SpringForwardMN - Saint Paul Almanac

Greetings, Saint Paul Almanac Community, Friends, and Supporters!

Please help Saint Paul Almanac BRING BACK OUR ARTISTS during our SpringForwardMN 2021 Campaign, May 1 – May 11.

What a devastating time we’ve experienced! Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the arts sector has encountered enormous fallout. Among those who were hit the hardest by the pandemic, artists suffered a massive blow to their income due to the economic shutdown and the social distancing mandate that resulted in lost opportunities to work collaboratively and to earn money in the gig economy. The artist’s work situation literally changed overnight, resulting in isolation and high unemployment.

On the local scene in St. Paul, the pandemic disrupted Saint Paul Almanac’s capacity to facilitate BIPOC artist-led projects, whose very foundation inspires community-based collaboration. The life force of Saint Paul Almanac is storytelling via our unique programs, the Community Editors’ Apprenticeship and the Storymobile. During 2020, given social distancing and lost organizational revenue, the community activities of these programs had to be postponed. The deferred activities halted the joy of youth and elder connection, youth mentoring, and folks bonding across cultures through captivating stories enriched by yummy food and ecstatic music. Saint Paul Almanac and our community of BIPOC artists are longing to regain these essential interactions that our storytelling programs elevate.

Meanwhile, despite the numerous challenges we confronted in 2020, we’ve learned that we must adjust to the times to keep our artists hopeful and working, and our audiences astonished, amused, and aware. So, we are glad to announce that we’re adapting the Community Editors’ Apprenticeship to our social media platforms. Please help   us by supporting our reinvigorated community editorial process that will produce an online literary publication and reading series. Your gift will make a great impact on the success of this endeavor.

Here’s how your gift will help Bring Back Our Artists:

• $25 - Helps us pay writers for their published work.
• $50 - Helps us pay community editors who establish publishing criteria, review the submissions, and edit the selected works.
• $75 - Helps us pay the project manager who administers the submission process and assists the editorial team.
• $100 - Helps us pay the senior editor who teaches, guides, and supervises the editorial process.

Saint Paul Almanac believes artistic expression influences necessary change in our society! Whatever amount you can give during these unparalleled times since 1918, your thoughtful contribution will help to Bring Back Our Artists.

 THANK YOU for making Saint Paul Almanac such a vital community of literary and visual artists, filmmakers, audiences, friends, and neighbors.

Looking Forward!

Pamela R. Fletcher Bush, CEO & Publisher

In telling and sharing important, often untold stories of underrepresented BIPOC communities, Saint Paul Almanac strives to build and sustain community across our diverse, unique cultures by promoting understanding, relationships, and collaborative action.