Rhinelander multimedia artist Nate Sheppard has an idea for an immersive multimedia experience.
A space where people can go into with visuals on the walls or other structures using projection mapping. There will also be a live performance element to it.
“It's not just a pre-built, programmed thing,” said Nate Sheppard. “That's something else that I've really been interested in, is sort of art experiences that are influenced by the people that are experiencing them.”
Sheppard has experimented and done some concepts for it, but for years, it’s mostly just been an idea as he lacked time and resources to make it a reality.
It’s a challenge many artists face.
How do you create, especially when the thing your creating may never make you money or not enough to live off of.
It’s led to what he calls “hidden gems in the Northwoods” of talented artists that do their art on the side.
“We hate it as artists to admit that we need money to pay the bills and to be able to do our craft. But that's just the reality, and is what it is,” said Sheppard. “I need to prioritize paying the bills, so I'm not often spending money on some of these honestly expensive pieces of equipment or whatever that that are required for something of this complexity.”
Artist Grant Program
A new grant program through Create Wisconsin is allowing Sheppard and 15 other artists to invest in themselves and their art.
Sheppard was selected for the first cohort of the Artists Grant Program funded by the Ruth Foundation for the Arts.
A panel of judges selected the recipients. Each artist received a $7,500 grant.
Grant Program Administrator Hailey Fuller says nearly 400 people from 56 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties applied for the program.
“It's important to strengthen, specifically, Wisconsin, honestly. Our funding for the arts in Wisconsin is lackluster in comparison to the rest of the country, in many ways,” said Fuller. “To be able to uplift where we're able to and support Wisconsin's creative community, that that's just another privilege that we get to do that.”
The state of Wisconsin ranks 48th nationally in arts spending with about 18-cents per capita.
Comparatively Michigan ranks 28th with 94-cents per capita of arts spending. Minnesota—which ranks number one —spends about $10 per capita.
Investing in the arts does pay off.
A 2022 study found Wisconsin’s nonprofit arts and culture sector generated more than $933 million in economic and social impact.
The Artist Grant Program has two categories. One for individual artists enrichment, the other community-based projects.
“The split between the applications for each was pretty neck and neck,” said Fuller. “People applying into those categories definitely had their own interpretation of what could serve their community best, what could serve themselves best, what could be, overall, most purposeful for them. It was really rewarding to see that.”
Investing in rural arts
A portion of the grants were set aside for artists in rural counties.
“We wanted to make sure there was emphasis and support brought to and just an overall outreach to the entirety of the state,” said Fuller.
Sheppard hopes more support for arts will continue to come to the Northwoods and other rural areas of the state.
“We're here, and we matter, and we're trying to do things and create some really meaningful things,” he said.
The immersive multi-media experience Sheppard is now working on is part of that. As much as the art itself has been bouncing around in Sheppard’s head, he’s also put a lot of thought into where it should be.
He doesn’t want people to always have to drive two to four hours to a big city to experience a major art display.
“The larger body of my work and investment in the community is just saying, what are some ways that we can build arts and culture and community experiences that allow us to not feel like we have to leave in order to have sort of that experience,” said Sheppard.
Sheppard plans to create the immersive experience at the Hilgermann Center for Community, which he and his wife bought a little over a year ago. He hopes to start unveiling drafts of this work this fall.
All artists selected for the grant need to finish their projects by the end of next January.
There will be two more cohorts through this grant program, each with 16 awardees. Fuller expects more information about the next grant cycle to be available this fall.
