Amplifying Midwestern Creativity

Arts Midwest supports, informs, and celebrates arts organizations and creative communities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, the Native Nations that share this geography, and beyond.

Learn About Arts Midwest

Joyful, loud, and Midwest proud

Read about creative ideas, people, and projects happening in our region and beyond.

March 10, 2025

Sharing Meskwaki Ways Through Dance, Music, Beadwork, Foodways

By Brianne Sanchez

Stephanie BadSoldier Snow is a multifaceted artist, anthropologist and mother building community and cross-cultural exchanges through traditional knowledge and the arts.
- Iowa
- Native Nations
Midwestern Pizza Traditions You Should Know About

March 6, 2025

The art of Midwestern pizza goes way beyond deep dish. Here’s a slice of some ‘za traditions from across the region.
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
Make a Zine, Take Part in a 95-Year-Old Midwest Movement

March 5, 2025

The independently published mini-magazines have time-hallowed roots in Illinois. Meet the zinesters keeping the art form alive and well.
- Illinois
This Iowan Dances to Make Sense of His World

March 4, 2025

Growing up in a majority-Hispanic Midwest city of 3,800, artist Chuy Renteria has turned to ‘dance fighting’ and writing (including a memoir) to feel, defy, and ponder.
- Iowa

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Grant Opportunities and Programs

We support efforts that connect people, ideas, and solutions through creativity. Learn more about our grantmaking initiatives and our community programming.

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Photo Credit: LunART

Takeaways From the Most Comprehensive Survey of Minneapolis’s Music Scene to Date

In early December 2024, the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs department released the findings from a music census – including key takeaways about the needs of the city’s music ecosystem. It is the most extensive music survey of Minneapolis to date.

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A person performs on the side of a road at dusk, with a keyboard in front of them and singing into a microphone.

Photo Credit: Pierre Ware

Minneapolis artist Kashimana performs at a Rock Royalty event for community healing at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis.

A Reflection on 2024

In 2024, Arts Midwest launched new programs while continuing to support our long-standing initiatives. All told, we offered 12 grant opportunities, awards, and programs that supported creative individuals and communities across the Midwest.

A band engages a group of children in a elementary school gym, arms outstretched

Photo Credit: Alana Horton

A Moving Sound captivates audiences by blending Taiwanese opera and folk music with contemporary sounds. They visited several elementary schools during their week in Fairmont, Minnesota as part of Arts Midwest’s World Fest.

An Introduction into Program Evaluation

Evaluation can be more than a compliance exercise for funding, it can be an embedded approach, allowing organizations to be intentional about what they want to know and how it can strengthen their programming.

Two individuals facing a wall map that is dotted with markers and pictures.

Photo Credit: Ruby Que

Latham Zearfoss & Juarez Hawkins examining a map activation at Chicago Art Department’s Just Below The Surface exhibition.

Joyful, loud, and Midwest proud

Sharing Meskwaki Ways Through Dance, Music, Beadwork, Foodways

Midwestern Pizza Traditions You Should Know About

Make a Zine, Take Part in a 95-Year-Old Midwest Movement

This Iowan Dances to Make Sense of His World

Grant Opportunities and Programs

Takeaways From the Most Comprehensive Survey of Minneapolis’s Music Scene to Date

A Reflection on 2024

An Introduction into Program Evaluation