STEPHANIE LEIN WALSETH AWARDED 2020 ARTIST INITIATIVE GRANT BY MN STATE ARTS BOARD

Congratulations to Stephanie Lein Walseth, PhD, Theater Education Specialist, for being awarded an Artist Initiative Grant by the Minnesota State Arts Board. Lein Walseth will create The Empathy Project, a new play based on interviews of Minnesotans, exploring empathy across lines of geographic, political, and racial divides, culminating in staged readings in urban and rural Minnesota.

When asked about the grant, Lein Walseth said, “As a theater artist, I have a deep belief in the transformative power of personal narrative as a resource for artistic work and as a catalyzer of social change. Given the escalating divisiveness that is threatening the fabric of civil society in recent years, I see a great need for alternative, more compassionate ways to recognize the threads of our humanity across myriad lines of difference. Through The Empathy Project, it is my hope that audiences will engage the challenges of our current political moment in a new way, opening up possibilities for forging new connections and transforming Minnesotans’ understanding of themselves as a collective community.”

Grants are given to artists at all stages of their careers, to support artistic development, nurture artistic creativity, and recognize the contributions that individual artists make to the creative environment of the state of Minnesota. Lein Walseth’s Artist Initiative Grant is worth $10,000.

The full list of 2020 grantees, which includes other Perpich faculty and alumni, is found here.