North Dakota Council on the Arts

06/11/2026

🌟 Ready for a BURST of arts news? The June 2026 E‑News is here!
*** It includes fresh highlights from our Spring Board meeting and reception in Williston, plus . . .
📝 FY27 grant approvals
🎨 A Special Projects–supported mural building community pride
📯 The 2026–27 Governor’s Band & Choir announcement
💡 FY27 Special Projects applications — now open
🖼️ New updates to the Murals Across North Dakota webpage (and we’re still seeking submissions!)
📅 Summer arts events, opportunities, and statewide updates

Whether you’re an artist, organizer, cultural worker, or arts supporter, there’s something in this issue for you. Dive in and stay connected to the creative work happening across North Dakota.

👉 Read the June 2026 E‑News: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/NDCOTA/bulletins/41b2b37

📷 "58012" mural painted by local artist Lauren Starling Starling Artistry , commissioned by Casselton Public Art Task Force, and partially supported by an NDCA Special Projects grant; summer 2025

Bottineau Public School
Mandan Middle School

06/09/2026

🖌️ Submit a mural for NDCA’s Murals Across North Dakota!
Help us map and celebrate public art statewide as we gear up for our 60th anniversary.

Whether your community’s mural is bold, historic, whimsical, indoors, or tucked into a side street, we’d love to see it! Pins will appear on our new interactive statewide mural map (coming soon), helping residents and visitors discover public art and boosting local visibility and cultural tourism. Select murals will also be considered for our 2027 anniversary publication.

👉 Share your mural here: https://www.arts.nd.gov/programs/murals

06/08/2026

😮 APPLY NOW! - SIX ARTISTS in the Upper Midwest will receive an unrestricted award of $15,000 and attend a retreat to support their efforts to organize care, safety and solidarity in their communities. Applications for the Springboard for the Arts Rural Regenerator Fellowship due June 18.

About the Rural Regenerator Fellowship Artists, culture bearers, and makers are essential to the future of rural places—and to the ways those places help our society develop and build new systems or policies that are human-centered, equitable, and resilient. Since 2021, Springboard for the Arts’...

06/03/2026

REMINDER - Stop in at The James Memorial Art Center in Williston tomorrow evening if you are in the area. We would love to see you!

☺️ Please JOIN US on Thursday, June 4 for our annual Spring Community Reception at The James Memorial Art Center in Williston from 5pm to 7pm CT. **ALL are WELCOME!

🖼️ Explore The James Memorial’s June exhibit called “Hodgepodge II” which features work from Williston Area Visual Artists
💬 Network with local creatives, along with NDCA Board and staff
💡 Ask questions, share ideas, learn about opportunities
🍇 Enjoy light refreshments

06/01/2026

🎊 Congratulations to Frost Fire Summer Theatre who is receiving a $30,000 Arts Midwest Shakespeare in American Communities Apprenticeship Grant!

Read the full press release: https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/announcing-the-2026-shakespeare-in-american-communities-grantees/

Photo: Four young adult female actors standing on a stage, wearing the same patterned, short, 1950's-style dress but in four different and bright colors, posing for a smile with their hands under their chins and their elbows out to the side.

05/28/2026

☺️ Please JOIN US on Thursday, June 4 for our annual Spring Community Reception at The James Memorial Art Center in Williston from 5pm to 7pm CT. **ALL are WELCOME!

🖼️ Explore The James Memorial’s June exhibit called “Hodgepodge II” which features work from Williston Area Visual Artists
💬 Network with local creatives, along with NDCA Board and staff
💡 Ask questions, share ideas, learn about opportunities
🍇 Enjoy light refreshments

05/26/2026

🎻 Using funds awarded to NDCA through a FOLK ARTS & CULTURAL TRADITIONS IN THE UPPER MIDWEST grant from the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF + Scandinavia House), NDCA hosted a "Building Community in Scandinavian Folk Arts Gathering" at the Nome Schoolhouse in March, 2026.

🎥 Watch a video by Talon Stammen to learn more about the artists who presented their traditions during the gathering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcb6TdYTZpE&t=823s

Introduced in 2017, this program helps to nurture the rich Nordic folk art traditions in the Upper Midwest by deepening the skills of master artists, fostering long-term relationships among masters and apprentices, and enhancing the traditions’ visibility through public programs and community projects.

💲 APPLY NOW for the next round of grants!
---- Two kinds of awards are available: 1) fellowships for artists/practitioners of traditional skills and 2) grants for public programs and community projects. All of these grants encourage both the practice of folk arts and cultures and the presentation of these arts to public audiences. https://www.amscan.org/fellowships-grants/grants-for-folk-arts
Deadline: September 15, 2026

This film reflects on the role of community in traditional craft....

05/20/2026

❤️ 🤍💙 As we head into Memorial Day weekend, we are reminded to honor and thank all those who serve our great country. There is still time to register your museum into NEA's program that offers FREE admission to active-duty military personnel and their families: https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/blue-star-museums/2026-registration

registration is now OPEN! 🎉

Museums, head over to arts.gov/BlueStarMuseums to register and be placed on our map this summer!

Blue Star Museums offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Armed Forces Day (5/16) through Labor Day (9/7).

05/19/2026

📢 ARTISTS: The annual CALL for ART is due by June 4, 2026!
--- Artist’s Reception: June 25 (7:00 – 9:00pm)
--- Public Art Show during Pekin Days: June 26-28

📝 Application form:https://www.nelsoncountyarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/ARTshow2026.pdf

📚 Learn more: https://www.nelsoncountyarts.com/

🎨 Image credit to Jen Parker