (ie: collaborate with an outside organization like the Textile Center or Compas.org to bring an artist to the fair)
- Performances (ie: blue grass band, flamenco dancers, large puppets intended for public spaces)
- Displays
- Story Telling
- Children’s theater
- Workshops (ie: how to shear sheep, how to play the banjo)
List of Acceptable Expenses
- To be eligible for a grant, the project(s) must develop or enhance county fair facilities or other projects or programs that directly provide access to the arts, arts education, or agricultural, historical, and cultural heritage programs. Funds must “supplement traditional sources of funding for these purposes and may not be used as a substitute.” Minnesota Constitution Article XI, Section 15.
- Payment for administrative expenses, such as salaries, must be for duties directly related to and necessary to the proposal’s execution.
List of Unacceptable Projects and Expenses
Examples of unacceptable projects include, but are not limited to:
- Activities that do not have arts/arts education/MN cultural heritage/MN history, as primary focus.
- Events with a primary focus on fundraising.
- General entertainment.
- Facility improvements which had already been in the fair’s plan and budget.
- To compensate ongoing personnel in full or in part.
- To pay an artist or arts organization to provide essentially the same service that has been featured at the fair in the past.
- Payment of debts incurred before grant application is approved.
Emily Murphy, State Program Administrator
Emily.Murphy@state.mn.us, 651-201-6648
Ag Marketing & Development Division
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