International Falls city council has approved placing three councillors on a committee to work with city and county arts and recreation organizations to locate sources of funding.
Couns. Gail Rognerud, Terry Carrew, and Shawn Mason were appointed to the committee at last week’s city council meeting.
City officials said the committee will include the large arts community throughout Borderland, but is not being headed by the city of International Falls.
“It’s not the city’s committee,” interim City Administrator Betty Bergstrom said. “The councillors are just representing the city.”
The committee was formed with the contingency that the Koochiching County Board approve members to join as well, which they did at their meeting Wednesday.
“[The committee] will look for ways to increase spending for culture and recreation,” said Citizens for Backus/A.B. director Barb Metzger.
The group has been proposing plans for a partnership between the grass-roots arts organization and the city for some time, “and this is bigger than what we originally proposed.”
Metzger said the committee hopefully will answer the question: “How can the county and city increase overall spending in [art and recreation] categories?”
“I don’t think the critical part is whose committee it is, I think it will belong to everybody,” Mayor Harry Swendsen said. “It’s not strictly to do with Backus/A.B., it’s arts and recreation.”
Other county arts and recreation groups have sent letters supporting the creation of a committee, Mayor Swendsen said, including the Border Concert
Association, the Border Alliance, and others.
“Different people have said if there was a committee, they would like to serve,” he noted.
Still early in its stages, no timeline for meetings has been created, but Metzger said most arts and recreation organizations across the state
that seek funding begin in July for the upcoming year.
“I think the mayor understands we need to do this as fast as we can,” Metzger said.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
