Minnesota Humanities Center

Host “We Are Water MN”

You can find everything you need to apply below, but if you would rather have a conversation, let us know. We will walk you through it. Contact Trygve Throntveit, Director of Strategic Partnership.

Applications to We Are Water are currently closed, but we have left this page up for informational purposes.  If you are interested in hosting We Are Water MN, please reach out to Trygve Throntveit at trygve@mnhum.org or our MPCA partner Jana Larson at jana.larson@state.mn.us.

Contact Us

Trygve Throntveit
trygve@mnhum.org

“We Are Water MN”: Program Description

“We Are Water MN” is a program that uses the humanities to deepen connections between and among Minnesotans and the water we all rely on, through a network of partnerships, a traveling exhibit, and public events. Each year, five host sites are selected to display the exhibit and engage community members with its content and one another over an eight-week period.

Partnership

A partnership of eight statewide organizations, “We Are Water MN” tells Minnesota’s water stories, bringing together personal narratives, historical content, and scientific information. Each of the partners – the Minnesota Humanities Center, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, the Board of Water and Soil Resources, and University of Minnesota Extension – brings a different approach that helps Minnesotans strengthen their relationships with water and with one another.

Cohort

We work with host communities who see “We Are Water MN” as aligning with their own work. We orient them to the program as a cohort, hold capacity-building webinars, make site visits, facilitate goal-setting with other partners in their communities, match them with professional community-engagement coaches, and measure the quantity and depth of relationships that they build during the partnership. Host communities center and learn from absented voices during their hosting period.

Exhibit Purpose

“We Are Water MN” shares three key messages about water through a free and interactive traveling exhibit:

  1. Nobody knows water like the people who live here.
  2. We are the headwaters.
  3. People change water; what you do matters.
Visitor Experience

Visitors of all ages can contribute content and touch, manipulate, and engage with the exhibit. You can see pictures from past hosts on our Flickr site. In addition, Rochester Art Center created a virtual replica of their space during the 2021 tour. We create five exhibit sections specifically for each host community location: a map where visitors can add their stories, a collection of audio personal narratives, inspiration stories of people or organizations who protect and affect water, a story about a farmer or producer in your area, and regional water stories that share the specific conditions, geology, histories, or other characteristics of water in your area.

If a host community prefers, they may request to use the outdoor version of the exhibit. This version is pared down both in size and content. It is available as a no-touch or low-touch experience for visitors. MHC will determine whether the use of the outdoor exhibit is feasible and appropriate in any given case.

Story Collection

“We Are Water MN” also collects stories. A professional story gatherer works with each host community to collect personal narratives about the meaning of water and share them digitally.

Public Programming

“We Are Water MN” host communities design public programming in partnership with other organizations and individuals in your community. Examples of past public programs include photo contests; arts workshops; lectures and speaker series; music, film, and theater festivals; companion exhibits; school partnerships; guided exhibit tours; water tours or field trips; and more.

Our Work Together

Host communities’ main duties are to develop local partnership relationships, including with prospective storytellers, and plan public activities. “We Are Water MN” provides host communities with the exhibit as well as with orientations, ongoing training, assistance with developing local exhibit content, and connections to water and humanities professionals, to ensure that, together, we achieve the following goals:

  1. Connect: We’ll build a network of people who protect and affect water in your area.
  2. Engage: We’ll create community engagement activities and public events that build relationships and responsibilities to water and complement your community goals.
  3. Educate: We’ll share personal narratives, historical content, and scientific information about water in Minnesota and in host communities.
Funding

“We Are Water MN” provides a budget of up to $10,000 to offset the cost of hosting and creating public programming. These offsets are provided in the form of reimbursements for expenditures explicitly approved by MHC; they are not grants.

Learn more about our work together, including what you would be responsible for and what MHC and its partners will provide.

Eligibility and Funding Requirements

Who is eligible: Nonprofit organizations (with 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor that holds 501(c)(3) status), not-for-profit entities, tribal nations, and state/municipal public agencies such as K-12 schools, colleges/universities, or libraries are eligible to apply. All organizations (including fiscal sponsors) must be based in Minnesota, in good standing with the IRS, and up to date on reporting and state requirements for any funds previously awarded by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Note: In good standing with the IRS means that the organization has completed all reporting requirements and can therefore receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. We use the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search to confirm IRS compliance.

If an organization or project does not meet all the above requirements, we will not consider it.

Host Communities Program Timeline

August 1-7, 2024: Host community semifinalist interviews
October 13-15, 2024: Host community orientation (Shakopee, MN)
October 2024-February 2025: Capacity-building webinars, shared goal-setting meetings in communities, public event planning, locally specific exhibit content gathering
February 26-27, 2025: Tour launch retreat (exact site TBD, will be held at host community #1)
February 25-April 21, 2025: Host community #1
April 22-June 16, 2025: Host community #2
June 17-August 11, 2025: Host community #3
August 12-October 6, 2025: Host community #4
October 8-December 1, 2025: Host community #5

Program Goals

The humanities provide a gateway to expanded understanding, curiosity, and learning—about people, cultures, and societies. The humanities connect people and communities, bridge differences, interpret the complexities of our world, and positively shape our collective future.

“We Are Water MN” deepens connections between the humanities and water through a network of partnerships, a traveling exhibit, and public events. “We Are Water MN” helps communities, organizations, and individuals make better, more collaborative, and more relevant choices about water.

  • Share state and local histories and narratives about water.
  • Build Minnesotans’ individual relationships with water by sharing multiple perspectives.
  • Build Minnesotans’ individual responsibilities to water.
  • Support the expansion of local networks within host communities.
  • Build relationships between Minnesotans through community engagement events and activities.
  • Build host site capacity to practice the Minnesota Humanities Center’s Absent Narratives Approach.

Core Values

At the core of our work is the Absent Narratives Approach, a principles-driven framework for community engagement and collaboration. These principles ask us to put relationships with people at the center of community change-making and to center voices that have been absented. The four core values are:

  • Learn from and With Multiple Voices
  • Build and Strengthen Diverse Relationships
  • Recognize the Inequity (or Dangers) of a Single Story
  • Amplify Community Solutions for Change

Selection Process and Timeline

The selection process has two rounds. In the first round, MHC staff and partners will review Statements of Interest from interested and eligible applicants. MHC staff and partners will interview semifinalists as part of final selection.

Note: This opportunity is pending funding.

11:59 p.m. July 21, 2024 -Statement of Interest deadline
July 29, 2024 – Semifinalist notification
August 1-7, 2024 – MHC staff and partners interview semifinalists
August 9, 2024 – Finalist notification

How to Apply – Round One

Eligible organizations can submit Statements of Interest through our online form or email. Additionally, you may suggest an alternative method to MHC, such as a phone call or postal mail, if the currently listed formats would be a barrier to application. Statements of Interest, regardless of format, must include the following information:

Organization Details
  1. Organization name
  2. Organization address
  3. If applicable, organization’s Employer Identification Number (EIN) or fiscal sponsor information
  4. Project lead contact information (phone and email)
Answers to the following questions
  1. What would you like us to know about your organization/community?
  2. Tell us about your general community/organizational goals right now.
  3. How do you think “We Are Water MN” will help you meet your community/organizational goals?
  4. What’s going on with water in your community and how do you think “We Are Water MN” can help?
  5. How will the project lead integrate “We Are Water MN” into your current workload? How might this project complement your current workload?*
  6. Who do you want to build relationships with?
  7. Given what you know now about the program goals, how would you try to achieve the program goals in your community?
  8. “We Are Water MN” incorporates the Absent Narratives Approach, amplifying voices that have been historically excluded from the dominant narratives. How would your organization work to incorporate a diverse range of water stories and experiences into your exhibit content and public activities?
  9. What audiences are you trying to reach, either with the exhibit or with the public activities?
  10. Where would you like to display the exhibit?

*It is highly recommended that applicant organizations have at least one paid staff member. If you do not have a paid staff member, please reach out to Trygve Throntveit at trygve@mnhum.org to have a conversation about organizational capacity before applying.

Ready to submit? Respond to the questions above by one of the following methods:

Online Form

Submit through our online form.

Email

Send your Statement of Interest to submissions@mnhum.org (w/subject line: “We Are Water MN host community”)

If you have questions or would like to submit your Statement of Interest in a way not mentioned above, contact Trygve Throntveit at trygve@mnhum.org.

Round One Assessment Criteria

MHC and our partners will assess proposals on the following criteria:

Program goals

How well will the host community meet the program goals and integrate the Absent Narratives Approach practices during their hosting period?

Integration

How well will the host community integrate the work of hosting “We Are Water MN” into their greater goals and priorities? How much capacity does the host community organization have to carry out this work?

Relationships

How well will the host community learn from relationships they develop over the course of their hosting?

Network

To what extent does the host community demonstrate the skills, interest, and capacity to add to the existing network of “We Are Water MN” host sites and the existing networks of MHC and its partners?

Clean Water Fund

What is the host community’s potential to define and make progress toward a shared community goal that will also meet the goals of the Minnesota Clean Water Fund?

In addition to the criteria above, “We Are Water MN” considers factors such as geographic diversity and MHC’s overall statewide engagement strategy when constructing cohorts. “We Are Water MN” also welcomes and encourages applications from organizations with close ties to historically underserved and underrepresented communities.

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