RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the Arts in Society grant. This collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare. 

We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AiS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant.

We’re excited continue this series with the 2023 AiS Grantee: Prairie Sea Projects!

Learn all about Prairie Sea Projects and how they support and inspire the next wave of community and environmental activism in rural Colorado.

Tell us about your organization

Prairie Sea Projects is a series of experimental art projects and community programs in the High Plains region founded in 2016 by Maureen Hearty and Kirsten Stoltz, a collaborative team named the Liberty Rural Learning Cooperative.

Its goal is to orient all creative projects locally, starting in Yuma County, to support and inspire the next wave of community and environmental activism in rural Colorado.

Tell us about your first project that will utilize your AiS grant

ALMA CREATIVE RESIDENCY

Multi-disciplinary artists, performers, writers, horticulturalists, gardeners, and ecologists are invited to spend a week connecting with and being inspired by the rural and vast NE Colorado high plains.

The Prairie Futures site, currently a regenerative meadow garden, is what surrounds the residency apartment, which is in a 100-year-old farm house.

MEADOWLAND

This land-based artwork is a series of five circular, 40-foot biodiverse experimental gardens that explores ideas about the regenerative nature of meadows and how they strengthen the ecological diversity in the Colorado High Plains.

It’s a community space to gather, celebrate, and support the subsistence of rural economies and our future in the industrialized agricultural landscape.

Associated public programs held in the gardens include the MEADOWLAND Market, The Flatland Makers Guild and the High Plains Sounds concert series.

Switchgrass Film Workshop

An anthology of short films produced by Yuma County students, grade 7-12+, will collaborate with filmmakers to make and screen their own short films.

Students living in Yuma County (or surrounding counties in Colorado’s High Plains region) sign up for a FREE summer filmmaking workshop lead by Erin Harper and Erin Greenwell (both filmmakers living in New York).

What’s next in the pipeline for your organization? What other projects are you dreaming up for next year, and how will your AiS grant help to support these efforts?

We have submitted an Arts in Society Letter of Intent for the Flatland Makers Guild!

Flatland Makers Guild is our newest program. The Flatland Makers Guild’s (FMG) goal is to organize a creative community by bringing local artists together in the NE High Plains region through active participation and collaboration.

This constituency can build long-term and collaborative partnerships, helping to sustain an innovative economic development infrastructure unique in rural populations.

Collective programs are designed for creative investment and will shape rural artists’ professional profile and help launch a successful studio practice. Additionally, this holistic approach is meant to strengthen community engagement in entropic rural Colorado communities.

The 2024 economic development activities will focus in three areas: MARKETING (building outreach efforts through a series of pay what you can community art workshops); ACCESSIBILITY (increasing access to a rural-focused on-line marketplace); and PARTNERSHIP (hosting local art shows and strengthening a regional business network).

Constellation: Ecological Worldviews from the High Plains Highway is a cultural exposition that connects past, present and future ecologies found in the American High Plains region along the High Plains Highway.

Projects are rooted in the environmental histories of farming communities and will expand cultural inclusivity and active social participation in public spaces.

Constellation is part rapid response collecting, part prairie conservation effort, and part social engagement program designed to link a long-term community consciousness to our growing regional climate crises, inspiring creative actions and innovative ideas for the next generation of rural environmental activists.

PROJECT COLLABORATORS: Claire Boyles (author & farmer), Travis Cox (Naropa’s Ecopsychology Department), Sammie Crowder (VR artist), Jacob Job (sound artist), Nhatt Nichols (comic journalism), The Liberty Rural Learning Cooperative (Maureen Hearty and Kirsten Stoltz) and the History Colorado Museum.

What was your experience like when applying for an AiS? What tips would you share with artists looking to apply for an AiS grant?

The application process is easy to navigate. Tip: Have a good editor!