Building community one backyard at a time, Open Eye Figure Theatre's Driveway Tour brings high-quality puppet theatre to neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities. Since 2003, more than 33,000 people have met neighbors while delighting in these whimsical and profound shows for all ages in more than 450 neighborhoods. After the show, refreshments are served, artists and neighbors mingle, and the children can check out the puppets.  It's a beautiful example of how the arts can strengthen communities.

Open Eye's Driveway Tour is not the only way the organization helps integrate the arts into the social fabric of the metropolitan region. Its historic jewel box theatre in the Phillips Neighborhood provides a home for figure theatre artists locally, nationally, and internationally. Founded by artistic directors Michael Sommers (a Bush, McKnight, and Ford Foundations Fellow and associate professor in the Department of Collaborative Arts at the University of Minnesota) and veteran theater artist and musician Susan Haas, Open Eye's shows animate the inanimate on an intimate human scale and provide a visually evocative experience. The work, described as "stunning" with a balance between "playfulness and a dark and individualistic sensibility," has also been produced at the Walker Art Center as well as in New York and Washington DC. Their Driveway Tour was recently written about in American Theatre magazine. Open Eye Figure Theatre is committed to creating opportunities for emerging artists to perform and develop their skills and to making art accessible both with their pay-what-you-are-able policy and through their shows that transcend ages. To watch video samples of their work visit http://www.openeyetheatre.org/about/watch.

New Prague Arts Council   

In 1995 and 1996 more than 50 people from the small community of New Prague attended two town meetings as a precursor to forming the New Prague Arts Council. The interest in the arts was not new. New Prague residents have a long-standing passion for the arts and many artists have chosen to make their homes there. The arts council would harness and expand this interest in the arts. It would be their mission "to foster and promote creative expression through the arts by providing activities with diverse opportunities for participation, performances, and appreciation, and to provide a structure for effective collaborations between artists, the schools, and the general community."

This began a long list of activities and partnerships that have engaged and enriched New Prague. The list includes hands-on arts activities and demonstrations at their fall festival, an annual local variety show, an annual student art show, the creation of a New Prague anthem and a history/heritage play, support for a 53-member community band, theater improvements, artist residencies, and public art projects that reflect the heritage and current vibrancy of the area. Just as significant is the arts council's ability to create partnerships and collaborations with area arts groups, such as the choir Hymnus and two active community theaters, the chamber of commerce and local businesses, and New Prague Area Community Education. These cross-sector partnerships have made New Prague a creative community where the arts thrive, the value is understood, and they are integrated into the area identity.

MRAC is pleased to honor these arts organizations as representatives of MRAC's mission and looks forward to continuing the MRAC Arts Achievement Award as a way of recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of small arts organizations (organizations with annual operating budgets less than $300,000) as exemplified by the many high-quality nominations MRAC received. The awards will be presented at MRAC's annual meeting in July.