Announcing: Sarah Larsson is a 2018 Minnesota Artist Initiative Grant Recipient!

 Hi friends -- 

In this season of fall and quieting, turning into darkness and chill, we wish you all bountiful harvests and time with the ones you care about.  We have been so fortunate to study and learn music from the rich traditions of Eastern Europe, and so we also always work to remember how important it is to value and preserve the culture and history of peoples all over the world.  If you're reading this, take moment to contemplate the history of the land you are on, who lived there long ago, and how your own life and personal history intersects with theirs. 

We've been immensely lucky in the last year to be able to embark on new several new arranging projects, thanks to funding from some great sources in one of our beloved home states.  Last year, we received support from the Howard B. & Ruth F. Brin Jewish Arts Endowment arrange two new pieces based on Jewish folk songs from Eastern Europe.
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​​This year, we are proud to announce that Sarah Larsson is a recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant for 2018!  Using grant funds, Sarah's project will be to work together with mentors from Eastern European cultural communities in Minnesota to study and compose 5 new arrangements of folksongs, to be premiered by the Nightingale Trio.  Sarah is thrilled to be embarking on this project, and knows that we all have a lot of thanks to give to the great musicians we've learned from already in Minnesota and beyond.  Stay tuned for updates about the development of the project.

Read more here: www.arts.state.mn.us/grants/2018/2018-awarded-ai.htm

What's even cooler: The Artist Initiative Grant  program is made possible by the voters of Minnesota, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  This is a grant program that was approved by the MN legislature in 2008. We LOVE this program, and wish that funds like this were available in all states.

​ Read more about Minnesota's Legacy fund here: http://www.legacy.leg.mn/funds/arts-cultural-heritage-fund 
​and the Minnesota State Arts Board here: ​http://www.arts.state.mn.us.

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