Franconia Sculpture Park

Support Franconia Sculpture Park!

Wow, we need your help right now. A quarter of our budget is frozen Federally, impacting every aspect of operating the sculpture park daily and free for thousands of annual visitors. On the back end of a pandemic and inflationary economy, we need support from those who love the park. 

Let it not be overshadowed: the things we can do are going really well. We paid 235 artists last year! Each resident artist gave voice to historically underrepresented communities. Attendance grew by 28%! This year's curatorial theme, Two Eyed Sight, includes contemporary artists at the forefront of both indigenous and western practice like Annette S. Lee and Marlena Myles. Our new music series will activate our recently renovated stage. All-new signs for each sculpture will soon be installed. We've doubled the number of all-ages workshops in our education center, and removed any cost-barrier to participate in them. Our Open Calls for Midcareer and Emerging sculptors are returning soon, alongside new residency programs for Artists-in-Leadership and Prairie Artists-in-Residence. 

It's hopping here, but we really need your support to make things happen. 

WHAT DOES FRANCONIA NEED?

• Support from donors to offer Open Calls! We pay Emerging Artists ($5000) and Mid-Career Fellowships ($10,000) while also offering good housing, food, equipment, and tools to artists during residencies. Fully funded, we could host 42-50 artist residencies annually. 
• Have you seen the workpad? We want to make improvements where the artists are working so they can take their big dreams to life safely. A recently added crane truck and skid steer await our 2025 artists. 
• Can you imagine being the only employee on site while 600 visitors are exploring the park? And then, three full school buses pull up? It happens every week. Franconia can serve people better and respond to this huge demand if we could hire more staff.
• Monthly Donors: if just 1 in 50 park visitors gave $10 per month, we could operate our artist residencies year-round. Could you help us reach this level of sustainability?
• Artists are more than cool, they also represent cultures, histories, and communities from around the world. We are only one step away from offering in-depth learning modules created by licensed educators about all the artwork at the park, thanks in part to new signs that link each piece to our website. Imagine being able to serve any school, for free, in grade-level lessons, through an array of visionary sculptures that speak to our contemporary world!
• Accessibility improvements! The park currently lacks powered doors, benches, picnic tables, and other amenities that make experiences here accessible. 

With your gift, you support an organization that:

• Passionately supports artists in an ambitious way through our vibrant artist residency program 
• Provides endless learning experiences and vibrant cultural programming for over 14,000 students of all ages each year
• Provides an inspiring place to enjoy with your friends & family — a free, accessible, expansive exhibition open 365 days per year serving 180,000+ annual visitors

ABOUT FRANCONIA

Franconia Sculpture Park is the preeminent, artist-centered sculpture park in the Midwest. Founded in 1996, Franconia’s mission is to foster an inclusive community to create and contemplate contemporary art inspired by nature and our ever-evolving world. Located in the scenic St. Croix River Valley of Minnesota, Franconia operates a 50-acre outdoor museum, active artist residency program, and an impressive schedule of more than 60 public programs each year. 

Franconia Sculpture Park is contemporary, bold, inclusive, and equally embraces both the local and the global. We aim to be a national model for how a contemporary outdoor art museum can engage and collaborate with the community. We cultivate critical dialogue between artists and audiences; support artists through the production and presentation of new, experimental work; and educate artists and audiences of tomorrow. Franconia applies creative solutions to topical issues through the vehicle of contemporary sculpture, land art, performance, and social practice. We create programming that is ambitious, innovative, and that is responsive to the wants and needs of artists.

Franconia is free and open to the public 365 days a year from 8am-8pm.