Company’s Coming…
By Pat Boyd, Executive Director, South Dakotans for the Arts

 

Time to get the bird doo off the park sculptures, paint the bandstand, set up the picnic tables and plant the petunias in the median…company is coming.

South Dakotans enthusiastically squeeze a lot of activity into the summer months. The boxes on the calendar quickly fill with graduations, weddings, reunions, tournaments, and the arrival and departure of house guests. For all of us reading this publication, the calendar is also covered with openings, season ticket dates, concerts, festivals and powwows. The artists among us add entry deadlines, rehearsals, and shows, and maybe some residencies and workshops.

Even though we have to work and play hard to fit everything in between the thawing and the freezing of the tundra, taking care of family and business, we are still the most congenial hosts in America. Special occasions of all kinds are announced and celebrated and everyone is welcome. From the party balloons tethered to rural mailboxes to the dazzling digital billboards at civic centers, we call attention and welcome everyone to one celebration after another.

Then there is our continual celebration of life through the arts. Gallery walls are as brilliant as the birds of early summer. The sounds of music, all kinds of music, are everywhere, inside and out, day and night. People are dancing, on stages, in ballrooms, bars, barns, and in the streets. Theatre is rampant, and the theaters themselves are amazing in their diversity. Poetry is pouring out of coffee spouts and sculptures are sprouting all over the landscape. Visitors are invariably surprised by all this, and aren’t we proud to show it to them.

Cultural tourism in South Dakota is growing as a kind of ever extending welcome mat, including visitors from around the world in our exuberance. South Dakota has many attractions specifically developed for tourists, of course, but the majority of our cultural assets have developed for and about us, the people who live here. Cultural and heritage tourism and agricultural tourism are growing up around authentic experiences, real stories, real art, and real lives.

Marketing and managing these cultural attractions to visitors while maintaining their integrity and value to South Dakotans takes planning, skill and a lot of cooperation and mutual support. Take a look at this list of partner agencies participating as presenters and resources in our Regional Arts meetings this year and you will get the idea: South Dakotans for the Arts/Community Arts Network; South Dakota Arts Council; South Dakota Humanities Council; SD State Historical Society; South Dakota Art Museum; SD Office of Tourism; Regional Tourism Associations; SD Department of Education; and the SD Department of Agriculture. This is a truly remarkable alliance, one that is echoed at the regional and local level around the state.

I only wish that I could report that things were meshing as well on the national front. They are not, although the arts and humanities, museums and libraries are faring better than many sectors. In my last column I complained of having to type with my fingers crossed, pending decisions on Federal appropriations and legislation of importance to artists and institutions. Senators Johnson and Thune and Rep. Herseth will all be here with us this summer, and we look forward to their insights on a wide range of issues. Well, I couldn’t keep my fingers crossed forever, which is how long it seems to be taking. It makes it too hard to clean the statues and plant the petunias.

Yes, company is coming, and we have set a beautiful table. South Dakota is alive with the arts…Enjoy!