Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Eischens, Executive Director Hallberg Center For The Arts
Hi Jess Eischens, Executive Director, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We are the Hallberg Center for the Arts – home to the Wyoming Area Creative Arts Community! We’re basically a big family of artists, musicians, writers, you name it – all coming together to bring arts to Wyoming, MN.
Our mission is to encourage creative expression, connecting local artists of all ages, and making the arts a real part of the community. We started back in 2012, got official in 2013, and became a non-profit in 2014. Then, in 2015, we did something many art organizations only dream of: we raised money from businesses and donors to buy an old church and turn it into the Hallberg Art Center!
For twelve years now, we’ve been bringing art to the area with monthly exhibits, showing off local talent and bringing in amazing art from outside the community. We’ve got “Songwriters in the Round” for Minnesota musicians to share their original music, and our new Open Mic night is a blast with stories, comedy, and more music. And all of this is free admission!
We also run outreach programs like “Kids Are Artists, Too!” and “Senior Artistic Outreach,” where kids and seniors can learn new art techniques for free. Last year, over 1000 kids joined our community painting events at local festivals!
All this is made possible by donations from our amazing community and grants from the MN State Arts Board and the East Central Regional Arts Council, which get their funding from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest obstacle the Wyoming Area Creative Arts Community has had to date would definitely be our journey to the Hallberg Center for the Arts, and it began with a bit of nomadic art showcasing! We partnered with a generous local church, transforming their space into a pop-up gallery once a month. Imagine: noon, we’d arrive, chairs would vanish, artwork would appear, and by 4 PM, voilà – an art opening! Fast forward to 8 PM, and it was back to church mode, artwork down, chairs back in place. For years, we dreamt of owning that space, but it felt like a distant fantasy. Then, a twist! The church, ready to sell, contacted us. They had another offer—from the Pagan Pancake House, no less!—but they wanted us to have it. The catch? We needed to come up with $142,000 in two weeks. Enter Gene Hallberg and the Hallberg Family Foundation! Gene generously offered a game-changing $100,000, with one condition: no debt. The next two weeks were a whirlwind of phone calls, our members rallying like never before, reaching out to everyone they knew. And we did it! In July 2015, our dream came true. We purchased the building, which became the Hallberg Center for the Arts. This year, we’re celebrating a decade of art, community, and creativity in our very own space! To commemorate, we are having a 10th Anniversary Gala & Fundraiser on May 1st. Keeping this old building up to snuff is definitely a financial challenge at times!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The Hallberg Center for the Arts is about making art a fun, community-building thing. We’ve got galleries, classes, live music – and it’s all about bringing people and community together. We often exceed expectations and have heard more than once, “What a wonderful hidden gem this place is!” Visitors frequently express astonishment at the quality of art and quantity of events that we offer. And last year we were awarded “Non-Profit of the Year, 2024” by the Forest Lake Area Chamber of Commerce!
We’re all about bringing in a mix of art, local and from the Twin Cities, giving everyone a peek into new perspectives and cultures. The dynamic mix of highly skilled artists captivates our growing community! We interview artists once a year for solo/duo shows and we have about six community/collaborative shows a year, where anyone can enter art based on a theme. For example, we have a collaborative show coming up in May called “Good Bones” that will feature artwork acknowledging humanity’s inherent goodness, while recognizing our flaws. Finding the good. We have a call for artists out now for this show! The Hallberg Center for the Art’s crowning event is our In. Art Show, which is the only ‘juried’ show we have, meaning if you enter your piece needs to be selected to be in the show by a panel of three judges. This event is held in July and in previous years has offered $5000 in prizes to artists who make it into the show!
We’ve been working on making things more accessible, with longer hours (2-8PM Tuesday-Friday and Noon-6PM Saturdays) and more programs, and it’s paying off. Over 7,600 people took part in something at the center or in our outreach programs last year!
We offer a wide range of classes available to the public – from painting to basket weaving to Norwegian Rosemaling. And memberships with the organization give you a discount on these already reasonably priced classes. Membership is reasonable, too – ranging in price from $35 to $100 a year, depending on what you’re looking for.
Member Artists can create their own page featuring their art on our website, so they don’t have to make one of their own. And we are a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association which means if you get a NARM membership through us, you get free entry to over 1000 other museums across the country!
In short, The Hallberg Center for the Arts is a place where art and community connect. Our volunteers, members, and directors are making it happen. In a time when everyone is feeling somewhat disconnected, we’re all about bringing people together.
Pricing:
- Memberships range in price from $35 for seniors & non-artists to $100 for members who what to become a part of the North American Reciprical Museum Association.
- Classes at the art center range in price from $25 for Pizza & Art Youth Night to $70 basket weaving class – and lots of classes in between!
- Free Admission for Senior Artistic Outreach & Kids Are Artists, Too
- Free Admission for Songwriters in the Round and Open Mic Night
- Free admission to the Art Gallery, open 2-8PM Tues – Fri and noon-6PM on Saturdays
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wyomingcreativearts.org/
- Instagram: @HallbergCenterForTheArts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HC4Arts/ and https://www.facebook.com/WyomingAreaCreativeArtsCommunity/
- Youtube: @wyomingareacreativeartscom8348
