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Winonans listened to world renowned violinist Joshua Bell as part of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.
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More than a thousand people gathered in Winona's Lake Park as the sun set on July 1 to watch the Minnesota Orchestra perform to kick off the second season of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival. (photo by Katie Derus/Winona Daily News) |
We’ve watched “The Taming of the Shrew” and “The Merchant of Venice” at the Great River Shakespeare Festival, “Little Shop of Horrors” and “The Foreigner” at Gilmore Creek Summer Theatre, and we’ve seen paintings by Renoir and Monet at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.
The arts are clearly thriving in Winona, but it wasn’t always this busy.
Winona was once known mostly as a scenic city with canoeing and camping. One could now argue that the city is an arts and culture destination. An arts boom, particularly within the past five years, is changing the way Winonans approach the arts, and it’s attracting new people into the community, some with eyebrows raised.
“People are amazed a town our size can sustain the different types of arts we have here,” Visit Winona Executive Director Pat Mutter said. “People are surprised by Winona.”
Act I: Foreshadowing
Arts in Winona are nothing new.
In 1892, the Winona Opera House opened to a packed house. Humphrey Bogart and French actress Sarah Bernhardt once graced its stage.
The Winona Symphony Orchestra just celebrated its 100th anniversary in April and the Winona Arts Center turned 50 in 2006.
But the story of Winona’s recent arts boom — what’s turned the city into an arts destination — perhaps begins in 1997. Will Kitchen and Maggy Jacqmin started Theatre du Mississippi, a nonprofit arts group. The couple, who now live in India, wanted to bring their love of the arts to Winona.
Only a couple of events were held during TDM’s first years. Now, TDM helps host Shakespeare’s Prelude Concert Series and musicians at the Masonic Temple Theatre throughout the year. It also helped form Winona’s Frozen River Film Festival, which was held for the second time in January. The festival is modeled after the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colo., which showcases independent films about environmental issues, cultures and extreme sports.
City Manager Eric Sorensen credits Kitchen and Jacqmin with helping bring Shakespeare to Winona.
“Both became very involved in the arts and culture of our community,” Sorensen said. “There was a big change.”
A change many dismissed. The thought of a professional theater company residing in the city of 27,000 for the summer didn’t seem real. But Sorensen saw the possibilities.
“I hoped it would give opportunity to the people of our community and our area,” he said. “It was a way of extracting tourism dollars to the benefit of our community.”
Act II: Shakespeare calls Winona home
Winona wasn’t the only Minnesota city Shakespeare was considering. Stillwater and Lake City were also being eyed. But Winona won out in large part because of the support of the city,
co-founder and producing director Paul Barnes said.
“I’ve come to refer to it as a full-court press,” Barnes said.
The festival started in 2004 and is now in its fifth season. That first season, people weren’t really sure what to expect. Now, audience members ramble off names of GRSF company veterans like Jonathan Gillard Daly and Chris Gerson as if they were city leaders.
Barnes said getting past the third year was a big test, because then organizers realized the festival had a future. Having a proven track record makes it easier to get grants and other financial support. This year, Barnes says attendance is up slightly over last year, and the company hopes to expand its season and add more productions, perhaps as early as next year.
As the theater company grew, others saw the festival as evidence that Winona could support an even larger arts environment.
Act III: Enter Monet, Gilmore Creek and Beethoven
It started with an empty white wall.
Former state senator and Fastenal co-founder Bob Kierlin and his wife, Mary Burrichter, wanted to find a painting to fill the space in their home. One painting soon led to many as the couple focused on maritime art. The couple decided to share their passion with the Winona community.
Pieces from their collection on loan at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum now are seen by people from all over the world.
“When you have two universities in town, you know there’s an interest in art,” Kierlin said. “Given that there was this interest, I saw the museum as something the community could benefit from.”
Shakespeare and Monet are great, but Judy Myers saw a need for lighter fare. The Gilmore Creek Summer Theatre was launched last summer at Saint Mary’s University. Myers, an associate professor in SMU’s theater arts department, directs “Little Shop of Horrors” this summer.
A veteran of the Chicago theater scene, Myers figured she’d be in Winona only a year or two. The burgeoning arts scene has helped keep her here for 10 years.
Despite a shaky economy, Gilmore Creek’s opening weekend numbers were up
37 percent from last year.
Winona’s Minnesota Beethoven Festival is also thriving.
RTP Company President Hugh Miller’s love of classical music inspired the festival’s creation last year. Attendance at its Minnesota Orchestra kickoff pops concerts last year at Lake Park drew about 2,700. At the 2008 kickoff July 1, the event drew between 4,600 and 4,800 people.
All of this year’s performances sold out, including today’s concert by the Minnesota Orchestra, which concludes the summer season. Most of the festival’s events sold out in less than a month.
The festival draws interest from across the country and abroad: One woman from Canada brought her five children.
“We love the idea that this is really a gift for the community,” said artistic and managing director Ned Kirk. “This is going to stay.”
Act IV: All of Winona’s a stage
The arts are also diversifying. On Sept. 13, Winona will host its first Paddle of Life Regatta at Lake Park. The event features boat races organized by former British Olympic rowing coach David Train. The city also plans to bring back its World Fair, a celebration of different cultures, to tie in with the
regatta.
As part of the weekend, more than 30 local artists will demonstrate their talents Sept. 14 at Family Art Day Extravaganza.
“(The arts scene) is wonderfully more active and vital now,” said Winona artist Bernadette Mahfood, who is helping organize the event. “There have always been a lot of artists, but they’re in the public more.”
Mahfood, who has lived in Winona for 17 years, was chairwoman of the recent Blue Heron Project, a public art project that featured 15 blue heron statues decorated by local artists.
She also participates in the annual Bluff Country Studio Art Tour, featuring area artists’ studios from northern Iowa to southeastern Minnesota. Like the other newer arts offerings, the tour is attracting people from outside of Winona. Hundreds of visitors attended the eighth annual tour last April. Mahfood estimates that at least half of the visitors to the Winona area were from the Twin Cities and about a quarter came from Iowa and Wisconsin. An influx of people came from Chicago.
“All of this in my mind is complementary,” Mahfood said. “The more variety of arts we have here, the more it opens us up to other possibilities.”
Act V: Winona arts ensemble
Arts have become a selling point for attracting new residents to town. Workers, especially those who are tired of long commutes, see Winona as more attractive when there’s more to do, Winona Chamber of Commerce President Della Schmidt said.
“The more we have these cultural opportunities, the richer our community will be,” she said.
Ed Hoffman, 33, grew up in Winona. After living away for about a decade, he decided to return a little more than a year ago to open Ed’s (No Name) Bar, partly because he saw more opportunity in this river city.
“I’m always kind of amazed how many things are going on around town,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman lived in Seattle, a city known for a thriving music scene. He says many musicians love coming to Winona on their way to other gigs. A couple of weeks ago, the Roe Family Singers came from Minneapolis, and the day after they played at Ed’s, Hoffman took them canoeing.
“People are willing to play in a smaller room for less money because they love the energy of the crowd and the beauty of the area,” Hoffman said.
Besides owning his own bar, Hoffman serves on the Fine Arts Committee. Hoffman booked more bands for July to try to take advantage of people who might be in town looking for something to do after seeing Shakespeare.
He hopes to see local arts continue to grow and convert new arts lovers.
“It’d be nice if people who think of going to a movie on a Friday night decided to check out live music instead,” Hoffman said.
Some of the same people who hang out at Ed’s at night are students at Winona State University or SMU. Both schools have increased its arts offerings. WSU’s Lyceum series used to have about three events a year. This year, it will have eight or nine.
Saint Mary’s University’s Page Series used to have six shows a year. This year’s schedule features 10.
Act VI: Dénouement
Whether Winona will become home for more arts groups remains to be seen, but City Manager Sorensen is optimistic about its continued emergence, especially since Winona’s arts groups are working together to promote arts in general.
“I heard the argument
21 years ago that there’s nothing to do in Winona,” he said. “If anybody is saying that now, they’re comatose.”
Talks are continuing for the development of a multi-purpose arena that could host arts and sporting events. Sorensen says the city could request legislative funding in 2010.
With different arts groups working together, Winona could continue to grow. Most people in the arts community seem to agree — there are enough parts for everyone.
“If people like Shakespeare, maybe they’ll try Beethoven,” Barnes said. “All of these things contribute to an appetite within us that we just need awakened. Once that appetite is awakened, you just want more.”
Contact Käri Knutson at (507) 453-3523.
