RFQ: Artists Respond: Weaving Social Connection (West Central MN)
Location: MN — Lakes Region (Fergus Falls / Moorhead)
City: Fergus Falls, MN
Type: RFP / RFQs
Categories:
Any discipline
Deadline: 07/21/2025
No entry fee required
Paid opportunity
Request for Qualifications: Artists Respond: Weaving Social Connection (West Central MN)
Deadline to Apply: July 21, 2025 at 11:59PM CDT
Virtual Info Session (Optional): June 26, 2025 at 5:30PM CDT. Register here.
Project Timeline: September 2025 – September 2026
Stipend: $5,000 (+ $2,000 materials budget)
Springboard for the Arts is seeking up to six artists or artist teams to collaborate with two West Central Minnesota-based community organizations: MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership and SAGA Youth. These partnerships are part of Artists Respond: Weaving Social Connection, a national initiative rooted in the belief that creativity is essential to community well-being.
Artists Respond: Weaving Social Connection supports artists and community organizations in co-creating projects that build connection and reduce isolation. This work responds to a growing crisis: loneliness and social disconnection are now recognized as urgent public health issues, with impacts on mental and physical health comparable to smoking or heart disease. Artists are essential in this moment, not just for what they make, but for how they help people feel seen, heard, and part of something larger.
We are looking for artists who want to co-create meaningful, relationship-centered work in collaboration with staff, participants, and communities at each organization. This is not a call for a finished proposal. Selected artists will work closely with their assigned site to shape a project that reflects that organization’s values, goals, and day-to-day realities.
About the Partners
MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership:
MAHUBE-OTWA is a rural community action agency serving five counties in west-central Minnesota—Mahnomen, Hubbard, Becker, Otter Tail, and Wadena. With a Whole Family-Whole Community approach, we help individuals and families from birth through the senior years. We are responsive and address needs for finding housing and staying warm, help the unemployed and under-employed find meaningful work, help with health, wellness and family planning, help seniors live independently, help find childcare and provide early childhood school readiness, help in times of crisis and emergencies, provide relationship-based coaching, and help one another give back to our communities. MAHUBE’s mission is to empower people to achieve self-sufficiency, and they take that seriously.
Staff understand that many people arrive seeking support, often carrying the weight of past challenges — and they are committed to creating a safe, welcoming space where people can connect to services and build relationships. They see creativity as a way to bring warmth, pride, and culture into their office, intake, and meeting spaces.
SAGA (Sexuality and Gender Alliance) Youth in Fergus Falls is a volunteer-run, LGBTQ+ youth-led space created in direct response to the tragic loss of several queer youth during the pandemic. It now serves as a lifeline for rural queer and trans youth in greater Minnesota, a place where they can be themselves, connect with peers, and participate in art-making, sewing, zines, screen-printing, movie nights, and mutual care.
SAGA is a space of gentleness, play, and possibility. Some youth are loud and proud; others are just beginning to explore their identity or aren’t out at home. The team is looking for artists who understand that visibility is complex, that safety looks different for each person, and that connection can happen in quiet, non-performative ways. Creatives that meet youth where they are and invite them into new ways of expressing themselves are welcomed.
Eligibility & Considerations
- Applicants must live in West Central Minnesota
- Artists may apply to be considered for one or both partners (We’ll select 2-3 artists per partner)
- Experience working with the partner organization’s community is strongly encouraged (2-4 artist per partner will be selected)
- Open to all creative disciplines (visual, writing, performance, craft, culinary, digital, etc.)
What You’ll Receive
- $5,000 artist stipend
- $2,000 materials budget
- Support from Springboard and partner staff to develop and produce your project
- Participation in a statewide artist cohort
Timeline
- Deadline to Apply: July 21, 2025 at 11:59PM
- Virtual Info Session (Optional): June 26, 2025 at 5:30PM
- September 17, 2025: In-person cohort convening + project planning
- October 2025–September 2026: Project development, project check-in with cohort and project implementation
- Fall 2026: Project wrap-up and storytelling share-out
How to Apply
Applications will be accepted via Slideroom. You may submit your responses in writing or by video.
- Twin Cities link: https://springboard.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/84162/lfBTtjtjQI
- West Central Minnesota link: https://springboard.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/84161/5ggPpmQXlY
Artists will be selected based on….
- The clarity of the artist’s creative practice and community connections
- Alignment between the artist’s interests and the mission, values, and goals of the partner organization(s)
- The artist’s demonstrated ability to foster care, visibility, and social connection through their work
AR: Weaving Social Connection – Applicant Info
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- Applicant/Artist Website (Optional)
Enter the full URL, beginning with https://… - Applicant/Artist Social Media #1 (Optional)
Enter the full URL, beginning with https://… - Applicant/Artist Social Media #2 (Optional)
Enter the full URL, beginning with https://… - Eligibility Requirements
- Please confirm that you can commit to attend these mandatory sessions.
- Applicant/Artist Website (Optional)
- In-Person Kick-Off – September 25, 2025 from 12pm-2pm
- Check-In – February 26, 2026 from 12pm-1:30pm
- Applicant Identity (optional)
While all eligible candidates are encouraged to apply, we will be prioritizing applicants from the following groups. Please check all identities that apply to you below.
Why do we do this? Across all our programs at Springboard for the Arts, our goal is to increase accessibility and to prioritize communities that are under-resourced. As a baseline all of Springboard’s programs prioritize: People who are BIPOC and Native, People who are LGBTQIA2+, People in rural places, and People with disabilities. We prioritize these communities because of the systemic extraction and marginalization they have experienced related to the specific resources Springboard offers.
- Pronouns
Questions about pronouns? Check out this online resource: https://www.mypronouns.org
* This question has conditional follow-up questions.
Narrative Questions (General):
- Who are you, and what should we know about your creative practice and community connections?
- Read the organization descriptions. Why are you interested in working with one or both of these organizations?
Partner-Specific Questions:
If you are applying to work with MAHUBE-OTWA:
- Many of the people MAHUBE-OTWA serves are navigating hard things. How might your creative work bring moments of care, joy, connection, or recognition into spaces where people are already showing up for services?
- How might your creative practice engage people across generations (young people to elders)—at MAHUBE-OTWA?
If you are applying to work with SAGA Youth:
- How might you support youth who are navigating varying levels of outness, identity exploration, or isolation, while also connecting them to SAGA’s resources and opportunities in ways that respect their need for anonymity?
Work Samples:
Please share 2-4 work samples that will help us learn more about you or your work. These can be newspaper articles, videos, images, a letter of recommendation, etc.
For links to websites, or articles, please put the link(s) in a pdf document, and submit the pdf as your work sample.
For videos, music, recordings, or other time-based art, please limit submissions to approximately 4 minutes or less.
If you provide a link on a pdf for a video or other time-based sample that you are unable to edit to a shorter length, please upload a pdf with a note telling us the start and end time that you would like the selection committee to review.
Questions/Access Needs?
Contact:
molly@springboardforthearts.org
Springboard for the Arts is committed to equity, access, and supporting artists as essential leaders in building vibrant, connected communities.