Catwalk Party: Celebrating Counter Culture in Rural Minnesota

Catwalk Party: Celebrating Counter Culture in Rural Minnesota is the story of the Catwalk Party, the first drag show in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. 

The Catwalk Party was born from The Year of Play, a Springboard for the Arts micro-funding initative to inspire play within the community, said  Dominic Facio, producer, director and manager of the event. 

“The catwalk party encapsulates humor, queer culture, being an ally, celebration, environment, and color,” Facio said. 

Facio and others from Fergus Falls share how Catwalk has grown and what it brings to their community. 

“Some people who have come to the shows .. have mentioned you should go to LA or be in a metro area,” Facio said. “The truth is that rural America needs what I’m doing. This is home, and I can’t change where home is. I tried when I left high school, but every time I came back to Fergus Falls, I realized this is home, and there’s no changing that.”

Original CATWALK PARTY video credit: Brittanni Smith

 

Drawing Resilience: Maureen Hearty

Maureen Hearty transforms objects, space, and community, seeing art as a tool for action, education, and opportunity. The majority of her community-based work today is on the eastern plains of Colorado, considered one of the most sparsely populated areas in the United States. In Joes, Colorado (pop. 78), she is activating space using art, music, and the collection of story. In 2020, Maureen and her friend Kristin Stoltz were awarded an NEA grant for a project titled “Arts for a Prairie Seas: Farming Fluxus.”

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