Pleased to share that I have received a 2024 Cultural Expressions Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for my work that is now underway. This program supports activities that share, explore, pass on, express, or celebrate culture through the arts. Culture may be defined by a common ethnicity, tribal affiliation, geographic or regional identity, occupation, language, or recreation. Traditional and contemporary forms of cultural expression may be funded in this program. Funds could be used to support practicing a cultural art form; presenting cultural festivals, community celebrations, performances, media or exhibitions; offering demonstrations, etc. Funds could also be used to deepen or pass on cultural traditions through apprenticeships or documentation.
Per the official release, “Thao Worra will incubate and support experimental Lao Minnesotan intercultural poetry chapbook and journal production, performances, and cultural festivals during the 50th anniversary of Lao diaspora.” Also of interest I’m happy to share that Lao Culture Dance and Traditional Fashion Show “will teach and perform new dances with students-LumSiPhanDon dance and Wishing dance; direct Miss NangSangKhan Pageant; and produce Lao New Year including live music and traditional Lao dances.”
Established in 1903 by the Minnesota State Legislature, the State Arts Society was to “advance the interests of the fine arts, to develop the influence of art in education, and to foster the introduction of art in manufactures.” and in 1975, the agency’s enabling legislation was amended, again, with its name changed to the Minnesota State Arts Board that we’re more familiar with today. You can see some of their current grants for the 2025 funding cycle here.
This grant will support our efforts to convene an exhibit on our transition from a monarchy to participants in a democracy in Minnesota. The exhibit will be working with over 65 pieces embodying 16+ months of research, interviews, original visual art and poetry, and community conversations with Lao refugees and our fellow Minnesotans, looking at where our refugee journeys took us. During this exhibit we would like to leverage part of this grant to convene a Lao poetry expo, with oral histories, shadow puppetry, poetry performances, workshops, guided tours, and brown bags anticipated to help commemorate that journey since the Secret War for Laos, and to incubate a Lao Minnesotan poetry renaissance. We are attempting to restore bridges and opportunities in the more remote cities Lao refugees are relocating.
We’re going to do more experiments with physical marketing and pop-up poetry performances across the state which have gotten extremely positive feedback. We hope to leverage these into sustainable opportunities as we readjust to what public art and rural art from Southeast Asian refugees can look like. We are currently attempting to bring at least 2 collections and 1 anthology forward in 2024. We would also like use the resources to create a new literary journal for the community that is currently missing since many Lao-serving publications in Minnesota and the Midwest ceased active publication since the Pandemic. While Minnesota has the 3rd largest Laotian refugee population in the US it is the only state that has consistently been able to provide literary programs compared to California, Washington and Texas. Support this year could be critical redefining the momentum and thrust of Lao American poetics and leverage the best of Minnesotan approaches and opportunities in poetry for the better part of the next fifty years.
So, I look forward to seeing what we can create together! Wish us luck!
ThaoworraDome 