The Art of Evaluation

Allow me to pull back the curtain a little for you to see the inner workings of a grant cycle. As my long-time readers have witnessed, this year I have integrated new and exciting content by highlighting artists from across rural Minnesota in a variety of ways. This is what I wrote as the goal of my grant that was awarded for the 2023 Fiscal Year Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals:

Kandace Creel Falcón will expand the scope of their creative non-fiction based writing project, the Art of KCF newsletter, by creating new rural arts criticism content, and reach more Minnesota readers.

For those of you who aren’t in the habit of writing grants, thinking about funding opportunities, or advising others on how to navigate these fiscal landscapes, I won’t bore you with all the details, though as I’ve revisited the grant narrative I’m proud of Past KCF who boldly stated our intentions. When I wrote this grant in the summer of 2022, I had to do some forward projecting about the goals of future work. Thankfully having maintained this practice of sending my twice-monthly missives out for years, it was a nice opportunity for me to reflect (which you know I’m ought to do anyway) about my personal and professional goals for this newsletter project. From the application:

The grant funds I am applying for will allow me to expand a vital part of my creative practice by providing material support for work that remains otherwise largely uncompensated. This material support will enable me to grow as an artist by helping to expand my reach to current and new audiences strengthening my economic livelihood as a full time artist and writer.

It was also a joy to articulate that this work is labor that is largely inconsistently compensated financially. To show up and be paid for releasing a newsletter has been a wonderful experience. To be able to fill my gas tank while driving to Bemidji, or Fergus, or Evansville, or Osage or or or has been incredibly supportive. While we are still a couple of months out from the end of the fiscal year support, part of the grant cycle requires me to evaluate the results of my efforts, and the impact these funds provided by the generous tax payers of Minnesota have made over the course of this grant.

That’s where you come in! If you would be so kind as to fill out this form so that I can gather some data about the way these newsletters have hit since March 2023 until now, I would be very grateful. Not the right time, I get it! I am soaking beans and preparing for a winter solstice feast, who knows if I'd have time to take on a 10 minute survey. So don't fret, you can do it now, or the next few newsletters will provide you with the opportunity to engage as well!

Your input requested! Fill out the evaluation form here

I’ll be using this data to write my final report that is due back to the funder in early 2024. I will also use the information to inform my 2024 newsletter goals. If you aren’t into forms or surveys, another way you can support the newsletter project is through simply replying to this message. If you share your words with me about the impact my newsletter has had on your thinking about art and life I would be very, very grateful. I track those things too to add qualitative information about my reach. It’s also just fun to email about something that isn’t scheduling a meeting, or following up on a task, or you know, all the other tedious things we do when we log onto our emails.

As you may have caught in the previous newsletter TinyLetter - the platform I currently use to get these messages to you- is sadly shuttering. As of the end of November it no longer allows for the sign up of new subscribers, and it will no longer be operational by the end of my grant period (fun!). We will be shifting to another platform in the coming weeks - so keep an eye out for that process. I would love to have you all continue to enjoy the offerings on a new platform which will require a collective migration (insert sarcastic yay!).

On that note, here's a little something fun for you - since I’ve been researching what platforms to engage I have looked at every single one of these options (plus Substack) and will be going with one from this list. I know for sure I will not be going with this one, but wow are there some interesting things to see over there. If you’re into exploring different parts of the internet that may be new to you, this whole list can really inspire some awe like this one that is somehow linked to a cryptocurrency.

Thanks for being here with me for the journey. Please do share your thoughts with me about this project, a vital piece of my artistic practice that I aim to share with you twice-monthly!

What I’m Reading

I don’t know who advised it, but it’s advice I’ve been hanging on to when I feel the emotional pull of overwhelm hit me due to the speed and volume of information coming at us regarding the state of the world. The advice is, to turn to long-form readings to help make sense of current events because the process of writing, research, and book making is on such a fundamentally different pace than the daily onslaught of headline snippets delivered via the omnipresent 24-hour news cycle reality in which we live. This advice had me reaching for Rashid Khalidi’s book, The One Hundred Years' War on Palestine to refresh the broader context of global events that have led up to our present moment. This historical grounding told through academic historical methodology and personal narrative of Khalidi’s reflections as a Palestinian is important reading. In laying bare the ways that nation-crafting operates and the detrimental impact of settler colonialism along with the foreign policy landscape since 1917, Khalidi empowers the reader to have a broader understanding of how we made it to our current moment along with some thoughts on where we can go from here. Instructive, and difficult to sit with, a required read in these times for folks who recognize that a ceasefire in Gaza is both necessary and not nearly enough.

What I’m Hearing

The Dream Podcast brought to us by Pushkin and Little Everywhere

I first fell in love with this podcast around the time the first season came out in Fall of 2018, maybe Spring 2019. I was driving all over the place and listening to podcasts like it was my job, and got so sucked into the way Jane Marie digs into the scammier side of the American Dream. In the first season she was investigating MLMs and I appreciated how the 10 episode arc allowed for her to dig into a major gender analysis of multi-level marketing (pyramid schemes - also known now as “network marketing”) that requires convincing all your friends to buy your products. I was pleasantly surprised when something reminded me to look up the original series and I came upon not one, but TWO additional seasons. Having begun driving myself around again for gigs all over the state and beyond I am now through the second season that takes on the very broad “wellness” industry that intersects with MLMs and through most of the third season which focuses on life coaches and the business structures that use manifesting mindsets that also require “downlines” and “uplines.” I just can’t quit media content that digs into this segment of our society that requires cult-like thinking and wow oh wow am really reeling with the thinking that there is something baked into the US American cultural landscape that has us turning to get-rich-quick schemes, supplement scams, and gurus like it’s our birthright.

Creative Ritual

Wow, I appreciate these emails as a way to track my time, and reflect on how I’ve been using the days between my correspondences to you. The beginning of December found me doing my first (and likely last) art market. Preparing to sell work all day was a lot. Adding to that "a lot-ness" was that I also tacked on a trip to Kansas to drop off paintings which was all great, but exhausting. I had a board meeting that also required travel and then I traveled again to teach a workshop for my Springboard work. So, this is all to say I have been out of town a portion of every week of this month so far, so no wonder I couldn’t get this out on the 15th! We are here now, and I am heading into a five day break. I’ll do some putting about in the studio I’m sure, but nothing serious, just some stitching and trying to ease my way into 2024. More on that to come shortly when I get the last newsletter of 2023 out on time in 11 days! Until then, many solstice blessings and happy holidays for those celebrating.

Questions to ponder

How are you preparing to move into 2024?
What have you consumed (food, media) in 2023 that is standing out for you?
How do you solicit feedback for your creative ventures?

Thanks for journeying with me. I hope, as always, that you take what you need and leave the rest for someone else, or for another time. 

-KCF

The Art of KCF Newsletter is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.