Tamra Jetter, the Iowa recipient of Arts Midwest’s inaugural Midwest Culture Bearers Award, grew up in Clinton, a small Iowa town that once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Founded in 1868, the town’s Bethel AME church long served as a central pillar of its Black community until 2020 when it was unable to survive the pandemic.
When Jetter was growing up, her parents had the means to ensure that their eight children were exposed to diverse artistic and cultural activities elsewhere, despite the slow decline of Black culture in Clinton.
“The town’s population has actually gone down over the years, so it was tough for me to find things to do. But my family created those opportunities for us,” she says. “It was about education. It was talking about Black historical moments, the Black museums that were around.”
Although Jetter now lives in the Chicago metro area, she continues her family’s legacy by serving as a community connector in her hometown two and a half hours away.
Today she’s the program director of the Vince Jetter Community Center in Clinton, named after her uncle, that has stepped up to fill the void left by the closure of Bethel AME.
“People always knew they could go to Bethel for any type of resources, so that’s how we want the community center to be, for it to continue to create opportunities for these kids to have experiences they wouldn’t normally have,” Jetter says.
Through the community center and beyond, she works broadly across cultural genres, from dance and music to language and crafts, to provide programming anchored in both Clinton’s rich Black history and the broader vibrancy of Black history as a whole. Her work is open to all community members, but is often focused on youth in particular.
One example of her vast programming is the summer event the community center holds each year to promote nonviolence among Clinton’s youth. “This August will be our 32nd year,” Jetter says. “It’s a back to school event for the kids. They’re fed, there’s games, and they’re given school supplies.”
Ultimately, Jetter sees her work as a natural extension of her family history.
“My grandfather owned a business. He would help his employees obtain housing and vehicles. Our holiday family gatherings would always have employees there, they were like family,” she recalls.
It’s her family’s legacy that she’s able to further extend thanks to the Midwest Culture Bearers Award. “We’ll be purchasing djembe drums and incorporating them into our programming. We’re also looking to build up our African dance [offerings],” she notes. She’s also buying easels, looking to bring in guest artists, and planning to host poetry events.
“Some of Clinton’s Black families have completely moved out just because of a lack of access to activities that represent their culture and interests,” she says. “So we want to create those activities and opportunities for the youth—and not just for Black youth, but for all the youth.”
Tamra Jetter is a 2024 recipient of the Midwest Culture Bearers Award, which celebrates and financially supports the work of Midwest culture bearers and folk arts practitioners.
The Midwest Culture Bearers Award is supported by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts for project management.